I see that as my training goes up, my postings to my blog go down. :)
Saturday morning I headed to the gym for my trainer ride a few minutes late - I think I may have shipped all my cycling shorts to Florida with Paul because I could not find any. In any event, I was 4 1/2 hours on my bike and it was a struggle mentally and physically. I watched "Untraceable" with Diane Lane, and "Crank" with Jason Statham. Nothing like alot of blood, guts and gore first thing in the morning. I could not get my heart rate up (even watching Jason Statham) and focused instead on keeping my cadence at 90. Training indoors on my bike is difficult. I like being outside where at least the scenery changes and outdoor riding is alot easier on the back and girl parts than trainer riding.
Coach Paul texted me from Florida to tell me how nice it was there. Ron stopped in for a chat after Monster Endurance spin class and my friend Hugh who I had not seen in a long time limped over for a chat. Hugh and his wife Gisele have always been two of the most amazing people I have met doing triathlons. Hugh is waiting for a hip replacement but was still at the gym working out. I know that having his hip replaced is only going to slow him down temporarily.
Sunday was my long run. My friend Sue and I headed out about noon for our 22 km run. One thing Sue and I have in common is that we are always cold so we looked like we were wearing all the running clothes we own when we headed out. 2 pairs of running pants, 2 shirts, coats, mitts, balaclavas, and hats. Sue calls this her "mama is coming home with a plasma tv" running outfit.
Running was not easy especially since we had so many clothes on it was hard to bend our knees. The sidewalks were not shovelled and it was like running in sand. I did take a tumble running down Rossland Road. We could not really tell where the sidewalks were and I tripped off the edge of the sidewalk and did a "penguin slide" much to Sue's amusement. I jumped back up and did inventory as I was running and everything seemed be working okay.
Now Sue and I have trained together for years and she is well aware of my perpensity to fall - either off my bike or while running. Its not that I am unco-ordinated, I just don't pay attention. I am always looking at the scenery or shirtless guys. One time in Muskoka I fell going uphill because I was looking at the trees or something and Sue and John and a number of my friends just went around me like a line of ants and kept riding. A motorist actually stopped to see if I was okay - he must of thought I had the cruelest friends ever. Paul was at the top of the hill and had heard that I had fallen (again) and asked if I was okay. Sue informed him that I was fine because I was yelling obscentities at them as they cycled past.
Back to our Sunday run. We did a 15 km loop, ran into Sue's house to rehydrate and grab half a bagel and then we headed out again. The last few kilometres were tough but we got it done. It was cold that day and when we started to strip at Sue's house for our dip in the hot tub, I realized that one of my braids had frozen to my balaclava and we had to wait for it to thaw a bit before I could pry it off. We decided that Sunday's run was definitely a character building run.
Training for Texas is going well. Last week I dropped 5 lbs (probably when I fell on my face on Rossland) and I am feeling strong. There are more good training days than bad and I just keep at it.
To my friends, Jeff Drinkle and Liz Valiant, who both had a trying training week this past week, I hope I have said all the right things to keep you motivated and moving forward. I am secretly amused though because you are two of the toughest, most motivated people I know doing traithlons and your success this season is a forgone conclusion.
Happy Valentines Day.
Lisa
No comments:
Post a Comment