Day 77...Day of Rest and Recovery!

Yesterday, I was working, and didn't have the opportunity to post...other than to answer a comment (thanks Teresa for your interest and great insight...and for keeping me on track).  Today is the day that I look forward to every week...recovery day.  My old (and little) legs get very tired throughout the week, and Sunday recovery is just what the doctor ordered.

My last 'Workout of the Day' post talked about my most unpleasant ride into 20-25 mph headwinds.  That day was supposed to be a low intensity ride, but turned out to be most brutal, indeed!  I didn't realize it until yesterday...when I was scheduled to do a 2-hour medium intensity ride.

To make matters worse, I was on duty at the fire station yesterday, which meant I had two, maybe three options...get up at 4am and ride in the dark with my lights (kind of creepy by yourself), get up at 430 and ride in the garage, or take all of my stuff to work, and pray that I would be able to get in a 2-hour ride between calls.  I chose work.

I finally 'saddled up' on the bike/trainer combo at 730 pm.  I was outside on the apron...oh sorry, let me explain.  I was wearing an apron...the apron is the area just outside the apparatus bay at the fire station.  Okay, let me explain further...the apparatus bay is a huge garage where the fire trucks are parked, ready for action.  So I set up my bike on the apron, facing east, looking into the night sky...it was pretty cool actually...not so much temperature wise, but ambiance-wise.  The temperature was actually pretty warm, as it had reached 96 or 97 degrees during the day....summer is here apparently.

Two-hours was my goal...no fun right from the start.  I am sure there are few things more boring than riding a trainer, by yourself, at the fire station.  Being committed however, I knew I needed to get the miles in, so off I went...well, sort of.  I really wasn't going anywhere!

Immediately, I began to feel the effects of my ride the day before...this was going to be tough!  I hunkered down, pumped myself up, and kept on pedaling.  I swear I had to talk myself out of quitting at least ten times!  I knew I had bitten off more than I should chew, so I decided to break the ride into small, attainable goals...because believe me, two-hours actually seemed like an unattainable goal from the outset! I would get through 15-minute intervals, evaluate how I felt...call myself a whining little girl (no offense ladies), then push another interval.  Before I knew it, I had made it through the first hour...no problem...yeah right!

I cannot tell you just how badly I wanted to shut it down at one hour!  It was a huge mental struggle for me...one that I was able to overcome thanks to accountability.  I made sure to let my guys at work know that I had a two-hour ride planned, so if I backed out...well, it just wouldn't look good.

At and hour and a half, my legs were feeling very heavy and tired, and my butt was aching from being seated on the saddle for 90-minutes!  That's one big difference between mountain biking and road cycling...on a mountain bike, you are up and down, in and out of the saddle.  On a road bike, most of your time is spent with your butt firmly planted in the saddle.  Once again I contemplated stopping, and once again I argued my way through it.  At one-hour thirty-nine minutes, we were dispatched to a call.  As I hurried to get my cycling shoes off, and peel my completely sweat-soaked shirt off, I thought "Thank God!"  That thought however, was immediately replaced by a feeling of failure...a feeling that I could have finished...that the finish line was in sight, and all I had to do was hammer those pedals for twenty more minutes.  Almost as quickly as those thoughts rushed into my mind, I thought "Oh well, I'll have plenty more chances to do it again!"  Then we were off to save a life...or lift someone off of the toilet...I forget.

All in all...1:39 minutes, 25.86 miles, 978 kcal.  Today I rest!