Feeling it...

It wasn't the nicest day for a long ride, it was about 13 C at best, but it had to be done.

All morning at work I was watching the clock, trying to get all my stuff done and calculating the latest I could get on my bike and finish before my haircut appointment at 6:20 pm.

I was on schedule until I got on my bike and my shoes wouldn't clip into my new pedals. The guy at the store thought my old cleats would work. Wrong. For the next 30 minutes I struggled to change the old cleats with the new. One of the screw heads on one of the shoes was stripped.

Although it threw me off schedule, in the end it may be for the best. At least I'll be going into IMSG with new cleats and pedals and hopefully one less thing to worry about. On the Achilles front, I'm now fairly certain my problems have been caused by tightness in my body. They seem to be getting better since I've been using relaxation techniques.

The stress is definitely still there, but now moving from my Achilles to my lower back. It was tightening all morning. I was so glad to finally get on my bike, there's nothing like exercise to relax my back. I was telling Alice about my back and she said, "you probably shouldn't have signed up for St. George". I told her, "I'm actually looking forward to St. George, the stress is from other stuff".

About 90 km into the ride, I saw a cyclist in front of me and rode up beside him. His name was Shaw and does cycling races. During peak weeks he'll do over 20 hours on the bike. I was amazed when he told me he's never done a century ride, ever. He had one of the "nicest" and most "unique" and "cleanest" bikes I've ever seen. Fully loaded, it's $10,000. He was a good cyclist, which was nice, we were able to ride side by side and talk at a good workout speed.

Shaw fully convinced me I should be wearing compression tights when I sleep. He said it's amazing how they help with recovery and his legs feel "fresh" afterwards. I'm definitely going to try them. I'm hoping they work for me, I'd love to be able to walk, rather than shuffle, down the stairs in the morning.

I had to do my ride in two parts. The first was pre-haircut and the second was post-haircut. While I was at the shop, I rushed Carmen, my hair guy. He normally likes to talk. I told him, "I don't mean to be rude, but I need you to hurry up so I get my ride finished and be back before dark. Please don't take it the wrong way".

I finished the ride, but not before dark. I was about 30 minutes to late. When I got home I was debating if I should do a brick run. I felt good, good enough to get back on the full MAO program. Today he had me scheduled for long bike and run, so I went for a run. I was paranoid about the Achilles, but kept visualizing of relaxed periods of my life whenever it got tight. It worked.

I finished about 100 meters from home, my time was up. I felt so POSITIVE and STRONG. I felt like I was back on track. As I started walking, it wasn't a normal walk, it was the same type of walk that the movie character IRONMAN does. I was walking confidently, my chest was out, my arms were swinging and my hands were clenched into fits.

I was a little euphoric and "choked up" as I walked. I was thinking, St. George, here I come.

Can you spell "endorphin rush". I felt so damn good and invincible. It could be fleeting, but at least for today, it was a great day of training. It felt like "old times". I really hope it lasts

Long Bike - 5:35:57 / 166.20 km / 29.68 kph / 131 avg hr

Brick Run - 41:32 / 8.02 km / 5:10 pace / 143 avg hr

180.6 lbs / 21.5 BMI

About 2:17 into this video, you'll see how I was walking. haha.