Okay Bike Gods, you got me. And, you got me good. I'm listening. For real.
I was ill-prepared for my Monday night SPIN! Pizza ride tonight. Very much NOT ready. I blame myself entirely. It's no one else's fault. I was not paying enough attention to my body today (or yesterday, for that matter).
Overland Park: you're welcome for the ground food I provided you tonight.
Oops.
Yep. Vomited. Upchucked. Tossed the cookies. Why? Severely under hydrated…or dehydrated to be politically correct.
Yep - this CrazeeCyclist didn't take in enough fluids. Lost my food all over the ground tonight. Got my first cycling DNF. BIG fail on my part.
You see, I should've been hydrating starting immediately after yesterday's 24 mile Ride the Fountains. And kept hydrating all the way up until my ride tonight. With water. And lots of it. But, I didn't drink enough.
I was pretty sore yesterday after the ride but overall felt pretty darn great after completing the Ride the Fountains. I went about my day as normal. Last night, I played 6 games of volleyball for our Spring Beach Volleyball League instead of 3. (I had to sub for another girl at the 7:30 session after my 6:30 session had ended). I should've been drinking more water at that point. It was hot outside last night under the sun and on the sand.
This morning when I woke up, I should've started in with the water again. But, I didn't. I felt crampy all day today but I figured it was just a little bit of fatigue left over from yesterday combined with sore muscles.
I went to Elite Cycling tonight before my ride to grab some Skratch Labs electrolyte mix to try out. I've tried GuBrew (which is pretty good) and I've had Gatorade (which I don't like on rides at all). I also tried on some clip shoes (Giro) while I was there because I just got a pair of Speedplay pedals and now I need the shoes so I can be complete! (TOTALLY excited about going to these type of pedals, by the way). NOT excited about the price of the shoes though (the carbon soled shoes that I need START around $225 a pair).
Wait, what?!? The girl who LOVES shoes is complaining about having to spend money on a pair of shoes?!? I must be feeling sick. No, seriously, I realize that it's an investment and aside from the bike, getting a good pair of cycling shoes is probably the second biggest investment I will make in this passion of mine. I'll blog more about the pedals and shoes later, after I've obtained everything and have had a chance to try them out.
Back to tonight. (Sorry, I get sidetracked easily). After purchasing said Skratch Labs drink mix, I ran home to change and mix up my bottles. I made one bottle just water and made the other bottle with the Skratch Labs pineapple mix. Grabbed my gear, hooked my bike up to the car and set off for SPIN! Pizza in Overland Park. I was still feeling kind of crampy but I was excited to see how many people were going to turn out for the ride tonight.
It was HOT in Kansas City today. Okay, not the blistering summer heat that we all know is coming to our wonderful city - but the warmest day so far. At 6:30 when the ride started, it was still 93 degrees outside. Smart Sara decided it was best to have two bottles of liquid tonight instead of just one because I knew the heat would require a little extra and, it's always better to be safe than sorry. (See? I'm not a complete idiot!).
We set off for the 12-mile route tonight and things started off good for the first 3 miles. I rode next to a guy who approached me asking where I had obtained my jersey. I informed him that I worked for the company on my jersey - and that we had had a team of cyclists do the Tour de Cure in North Carolina 3 weeks ago from our company. Found out that he was also a contractor, like me, and works in the same building. I think he was a little sad that he didn't have my jersey. Poor guy. Not everyone can be as cool as me. HA!
We talked for a few more minutes and then I told him to go on and get around me because I knew that I wouldn't be as fast tonight. He wished me a good ride and took off towards the back of the lead group. At this point, I was all alone on the ride because I had left and kept up with - YAY for me - the lead group. The other riders were behind us. I knew that they would be catching up soon.
And that's when it happened. My stomach turned. Just up and turned upside down. It was right at a major intersection when I felt the bile rise in my throat. I knew I had mere seconds before I was going to lose it. In those mere seconds I tried to figure out why, at this point, I was going to vomit. STOP THINKING girl and get off the road!! I successfully navigated myself over to the turn lane and off the road into this cute little covered bushy area with a bench. (I know - who else, about to vomit, notices the loveliness of the area?!?).
This is where I have to apologize to the City of Overland Park. Because right there, I vomited all over the bushes and the ground. Everything I had eaten and drank throughout the day (which really wasn't all that much). 3.8 miles into my ride.
I sat down on the bench, shaking. My legs were numb and weak and my head felt woozy. This wasn't good. Why is this happening? I took my first water bottle out of the cage and realized that it was already 2/3 of the way empty. Had I really consumed that much water in the first 3.8 miles? Yep. Sure had. I quickly realized that the reason I had "lost my cool" all over the city was because I was dehydrated. That's why my head was woozy, my stomach was crampy and I just felt blah.
Decision time. Be stubborn and finish the 12 miles or put my tail between my legs and creep back to the start? Most of the time, stubborn Sara would win out. However, I'm still new to this game and I didn't want to do further damage to myself - or get even farther out on the course without a way to get back safely.
I decided to pull myself out of the ride tonight and ride back to the start. It was actually a pretty quick 3 miles or so back to the restaurant and it didn't take me too long. However, it's not real easy to ride when you really just don't have much strength left in you. My whole body was aching in a way that it has never ached before on the bike. I know I hung my head in shame a few times on the way back. I should've known better. I should've been paying more attention.
LESSON LEARNED. I won't repeat this mistake again.
I only got about 7 of the 12 miles completed tonight. I didn't even remember to restart my Strava app after having to stop at the bushy area tonight (which again is another clue that I just wasn't prepared for this ride) so I don't even have record of the 7 miles I completed.
You win some, you lose some. I get it. But you know what? Tonight was important for a couple of reasons (so I'm not going to call it a complete loss):
1 - I learned that I really need to start listening more to my body and what it's trying to tell me. I'm in no way about to become a hypochondriac - but I need to learn not to dismiss body signals so quickly when they present themselves.
2 - HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE. Not just during the ride. Not just right before the ride. Not just immediately after the ride.
(This is a pretty good article from bicycling.com on how and when to hydrate that I found tonight):
http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/how-and-when-hydrate
3 - It's okay to be "off" sometimes. Without being off, you can't figure out what being "on" really is all about.
In the time it's taken me to write this blog tonight, I've consumed about 32 ounces of water. I'm going to drink one more glass of water and then I'm hitting the sack. My mind and body both need some rest.
I'm taking tomorrow off so that I can further recover - and then I'll get back in the saddle on Wednesday.
After all, I still have MANY more miles to log.
Happy Cycling!
No comments:
Post a Comment