Tough Saturday, Tough Sunday, Break, Tough Wednesday

Bonjourno,

So as the title hints, it has been a tough week. Starting off with Saturday. Saturday is the usual IRC Lands-end / Waterfront loop. This is a hammer fest. SOOO much fun. But this day would be extra hard. 15min into the ride my cassette came loose, I jumped off the bike to hand tighten it. Meanwhile the pack rides away. The challenge was set. They were out of sight and I had to motivate myself to try and catch up. With some help from Andrew Russell driving by I got a bit of a boost from a draft. They were in sight about a km ahead. I worked so hard not gaining much. This would continue around lands end struggling to keep them in sight. Finally I caught up just outside of Sidney about 1:45 into the ride. Once in the pack the pace was hard, especially with Kenyon pushing the pace... the bugger... hehe. It was at this point I realized that cycling is a cruel cruel sport based on inflicting pain on to other people’s legs. Ouch. Well we managed to breakaway and finished the ride with a coffee at Bubby Roses.

So arriving at the Sunday Wheelers ride I was not too concerned as I was sure everyone was just as tired as I was from Saturday. Sadly I came to the realization that it was a totally different group of riders all ready to work hard. Oh dear… so I was struggling from the get go. Managed to hang in till the airport sprint. I got stung by a bee which kind of through me off but really it was the legs that gave in. It was going to be a long lonely ride so I took a short cut to jump back on but as they flew by I tried to jump in but it seemed I was destined to ride home alone so I was alone again. My legs were finished and I was struggling to keep my head up. “Awesome! I’m going to be so much stronger if I recover from this.”

Had a nice mental break as some fellow triathletes and I camped out on French Beach in Sooke right on the beach. It was great!! Swimming in the Ocean! (Which was pretty warm!) Meditating on the Rock. (seen bellow) And well just enjoy some good company. I didn’t sleep much as I would check every 30 minutes or so if the tide was going to sneak up to the tent or if there was a Bear eating our food in a cooler 50m to the right of our tent and beside wakening to a 'somehow?' upside down tent I was fairly well rested.

Meditation Rock

So back to the tough stuff, it was Newton Heights again on Wednesday and I had a plan. Hard from the start. First Lap I rode to the front and pushed the pace. Then rested for a lap and on the next hill there was an attack. I countered it with my own and was off. David Hilhorst rode back onto my wheel and we worked well pulling away. I was concerned about finishing in a sprint so I attacked at about 8 laps, held it for a bit but was caught a lap later. I was quite concerned as he seemed so strong and had an answer for anything I tried. I gave it one more try(and surely my last try as it seemed I was hurting myself more than David) at lap 13 of 20 and it finally stuck to the finish line. The Final 3.5km’s were the so incredibly hard. My body was giving in. Cramping everywhere, my calves, my hamstrings, my back, even my hands. I was in a world of pain as seen in the humorous photo bellow.Pain

I gained a valuable lesson about the mind. Like in the photo to the Right I realized I must avoid Internalizing the pain.(looking down at the pain in your legs) You are bound to hurt but if you look 100meters ahead at the crest of the hill it arrives earlier and you don't realize how much pain you really are in. This is what got me through the final 3.5kms. He he so instead, look forward and put on an ugly face he he.

Happy to be Finished

So I have been resting up well. Pulling all the recovery tricks to get ready for a fun weekend of racing down south. Should be fun but more on that later.

Ciao for now,

Andrew

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Listening to: Rod Stewart - Rhythm Of My Heart