Malibu Triathlon Training: Day 12

July 9

My last ride was a bit of a fluke. I was intending to only go 6 miles, which is what my training plan told me to do (my training plan is very persuasive), but I somehow ended up breaking the 7-mile barrier and pissing off my quads and lungs. So today it was time to get back to reality with a more solidified plan and a simple route.

Tonight's route was a variation of the loop I took on the night of The Crash. Instead of getting my ass kicked by Holy Crap Hill, I only gave it a taste of my misery and turned onto the first street after the initial ascent. And I have to say, it felt really good to say, "Ha! Go fuck yourself!" to a plot of land. I just wish I had yelled it at the top of my lungs instead of mumbling it to myself. But I'm classy like that.

I ran into a little bit of trouble going up Dickason Drive, mostly because this was only my second time riding up this street and I wasn't sure what to expect. But I didn't slow down too much between Miles 4 and 5, and I was able to tackle Hell Hill (with my usual side-street pit stops) and was almost perfectly accurate on my routing: 6.02 miles.

While this was a pretty uneventful ride -- no wrong turns, no rabid dogs, no losing battles with gravity -- it was noteworthy, as I once again lowered my pace all the way down to 4:50. I've still got a long way to go to hit my goal (4:00-minute miles) but this was a big step in the right direction.