Here's my question. As a triathlete, what am I supposed to wear for long rides? Cyclists wear jerseys, during triathlons I wear a bathing suit (a two piece no less), and some triathletes wear those "I'm a jersey, but I have no sleeves" type tops during a race and in training rides. When this bad tan line situation started to occur, I started to rethink what I was wearing on my long rides.
You see, a year or so ago, when I was out there for a couple of hours on a Saturday, no biggie. Most of the time, I was wearing whatever I had left in the old drawer that was still clean at the end of the week. Oh, you have some weird Target workout top in the drawer, no problem, it's only two hours. MEMO - We are now in a completely different situation here people. As you might have guessed, and I am now finally learning, a ride over 5 hours is going to get me up there in mileage & I need to be bringing & wearing, the correct stuff or all kinds of foo foo can break loose. I had 5:30 on the schedule, with a 30 min t-run on Saturday and we rode 92 miles. I'm not saying that is fast, I'm not saying that is anything big. What I am saying is, I rode 92 miles in my Nike tank type top, which is no longer going to work because of the bees. Couple of things the Nike top does not have:
1. Pockets in the back for when I start to pack my suitcase of stuff that I have been needing for these rides.
2. A higher neck so that when I am down in aero position every living creature that flies does not end up having a cup of tea together and a crumpet while hanging out in my top.
3. A long enough back to prevent me from getting this weird tan line across the bottom of my back (see picture as example A).
It's not that I'm cheap. It's just that I was never really sure what I should be riding on these things. I do have two jerseys. One could be called a full out cycling jersey, and the other has little cap sleeves that could be termed a "hybrid" so to speak. It's blue, it's cute, but I get hot so I want my arms exposed like that will help air everything out a bit.
At some point during the ride, a bee, or a horsefly, I'm not really sure which, flew directly in the top (do not pass go, do not collect 200.00, go directly to Kim's bust and sting crazy). He followed directions well and really let me have it. If I wasn't on a moving piece of carbon, maybe it wouldn't have been such a big deal, and I didn't want to wreak, but I wanted this thing out NOW! I started yelling some things I don't want to repeat in the blog, and tried to stop ASAP. I pulled out parts of his body while trying to figure out where he was, but the whole thing in it's entirety never surfaced. I got to ride around the rest of the day with a big welt in my shirt, rubbing and stinging as it got sweatier and swelled! At one point, I thought I had another one in there, but it was just a regular bug and I said - THAT'S IT! NO MORE BEE'S PLEASE!!!! So, I swore off the top forever, and will have to spend some money to get something with a higher neck, or zip up something, or whatever I'm supposed to be wearing (hopefully, someone will tell me).
Other than not knowing what to wear, it was a nice ride with hot conditions (8am-2:00pm) which is good for Hawaii training. I try and relish the heat these days knowing that will be something I will need to be used to riding in by October. I know, it's not HI heat, but it certainly is better than nothing. In other crazy news, my t-run after felt, well, great. It makes me wonder what the deal was. It was my first t-run after a 5+ hour ride and other than my heart rate being off the chain because it was hot, I was fairly pleased with how the legs were holding up! Surprising!
Like a bad girl, I didn't swim that day because the husband and mother-in-law (I hate that phrase, let's just call her Miss D) were home working their little behinds off and I didn't feel right about jetting out for another 1.5 hours after being gone for seven! Don't worry I got it in Sunday/Monday coach.
On Sunday, I had a grrreeeattt (as Tony would say) long run and although the legs were tired from Sat, I am starting to get used to that feeling a bit. To be honest, I didn't feel like going at first since I knew the feeling from last week on the LR. Once I was in it, I was fine though.
I ended the long run with a lovely ice bath in which I wore my "I am warm and I am thinking about Hawaii or somewhere warm" red hat. After we took this picture my husband promptly said I was "a goof" and he "couldn't believe I was putting this kind of stuff out there for other people to see!" Well, that's what blogs are about right...sharing the good, the bad, the ugly the goofy or whatever you want to make it.So get your goofy on.. and somebody tell me what to wear! Please.. before the bees come back! RUN... Its BEES!! and they sting crazy!
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