T17 - Releasing the Glitch - Bike

Gainesville

I've had this fucking song in my head. For like 4 days now. It's called "Panic Switch" by the Silversun Pickups, a band I had been subjected to a great length by my ex and had never really had an opinion about. Until I heard this song on the radio the other day. It's a great song, but even after reading the lyrics twice, I have absolutely no fucking clue what it's about, or even what any of the lyrics mean. The chorus has a line that says something like "Will you fall in line, or release the glitch," and for the entire bike ride today, I had the bridge and chorus of this song in my head. And though I'm still not sure what exactly "releasing the glitch" entails, if there was a glitch in my riding, I released it today.

Bike - 2 Hours

2 Lipodrene
It was hot as fuck today. I mean by the time I hit the road word on the TV was that it was 99 degrees with humidity around 80%. So I packed an extra water bottle. Well, as I may have mentioned all of my rides in 2009 have been complete shit with a few exceptions, and even the good ones this cycle were merely improvements over what I'd been doing in the Spring. I have no idea why, in the Fall and last Summer I was crushing rides, but as I've discussed earlier I think the cold and some other circumstances just hampered my biking abilities. Not today.

I think the heat was the first thing that motivated me. It was nice and hot and there was no breeze. I had even stretched out a little beforehand and had taken 48 hours off. So on the way to Hawthorne, where I usually take it slow, I was averaging about 23. And this didn't really let up much the whole way down Hawthorne, as I kept singing the same ten bars of this "Panic Switch" song, out loud at some points (the guys at Nigbridge gave me some very funny looks)and made it to the end of Hawthorne in 56:30. That's a full 7 minutes faster than the last time I did this ride. I just kept telling myself to release the glitch. Even though I had no fucking idea what that meant.

I had a gel, refilled all my bottles, and took a leak before heading back. I was able to keep that pace up until about halfway back when the heat finally got to my legs and lower back and I found myself doing 13 on a small incline. I took a brief break, then continued on, going strong but not averaging over 20 as I had been. I had some difficulties with inclines on the way back, doing a solid 9 up the final hill in the hammock. Despite this, though, my average speed was still 18.5, easily the best solo ride of 2009. Whatever it was that had been glitching me so far this year, it has officially been released. Perhaps the fact that this song comes from a band I associate with someone, and that whole experience was something I think adversely affected my last training cycle, and now that I really am moving on and my training is getting better maybe that's really what releasing the glitch means. Or maybe I'm looking a little too far into a pretty nonsensical song lyric. I don't know.

This is not to say all rides are going to be this good, but I am consistently improving on each one. The warm weather definitely helps, maybe the stretching helps. Maybe singing Silversun Pickups helps. Although I don't think I can do that for 6 hours during the Ironman. Who knows.

I had an overnight guest last night too, and despite being up with her until 5, and then up again before 11, I still had an outstanding ride. My only point here is that I'm starting to think sex in and of itself does not hamper workouts, but rather the alcohol and occasional stress that goes along with it. Shit, maybe it's even getting to be like the old days of lifting where it motivates me. No matter what the reason, I'm very happy about today's ride. I feel like I'm back. The glitch has been released, and I'm ready to start really riding when Base 1 starts a week from Monday.