Rice and Beans

It could be compared to black beans and white rice. The yin of the suffering necessary to dramatically improve along side the yang of the time it takes to recover. Which is more important? The bean or the recover? The work or the rest?

Yesterday's 112 mile Ironman Canada ride at the CompuTrainer Muilti-Rider Center at the Bainbridge Athletic Club accomplished several objectives, among them:

Six hours of saddle time in January

Higher than average output (205 average watts)

A chance to work on bike nutrition strategy

Pacing

Focus testing (keeping myopically straight for 302 minutes)

Bike position work (aero as long as possible)

Course profile recon

Climbing with fatigue (hello Yellow Lake)

Confidence

Long, hard effort requiring appropriate recovery

The last one is where we started. Beans and rice. It has been a mere 18 hours since we finished the session and I am just now starting to feel some semblance of normality. Yes, there was a 60 minute spin session this morning, forcing a two hour nap afterwards, but the major accumulative fatigue, mental, physical and psychological came from the 112 miles hammered out Sunday afternoon.

There was pain and there was suffering. It hurt, and it hurt early. By mile 30, close to the Husky station in Osyous, even before Richter Pass, the amount of effort to nail the target time bogey of 5:36 was coming under revision. By 60 miles, approximately the special needs station in the Cawston out and back, a section of the course that always challenges my internal GPS, the question was one of just finishing. And that is where the hidden gem was found. One gets to work on the mental part. I was paying close attention to the rapidly diminishing power, speed and cadence numbers as they changed in real time with my middling performance. I was as cooked as the proverbial Canadian Honker with Yellow Lake and another 20 to go. There was nary a comfortable head, hand or ham hock position to be found. Everything hurt. The thought of squeezing another vanilla-bean GU just to stay upright almost had me call for the bucket. The tenths column on the big board distance timer, only a few hours ago merrily reeling off digits in rapid-fire succession, now seemed to be stuck. The painful paradox of desperately wanting to get through, coupled with the hellish effort to do so, was like a sinister and sick joke.

But the moment ends. The value of every pedal rotation, every ouch of remaining energy, each one of those slowly adding tenths, get you a meter or a yard closer to your goal. And it all changes faster than a cloud cover in the Cascades. The mental part now in play. Mind game on.

You have done this before

You don't have to run afterwards today

Stay strong cowboy

Throw some gratitude and love at those crank-arms

Dance a little

Hydrate

See the glow of the finish

Breathe

Relax

Smile

You can and you will, please accept that and do what must be done

Six hours and two minutes after the virtual start, I was done. The CompuTrainer does not allow for coasting which on this course and over 112 miles adds a lot to the degree of difficulty. It is NOT an exact replication of the demands of the most spectacular bike leg in all of triathlon, it is much harder. it is training. Training for that. It is over-training. It is about being ready. Making it hurt in January so that in August it's just another day at the office. Maybe even faster than before because the motor has been improved and is in the process of adapting to the new demands.

How big a part confidence plays in an Ironman cannot be underestimated. It is to huge what aerodynamics is to speed. I want to be ready come August 26th, way more ready that my prior five times racing there. Yesterday's effort, alongside Bob and Tony was valuable use of a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. We planted a few rows of beans, and cooked a pot of rice. There was effort, suffering and hurt.

Today is for growth. The work was done.