Not right

Well the forecast was right and I wasn't.

This morning was not clear skies and dry roads. Still it was much nicer out on the bike than it would have been yesterday. Based on that I consider my decision to move my long ride to today as a win.

I wouldn't want to give you the impression that the ride was either pleasant or fun though. Whilst the ride was only mildly damp, with 10mm or rain falling during the period I was out on the bike, the 30 to 50km/h winds that were blowing were a touch unnecessary in my opinion.

Before heading out I made the call to do the ride on my old road bike. In the end I have kept the bike around for occasions just like this. I have done wet rides on the P5 before, and whilst it isn't the end of the world, a little part of me hates myself for it every time. It would have been good to do the session on the P5, but sessions like these are far from ideal before you even get on the bike. I figured that doing the ride on the road bike was probably going to be the least of my problems.

Other than the obvious issues, the ride itself went mostly okay. It was 100km of work. Starting off with some hills repeats and then finishing off with two long race pace efforts. I say mostly okay because about 10km or so into the ride I realised that I had left home without any nutrition. I was still quite early in the ride, and close to home, and could have easily gone back, but I convinced myself that I would be okay. I was not.

All the intense work bits went okay, particularly the hills and one and a half efforts. The last half of the second effort was when the lack of nutrition really started to bite. I got through, but the power had started to drop.

Getting to the end of that last effort had really taken the last of what I had though. I still had 15km to get home, some of it into an extreme headwind, and I wasn't sure how I was going to manage it. I even pulled over and asked a guy who was obviously getting ready for a long run if he had any spare nutrition. He was training for Ironman Cairns and was just getting ready to head out on a three hour run, but he was still was nice enough to let me have some of his lollies. Big thank you unidentified Ironman competitor, where ever you are.

Unfortunately I suspect I was all ready too far gone by the time I got the lollies, so the next 15km home was a real struggle. In the end though, with the help of a couple of stops, I made it. Very happy to be at my front gate. I now know what people mean when they say their vision is 'swimming'. I certainly needed a couple of quiet moments once I was home.

Good to have the session done. Over all it has been a good week of training this week. The lack of running hasn't been ideal, but I have had some good swim and bike sessions to make up for it. Feels like it has been a bit of a money in the bank week, which are good ones to have.