Dirtbag Masochist Chapter 1

Ride Day
Suggested Time- 70min
Actual Time- 78min*
Distance- 17.26mi
*time does not include first two descents

Sometimes you can just tell that today will not be a great day, nor a fast one. This was one of those days. Almost immediately my legs started giving my negative feedback and I could tell than none of these climbs would be fun or any easier than any other day. And I was right.
God, I felt slow today. I was slow today. My first summit was at 26min. This is two minutes slower than earlier this week.But today it just hurt. I couldn't get it going mentally, and when you're beat mentally the whole thing will come crashing down unless you can get it back. I got it back, barely.
My second climb didn't start much better. I could not focus on the push/pull pedal stroke that is so much more efficient, couldn't focus on much of anything beside how my legs hurt and how slow I felt like I was going. I even went away to my happy place a few times. Going to the happy place is good in that you keep moving and feel it less, but bad in that your effort level drops significantly when you're not paying close attention. So I had to keep coming back and trying to work it. Telling myself it really isn't that far of a climb. It worked and I got to the top. Time at summit- 44min.
I had already decided this would be the day I go for three. I have the time, I need to fight through it. The next time will hurt a little less because of it. But this time hurt plenty. Pretty much a repeat of the second climb. Time at summit- 1:02.
One big positive I'm taking away from today is how I finished climbs two and three. You may remember me mentioning that the final corner is the steepest incline as well, and it leads to a solid, but not too steep finish. At that corner I really tried to step on it. I made a focused effort to get my stroke rate up and charge up the last of the hill. I managed it both times. Pretty pleased with that. Also, on my last descent I set the gears so that even moving down at high speeds I could still pedal with resistance, pushing myself faster. So for nearly all of the last descent I was moving my legs, pumping with a quick cadence, something I need to have trained into my legs for the race. As the road leveled off this too started to burn, but burn = strong. (I'm full of Dirtbag Tough Guy Sayings today) Pedaled all the way back to the car.
I did very little core today, I wussed out on it. But did have a nice long stretch, which is more important. I don't think I'll be getting dared into a ride tomorrow. I earned a day off.
Hardcore week for Team Dirtbag.