70 miles...check!

Yesterday, I reached a new milestone in my Ironman training. I biked 70 miles which is the longest I have biked to date. It definitely did not come without a little struggling.

Since my Half Ironman in June, I have not biked more than 50 miles. It wasn't because I couldn't physically bike further than that. It was because I couldn't mentally bike that far. There seemed to be a mental roadblock that stopped me from leaving the "known" of 56 miles to the "unknown" of longer distances. Over the past couple of weeks, I had gotten pretty good at coming up with reasons for not biking further than 50 miles. My legs are sore and/or tired. My head hurts. My allergies are acting up. I need new bike gloves. One of my bike gloves is missing. Biking by myself sucks, so I'll just wait to do it at a time when I can go with hubby. Hubby always wants me to wait for him at the top of hills, but won't wait for me on the way down, so I'll just do this ride later on my own.

Truth be told, I was not pushing myself as hard as I should. Yesterday, I put my foot down. Yes, my legs were sore from the 5K the day before. Yes, my neck was getting painful from being in the aero position for so long. Yes, I still need new bike gloves. Yes, hubby still drops me on the downhills. But how am I ever going to be able to do an Ironman if I can't bike for more than 56 miles? This would have to be something to push through and just do it. No if's, and's or but's. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

Yesterday, I finally got past that mental roadblock. Actually, make that smashed through that mental roadblock. Not only did I accomplish something, but I have a renewed sense of confidence. I can do this Ironman. I will do this Ironman. I can do the training. I just have to stop listening to the doubt in my head. I used to dread my weekly long bike ride. Now, I'm actually looking forward to next week's 85 mile ride.

On a side note, don't bike on Sunday in Boston. Apparently, its learn to ride your bike day and I was almost hit five times by swervers and once by an unleashed dog. Clearly, the owner thought that the mandatory "short leash" meant that the leash could be so short that its invisible. When we passed her the second time, she grabbed the dog's collar to keep him from running out. She clearly didn't even have a leash with her. I realize your dog may be obediant 99.9% of the time, but its still an animal. You never know when its going to do something random like run out in front of a bike. Please, the signs ask you to leash your dog for a reason. Its for the safety of your dog and other people.

2 comments:

Bonnie said...


Congratulations, Rachelle! Way to go!

Unknown said...


Yay, congratulations!



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