Well, Day 4 of Training Camp had so much promise! I was really looking forward to an epic 150km ride...but I guess it was not meant to be :( Mamma always says everything happens for a reason, so I am trying not to be too disappointed.
The day started at 6am when I woke up to do some core work and swim tubing exercises. I felt a little tired, but I wasn't surprised given yesterday's efforts. The real upsetting part of the morning came at around 6:45am when I went outside to walk to the lobby for breakfast and I realized it was pouring rain! This was not a good sign. The camp director had mentioned on Monday that "NO ONE RIDES IN THE RAIN HERE". Not only are the descents a lot more tricky in the rain, but debris from the mountains like sand and rocks tend to wash on the roads and make an unwelcome surprise as you take a sharp turn on a descent. I anxiously checked the THREE weather applications on my iPhone to see whether this rain would stop. I was hopeful, because 2 of 3 said that the rain would stop by 8am which was when the ride was supposed to start. I had no such luck.
At 8:15 the group was huddled around in the parking lot of our meeting spot...only 2 out of 10 of us (me and fellow rider, Robert, from Alaska) were in cycling gear. Robert and I decided that we were still up for a ride so we headed out in the rain, both hopeful that it would end soon...65km later, 800m of climbing and it was still raining. I was soaked through, freezing cold and had been unable to even hold a water bottle to my mouth to take in any fluid or nutrition. Happy I had survived two scary descents already, I called it a day and went back to the hotel for a nice, long, hot shower. Maybe that's not what the tough Pro triathletes do, but you can't go from me now (65% tough?) to 100% tough in a day...the fact that I rode at all maybe inched up my toughness to 70% :) So, all in all, definitely not the day I was hoping for...but that gives you a sense of how spoiled I have become. Had this been my first ride of the camp, I would have called it a success :)
Tomorrow is supposed to be another rainy one, so my coach and I have come up with a backup plan that may still let me get in my big riding day on Saturday or Sunday before I have to head back home. Thanks for reading and I hope to have a more exciting entry tomorrow!
85% tough, i would say!! :)
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