Getting beaten by a 50 year old woman!

So the other day, I went over to the Column’s drive Tri-geek loop for some intervals.  There are always tri-geeks over there.  Always.  It’s okay, it is the only road in the US that you are SPECIFICALLY forbidden from riding on 2 abreast on the shoulder… whatever!  It’s safe, flat, good for intervals… and it’s 1 mile from my office!

I get over there, warm up a bit and do a 2.5 mile interval.  I mean I am going as hard as I can… I see one person on a tri bike… looks like they know what they are doing, looks fast.  Well, I am recovering and rolling back 2.5 miles to do another and this woman passes me like a freight train.  Wow… initially I figure “I should jump on her wheel.”  Well… no.  I quickly convince myself I am “on a rest” and continue my spin.  On the way back doing my next 2.5 mile interval, I chase her… I chase her hard!  I catch her just as I finish.  I roll up and say “Thanks for giving me somebody to chase!”  She says “Oh… I am cooling down, I wasn’t going hard!”  (yeah… thanks, next time just kick me too).  I make a joke out of it and say “Oh come on, admit it, you were hammering!   Harder than you have ever gone before… “  We chuckle and chat a bit in preparation for my next 2.5 mile battle with the wind.  She tucks in behind me and about 1.5 miles in passes me and drops me.  I shatter mentally, can’t focus… damnit.  I should be able to keep up!

We regroup… chat a bit and it’s my final hoo-rah!  Can I hold off this woman?  Game on… 2.5 miles in the pain cave.  I left EVERYTHING I had on that road!  I even mustered a SPRINT at the end that was semi impressive.  I was proud of it.  She is headed back to her car, the same way I am going… we chat a bit more.  She had mentioned ironman so I asked her if she had ever done that Hawaii.  She says “Yes, I have finished 17 times”.  Okay… that explains a bit of it!  In her next couple of sentence she says something to the effect “I have won my age group 10 times”.  People under 30 don’t talk about age groups, heck, I don’t really even think people under 40 do…  so I go home and do my research.  I know her first name… her team… etc… Not only is she a 10 time winner…. this woman holds the world record in her age group.

Anybody that can finish an Ironman Hawaii in 10:39 is a stud(ette) in my book!  Seriously!  I am 110% sure she could kick my keister in just about anything she wanted to.  She did push me in my training, so that was cool!  Removal of false pride and/or unnecessary ego is sometimes necessary!  Good day on the bike!