We'll Never Forget.

Been a bit busy at work, and busy fighting demons. I think the Fat Tire did a number on the self confidence, and have been trying to get out of the quagmire ever since. It was tough - yes, but I finished and wasn't last, yet... Self doubt creeped in somewhere.

Thursday evening after my last post I was back at the pool. I did nothing but stroke drills and some leg work down in the deep end. It was good. Labor day weekend I was planning on getting some ride time in on the new road bike, but it rained the whole weekend, and I didn't want my first ride to end or start badly by mixing inexperience with wet roads. I did go for a long run in the rain on labor day, and it felt great. Tuesday I was back at the pool and worked on my stroke some more and then did 8x50 on 60s rest. I got out feeling good. Wednesday morning I went out predawn on the new bike. Was feeling nervous because, 1. No headlight yet (my light from my MTB doesn't fit) and 2. First time on a road bike and was having crazy anxiety issues about crashing. I used a headlamp on my helmet for light (note to self, when using the headlamp it is imperative that you where glasses - bugs are not good for the eyes, nose or mouth). I did not crash. I took it slow just getting a feel for the bike, took note of some adjustments I needed to make and headed home. Thursday evening back to the pool and did some battle with the self doubt demon again. I warmed up with stroke drills, then swam a straight 400 yards, then cool down with more stroke drills. During the straight 400 I felt like I was struggling the whole time, and I battled that demon the entire 400 yards. My time was 9:50. On the way home I was thinking that the time wasn't too bad, so I figured what the per 100m time was - 2:41.3. Then I looked up my 400m time from the Socorro tri and converted it to the per 100m time - 2:42.5. That is a 1.2 second boost to my confidence, hopefully that demon is reconsidering bothering me.

Friday predawn I put in four miles on the run, then Saturday and Sunday I put some time in on the bike - need to get used to it and get all the tweaking done before this coming Cotton Country Tri. Anyway all this nonsense to say that I'm back.

Oh and in the midst of all of this pity party wallowing, my hubby gets a gift certificate from a vendor for Bass Pro shops. So he bought himself some cool stuff, but he got me a camelback. He's been nagging me about my lack of hydration during my racing - which is true. The last two races I got some serious post race headaches that did not go away with food, drugs or anything except serious amounts of fluid. I just don't crave fluid. Anything sweet makes my want to puke, and I have to remind myself to drink while I'm on the bike, but during the last two races I was really focused on not thinking of anything other than biking. During the run, I do get water at the aid stations but maybe drink half a cup and the rest is used as evaporative cooling. My brother-in-law suggested a camelback because the straw is right there, so its easier to just take a sip. Been riding and running with it to get used to the feel of it on my back, no issues there. Thanks hubby!

I hope to post a picture of the new bike soon, so stay tuned...