I am happy to say I think I have pushed past the mental block between me and my bike. This past week has felt really good when it comes to my biking-can't say the same for my run, but I suppose win some-lose some yeah? Having ran a marathon before, I have a bit more of a mental grip on my run vs. the bike. I haven't always loved the bike. I was feeling so down and beating up on myself the past two weeks in relation to biking. I couldn't stay focused. And I had a saddle sore that would not seem to leave me be.
This week has been different. I started using aquaphor to help out with chafing and it seems that is doing the trick. Thank GOD. I was feeling miserable. But on the bike rides last week, I enjoyed every single one of them and made it out without any soreness in the saddle area. SUCCESS! I tried a new route on thursday which always kinda makes me nervous. Not the new route, exploring somewhere part-but doing it by myself. I don't really like to do that too often simply for safety reasons. I knew this area somewhat, but decided to just go for it anyhow while taking as many necessary safety precautions I could.
It ended up being an absolutely beautiful ride. Most of the roads were pretty safe-there was one part where I was on a more traffic-busy road, but it was not for long and the shoulder was pretty wide. Some rolling hills with nothing too difficult. Passed a TON of horses (and a donkey) and ended up down by the water at one point. Totally unexpected and beautiful ride. It was a nice breath of fresh air instead of going to my usual biking point. I think it is important to switch up the training ride route on occasion.
So I left the week-day rides feeling great. Onto the weekend long ride-the real test. It ended up being a fantastic ride. 75 miles with good company and with pretty decent weather. That part ended up being a huge surprise because the forecast was looking shady all week predicting thunderstorms all day. The temperature stayed cool for the most part and we did not get rained on-both a win in my book! I felt great though. My legs didn't feel too spent at the end, I felt like I could go for longer, and while we had some climbs at the end of the ride-I didn't swear off biking while doing them.
My run on the other hand-was not the best feeling. Physically, I was all there and able to go-but mentally I was just done. After starting so late on the bike saturday, the ride ended up taking all day. I think mentally I was just tired of training after that and wanted to be done. Still got in 11 miles, but not quite the distance I wanted. I also realize I need to do more running prep work during the week. I had let that slide this past week and I noticed a difference.
15.5 hours spent training. 4 more weeks until taper. Ironman is NEXT MONTH.
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