OWS and Bike

Saturday comes and I am completely not feeling like getting out of bed.  I mean there is nothing in the world that could get in out of bed until I realize there was one thing.  The DFW Tri Club group swim and bike ride.  And I got my wetsuit on Friday so really why would I miss the opportunity to use that beast.  I get there a little late.  And let me say that I hate being late and I really hate being late to something that I live less than 5 minutes away from as well.  Seriously.  But when mother nature calls she doesn't less a message.  So I got to the OWS like 2 minutes late.

Coach Lyndsi is coaching us newbies in the OWS arena.  And there is no one more green than me on this.  But she is the coach that can get me doing things I would not do on my own.  My wetsuit worked great I must say.  I on the other hand was only so-so.  I just for whatever reason cannot get myself to exhale in the water.  I am holding my breath which is a huge mistake for sure.  But I get my face in the water and all I see is brown and the thought of exhaling literally just flies by me and the thought of holding it comes in instead.  This is how great Coach Lyndsi is.  She realizes that getting me and Monty to go out further is a waste of her breath so she then has both of us swimming parallel to the shore thus the water will not get any deeper so we can focus on our swimming without the fear of being in a place of major un-comfort.  Monty and I must be special because we were separated from the rest of the group.  :)  But in the end every hour in the water does produce positive results just maybe not as much as what I am seeing from my pool training.  But in time I will be just as good in the open water as I am in the pool or at least hoping to be in the pool.

OWS is over and group ride is next.  This ride was by far my best ride yet.  I am seeing tons of improvement with each ride but Saturday's ride I saw the most improvement from any one event to the other.  We rode 16.6 miles and in that ride my legs only had trouble just once.  For me that is huge.  I have seen my legs improve with each ride and stronger as well.  But I haven't seen me go that distance with the results I had on this ride.  The group ride was only my second time to ride with the club with my first ride being not good at White Rock.  They were much better than me at that time and I felt sorry for the coach who had to stick with me because I wasn't comfortable with my bike during that first ride and was really slow.  But this time I kept up with the group and had a great time doing it.  Biking is quickly becoming an event that should not hurt me in the final standings in my future races.  I am also seeing myself getting more and more at ease with my bike during down hills and keeping my hands off the brakes to slow myself down.  Didn't think that time would ever get here.