Riding in the RAIN!

Happy Monday! So, I had a moment in my training this weekend when I realized that I'm crazy. Yes, certifiably looney people. I was signed up to ride the Tour De Florence ride on Saturday, and was really excited to finally get some miles in on the bike.

Friday it started to pour. All.day.long. I checked the weather and there was a 90% chance that it was going to do the same thing all day on Saturday. I emailed the ride director to check on the status of the ride, and she told me the ride was on rain or shine. After hemming and hawing, I decided that I would wait and see what it was doing Sat. morning and then make my decision. I got up at 7 am on Saturday (ride started at 9 am) and it was raining lightly. I gave a thought to going back to bed, but decided to go ahead, suck it up, and ride.

Fast forward to 9 am - ride start time. Still raining lightly and wind was starting to pick up. There were about 20 crazies total who showed up (and about 200 packets lying there for people who didn't show up). I rode the first 8 miles with another triathlete I knew from Georgetown. The routes were either 15 mile, 35, 45 or 65 miles. At mile 8 it started to rain pretty hard and so several people turned and opted for the 15 mile option, including the guy I was riding with. I thought, 15, miles, PHMPH, I'm already out here, I'm going to keep riding. Then it starts to pour. AND POUR. AND POUR. Rain was falling so hard it hurt and it was blowing sideways. I'll skip the details and just say it was plain miserable. Big trucks would drive by, dosing me with water and they flew through the big puddles on the road. This is the point where I realized I am absolutely nuts for doing this.

I ended up riding 56 miles overall (*a few of us ended up taking an extra 11 mile detour because the cop who was supposed to be directing us to turn was sitting in the car because he didn't want to get wet. WTF?!). It was the fastest I've ever biked that distance. Honestly, I was peddling lights out, balls to the wall so I could get my butt back to the start and out of the monsoon. I got back to the start only to realize that I did not have a change of clothes, so I got in my car and rode the 20 miles back home drenched to the bone. Now my car smells like mildew.

Overall, I'm glad I went. Had I known the weather was going to be like that, I never would have gone, but I am happy to have gotten the miles in. The things I do for training...

Sunday morning I got up early and headed over to Ironman Shawn's neighborhood for a 15 mile run. We knocked out 15 hilly miles at an 8:15 pace, and I actually felt great. It was nice to have the company and a change of scenery. Plus, he gave me lots of helpful Ironman advice.

Totals for the week:
Run: 44.4 miles
Bike: 81 miles
Swim: 5,190.42 yards

This upcoming weekend, I'm doing a sprint tri in Burnet. It's a small race that not many people know about, so I am looking forward to it.

:)