The Hardest Day

Brick Day- 70/35

Ride
time- 70 minutes (actual time 67 minutes)
distance- 18.07mi

Run
time- 35 minutes (actual time 32:34 minutes)
distance- 2.95mi

Total time- 1 hour 39 minutes
Total distance- 21.02mi



Let me say that my ride was great. It felt fast. It felt strong. I hit that hill and got up it in 15 minutes, which I think is a new personal best. Good cadence the whole ride. Got stopped at a bunch of red lights, which screwed up my rhythm, but nothing too bad. I'm happy. I feel like I'm right on the edge of prepared for the ride. As prepared as I could be going from nothing to here in three months.
The run, on the other hand, is making your friendly neighborhood Dirtbag (that's not copy-written, is it Stan?) less than happy. We are talking epic mental fail on today's run, ladies and gentlemen. Look at that. In 35 minutes I didn't get three miles. That's awful, plain and simple. Awful and slow and its not going to cut it come race day.
There are lots of contributing factors to the slowness. It was my first big brick. It was plenty hot today. I haven't gotten fast runs in for weeks. But in the end it all comes down to a mental fail. I spent the whole run thinking about how much it hurt, how my chest felt tight, how it was hot, how little my steps were, how I'd ridden hard and now I have to run. It was a bike/stagger brick, not a bike/run.
I've gotta get out of my head. My Fast got lost in the foot injury and I'm having a hell of a time finding it. Tomorrow, which is supposed to be a rest day, I'm heading to the gym and getting on the treadmill. That way I can put it on a fast pace and show my legs what I want them to be doing. I think I'll do a mile at about an 8:30, rest, then do another mile about that fast. It should help. And this Sunday is supposed to be a two hour long run, but I might make it two hours of interval training, sprint, jog, run kind of things. I need to get my legs moving again. Today was just...just bad. Slow, staggering pace. I wanted so badly to walk a few times. I guess that's a victory, that I didn't walk. Probably would have been about the same time if I had. Bad mental state today. Not good.
I think, come race day, some of that mental problem will go away. I'm honestly not concerned with the swim at all, to the point where I'm concerned about my lack of worry. I think I'll be able to charge out of the water having expended little energy and still feeling strong. So the second and third legs are where the trouble lies, and the third leg, the run, will be the real gut check. Best Friend Dirtbag sent me this text renaming the swim/bike/run: "The name of the event could be changed to swim/bike/stumblepassoutrecoverrallyforthewin." I like it, but it doesn't fit as well on a bumper sticker. Might be the semi-official motto of Dirtbag Fitness. I'm getting this attitude into my head now: I'm strong. I'm badass. I'm Dirtbag fit and I can get this done. Booyah, Grandma. Booyah.