biking, biking, biking

Yesterday my head was infected with biking. It's all I could think about/all I wanted to do was be out on my bike pumping my legs hard until they burned and tears streamed back from my eyes. Instead I was faced in front of a computer. Rooster getting ready to ride Monday's race with Gretch was at her house, so I set about pulling out my old bike shoes for Clyde (the Bianchi) and gleefully got ready for a ride. By the time I came to the stop light by my house I realized that my shoes were not clipping in nor were they going to clip in. Note: If your biking shoes are from the early 90s they might not work so well. I was able to manage to somehow balance the cleat on top of the pedal and garner enough power to get me to Matt and Sara's house where I told my sob story about how I was really looking forward to riding, blah, blah, blah. Sara looked at me and said, "just take my bike". Of course, my face lite back up, I was going to be back on the saddle again and they had been prodding me to try her bike out anyway as it is superlight and has a good seat on it. I tested it out like a five-year-old riding up and down the street making sure all was good before I jetted off. The seat could have used some adjusting, but I was anxious to get going and headed out. I felt lighter and faster riding the Easton (Sara's bike) but I wasn't sure how fast I was going and didn't want to put the computer on, because I just wanted to go for a joy ride really. The feeling of going fast was great, although there were some things I really wasn't used to on the bike e.g. it was so light it was hard for me to get a feel for the bike when I wanted to crank hard, the shifting was completely different, and I felt super upright. What it all boils down to is it is great to be out biking on ANY bike. Which one will be my next one? Can Rooster be replaced?

I like to disco.

" No clubbing means NO CLUBBING the night before! Get a good night sleep and be ready to go." This is what Matt emailed me today about our 20 mile run this weekend. I really want to do well in NY and Matt has graciously decided to help me reach my goal, but sometimes reality can be harsh. I'm willing to do what needs to be done, GULP.

Monday was a much needed break for my legs and Sara and I headed to the Lake to join the Hippie Hollow group. We had a thunderstorm that blew through Austin on Monday and that seemed to clear out the regulars so when we got to Hippie Hollow it was mostly ours. The water level at the lake is pretty low so we had to hike down a bit to get to the water in our normal cove and then there was a lot of glass. Jimmy cut his foot on a clear piece as he was looking out for green and brown versus clear so he decided to sit this swim out. I dove into the water and it was the perfect temp! It seems the rains had cooled things off a bit and the water was calm and cool. It felt like I was ice skating versus swimming as I made my way to the Windy Point tree we target. On my way, this guy with those double fins like a dolphin tail flew by me. He said he was wearing them to loosen up his ankles. If I had them on it would be all I could do to not dive down and then dolphin kick my hardest to propel myself up and out of the water, but that's just me. This was the last HH group swim of the year as after Labor Day the park closes at 6 PM sadly. I guess we can still go on weekends, but it's always nice to get away during the week. We watched the sunset and headed back home.

Tuesday Matt had a track workout for us to do, which is where I think I can make the most improvement. It's no secret that I'm not the fastest runner, but I want that to change or at least I want to be the fastest runner I can be. The run went well although Matt thought I could have run the fast laps faster and the slow laps slower. I'll try and adjust for next time.

Wednesday was ~6 miles of my regular run to shoal creek. I'm not sure if it was the track workout the night before or? but I knocked off a couple of minutes from the amount of time it usually takes me.

This morning was happy fun run day as I told KB and I gave her several different options as to routes we could run and made her choose. She chose the capitol run route and we ran for a little under an hour thumbing our noses at the people running on treadmills in the gym, smelling bacon the whole run, running through construction zones, looking at the capitol annex, and talking the whole time. Now that is a good start to the day.

and the beat goes on

I had some more good runs last week all at night. Thursday night KB and I ran together with the dangling carrot of getting dinner afterward. We both had tired legs on the run, but completely enjoyed it. We ran around 8 miles, showered, and then walked to go get dinner - what a perfectly lovely way to end a day.

Saturday, I made it out to the Al's ship of fools run again thanks to Gretch's help in making sure I got there in time. I'm not the best at group runs, because I have trouble falling into a pace that is good for me and usually just pick up the fastest persons pace from the get go. That is what happened Saturday and by mile 4 or so, I realized I could not hold the pace for the whole distance and that I better turn the dial down a notch in order to keep on keepin' on. I completed the 10 mile loop Al's was doing and knew I had five more to go, at this point, I was not feeling my best, but Gretch encouraged me to continue you on and got me to go the extra bit.

After Saturday's less than stellar run, I was feeling trepidacious about heading out again. It is just not as fun to run on tired legs. I knew Sunday's run was supposed to be five miles so not as far and I took it as a nice Sunday jog. I started out from my friend's house right on LBL where they were BBQing and headed to the trail. My legs felt good, not top-notch, but definitely good and the weather a bit cooler than the previous morning so I was able to kick it up a bit and all in all it was a really reassuring jaunt for me. The best part was ending at the BBQ and having good food and company post-run.

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Matt Harrington completed Leadville 100. This is an amazing 100 mile run out in Leadville Colorado. He battled rain, snow, stomach issues, etc. and not once, not ONCE, did stopping cross his mind. I'm still in awe of this amazing accomplishment. Way to go Matt! I saw him yesterday merely 24 hours after he finished and he was doing a jig.

My marathon training is on its way. I ran 18 on Saturday made that much easier when KB met me 1/3 of the way through and ran the middle third with me. The whole way down to the lake the anticipation of meeting up with her kept my legs moving at a good pace and then the fun of running along with her kept me going the rest of the way home. Not the easiest run I've done. Last Wednesday I turned a 7 mile run into a 10 miler just because I felt so good and was running after work when it wasn't in the triple digits. I'm going to try and be a bit more diligent about my posts.

Click here for video from IM Switzerland. Brings back many happy memories.