2X Sucky Workout Today

I did a brick workout today that turned out to be doubly sucky.

Before starting at 9:30am, I laid my running gear out in a mock transition zone in my backyard. I knew it was going to be a hot day, so I put my fuel belt loaded with 42 oz of water into a cooler.

Sucky Event #1:
My bike ride started out quite pleasant. I was exploring a new route down Murphy’s School Road in Orange County (NC), when a stupid dog started chasing me. It was running alongside me barking menacingly at my feet, so I glanced behind to check for cars, then crossed to ride on the other side of the road. I thought that would make the dog back down since I was no longer invading it’s territory. No such luck. I started pedalling faster but it kept coming at me. I remembered that I had a Gu gel packet taped to my stem – so I grabbed it and threw it at the dog. That got him to back down. Damn, it was a chocolate Gu, too, my favorite flavor. (Note to self: go buy some mace to carry with me on my bike rides.**)

About a mile past the dog, Murphy’s School road turned into a gravel road. I said to myself “@#^&%*, I can’t ride on gravel, and I’m not riding past that dog again (I had no more Gu to offer the scoundrel).” I called my husband from my cell phone, and asked him if he could come pick me up. Luckily, I was able to get a hold of him, and he said he was on his way. I sat by the side of the road for 20 minutes waiting for him to come get me.

Sucky Event #2:
After getting back home about 40 minutes after the dog incident, I still needed to get more riding in, so I went back out for an hour. When I was done biking, I dismounted at the curb, ran to the backyard, changed shoes, grabbed my fuel belt out of the cooler, put on my running hat, and went out for a 6 mile run. By now it was about 12:30, and 90 degrees with high humidity. The 6 ice cold bottles of water in the fuel belt around my waist felt good in that heat.

I set out for my usual 6 mile hilly route to the lake and back. The first 3 miles of the run I was pushing hard despite that heat, and I polished off half my water. I got to the lake in 28.5 minutes…not the pace I was hoping for. I was really hot and thirsty, so I stopped to drink some more water. As soon as I stopped, I had an immediate urge to pee that I couldn’t control, so the pee just ran down my leg. It burned, too, so I guess I hadn’t taken in enough fluids. I walked for about 1 minute, then started running again. About 1.5 miles later, I had only a little water left, and I felt very hot, out of breath, nauseated, and dizzy. I stopped, drank my last ounce of my water, and staggered down the road for a bit.

A car slowed down and the woman inside rolled the window down. I was eagerly hoping she had water to offer. Instead, she said “Do you know where Hollowrock swim club is?”. I stood looking at her in for a few moments, so dissapointed that she was asking for my help, rather than offering me help. Then I said “Oh, sorry, I’m dehydrated and my brain isn’t working very well.” She apologized for not having any water. I considered asking her for a ride home, but her car was all nice and clean and I was sweaty and gross. I gave her directions the best I could in my daze, and she drove off saying “I hope you find water soon.”

I was still feeling awful, so I found a shady spot on the side of the road and sat down. I opened each one of my 6 fuel belt bottles to drain the last few drops of water into my mouth. Several more cars drove past me during all this, and noone stopped to ask if I needed help. Sheesh, where were all the nice people like the lady in the minivan? Ah well…people are just busy and focused on their own lives. (I need to learn to keep that in mind, and not to expect people to be focused on me!) I felt better after sitting in the shade for a few minutes and was able to walk the rest of the way home.

If it hadn’t been for the damn dog, I would have finished my workout much sooner. I started it at 9:30 am, planned a 1:15 bike and a 1:00 run. That should have gotten me home at 11:45am. It was 2:30 pm by the time I stumbled in the door after walking home! (Okay, I admit…maybe it would help if I got my ass out of bed earlier and get my workouts in before the day gets so hot!)

** UPDATE 8/4/06: My friend Ron told me that a small fog horn works great at scaring off dogs and other animals because it hurts their ears. He recommended this over mace. Ron is an animal lover and pointed out that the dog is just acting on instinct and is probably not vicious, and macing the dog might cause it to get run over by a car. Also, if it were a pack of dogs, a fog horn would affect all of them, whereas mace would only affect one.