A Frustrating Day, so Drop the Hammer

I'm usually a easy going guy. I mostly live up to Deborah's nickname for me: "Tigger". But today sucked. I'm not going to give you the whole drawn out swamp of a day though.

I slept badly getting 3-4 hours. We went to bed about 11:15-11:30, but I couldn't turn things off. Did I have something with caffeine late in the day? I couldn't remember and that was more frustrating. Most mornings, I have the parent taxi duty which is dropping 5 kids at 4 schools. Today I had just Marrah and Bobby, but that meant getting up at in time to get her to school at 7:00. I felt rough getting up, so I got a long hot shower when I got back, which made me feel a little better. Next I got ready for work and got Bobby to school, which was easy. Bobby's my Ace and usually easy to get going.

The work day was frustrating trying to focus and get things done. I'm in charge of the IT and phone systems of our office move, which can be just loads of fun. Meanwhile there were "distractions" raging over email with one of my daughters, Deborah and "the ex". All was settled eventually, but it did nothing for my mood. I made a decision about 2:00 I was going to get out on a ride if at all possible and I was going to ride like I stole something, which would probably help me sleep at the very least.

I got home said hellos and checked on the status of homework. Thing seemed to be humming along with Jess our nanny in control. I headed upstairs to get dressed and get out. I installed a Google weather bug widget today, which might not have been a good idea. I watched the temperature rise all day and peak at 62 degrees about 4:00. I filled one water bottle, snapped in my Garmin and left the earlier part of the day behind.

One more frustration slapped me. I started out and my heart rate monitor wouldn't work right. I fiddled with it for about 5 minutes, gave up and pushed off. After a mile and a half in it worked fine. I was just going to ride away from the house into eastern Wake county for half an hour and then turn it around. I've ridden in the big ring for most of the last week and I was determined to stay there today. True to my commitment, I took off at a very fast pace of more than 20 mph, which I doubted I could sustain.

The route was pretty hilly for this part of the county with some pretty sharp climbs of 6-10 percent grades. I tried to save something on descents to have something to left for the climbs. I felt really good on the climbs and seemed to carry a lot of my momentum forward. I checked my numbers at the 30 minute mark . I had a 19 mph pace with more climbing than descending. Both were a surprise. The route felt more downhill than not. I took a big pull off my water bottle and headed back. The sun was setting, so I needed to head back.

Along the way back, I kept checking the Garmin to see where I was. I dipped below 19 mph for a good amount of the ride back, which honestly pissed me off. I started calculating what time per mile I needed to get to get back to 19 mph or north of there. The turn came at 9.7 miles, so I was assuming about 19.5 miles for the ride, which was good since it wasn't quite that much. At the 16 mile mark give or take, I calculated that I needed 3 minute miles the rest of the way back to hit the 19 mph mark for the whole ride. That's 20 mph average pace over road that was up and down, which meant it would be a stretch. If I caught too many speed and momentum killing lights, I wouldn't make it.

I fought the bike the rest of the way back only catching one light. I could see I was redlining my heart rate (170-180 beats per minute) and my legs were starting to bitch at me. I could tell I was pulling the bike and fighting up the hills, because I could feel my arms starting to complain too.

I topped the hill, pushed the button to stop the Garmin's time. I slowed and stopped feeling my pulse all over my body. 19:12 miles at 1:00:17! Finally I accomplished some thing positive on the day. I could feel sweat dripping everywhere including into and down my ears. That felt odd. I was scortched and I went home to get a shower. I finally felt like I acomplished something on the day. I know that pace might not be a lot for riders in better shape or with more experience, but it was a big thing for me. I think I'll sleep well tonight, or I hope I will.

It looks like the rest of the work week was going to be a trainer week since snow and colder weather is rolling in. I hate winter.