Good Morning Sunshine

There is a great house that I pass on my runs through Rosedale. It has some beautiful native landscaping, gorgeous picture windows, and a friendly orange door. I admire it every time I pass it on my runs. This morning as I was about to run by the house the owner was standing outside with his baby. As I approach he turned the baby to watch me run by and they waved "hello". I smiled, waved back, and shouted "good morning" thanking them for the encouragement. It really warmed my heart and reminded me that this is one of the reasons I choose to train.

Tues: Bike 1 1/2 hours 30 miles (This was a really good ride for me. I was feeling down from my tired biking legs on Saturday when I didn't feel 100% on the bike. Tuesday I felt great!)
Wed: Run 1 hour, Bike 1 hour
Thurs: Run 55 min, swim 1 hour
FRIDAY: Jazz Fest bound!

POW!

I'm slowly getting closer to Zurich and my training has been steadily increasing. Friday's swim was another cold one at Deep Eddy and as I ritually splashed myself and dipped my toe in the water and then splashed myself again I began thinking "I know if I just jump right in this will be much less painful," but continued the ritual nonetheless. My thoughts drifted to my younger self looking at my Mom before my race, knees shaking, and asking her if I can just dip my toe in before I race as if that would make all the difference. I guess old habits die hard and my nerves before racing - still there. I finally did get in the water at DE after my ritual splashing and slowly lowering myself in and had a lovely swim.

Saturday was another long bike day followed by a run and Robby was joining me for the first portion. The day was gorgeous and perfect for biking. My legs are a bit tight and sore from training and but still in good shape and the ride started out great. I was lost in my thoughts and getting ready for a nice downhill when behind me I heard a loud "POW!" and then the clip, clip, clip sounds only too familiar from flats. I turned back and Robby was pulling to the side. A piece of rebar punctured his tire straight in and back out. I was just glad he wasn't thrown from his bike or hit by the rebar. We talked about the options and called one of his friends who offered to pick him up. I felt bad leaving him while he waited for his friend, (one never leaves the wingman) but he insisted and perhaps I should have put up more of a fight, but I knew he would be fine. I took back off and caught some of the people that had just passed us and made my way back toward home. At the end of my ride my legs and back were beginning to grumble and by the time I got home, was not looking forward to the run. I pushed the evil thoughts aside and heading back out running knowing that all I needed was to run easy. As I'm fast discovering, when my legs are tired from biking they are usually fine running after a little bit and again this proved to be true, although at the end of the easy 50 minute jog, I was definitely ready to be home and showered.

Sunday morning and I could feel the vibrations in my legs when I woke up telling me they were tired. "hmm, I'm supposed to run 2 hrs today, how am I going to get up and go?" I ask myself. I remember yesterday and try to think of it more of a jog around town and how much I love being out there. I called Sara to see if she wanted to start out with me and she offered Matt who was doing the same distance. I jogged over to their house and Matt and I headed out to Shoal Creek and had a nice run down to Town Lake, around and back. I do enjoy destination runs it is pretty fun to put on shoes and run down somewhere you normally drive or bike and then head back.

Sat: 56 mile bike, 50 min run
Sun: 2 hr 5 min run at least 13 miles (info thanks to Matt's GPS)

ice ice baby

Yesterday's ride was a chilly one, but I just kept thinking how we can't control the weather come race day and I should be ready for whatever comes my way. I donned my arm warmers, tights and wore socks before heading out on this early morning ride. Two blocks into the ride, I discovered I forgot my gloves! Thinking clearly in the morning not always the best. I usually end up shedding my clothes partly into the ride, but not this time. I did warm up to the point of bearable though and the ride wasn't so bad other than my legs STILL being tired from the weekend. Last night I headed to Deep Eddy (usually ~72 degrees) as Big Stacy (~80) is closed for cleaning. Robby jumped in first as if it was nothing, I still hesitated, but not wanting to get too far behind finally took the plunge only after going through the ritual throwing water on myself as if that will make it easier. If someone knows the key to getting into cold water, I'll happily listen, now doing it can be a problem.

This morning was a cooler run, but in running world perfect. My legs felt good after the twitchy Sunday run, which was a relief and all and all felt really great.

Tues:
Bike: 1 hr 20 min
Swim: 2800

Wed:
morning: Run: 1 hr 5 min
evening bike: TBD

Double-Time

Last week I started my two a day workouts and it seemed to go well. Each morning I pulled my body out of bed before knowing what was going on and actually enjoy being out to watch the sunrise. I can't believe I'm saying that but it's true. It is not as if I don't like to watch the sunrise usually, it is just that I like the feeling of being in bed as well and being in bed in a whole lot easier. Come Saturday I could tell my legs were getting tired but I had a bike ride and run ahead of me. The gorgeous weather helped to get me out and on my bike as well as meeting up with ex-DCer, new Austinite and ironman extraordinaire Veronica. We set out Saturday morning for the Fitzhugh ride and fighting wind and rolling hills had a great three hour ride through the hill country even with the white knuckles from Hamilton pool road. We made it back downtown and it was off on a four mile run for me. I ran easy making sure my legs felt okay which they did other than a twinge half way through the run, I stopped and walked it off and felt okay the rest of the way. I think it was just a result of tired muscles and overcompensation from other areas of my body. Saturday's workout felt really good especially on the bike.

Sunday was another beautiful day and I rode down easy to Robby's before we headed down to the trail for a run. My legs felt okay, just tired and really pushing myself harder was not an option. My goal was to just get out there and do it. The run was extremely enjoyable, although I was running a slower than usual clip and it was a bit frustrating that I couldn't get my legs to move a bit faster. My knee reminded me that it was strained part way through the run but I took it easy and it passed.

Today provides some much needed rest for my legs to repair and then it is back at it.

Hill Country, Hamstrings, and Heels

Last week I had a good week after the race. On the Monday morning after the run, my legs were too tight to run so I went for a walk along the seawall and then took a dip in the pool. Tuesday I went for a swim at Big Stacy and then Wednesday ran 7 miles on the town lake trail and my legs felt just fine, which is great. Thursday and Friday were swim intensive days before my ride in Johnson City on Saturday. The weather was supposed to be perfect although a bit chilly in the morning. The zipper to my cycling jacket is broken and I’m pretty wimpy in cold weather so, KB and I came up with the idea to use a pair of old socks for arm warmers. I found some woolies I hadn’t worn in awhile and cut then straight across the toe. They worked like a dream.
I felt great at the start of the Johnson City Pedal Power ride. Part of it is just being outside on such a beautiful day, but I felt strong heading out and the terrain was gorgeous. The ride was through rolling hills and we crossed countless cattle guards and saw plenty of animals (cows, sheep, goats, birds, spiders, your typical) along with much less wildflowers than I expected but breath-taking views. My giddiness left me ahead of my group at the start of the ride and as I was riding one of those stretches where I was just going. It is this fabulous feeling of whee and my head is saying faster, faster just because it is so much fun. Well the party in my head distracted me from the turnoff arrow I was supposed to see to turn left for the route I was doing and two miles down the road I saw a turnoff that made no note of the 60 mile route, hmmm. I talked to the volunteers there and they said there was a turn off back from where I came and that maybe the sign blew over (I was not the only one to miss the turn off) there was only on thing to do hop back on my bike and back track. I headed back keeping my eyes peeled for signs and the rest of my group. This time I saw the sign and got back on track. I didn’t see the rest of my group so I figured they must have seen the turn off. I knew they probably thought I was still ahead of them, when I was in fact a few miles behind them now, hmm. They are a good bunch of riders and catching them was not going to be easy. They do know how to enjoy rest stops though so that was all I could think of as my saving grace, and again “press on” came into play. Fifty miles into the ride I finally caught them, when I had just about given up on the thought of catching them. At this point I was saddle-sore and wanted to finish so I charged on to the end. Saturday was a great day of riding with perfect weather, views, friends, and yes food at the end. (67 miles including miles added on)

Sunday was a ten mile run around town lake. I felt pretty good on the run other than a side stitch that would not go away and the heat. I can tell my legs are tired but not to the breaking point, so later in the day Johan and I went to Deep Eddy for some R and R poolside while I watched other people workout and I read my magazine. Sunday night I decided to give my legs a different sort of exercise and I hit the dance floor in three possibly four inch heels (I'm impressed I pulled this off without hurting myself) to dance the night away. Another great week of training down and just a little over three months to go until IM Switzerland, which we just got an email on saying the route changed a bit and it sounds like we have to run over an island in the middle of our swim and the bike route has changed some. I'll need to look this over a bit more to fully grasp what the course change means exactly.