Wednesday’s are my shorter ride days; I usually work on climbing or speed. But with the recent pain my calf has been given me I questioned pushing my limits. I asked a few people and everyone I talked to said; “Take it easy.” I think what really hit home with me was my co-worker. He replies; “Fuck no” and laughs. Then goes into detail….”You always push yourself to the max, on race day you know what you can do. Why risk getting injured now and screw up the next few months of racing? You already have the power and speed your looking for to hit your goals for this season, don’t fuck it up now.” Lol, thanks Randy….I thought of this at the beginning of my ride. Speaking of my ride, what a glorious ride it was. I head out to Marine Drive early, the PDX tri club moved their rides to 6:30 but with traffic and heading from the other side of town this just screws me, so I opted to ride alone. Quiet honestly I was looking forward to it. I’ve had two rides alone this season, one in pouring down rain = not fun and mostly that last one last Saturday when I bonked, became dehydrated and hit a rock bottom low. I needed a good one on one ride with Cadence this year.
I hit the road soaking up the sun, feeling oh so fine. 10 mins in and I can feel my calf a little. Not bad pain but there is a reminder that not all is good in the hood. It was at this point I clearly made up my mind to do a moderate ride, nothing hard…my legs just want to push it. So I took the easy endurance route. Kept an avg 160-170 HR for the 32 mile ride which I completed in a comfortable 1 hour and 38 mins. The headwind shifted a lot, no surprise here. It was with me for awhile; then against me and then at one point thought it was going to toss my tail right into the river…but thankfully that never happened. I think my avg was around 19 mph, that using a pace calculator since I’ve totally given up on my POS cateye. My time also accounts for the 2-3 pictures I stopped to take. It was so freaking beautiful and I was having such a great time how could I not capture it in a picture? They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I believe these pictures were over achievers. Another highlight of my ride was getting down in my aero bars. I haven’t really worked on this all season. After I had my little descent scare I had no desire to get low, low, low, low, low, unless it happened to be in my drops. As soon as I hit the path back from the 205 bridge I dropped into aero position and HELD it the entire way home. This was a good 20-25 mins. It was badass; there was one point that I got so comfortable I realized I was getting out and in shifting and not thinking out about it. It’s cool that one day it just all clicks. At the end of the ride I put on my running shoes and ran easy for 20 minutes. This was new; my right abducter screamed in pain. Why? I haven’t a clue. My calf also reminded me to take it easy, which I gladly obliged. Finished my 2 hour brick and did a lot of heavy stretching at my car. Legs are tired today but I think feel ok to hit the tempo run tonight.
On a side note, I would like to throw a 7-11 Slurpee at any bike rider I see wearing an Ipod or NOT wearing a helmet. Get a clue.
Oh yes….and a picture of my new friend Oscar. My moma bought me a fish! He is named after De La Hoya and Dela Renta, one bad ass boxer and another bad ass fashion designer. See Oscar is a Betta fish, blue with these beautiful long flowing fins, reminds me of one of the designer’s gorgeous dresses…and he’s feisty as all hell, kind of like me, but more like the De La Hoya. Fish knows how to throw down! Anywho, it’s been a year since I lost Capone and I think it’s time to have a companion in my home. One that doesn’t need too much care. Let’s keep it positive and hope I don’t kill him!
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