Going Nowhere Fast

That's pretty much how I've felt every long ride so far this year.  Not because I'm riding slow,  but instead I've been doing more trainer riding than I've probably done in the past 4 years combined.  All but 1 of my long rides so far have been on the trainer!  Thank goodness for good friends, Hulu, Pandora and Amazon Prime Instant Video.  Yes, I've watched more moving screens in the past couple months than I really care to admit.

While some of my friends and training partners loathe the trainer, I've actually come to enjoy it.  The entire ride is pretty predictable (until your awesome boyfriend steps on the flywheel), you can really control power, HR, nutrition, etc.  There's no stopping, there's no flat tires, cars, animals, potholes...and heck now there's even TrainerRoad to keep you entertained and honest.  Now don't get me wrong I love a good long ride outside - so much that I headed out for 95 miles in a downpour just about 2 weeks ago.  It was wonderful.  I really thought I'd be heading outside again this weekend but mother nature had other plans for this girl.

My 5.5 hour outdoor long ride was sure to be 100+ miles, instead I pushed every single one of those miles while starting at the concrete floor of my friends garage.  On the plus side the garage was super humid albeit the 32* temps and 15mph winds that I was safely shielded from, so somewhat like Texas.  With our extra long winter-like weather I've been making it a point to focus on hydration because without intent I know I will not drink enough during long rides.  Well, I'm stubborn and even in my friends garage I didn't want to take the extra 5 minutes to jump off my bike and refill bottles as often as I should.  I stuck to what *I thought* my nutrition regimen had been last year and I tanked struggled through the last 30 minutes.  Light bulb! Check your nutrition plan, duh!

I get by with a little help from my friends.  This is about watts guys, not social hour!

One by one everyone finished up their workouts...2 hour ride followed by a run, 2.5 hour ride followed by a run and so on until I was the last one spinning.  For another 1.5 hours by myself, the iPad that was cranking out tunes died and this ride quickly became a lesson in mental fortitude.  Not something I say too often about riding on the road.  I played mind tricks with the time, I thought about IM Texas, lots of positive self-talk and mental imagery going on for the last 30 minutes of this ride.

At times it's tough when I realize I'm < 7 weeks out from an IM and I haven't actually ridden my bike 100+ miles outside yet, but I have put in some heavy days on the trainer.  I've developed my mental toughness and pushed through pain.   I've had the chance to zero in on nutrition and I've got some great outdoor long rides coming up over the next 4 weeks.  So here's to going nowhere fast and looking forward to the results it produces at TryCharleston 1/2 in just under 3 weeks time.