Progress.....

Yesterday I went out for my 20 mile ride out and back in Brentwood. It's the same route as last Friday. With my left foot still giving me problems I'm focused on the swim/bike routine for the next few weeks. So...last Friday I went out in the windy afternoon heat with temps around 98F. It was hot. It was also my first time on the bike in quite a while. was 16.8MPH and it took me 1 hour and 13 minutes. Admittedly my goal that day was to just get in a nice ride, the heat had my HR averaging 139BPM. Yesterday with the temps around 65F, or less than 30 degrees lower than on Monday, and heavy rains and winds I hopped on my bike at around 12:30PM. With my speeds averaging 19.6 MPH I finished in 1 hour and 2 minutes. The clincher....my HR averaged 133.

I felt great in the cooler temps, my state of mind was clear, I wanted to ride so I pushed it. Throughout the 1 hour ride I probably also put on 2-3 pounds from the heavy rains. Overall I was pleased with the ride. Once again my 3 toes on my left foot went numb as did my 2nd and 3rd toe on my right foot. My bike shoes were not tight at all and I was not wearing my inserts, so no abnormal pressure to either of the feet. Thinking that today it was just the cold, wet weather.

During the ride I was thinking about why did I feel so good today, was it my state of mind, the cooler temps, a days rest from riding, improvement from my previous ride, the egg over easy on a bagel, my hydration, etc. I also, thought about what my aunt use to say when she worked at Harry's dry cleaners in Syracuse. She could never get out a blood stain if the blood was the result of a fight. There was a chemical in the blood, perhaps adrenaline, that made it impossible to get the stain out. So that got me thinking once again about the state of mind of an athlete, nutrition, body chemistry and its impact on overall performance. When you hear the saying mind over matter, I'm thinking that's what that means....This area needs much more attention. This is an area that I intend to focus on. I'm on a SWA flight right now and landing in a few minutes...more to follow.

PT