To start with, I wimped out this morning. I did NOT join my training buddy in open water swimming practice. Mainly because it was 50*F outside and blowing steadily over 25 mph and gusting higher. I did, however, put on my wetsuit bottoms just to stay warm while I spotted from shore! Nope, swimming in whitecaps makes me too nervous. Frigid whitecaps? Forget it! David bravely did about 20 minutes and said he swallowed a lot of water, but said the water temperature was bearable after a while out there.
Then we went out on the bikes, and it was going wonderfully - for the first half of the ride, that is, when we had a fantastic tailwind pushing us along.
Then we had one of the toughest slogs back against a headwind that I've yet experienced. My hands were cramping from gripping the aerobars so tightly to keep the bike under control! Buttercup is a little squirrely under the best of conditions, and she loathes wind like the Devil. She tried to scamper out from underneath me several times. We did a lot of granny gear. I kept thinking that it was just hill training for me on the flat.
Then we went out on the bikes, and it was going wonderfully - for the first half of the ride, that is, when we had a fantastic tailwind pushing us along.
Then we had one of the toughest slogs back against a headwind that I've yet experienced. My hands were cramping from gripping the aerobars so tightly to keep the bike under control! Buttercup is a little squirrely under the best of conditions, and she loathes wind like the Devil. She tried to scamper out from underneath me several times. We did a lot of granny gear. I kept thinking that it was just hill training for me on the flat.
Update: I found out later that it was sufficiently windy today to cancel the Chesapeake Bay Bridge 10K and Bay Bridge Walk today. So it's not just me being a whiner.
2 comments:
Swimming in whitecaps right after a storm had passed in puget sound was how I learned to not be afraid of open water. I was so busy trying to swim I didn't have time to be afraid of whatever monsters my mind was telling me where there.
I did have a spotter. I did swallow a bit of water. It was strange coming out of a swell to find that there wasn't any water and fall 2-3ft into the trough.
But swimming in lakes and sounds doesn't bother me anymore.
I would have joined you on the beach.
On the bike, I always TRY to head into the wind to start. I go maybe 10-15% beyond the halfway mark, timewise. Than, I head home with the wind.
Sometimes, I reverse that so that in case the winds are evil come Ironman.
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