Vibe check

The craziness has officially started!

Saturday’s race was everything I hoped for. Fuel worked great, legs worked as good as they could have, and fitness was strong, even if it felt a little dampened at times.

I blame that headwind and the dry air!

Honestly, it just felt good to drain the tank and go big on a course that I’m familiar with.

Last year, the wind was chilly out of the north. This year, it was hot out of the south.

COMPLETELY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE.

This route starts out going east and north, then switches south and west for a long, long time. I was begging for some tailwind but it was unrelenting for about 35 miles. It didn’t come until the last 5, so it made that stretch at least feel like redemption.

I gave it as much as I could. I was worried about my legs, and I could definitely tell that I had hit my limits fighting the wind. There’s nothing like chugging along at 9 mph straight into the wind. Might as well just be a big climb at that point.

Third place passed me at about mile 50. I just couldn’t fight it. I needed a few miles to go slow and let the sugar make its way to my legs. I finished 4th, just a minute behind her! It was a great chase and mental challenge to try to find that last bit of strength.

This course definitely exposes my weaknesses — flat and windy. I’ve done it 3 times now, and it kicks my butt every single time!

But my Tailwind experiment paid off. I had an extra 600 calories to work with, and it gave me more reason to drink, which is always something I forget. That, plus the long road stretches, made it a lot easier to fuel (even if the wind didn’t), so I staved off that hunger pain that always seems to hit me at like mile 40 because I under-fuel.

And I never bloated up, which is also a huge win. I spent a few days obsessing over my diet before this race and it really paid off. I felt good on the inside, which I don’t think has ever happened. A FODMAP-friendly diet is not the easiest to follow, but I’m getting better and better at it.

This is the first race I went hard, hard, hard at the beginning, just to see how it would go. I tagged first and second place, and even as I saw them slip away, I was still pretty confident knowing I was in third for a majority of the time. In the end, it doesn’t matter how long you were there, though, you don’t get points for that. :)

But Zu pushed me out of my comfort zone right from the start, and it was amazing to work with her for a few miles, flying through chunky gravel above 20 mph.

I probably should have some more sugar right before the start if I want to try to do that again. I burned through what little I did eat an hour before the race in probably 5 minutes, haha! If my training taught me anything, it’s that it goes quick, and I can easily burn 100 calories in less than 10 minutes. I drank a lot in that first little bit trying to prevent a blood sugar crash!

I’m gonna try it again soon.

***

The next couple of months are going to focus on mileage and fitness.

I need to survive a couple of days in the saddle that will probably push 10-12 hours, maybe more depending on the weather that day. I’m nervous, I’m excited, I’m scared, I’m maybe even a little freaked out an intimidated, but I’m also ready.

It’s hard to explain and even harder to understand, but I’ve always loved endurance sports, and I didn’t fully realize that about myself until I bought my first road bike.

My first road bike ride was 20 miles and I just wanted to go more. I did go more, actually. In my first year, I did 75 miles of the Triple Bypass, and a century, all within the first 6 months. The century did mess up my knee (classic story of Julie going too hard, too soon), and I hit some PT to heal up before doing it all over again. The knee’s been fine, now, though. It’s all my other muscles!

Riding a bike just makes me feel like a kid again. Growing up was endless adventures running through cornfields, down train tracks, through forest paths, riding my bike ALL day long. One of my favorite things to do was walk/ride/skate across town — good thing I grew up in a safe place, I mean, I was just a kid doing this stuff. I freakin’ loved it. That turned into long as road trips as I got older.

I always just wanted to go. Yes, I drove my parents insane.

Now that I’m here in this space, everything just makes so much sense. I can go as long as my body will let me, and I will, and I don’t want you to tell me that I won’t, or that I shouldn’t, or that I can’t.

I’ll be the judge of that.

(OK, I admit, maybe I’m not always great about it, but I don’t care.)

This is the spark that lights my fire. Why would you want to put that out?