Normal day

Yesterday was a normal Tuesday. Started the day at 4:45AM, went to the gym at work for some strength training followed by a run. My legs were tired from the run the day before so I decided to run at whatever pace felt comfortable. Tuesday evenings I normally do a ride by myself but this week I was invited for a group ride with two other ladies at a local hotspot for Tuesday rides. I was amazed on how many people were there, I had no idea.

Ride was going alright. My legs were tired going into the ride. I tried to hang on as much as I could but often got dropped. They were nice enough to wait for me at intersections. I’ve only done a few group rides but this was the first time I realized how much of a difference drafting makes. As soon as I’d get dropped the gap would grow very fast. All I kept thinking was hang on! And when I couldn’t I’d remind myself that next time I’d be on a new sweet bike and I’d have no problem hanging on (hopefully!).

Towards the end the skies started to get very dark and we realized we were going to get caught in a thunderstorm. Seeing huge strikes of lightning does make you quicken the pace a bit but it wasn’t enough. This was only my second time being caught in the rain during a ride but this time was way worse. It was absolutely down pouring. The water wasn’t clearing from the road fast enough so often you were riding through standing water. To make it worse there were horrible winds. We were getting pushed around a lot and the rain coming in sideways didn’t help with visibility. I read other riders Stravas posts that night and one title included “hail”. That could explain why it hurt getting hit by what I thought was rain at times. Luckily we all made it back to the cars safety. I had my husband’s car and for whatever reason he had a tarp in it. That saved his seat because when I removed the tarp after I got home I put a huge puddle on the garage floor.

As soon as I walked through the door at 8PM I had to strip down in my laundry room as to not drip water all over my house. I debated what was more important as I stood in my underwear: Eat or shower and put some clothes on before standing in the kitchen (there are a lot of windows in the back of my house). My stomach won. I wanted to eat everything in sight. It became a matter of what takes the least amount of time to throw together so I can quickly shove it in my mouth. To save on time I finished my shake in the shower which is a common practice for me. Got to save time somewhere! Sat on the couch for all of 15 minutes watching one of my guilty pleasure shows (Bachelorette… don’t judge!) while reviewing activity data and eating mindlessly. Enjoyed reading the Strava titles of others caught in the storm and drank until I felt sick from a stomach full of water before decided it was time for bed.

Lying in bed exhausted I couldn’t help but wonder, is this a normal lifestyle? Nope! But I love it nonetheless. This is my new lifestyle. It’s the day in the life of a triathlete.