A day in the office.

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements in life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about."

That's 104 miles.

7 hr and 9 min on the saddle!!

Last night I had steak dinner with the family at Baton Rouge. Yummy to the tummy :P.

This morning I left at 8:30 am. The goal today was to ride long. The weather was humid. There were certain patch of road I could just feel the heat. Even the wind was hot. My last post, I asked God to give me heat....He answered my prayers :)

Great day to ride.

I bumped into Darren. He spotted me 2 hr into the ride. Then we arranged to meet up again at Hockley at 1 pm. Love to chat with Darren. We just tri talk. All the time.

Hockley is one of the toughest climb around my area.

Here is the elevation (in miles and in feet):

The chart doesn't do justice. There are actually three climbs. The first one is long. The second one is the steepest. The last one is just nasty. I decided to do it three times.

To my surprise, I felt great. Usually by the third hour of the ride, I am fatigue. Today my legs just give on giving. Could it be the steak I had the night before? Maybe also the fact that I had 8 hours rest as well.

There is a big difference between riding for 7 hours and riding for 7 hours and run 10 min after. My legs just felt it. It needed to be done.

Last year I would consider Hockley as a hard climb. Today I just decided to brave it.

While I was taking my ice bath, I was reading an article about Melanie McQuiad, three times Xterra Champion. There are a few things that caught my eye:

"Everybody trains just as hard as everybody else....How is it that somebody's winning by minutes? All of that has to do with mental strength: being able to dig deep inside yourself and suffer more than everybody else."
"You either believe in yourself or you don't, and if you don't, you probably should. It's important to push yourself past your comfort zone to where you're not sure you will succeed, just to stretch your limit."

On July 22, I will be attempting my first Ironman. The past two years of training is coming down to one day. 17 hours to test myself.

Spokene Al had it right on.
"After all, if it was easy, anyone could do it."

Before I go, I just want to give a shout out to competitor radio. One of their intro always get me pumping...

"But the gifted few, the 1% that is still competing..that is still racing. They are more than standing. They are saying to themselves...can I catch that guy up there...What about the guys behind me...Are they going to get me. Are they picking up on me. Can I get him.

Let me tell you something..this is it...the last hour of this triathlon. On the pavement at 110 degrees, that's when we are going to find out who the hell an Ironman really is."

I haven't dig deep yet. Not on training. The time will come.

When the last hour.
When everything aches.
When the body will not move.

There is no guarantee I will finish.
There is a guarantee that I will have to dig deep and to leave everything on the field.

July 22.

I love this sport.