Headwinds and holiday roosters

BIKE: 4hrs 18 mins and 65.something miles in IL

Labor day weekend = free day! Let's make the most of it!

It started off with a 7am ride from Columbia. Saturday the weather was 100, yesterday in the 70's, and today in the high 50's/low 60's. There was a steady wind out of the north/northwest, the crops are turning, and a few leaves falling. Speaking of falling, and regardless of what the calendar says, fall is HERE.

We started out on a slightly different route that eventually merged in with the usual. We also had 4 new riders! DD, DS, LK, and DS joined us. Unlike most group rides, I wanted this one to just go-go-go. Not because it was cold (that was part of it) but because I wanted a training ride that was more like a race ride--steady moderately hard effort with water breaks and stops. It's not my ride so I can't do that to everyone else, but I could make the most of the intervals in the mean time. So that's my goal--try to find that breaking point I see in races and dance around that fire for awhile.

Oh and my other Need-To-Fix: nutrition--today had batter-like Sustained with a gel, Powerbar, Perform, Lara bar, 2 gels. Total of about 1100 calories? 170+100+220+210+220+200=about 1100. OK, rock n roll.

Started off good and strong, trying to hang with GB who can accelerate out of nowhere and put the hammer down. Note I said trying to hang with GB, I was only moderately successful.

Hills, curves, cornfields, winds, sunshine, quiet roads, Bird, great company. What I love about this.

At the stop in Millstadt CP talked a bit about the mental strategies I need to be working on, right now for SM but also for the future. This was 1hr in, and I noshed most of the powerbar while at the stop. Off to Waterloo, during which we passed a T-intersection with some lazy-ass roosters crowing. We figured it was a holiday, so they slept in. Started working on the Sustained and had the rest of the PB. Hydration was good (in retrospect, I'll bet it was low), energy felt good.

In between W and V was Trout Hill. IT read it was a 25+% hill so we just had to try it. I was nervous about going down. I'm such a downhill chicken. BAWK BAWK. Get the f down the hill, yo. OK that wasn't so bad. Now back up! I was the first rider up, with CP, GT, and IT behind me. Grind, grind, and stand, and stand, and SUMMIT! Awesome! I'd do it again if I could! But I don't think it was really the advertised 28%.

At the stop in Valmeyer (about 3hrs or so in) I had a gel and debated another. By this time all I had left was 1/4 bottle of Perform, 1 gel, and plenty of water (add in a refill here). This was the time in a ride that I start to falter from nutrition. But I was still good for now.

Getting a sense of where this is going? The last 15-some miles included the big downhill then a long stretch of flats. Today the flats were directly into the headwind! So instead of a 28 mph tailwind ride it was a 13 mph headwind ride. Oooff!! But it wasn't hard. It was just long.

CP gathered us into pacelines and echelons, teaching some of the new to the group riders how to do it. At about 7 miles into this wind, my wind went to The Stupids. It's hard to get a water bottle or food out in a wind, and even harder to do it while pulling a rider in the wind. So when CP asked a rider to hang with me and asked me to signal proper positioning to this other rider, my mind said something along the lines of "what-f^cking-ever let's just get this done". Hmmmm, sounds like somebody needs to eat!

Yup, I went south. Again. I quit talking, I quit looking behind me as much, I focused on just the road in front of the Bird and nothing else. My pace stayed steady but that look a lot of effort. My HR rose a little but didn't go south as well. It was all mental. Damn it!

We turned out of the wind and had only miles to go. By this point I realized it was too late to eat, and once out of the wind I was feeling magically better. Back at the truck, I was fuzzed over but functional (I've had rides ending in this parking lot with me being non-functional!). Looked at the clock--only 1hr to get to our Savage planning meeting! AH!

Hurry home, drink some green smoothie with protein and chia, hurry shower, hurry drive. I'd noticed earlier that my hands were tingly but I thought it was the vibrations from the rough road and non-carbon Bird. But now my forearms were tingly. And now my neck. And now my face. Kinda like an electrolyte tingle, but not quite. I still think it was vibrations. But just in case, I started popping Endurolytes with water. And Whammo! Nausea.

I walked by the salad bar at our meetup place and the food just looked awful. Wonderful veggies, cut fruit, raisins, nuts, yummy yummy awful. So I didn't eat :( I really needed to but really couldn't. A few times I was sure I was going to hurl. I did my best to hang in there, I did get better over time, but I didn't do too hot. Damn it all to hell!

I need to fix this shit! It's killing my performance, my recovery, and my day to day living! This past few weeks has felt like an anxiety-ridden, fatigue-filled, blusterfest. WTH? Time to crack down on this. This has never been a nutrition log, but for a while now it will have to be. I need to fix this! I need to get my life in order, my work ethic recharged, my goals laid out, and some solid ground to stand on. I can't live like this.