I hate inspirational quotes

I've frequently waxed poetic about how much I love running groups. This is my second year as a member of the Baltimore Area Triathlon Club (BATC) and it's equally as wonderful. Last year they offered beginner rides that pretty much taught me to ride a bike.


Now that summer is coming, and triathlon training is back in full swing, they are starting to have a lot of events again. Last night was a brick workout. I typically get a bit panicky on my way there and contemplate turning around. This club has a lot of hard core triathletes doing things like training to win their 10th Ironman, and they don't really want to do a group ride with me plodding along at 13mph (I think that's like a 13 minute mile in running or something, I don't really know, but it's slow). At least, in my mind they don't. No one in the club has ever been anything other than nice, welcoming, and patient.


It was ironic, because I was listening to a Jillian Michaels podcast about ignoring your inner critic on the way there. I'm not really into "self help" literature but I love Jillian so much that I'll listen to anything she says.


Anyway, I'm not trying to spout off some "inspirational" BS about how I ignored my inner critic, just trying to say that I freaked out for nothing, as I tend to do 16 times a day, then had a great ride and met some cool girls. One of them had done the HAT 50K last weekend and won her age group (if you are local, be impressed). Not that I talked to her since she was flying and at least half a mile ahead of me the entire time.


The BATC appears to seek out the hilliest possible bike routes for their rides, which is really good for me, as I tend to seek out the flattest possible routes when left to my own devices. There was seriously no flat parts, it was either climbing hills or going down them. I even passed someone on a downhill, which is quite a rarity for me. We rode just under 15 miles and then a few of us changed to running shoes for a brick. We did about 2.5 miles on a nearby trail. I was pretty excited since I have done almost no trail running since the 50 miler.


Due to my showering (or lack thereof) practices discussed on my last post, I was shamed into showering, even though I got home late and was going to be up early for a swim. HAHA. Just kidding. I won't be shamed by a bunch of strangers on the internet, or even my real life friends and family. It was just that I was still sweaty when I got home, since the bike ride wasn't too far away. As many people who live life on the wild side without constant showers (like me) mentioned, once the sweat is dry, it's like the workout never happened. I think that's a totally acceptable distinction, IF you are working out again in the near future. 


This morning I did another ladder workout in the pool. I did it once (two minutes faster than last time) and then repeated it to extend my swim a little bit. 75 minutes flew by. I can't believe I wasted so many swims just going back and forth. 


In exactly 4.5 hours, my spring break begins. Maybe I'll actually take some pictures so I don't have to keep trying to amuse you with random crap from Pinterest.

Which one do you think my spring break will more closely resemble? Spoiler alert - I agree with Belle.