No Chicken Little and Trigger Wins The Day

Well, I am happy to say that the sky is not falling.  I survived my tired end to last week, took the rest of Monday off and got serious about some rest.  (Of course, I am getting ready to dig a great big hole again starting tonight.)  DW managed to keep any eye rolling or smirks out of his tone of voice, though I did get the distinct impression that he wasn't nearly as concerned as I was.   My text to him today, sent after a wickedly aggressive not-quite-three hour ride (moderation?  WHAT'S THAT?), announced that the sky wasn't falling and "I suppose I am prone to hysterics".  

I have a theory on why I am always so sure I am dying.  I have been an athlete for a large portion of my life.  The periods where I wasn't able to claim that title were very dark times for me.  I have come to this point, this level of fitness, this precipice where I am trying to break through the glass ceiling with my fitness several times before.  Every time, I have fallen apart.  I have broken catastrophically.  I have sustained injury that proved to be "career ending".  I think with triathlon, with DW, I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I think some part of me truly believes that any moment now, all this happiness will come to a sudden stop.  Of course, if I continue to think that way, it will.

Really hard to feel anything but good when it looks like this!!

On another note, I had another beautiful 2:45 beach ride today.  It was really windy so every stranger I passed tried to grab my wheel.  One guy hung on for a while and when I realized he was lurking back there, I ran us through a puddle to inspire him to announce himself.  He turned out to be very nice and very appreciative.  Another guy was not so nice.  After I pulled him into the wind at 20+ mph for 45 mins, I stopped at a red light.  He made a snarky comment as he ran the red and then sprinted away from me.  I caught that arrogant son-of-a.... about thirty seconds after the light turned green.  He jumped on my wheel again.  Repeat experience.  Then I got really angry, "I WILL DESTROY YOU! I WILL CRUSH YOUR SOUL!" angry, and when I caught him from a standstill again, I was burning about 26 into the wind and still accelerating.  He tried to grab my wheel for the third time and I dropped him hard in less than 10 seconds.  Jerk.

Okay, so maybe I exceeded the endurance heart rate zone by just a bit but I got back to my car bouncing, feisty, and ready to take him on all over again!!  Thank you DW for all those threshold intervals!  On the way home, the bike got dropped of at Flying Wheel for some love that it earned today.  New upgraded tires, a tune up and deep clean, and swanky new Italian-made bar tape.  Trigger, you're all right, even if you weren't designed for this.  Even when I get something new and flashy, you'll get to retire to the leisurely life of a commuter/pleasure bike because you were my first.

Trigger