We made it to Kelly’s house and popped in for a quick bathroom break. I wanted to break off on my own and ride home but the girls convinced me to keep riding with them. As we set off from Kelly’s house Ally wobbled and wound up falling, landing sharply on her elbow. We were concerned something was broken, but Ally wanted to keep riding. I would have rather called the ride right there…but we forged on.
As soon as we were back on the highway, right away, I got dropped again. I was ready to turn my attitude around though, so I got comfortable with being in the back. I figured I’d just ride along and perhaps make a turn later to take me back to Cochrane then back home. I did want to get my entire 5 hour ride done.
As I kept riding I realized that my legs were getting shaky and I was seeing spots. Classic bonk. I pulled over and started having a bit of a picnic, having some Infinit, some Fig Newtons and a bike to Honey Stinger bar. Ally and Kelly saw I had stopped, gave me a call and I rode up to meet them. I don’t know what happened but I just started crying.
Apparently, bonk = tears. According to my coach.
Ally was hurting so we turned back around. The good news for Ally is that nothing is broken, whew!
But wow, this ride was one heck of a roller coaster of emotions. I wound up heading home, having lunch with the Boyfriend, and we went for a nice ride nearby. It was easy and it was fun, just what I needed to fall back in love with my bike.
So, lessons learned?
- My ride is my ride. I need to worry about my speed only, and not worry about keeping up with my riding buddies. Not if it is going to affect me so negatively.
- Um, welcome to Ironman training…an emotional roller coaster!
- Calories matter, but so do the type of calories. I needed to have some protein earlier on in the ride.
Anyhow, time to move on and looking forward to a better week of training this week!
As for my hip? I saw my ART practitioner today and it isn’t my IT band. It is just off to the side of my IT band. It will be fixable…hopefully with my session today and one on Wednesday I’ll be good for my long run this week….let’s keep our fingers crossed! Walking and riding don’t cause a problem luckily. but hopefully things will be good for running!
