Similar to the difference in riding a stationary bike in the health club, compared with riding a regular bike out on the street- there are also significant differences between riding your bike around the neighborhood and riding on a trail. Hills, for one. These had not been anticipated while I was riding the trail. I mean, we live in Illinois, it's flat right? When you hear the word "Prairie" I assumed anyway- flat land. Yeah, I was wrong. Even the smallest blip of a hill feels like Mt Everest when you're exhausted and your legs start refusing to work.
Also, trails are find gravel, as opposed to concrete or asphalt. You definitely have to work harder to get pedaling on gravel. The third factor I had not considered when riding the trail... wind. For some reason, riding around the neighborhood, the wind is not very significant- I'm guessing because the houses block most of it. Being in the wide open prairie though, the wind is front and center. Also not resistance I had anticipated.
I'm not going to BS you. The six and a half miles that I did on Saturday was NOT easy by any stretch of the imagination. I actually found myself wondering if I was actually going to be able to do this in less than two months from now. Because, I need to be able to do DOUBLE that in about half the time. Actually more than double its fourteen miles roughly. I'm at six.
But, before I could kick myself for NOT being able to perform to my "expected" abilities, I decided for once to cut myself some slack instead. I mean, I still biked six and a half miles right? Thats six and a half miles more than a lot of people can do. Yeah, it's not what I should be able to do at this point, but as my motivational buddy pointed out- stamina builds quickly on the bike. So I think I'm in an ok position. I do want to say though, that I have never met more friendly people than I did on the trail. Everyone I passed said hello, good morning, a few people gave me some "YOu Can DO ITs" as well as some "Good Jobs" and when i had to stop after riding up a hill- three different people stopped to ask me if I was okay. How refreshing to see people helping people. :)
My gym is closed Wednesday through Saturday of this week for who knows what. So, I'll have to be creative with my double workouts on those days.
Today (Sunday) I was sitting in mass, and the homily (in a round about way) was about moving past your fears. Which only reaffirmed my committment to seeing this thing through. Am I scared? Most definitely. I'm petrified that I'm going to get there, and for some reason I won't be able to finish. That I'll have to somehow explain to those who come to support me that I couldn't do it. My fear of failing is probably more apparent than any other fear that I have currently. I keep telling myself that *even* if for some reason, I get knocked out in the pool, or my the chain on my bike breaks, or I get to the run and I just can't go any farther... trying is still winning.... not finishing, is not failing. It keeps me sane anyway.
I'm in the home stretch of training. Two more months left. I need to stay focused and keep to two hours a day training, every day but Sunday. I have plenty of other things to get done today... grass cutting being on the list. Not to mention cleaning (which has been grossly (and i emphasize the GROSS) neglected between work school and training.
So I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend!
~Millie
0 comments:
Post a Comment