Unleashing the animal

Countless times I have read on Coach’s blog about racing and training “like an animal”. Always wondered what it meant and if I had experienced it. The answer came to me last night during my group ride.

After riding the century on Saturday I thought for sure this week would be a slow, steady slugfest. I rested hard on Sunday; and when Monday came around I was actually looking forward to my run and testing my legs. I went out after work and was surprised to feel my legs respond well. I was not necessarily fast; but it was one of the best runs I have had in a while. I decided to run without music and to go out as light as possible. It was just a one hour run and I had hydrated well during the day; so I thought there would be no problem if I ran without water.

The schedule also called for running without HRM and boy did I love that! Going by feel felt awesome and the time ticked away pretty fast. My simple out and back route proved to be efficient, fun and yet challenging; as the last ¾ mile was mostly uphill. I was very happy with my performance and headed home in a high of sorts. As it always happens when I run after work; my adrenaline kept me up way past my regular bedtime. When I finally fell asleep; a severe storm rolled through that made me wake up every 45 minutes or thereabouts. A bad night of sleep to put it in simple words.

Tuesday morning came way too early and I was exhausted. The 3000 yds on tap did not look appealing; but I was going to put the effort and get through them. And then I reached the pool. The lanes were full and I made the decision of just showering and heading to work; switching my rest day from Friday to Tuesday. Needless to say; Tuesday night I was asleep by 9 pm.

Wednesday morning found me working from home; able to get a couple more hours of sleep and well rested. Work was busy, nothing too terrible but a constant stream of projects and requests. My feelings towards the evening ride swing back and forth: I wanted to bag it, I wanted to go out and ride hard…. Eventually I decided I would go and try my best to hang with the “B” group. A couple of times I had ridden this ride with the “C” group and found their pace too slow for me; but the B group seemed intimidating as it was always full of guys with long strong legs and a policy of “If you have never ridden with us and don’t know the route, take a cue sheet because we will not wait”.

Armed with a couple of bottles of water and a cue sheet, I decided I’d give it my best to ride with B. After the long, steady century I just wanted to go and ride HARD for once. My schedule had a couple of intervals built into it; but I wanted more. We rolled out and knowing that the first 15-20 minutes of all my rides feel awkward I stayed comfortably on the middle/back of the pack and spun my legs to make sure they warmed up nicely before I started the efforts. A couple of people must have thought I was already struggling by mile 1 when we were going up a hill and I was just spinning instead of pushing the higher gears. A couple of words of encouragement were thrown my way and I smirked and thanked them.

About 5 miles into the ride; the group got split in 2 at a traffic light. Since I was on the middle/back I was on the group that stayed behind. I got a little pissy about it; but quickly decided to change my attitude and make the most of it. There were about 8 of us and I quickly put myself towards the front. I got into the big ring and decided I would keep up with the leaders no matter what. I was going up hills on my big chain ring (something I do not do much); descending like a champ (I am a big chicken when it come to descending); and finding that I had to slow down so I would not pass the leaders that knew the route. I was holding back; and I just wanted to GO.

I rode like this for a while until I was certain of where we were going and what the route did. In one of the flat sections, I passed the leaders and asked if I could take a pull. I was met with incredulous eyes. And I took that as a challenge. I shouted: “jump in” and started hammering. I cannot begin to tell you how good I felt. Getting down in aero, pushing the gears yet keeping my cadence at the level I wanted; knowing that I (the short girl in the small bike) was pulling the big guys. I was riding on roads all too familiar to me, at speeds about 2-3 mph faster than I normally ride them at. We came to a stop light; I looked behind and saw I had dropped about ½ of the group. The guys that stayed with me were commenting on how fast I had pulled them on this particular stretch of the road; and were actually complimenting me on a job well done. But I was no where near finished. As soon as that light turned green I started going again and was determined to pull until the end of the ride.

I gave it my best; I was working hard and one of the guys passed me as if I was at a stand still. I tried hard to get on his wheel, but to no avail. Definitely too fast for me, but I did not get discouraged; it just made me want to work harder. I finally caught up to him at another traffic light. As soon as that one turned green I went back to pulling. And man, I was going fast! And I felt STRONG. I felt the animal coming out right from inside me; and it was the best feeling I have experienced in a long time.

I wanted to ride a bit longer so I headed to ride an extra loop; but the guys wanted to go back so we said our goodbyes. I left with a bunch of "Well done's" some "thank you for a great pull" and the one that made me feel the best of all: "hope you come back next week and I can ride in your draft".