The hardest

Today's workout was by far the hardest I've had yet. I'm not sure if it was the heat, along with the uphill ride, or the combination of my tired legs, the heat and uphill climb. It flat out sucked!

The plan was to ride up Pima out to Bartlett Lake, meet Dave there and swim. Almost immediately I could feel my quads say, no, no, no...so the ride just up Pima was the slowest I think I've ever done...it took me over a hour just to get 10 miles...ugh. I seriously thought several times about giving up. I was just getting baked in the sun, sweat was pouring down into my eyes and all I could think about was the hill that started at Pima and Cave Creek...why did I sign up for all this? OMG

I can't believe it only took me 3.5 hours to get there...it was the longest most difficult time of my entire training - multiplied by 10. HARD! I do not want to visit that workout again for a long time. Part of the ride up towards the lake my quads felt like somebody punched them so I walked about 6 miles and considered more but I needed to just get it done and cool off. I was surprised at how many cars passed me but nobody stopped to see if I was okay....clearly anyone walking that long road with a bike in hand is not okay...I would have accepted a ride at that point.

Well look who comes pulling up - DAVE! At this point I had less than 5 miles to go with a huge decent coming so as he asked if I wanted a ride to the finish I said no...what the hell was I thinking? There is no shame in getting a ride but something inside didn't want to disappoint him, and I was so close to being done. I finally made it and that water was a perfect ending..it was very cool and over too quick...I wanted to sit in the cool spots for awhile, but also wanted to get the hell out of there. Not sure how far we swam, but it was nice to be off my bike.

I'm toast. These past 3 days have really challenged me and I can't keep this pace. No matter how early we start, the heat is going to get worse. I have to think that if I can endure these next 4 months, I can get through the Ironman. Right??