Simply put, I'm mental

So it's never a good point in your training season when you find yourself sitting on your couch with a glass of Pinot and a slice of pizza in your hand just staring at your bike. 

What led to this.......simply put, I am mental.

There is some switch in my head that goes on when I approach Big Red (the bike) that turns me into a kind of a wimp.  And I absolutely one hundred percent hate being afraid of things!  But I get on the bike and I am yellow with cowardice. 

It's certainly not for lack of support.  I have great friends who cycle and they are encouraging (many thanks to Kevin C., the other Mike F. and Cheryl for their words of support).  I have a whole team to train with for crying out loud.  I have great coaches, including Mike F. who offers to ride with me during the week to help me.  I have a husband who after working from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. still helped me put together my new trainer. 

Yet I still am jittery thinking about my 45 miler this weekend.  I am trying very hard to get over it.  I'm thinking about the amazing people I know that have met the much scarier task of chemotherapy.  I think about Michael Patrick and how he underwent a bone marrow transplant before the age of 6.  I think about Gabby and how she sought out treatment after treatment despite the side effects and pain involved.  I think about Rox and how she ran a marathon less than a year after treatment ended.  I understand that my fears are silly, but still they are mine. 

I hope to get over them soon.  I would try to hop on tonight and practice but I don't want to be the first TNT participant to have to drop for injuring herself while riding a bike trainer after two glasses of wine.

Please my friends, I could use some encouragement!  A nice note, a donation to the cause....heck, I'll even take pity at this point.  :-)

Thank you for your time!

A Mighty Wind and a Day of Redemption

I meant to write last weekend about my cycling experience but quite frankly, I was exhausted, and then discouraged and then I just blocked it out completely.  :-)

Riding through Davidson with some wicked wind gusts and more experienced cyclists was the toughest thing I've done this year.  I'll admit, I did the walk of shame up one hill after mixing up my gears and I was taken on the remedial route near the end.  I'll also admit that I almost cried.  I'm still not clipping into the pedals, cars make me nervous and I look like a bug-eyed, terrified fool going down hills.  So much so that I'm going to put googly eyes on my helmet for the big day!

Many many thanks to the cyclists that joined our alumni coach Missy for the ride - they were amazingly patient and eager to help and if I could remember any of their names, I would thank them personally.  My spirits were lifted a bit when everyone told me that I was actually moving much faster than I thought I was (16 mph!) and I remembered to buy padded shorts so there were no tears of pain on this ride! 

Yay for padded pants!! 

The wind itself was the biggest challenge.  I tell it like a tall tale..."the wind was angry that day my friend..."  My concentration was split between trying to stay upright and trying to figure out gears.  At one point though, I was actually blown off the road. 

Thank goodness for having a Team!!  I laughed at the irony of being a former staff member who spent a lot of time telling people "oh don't worry about being last or behind....you're just a beginner!," and now I'm a participant again getting really ticked off that I'm last and way behind.  Grrr......
But at every rest stop, there were encouraging words and at the end, my team was there waiting and we had a very nice post-race carb fest at the Egg in Davidson.  Thank you!!! 

So this week was rough - busy, off-sleeping pattern and just downright unmotivated.  Sharon and I struggled through our short runs and my times on the bike were not all that inspiring.  So I went into today's Corporate Cup 5k with a little trepidation.  We were going to run it and then run the 5 miles back to my house to get our 8 miler in.  I was a little stressed last night and then decided to handle it with muscle memory - I figure if my legs could hit a stride and stay in that stride, so could my brain.

So I put myself in run mode, got some sleep and this morning we had a great 5k!

I ran into the Tri team and got to see some of my favorite people (Kevin, Tricia & Justin) and super alumni Cheryl!  After running a half-marathon, marathon and completing the Tahoe century ride, I would have thought Cheryl was well over the nerves but she was terrified of the 5k this morning.  Sharon & I hung with her and she rocked it out - even kicked it into high gear hitting the finish!  

It was a good course with lots of energy at the starting/finish area.  Only complaints would be that the t-shirts were kind of lacking in design (but I can always use them to paint in) and that they are still using timing chips and I've become quite fond of the timing tags. 

Sharon and I had a nice run from uptown back to the house and enjoyed the brief moments that were wind-free and sunshine-y.  And we rocked out a 11.20 minute mile so REDEMPTION!  I feel better about myself after a week of weak runs and un-inspired cycling. 

Maybe my groove is returning!

Stay tuned....I'll let you know....

Our post-race pic trying to get the pups to pose - Porter wants nothing but a tummy rub!

Our Traditional Snakebite yumminess for every race we run!!  Check out the glasses - they were the wedding favors from Sharon's wedding.  :-)