Nearly two months after my initial ride and I've finally gotten the opportunity to get back on the road bike for a Saturday morning on my birthday present! I hoped to meet up with Sarah and Nick again but I got there just 5 minutes before the start and couldn't find them. Not wanting to go with the "new riders" group again I picked the next fastest 14-16mph pace group, which is the slowest. Sarah calls this the "Liar's Club" and I figured out why soon enough. We started of at about the 16mph level but instead of backing off a little the pace just continued to creep up until it was almost consistently at 18mph. On top of that, I was being conservative and hung towards the back of a fairly large pace group, around 30 riders, which resulted in an accordian effect that made it difficult to stay at a constant pace. Around mile 20 I started to fall off the back - worried that I wasn't going to make it back at that clip. Around that time, I passed a small group of about 15 riders taking a break on the side of the road and yelled out - "14 to 16 my ass!!!" They laughed and yelled at my to join them instead. I did and found out that one of group was Sarah, who introduced me to Dean, Andy, and Therese. They were a fun group and indeed stayed at more of reasonable pace but also introduced me to a nice route through Prairie View. It was in Prairie View, after about 25 miles that I started to fade. Fortunately, they had scheduled a rest stop at a gas station just 3 miles up the road. I tried to get some calories in me and rejuvenate for the last 9 miles but my legs were shot. After 2 miles back on the road I couldn't keep up and my speed dropped to 12mph. I had to stop on the side of the road 3 miles later to recover a bit and then limped in from there. The group was so nice to hang with me as I struggled. I think that the early fast pace coupled with a lack of carbs during the ride (I only had water) took it's toll - not to mention this was my first big ride in a while. The thing about a fade like I experienced is that it happens so quickly and you don't even know it's coming. The last time I felt this was during my first attempt at the MS150 but that was on my second day of riding and was at much longer distances.
The experience leaves me frustrated, a little embarrassed, but determined to do better the following week. I wonder if I'm over my head and I'm just so out of shape that I'm pushing too hard. Pretty demoralizing when I've been working in the gym, running, and trying to eat right for months and then something happens like today. My weight has plateuaed too at about 165lbs. Well, at least I didn't fall so apart that I needed to be rescued by a car pick-up. The group was nice enough to invite me to join them next week and we agreed to leave at 7:15am to get an earlier start. I was a bit worried that they'd get frustrated if I had a repeat performance so vowed to rest the Friday before and have both water and carbs for next week. Tomorrow, June 10th, is 8 weeks to my scheduled triathlon and after a workout like today it just seems too, too, close.
In an effort to get more disciplined to prepare, I've loaded a slightly modified 8 week training plan for a sprint distance triathlon directly into my Outlook calendar, which I also carry in my phone. I will see how this works to stay on a plan. Seems like a good time to transition to the 8 week plan from the beginner triathlon plan to take someone from the couch to a real prep plan like this. I'll use the Couch to 5K running programs to slot into my running days.
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