Yesterday I was feeling kinda gloomy. The previous week I had an amazing training week. I did two interval bike trainer workouts (a necessary evil for my training), shaved over a minute off on my monthly 2 mile test with my workout group, did a 70 mile ride on Saturday followed by a recovery ride on Sunday. I rode Mt. Eden Sunday and timed myself as a benchmark for future rides. Then the gloomy weather returned and I had a rest day on Monday. I was pretty antsy on the rest day---I wanted to move! In theory, I could have exercised though I had my hair done that day and couldn't get it wet. (YES. SUCH. A. DIVA.)
I was also feeling anxious about this Saturday's ride, the Tierra Bella. I am trying to wrap my mind around riding 100 (and possible 130 miles) in a few days. Am I ready? Will I bonk? Are the hills crazy?
So, before my workout group met yesterday I decided to do a quick bike trainer ride. I opted to do an easy ride in case we had a crazy workout. I hopped on my bike and was in a silly mood and decided to take pictures of myself from my trainer. The picture above was sent to my coach and is what we nicknamed my Big K face since that was a look I had a few times when I really got into a workout while training for the Big Kahuna 1/2 Ironman. It's a look of fierceness and sometimes pain. It basically means "You are tearing this up! Grrrr!"
The only problem was I trainered at home and had to dig deep to get the motivation to leave hubby and my cute kitties to head to my workout which would be a 30 minute drive....and it was raining. I put my running clothes on and reluctantly headed out the door. Fortunately it was a mild drizzle and she had us do a 14 minute warmup. Then we did hill repeats 5 times. The first one was way hard and made my heart rate shoot straight up. Coach Heidi asked how I was doing (Big K face turned into" She May be in so much pain She is Giving Birth to Triplets" face) and I said it was hard. Then she said, "Maybe you should try breathing." Hmmmm....breathing...what a concept. So on the next sets I worked on breathing through my nose and exhaling through my mouth. It felt so unnatural.
We did some walking lunges and more running sets. It was strange though because I feel with each work out I am committing more and more to what I am doing. Yes, I am not the fastest, strongest, fill in the blank-est one there, but I WAS PRESENT. Staying present in as many workputs as I can is key in my training. We finished with crunches and I headed home. On the drive back it dawned on me: "I FEEL AMAAAAAAAZING!" The mix of working out and taking in the oxygen outside was an instant mood lifter.
Endorphins. Cheaper than therapy.
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