Bike

12 Aug

Bike: 46.5 mi, 14.5 mph
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Bike--Today was the first day I have ever participated in a group ride... and I had a GREAT time! The people were so nice and positive, and the route from Bethesda to Poolesville was gorgeous.

Cons--It was a little slower than I would have liked, and we took a few too many breaks. At first I was also TERRIBLY intimidated by these people, as I still have no idea where I am at with my cycling, and since this was my first 'real' group ride, I wasn't exactly sure about ettiquete. Two men were over 6'6", and they were BUILT. One dude's tricep was as big as my head. I was also intimidated by their crazy-decked-out custom Italian road bikes. During the ride, my shoulders were incredibly tense and my left arm was completely spazing! Weird... The top of my right calf was hating on me for a while; I might be feeling that later. The shoulders are a bit sunburned.

Pros--LUCKY and I had a pre-game chat, and we knew we were going into this together. I am willing to learn, and I wasn't dropped. I actually picked up the slack and led for a while, which probably didn't help the really tall dudes since I'm 5'4" and 118 lbs. I love the long, gradual uphills; I felt very strong. I actually led on all of the long uphills as well. I had enough liquids and food. This was the longest distance I have ever ridden, and my butt doesn't even hurt! I also learned how to relax my shoulders and stretch out in different riding positions on the bike. I have a lot more confidence handling and just being on the bike in general. And I only learned how to ride a road bike last April! I am ready to try to some faster rides! Oh, and one guy was GORGEOUS!!! I will definitely be at another group ride!

Injury--I should ice it tonight -OR- stretch it like crazy. I'm not sure how the calf is going to respond to running. It did ok on the bike after a LOT of stretching this morning before the ride. But the bike was what caused the injury in the first place.

Nutrition--I need to drink a LOT more during the day. I don't even want to talk about what I have been eating. I wrote a little something about tiny decisions we make daily that add up to something big. Well, this homemade ice cream maker is going to be the death of me! More later...

Discipline--Many bloggers have written quite a bit about discipline over the past few weeks, especially those training for Ironman races coming up soon. (WARNING--A tangent is about to occur). Tangent: Debussy said that "Music is the space between the notes." When I was a serious double bassist, my instructor would repeat that mantra at every lesson and master class. I remember cranking through sonatas, concerti, dances, poems, my fingers hammering away at every note, my bow flying across the strings, in an effort to please my instructor with my athletic skill on such a large instrument. That's what I had practiced, after all! He would sadly shake his head. There was garbage between the notes. I was distant from the music, and in my quest to nail every note with perfect intonation, volume, tone, I had forgotten how and why I was drawn to the art in the first place. It took maturity, mentoring, practice, and passion to learn how to perfect the spaces between the notes. The beauty, the emotion, the time, the love, the frustration, my soul--all in the spaces between the notes. End Tangent: Turns out that is how I should have been looking at this training business all along. It's not the miles we crank out on the bike, the strokes in the pool, or the bazillion steps in a run. It's that time between workouts where we replentish our bodies and souls, we know when to stop and know when to crank it, we tweak our training plans, we have patience during the bad days and relish the great days, we enjoy looking forward to a long run in sunny weather, we surprise ourselves in the moment when we realize just how far we've gone, and we are willing to do it all again tomorrow. Discipline is the space between the notes.