Day 5 of pain

It officially hurts. And it hurts everywhere. We knew we were in for trouble when all three of us were extremely quiet this morning. No one want to admit, but we were all hurting.

7:00 hit the water again. We were given the option of drills or a long swim. Long swim it is. Since the workout didn't have any structure my goal was to go out hard and try to stay with the lead group of swimmers. My second goal was to swim the 1200y without looking up at all. For the most part I accomplished that. I definitely swam outside my comfort zone but I was doing a really good job staying on the feet in front of me.

At the buoy we decided to head out looking for dolphins. No go today. On the way back I knew I wouldn't hang with the lead group so I just wanted to cruise at a comfortable pace. I was a bit winded but managed to ride back with the second group.

Then the pain began. Quick change and to the bike shop for our ride out to Hawi. This was going to hurt...bad. As we left the bike shop there is a slight incline before turning onto the Queen K. We all felt the pain and the words "ouch" were heard throughout the group. My plan was to take it easy out to Hawi and attack a bit on the return. No such luck.

From the start, there was NO pop in the legs. I was hoping that I just needed a long mental and physical warmup to get the gears pumping. Nope. At 90 minutes, I took my 5 hour energy drink and it provided a bit more fuel for me. But I was still lacking any strength and definitely any speed. I was also stuggling a bit to stay cool in the heat.

The climb to Hawi was awesome and probably one of, if not the MOST, scenic ride I have ever had. The road is probably a quarter mile off the ocean and what I can only assume is a terrain littered with cliffs and large hills. The best part is that there is very little development. You pass an occassional ranch. Other wise it is open pastures. At times, you can actually see schools of whales flop around. I finally roll into the Hawi have nearly 3.5 hours of riding. Major suckage.

We had lunch there and then it was back to the grind. The downhill coming out of Hawi was awesome. Well minus the huge gusts of wind that scared you senseless. I was feeling good and hoping my legs were back underneath me. Nope. I still had nothing. I made it to the bottom of the hill and began entertaining the thought of having the SAG wagon take me in. I was so pissed. I know I am a better rider than what I was demonstrating. I vowed to not break but I told the crew to keep an eye on me.

My hope was that the tri-gods would take mercy on me during the return. I wasn't asking for 40 mph tailwind. Hell, I would settle for calm winds. No such luck. I had two brief tailwinds but the rest was a head/cross wind. This went from sucking to REALLY sucking quick. At this point, I was spent. I was still determined to finish the damn ride and not be cursed by not finishing it. When I hit the water stop, I didn't even talk to the coach. I took what I needed. Did what was needed and hit the road again.

In the end, this easily goes down as one of the top 3 worst rides in my life. Nothing was working for me. The conditions were rough. Despite drinking more than I ever had, I was clearly growing more and more dehydrated. I finally made it back to the bike shop in one piece. I jumped back on the scale and determined I lost 4.5 pounds during the ride. Not good at all.

I finally made it back to the condo and wanted to throw my saddle off the balcony. I need to make that a priority this season. All in all, I survived the ride. It wasn't pretty. I am fairly certain that is the longest I have EVER been on my bike. And I don't EVER want to repeat that. It was a really bad ride. Nothing I can do about that other than know that I put in the time and that it will building endurance and strength in the coming months. For now, I just want rest...and another chocolate shake.

Daily Total:
Swim: 2700y
Bike: 106.2 miles
Time: 7h 40m

Camp Total:
Swim: 11,500y
Bike: 250 miles
Run: 13.2 miles
Time: 21h 56m