Learning from a Painful Personal Best

Up at 3am to go racing last Sunday. Had a stinker of a cold the previous week just to top off my gardening related self inflicted crippling. So - having not touched the bike for a fortnight I wasn't expecting great things, good job eh? My motivation for doing this was to put a mark down for the SCCU 50 @ the end of the month. I haven't ridden my bike that distance for a long time - would I make it round? Secretly I was hoping for a PB but not by much - want to hit form @ end of the month and who knows....

Things didn't get off too well, the timekeeper was late. When I'm late I get a late start penalty, I reckon we should all get 10 mins off our time to make up for this administrative shabbyness.....

I roll off in my customary casual stylee. The road surface was not up to much, lots of bumps and more than a few 'oles. As I began to push on I'm afraid I started to expel the remains of my cold - this unpleasantness continued the whole way round, eeewwwww. At the half way mark I wasn't feeling too bad, I hit that point @ 1 hour 11 mins, well ahead of where I was expecting. I should've bailed out here. The second lap just sapped me of everything. The final 13 miles was the most draining experience. I hit that mark at 1.45.37. I crawled back and even had to use the small ring for a short distance. The final kick up to the finish was just cruel (I survived this by thinking what must it be like to pull your finger nails out - more painful than this, surely).

I came home in 1.25.52, a PB by 45 seconds. Mission accomplished in a most forgettable style. Much better efforts from t'other fellow agreeables and ye Tri Sport news crew. Dave Palmer's shouts en route helped to keep me going (he could see how f***ed I was - we spoke after). Jim Burdett, 2.3.40 (PB), Dominic 2.8.39, Dave P 2.9.44, RRE 2.10.15

It's now Friday and I don't think I've managed a full nights sleep this week. Shoulder and back, chest in a lot of discomfort. Eases a bit through the day but not good at night. I've had to pull out of the Horsham 10 tomorrow. Going to take it as easy as I can in the desperate hope of being fit for the SCCU 50.

I'm learning that as I push myself, then my body pushes back.....hard. Hindsight's a wonderful thing but I'm sorry that I raced last weekend.