Yesterday, I did an open water swim without my wetsuit at Sandy Point in the Chesapeake Bay. The water was very choppy, but I still managed to keep my positive self talk going as I swam. I can say that I did it again and if it is too hot to wear the wetsuit on race day, then I will be just fine. Swimming without a wetsuit is definitely harder!
After the swim, Lisa and I headed out for a bike ride (I was thinking that we would ride a max of 15 miles) when we saw a group of cyclist roll up. Before long, we were saddling up and off to ride 20+ miles with our new found friends. The pace was about 19mph on average and I think that I did a pretty good job keeping up.... except for on the hills. I was going with the flow, but as I started to slow down on the hills, they were picking me off and passing me up one by one. The group consisted of 7 men and 1 woman, so I felt that I had to represent and not make these guys think that they are more fit than us ladies! At the end of the ride, I surprisingly was not tired, but kindly accepted the ride back to my car.
Prior to going out with the crew of cyclist that we met on yesterday, I told Tish and David that I would go out for a 27 mile ride with them this morning. I really don't think that I ate enough prior to this ride or the day before, but I still went out with David and Darren (Tish punked out on us, saying that she had other plans). I was not aware that their street was a steady incline and made me want to quit by the time I got to the top. I wanted to quit again before mile 3 and by the time we got to mile 10, I wanted to turn around and go home. See, these guys ride this route every Sunday and between me not having that much experience riding hills, the 20 mile ride that I did the day before and not having enough nutrition on board, I was a negative, whiny, wanting to quit chic at mile 10. David honestly warned me of what lied ahead and told me turning back was even more hilly. I wanted to call Tish to come and pick me up! But being the positive person that I usually am about all of this stuff, hearing David say, "you'll be all right. You just have to have a positive attitude", made me change my whiny ways and saddle up again. It was my turn to lead, as they change the lead person every 5 miles. So, not only were we about to embark upon the most hilly part of the ride, but those two would be drafting off of me. Just great! I realized that quitting was not an option, sucked down some water, ate some Gu and got going....
I think that I cursed more on this ride than ever before, but I did it. In total I cycled 26 miles today (after cycling 20 miles and an open water swim on yesterday). What was the take away lesson? Quitting is not an option!
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