11 More Weeks....Time To Ride

The bike has been elusive for me this year.

One of my goals for IMTX is to have a better bike split. I know that I am capable of riding faster....but I haven't proved it. So, until you do it, you don't do it, you know? I can think I ride well, but I haven't proved it at that distance. My half IM bike splits were 2:38-2:41 last year, with the 2:38 being my worst race of the year and the 2:41 being a very hilly, hard, yet successful race. It seems I have the potential to do more, but the truth is, I just haven't.

A big problem for me this year has been bike fit. I have had too many different adjustments to my otherwise awesome Slice in the past 5 months, and the result has been very negative. I am uncomfortable every time I get on the bike. I am justifiably worried, as I have ridden this bike for 3 years with no problems. Then, for the first time in my 6 years of riding, I had severe back pain over the weekend. I couldn't even stay in my aerobars for more than 2-3 minutes. How am I going to ride 5-6 hours in an ironman if I can't even ride a couple of hours now? This has really been upsetting me. I am losing time...11 weeks out...tick tock tick tock.

But I am not going to give up- and I am going to find a way to get this fit right. Thank you to all of my friends that are trying to help. If it was good before, it can be good again!

What I am realizing about choosing an early season ironman is that bike frustration will be inevitable. I have been on the trainer, or on my couch, all winter. I won't have a few races under my belt to give me some feedback on my cycling. I haven't had a chance to get on the road and feel the negative pressure on my back or other sensitive areas. I won't have a lot of speed or endurance because I have been inside most of the winter. An early season Ironman is tough!

And while I do have some feedback from the computrainer, I have to say, I am starting to hate it. Apparently I am not any faster than 11 mph for this ironman if you start computing my W/kg. I miss the days where I would just ride. Easy. Hard. Slow. Fast. Now all I hear is, "what are your watts?....and how many mph was your ride today?....and blah blah." And it drives me insane! It is just another way for people to "race" each other during training, and I want no part in that. As I have never been able to correlate my race times to my training times, I just prefer to not use a computer and stress myself out over that stuff. Some people thrive on training numbers, but I think I wilt. I prefer to just see the number at the end of a race.

All of this makes me love my husband even more- his type B, even keeled, wonderful self. Yesterday I had an easy trainer ride followed by a run. The run was good. Everything is clicking in that department. I came home and talked to Dave about my fears with the bike and how much I feel I have regressed. How can my running be doing well and my bike be so shitty? Dave's response is always so simple. He said, "I never think you won't bike well. Of course you will bike well. When it is time to race, you will ride fast." And he says is so calmly, as if I am not pushing the Watts of a 80-year-old grandmother or twisted over with surreal back pain. And I love him for that.

So, I just keep moving forward and try to get the fit right, put in more miles, gain some strength. All I can do is keep trying and striving to get bike fit and walk the walk so that maybe, just maybe I won't have a 6+++++ hour IM bike time this year.