No Excuses

Today I wrestled. With the wind. With my progess. With my attitude. It was a beautiful day to ride - just warm enough to wear shorts but needed gloves. I felt fast. But my times did not reflect "fast." It was very frustrating after the last few weeks of really hard bike workouts. So I worked on my excuses.

1. I'm old (do the payoffs take longer? Am I just, gulp, going to have to accept being slow? No! Shake it off.)
2. I'm riding all hills with wind. (Argh! This is also unnacceptable. I ride this route all the time with wind.)
3. I ran a 20-miler the day before. (hmmm... this one has possibilities...)
4. I drank too much wine playing Balderdash last night. (Heck, I had to guess what tantony and proggers mean and desperately tried to recall what enticing behavior is against the law in my home state of Connecticut. (We have a winner! An excuse, that is - I never win at Balderdash).

Now with a believable excuse, I can enjoy the ride. I still ride hard - afterall, I only have 3.5 hours to get in a long-ride/short-run brick before the in-laws arrive. I focus on the amazing blue sky and the scenery. And I even stop for a few moments to take this photo. Because the light is so great today. This old service station is one of the sacred places along this route. It reminds me of one of my favorite paintings: "Gas" by Edward Hopper. Ironically it is now an art gallery.

The run proves to be the hardest part of the day. My legs are cement, and yet I put in 4 miles at close to 7-minute pace. Interesting. Week 14 begins tomorrow.