Monday, March 31, 2008

A decision has been made

After last week's sequester to the homestead after spiking a fever and all the overthinking, an overthinking girl can do when stuck home sick...I've come to a conclusion and a decision.

I'm not doing Vineman 70.3 this year.

The reasons are varied. But a couple of things struck me:

1) It isn't in my top two things I want to accomplish in my training

2) And J made the comment: "We need to chat about your overall life and diet and nutrition and what you are not doing. "(we still do...) But it got me thinking about what I am doing and what I'm not doing and my overall life. And thinking about where I am and where I have been physically and emotionally in my life leading up to right now over the past 1-2 years. And well...after some careful debates, I came to my conclusion.

I am eyeing doing SOMA in Oct and just inching my distances up over the summer...but I'm not sure I can come to a decision on whether or not to do it before it sells out.

In the meantime, I'm training for the bike leg of the Wildflower Oly in 5 weeks (or is it 4?). After that, I'm focused on a 10K mud run in mid June with an obstacle course and lots of mud. And then...I donno. I might do San Diego International at the end of June and maybe one or two other Oly's and throw in a few sprints, but that is yet to be determined. I know I should make a plan and decide and...and...and...but the type A personality in me is failing to show up at this moment which tells me I should just plan some training, be consistent with it and see where the chips fall. Not very type A (as most triathletes are type A personalities), but it is what it is.

What's that mean for training? 2 days of crossfit, 1-3 days of yoga, brave masters swimming at least one day a week, focus on biking til Wildflower and then focus on running for the 10K in June (doesn't mean I stop running or biking respectively, it just means...less during a 'focus' period).

I'm not too heart broken about the decision which tells me, I wasn't really as invested in Vineman as I should be for a half ironman. I've learned I really can't focus on more than 1 to 2 things at a given time...and do them well...so I'm going to focus on those 2 things, and get back to the basics and the reasons why I do this crazy sport.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Banana?

BANANA?!!

ORANGE?

GEL?

PRETZEL?

COOKIE?

POWERBAR?
(who eats those things? yuck...not very many triatheletes i tell you)

This was a little of what my day sounded like...mainly it was BANANA??!! I now have perfected the art of the banana handoff. It took a few drops to get the hang of it...there is a technique to it...although one guy actually grabbed my banana AND my plastic glove. Ooops. Few minor war wounds of the day as I sliced my finger (mildly) while cutting oranges. Nice going.

I volunteered at Ironman 70.3 California today. It was awesome! The tri club had the first aid station for the run, so we got to see runners four times as they did the out and back 2x. I did see Sarah on her first loop (very fast I might add) she did look at me when I yelled out her name, but then again...everyone has their name on their tags and people are out of it anyway by that point. So anyway...it was a Sarah in a Team Aquaphore outfit (I don't know if there are many of those). Maybe the right one?? I believe I even saw Neoprene Wedgie whose worries about the race due to some knee issues didn't appear to phase him at all! Nice job everyone!

The theme of the aid station was a 60s hippie theme...The Love Stop. I sported some straightened hair, a very kewl bandanna, and a very 60s embroidered top. I cheered, rang a cow bell, yelled, handed out lots of bananas and other random stuff....I have no voice at all...truly none, I'm sporting the oh so sexy 'deep raspy voice'... but it was totally worth it.

Way to go athletes!!


Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Not again!

This post was supposed to be about how the overhead squats I did at crossfit on monday made me feel like a wimp. All I could do was a 33lb bar. Women were supposed to do 95lbs, men 115...hahahahaha. Nice try. It is even harder to do overhead squats in running shoes as you very easily roll forward when coming back up, but we had no choice as the workout of the day, 'Nancy', called for running and overhead squats.

Overhead squat (my 33lb bar) 5-5-5...and then onto:

'Nancy':
Run 400m
15 Overhead squats.
Repeat 5 times for time.

Or this post was supposed to be about how I took my car in today because I thought the breaks were squeaking and I needed an oil change, only to discover that I had a RAT'S nest on my air filter. No...the air filter didn't look like a rat's nest there WAS a rats nest on the air filter. Can we say ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Not much I can do about it though as I park on a street and don't have a garage. The lady at the car fixer place said I should 'whack' my hood every time I got in the car. There's a splendid way to fix it. Had no idea San Diego had so many rats. Gross. No problem with the breaks, but I had a billion other little problems that were either broken or about to go and and if they did fail...it would be catastrophic failure with me stuck on the side of the road. Lots o cash later...fixed car. I was about to whine about this when I was driving home when I realized I had made a 'deal' with my car not to give out on me in a major way in grad school (as I was poor) and wait til I had a job. I guess it is taking me up on that. Stupid car.

But NO....this post is actually about how I am sick AGAIN! This time I think it is truly the flu. 100.9 temp, muscle aches, sore throat, malaise, skin that is sensitive to the touch. It all happened VERY rapidly this afternoon and after trying to sleep for 3 hours after work...and only feeling each and every horrible symptom take their residence in my body...i called in sick for tomorrow. Sigh. I am so unhappy about this situation, I cannot express it coherently. It freaks me out with training for my HIM and the number of days I am going to miss and the days I have to dial back. Better to get fully better before training again, but now I am starting to have minor concerns about if I will be prepared for Vineman. I know it is something like 15 weeks away, but still that's not a ton of time. Will rehaul the training and evaluate as time goes on. Lame.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Recipe

This is my recipe for quads so sore that walking down the stairs has turned into a hobble down the stairs with always a brief thought of "could I just slide down the banister?".

Ingredient list:
1 triathelte training for her first HIM
1 PT
2 crossfit sessions
2 bike rides
2 runs
And a WHOLE lotta Delayed onset muscle soreness.

Goal: How to achieve rediculous level of soreness. This is a day by day approach. Proceed with increasing stupidity.

Day 1: go for hilly bike ride where keeping up doesn't seem to be option. Fully embrace the fact that that by the last 5 miles the lactic acid in the quads inhibits any increase in speed.

Day 2: be amazingly surprised that lactic acid that filled quads did not make them sore, but only heavy. Add 8 miles of running. Sprinkle in a little frustration at the fact that hip injury is inhibiting the speed of the run, but overall the run felt good. Aerobically super. Notice legs are somewhat 'heavy' but really not a problem.

Day 3. Go to PT. Have PT inflict various amounts of pain in hip...boarder line where eyes roll in back of head, desire to throw up/black out does seem to loom on the horizon and the curious question of "I think he left his finger prints on my hip". ET suddenly becomes a role model...OWWWCHHHHH.

From PT go to crossfit to discover the following horrors.
Back squat 85% in 5-5-5. Move from 85lbs previously up to 95lbs. (Still don't know what my back squat 'max' is.)

Followed by 3 rounds of:
35 Box jumps (only can jump on 12" box...not prescribed 24"...laugh at self because of inability to jump)
25 Wall ball squats...squat ONTO medicine ball and when coming UP throw 10lb ball up on wall.
15 Knees to elbows...hang on bar and pull your knees to elbows or pathetically try as my case may be.

Day 4 wake up...don't feel too bad...think "hey i'm getting in shape!" By 2 PM the stiffness sets in...and I KNOW I have DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). By end of day, walking down stairs is a challenge.

Day 5...like an idiot...proceed back to crossfit as Day 4 inadvertently became a rest day. Getting out of bed is a chore. Crossfit is a powerlift day with what again...but back squats. Quads so sore that have to go down to 85lbs and this is more of a struggle than two days ago at the higher weight. Again 5-5-5. Then onto deadlifting. Just 5 reps one set...so the goal...find the max I can lift 5 times. Last time I lifted 125lbs. I was told to try to hit 140. We accidentally loaded so that I had a total of 145lbs. Quads unhappy with this (even though they aren't the main recruiting muscle group). Other crossfitter comments: "You did that like it was nothing. " Um...that freaking hurt, was my thought. But apparently I didn't 'struggle' enough. Note: add more weight next time. We did a few other ridiculous core things...L-sits and rocking hallows things...hard to do and hard to explain.

Evening workout...head to bike workout where drills are being done...sprinting, spinning, riding out of the saddle...SINGLE leg drills. 3 loops of 4 miles. Circle until quads protest...wait...i mean just circle until done. Quads protest while ride.

Day 6 Mix in a 4 mile run. Continue to ignore complaints from quads. Run...somewhat pathetic but happy I achieved all 4 miles. That was a mental struggle in itself.

Result...TRASHED quads.

So, I've become friends with Aleve which doesn't actually seem to do anything...Aspercream is my friend as well as biofreeze...which just makes me smell like a cough drop. Its been a rough week on the training front, but pretty good all the same. I'm going through that beginning phase of any training program for a distance i've never done where I have the thoughts of :WHAT was I thinking???

Other notes:

On a bummer note...I had thought I was going to do the La Jolla half mary, but with this hip injury I had put off signing up and had planned to sign up after this weekend when I ran 10 miles and didn't self distruct...sadly it is all sold out now :-( I need to find another race to do.

On a FUN note...I am volunteering at Oceanside 70.3 next weekend on the 22nd. I'm pretty excited. I will be somewhere on the run segment all day. I'll cheer, ring a cow bell, hand out water/gatorade, sweep up cups...and other things too.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Tire advice...please?

I need some advice with getting new tires. Please chime in. I currently have some Vittoria Rubbinos on my bike. I heart them. Rarely a flat. They need to be replaced though as they are at the end of their life and I basically thought I should replace them with the same tire. Here's the thing...for me getting that last little bit of the bead back on the tire is a PAIN. I've bruised my thumbs. I've given myself a blister. And I've only had to change these suckers 3 or 4 times, but I dread having to get them back on in a time situation. So....here is the question.

Are the folding tires (or 'pro' tires) really any easier to get back on that little last bit? I don't want the folding tires if I need to go to a higher TPI because I like the security of a thicker tire, so I'm perfectly happy with a 60 TPI tires (hence i'm not even sure if I can get a folding tire in that thick of a tire...i'm still researching).

Here's a random side puzzlement of mine. As I was looking through vittoria tires, one line of them says 'aramide' tires. Yet others say 'Kevlar' tires. This is my thought:

Dude...Kevlar is an 'aramide'

Do they say 'aramid' just so they don't have to pay royalties of using the Kevlar on the cheaper tires? (this isn't really a question...more a musing from my geeky nature...unless you know if the 'aramid' tires are really meta-aramides and not para-aramids like Kevlar...or if there really is a material property difference between the two. Don't worry, i'm just rambling and not really looking for a true answer unless you know the answer. :-))

Saturday riding

The Saturday ride. Man...I can be a tough morning person and this morning was no different. I got to the determined point to meet up with the tri club and this morning was an inland option of riding. 47 miles of wonderful hills or 32 miles of hills. And while a friend just convinced to do the bike leg of the Oly relay at Wildflower, (WHAT was I thinking?...me and hills need to become friends)I wasn't extremely keen to do hills mainly because I still haven't spent much time in the saddle. There was a small contingent that was looking to ride the coast and considering that my time in the saddle is woefully small I was thinking of doing the coastal ride with the few people that were going to do that. Fortunately the hills chose me in the end. I say fortunately because the last 5-10 miles of the loop we did was on the coast and by the time we got to coast it was gusting like no other and I was having a heck of a time not getting blown all over. I was thankful that I only had to endure that for the last bit of the ride and not the whole thing.

Both the 47 miles and 32 milers started off together and would break off down the road. Less than 10 miles into the ride one of the guys who was in the 32 mile group got a flat and those that were going to do this ride stopped and grouped up. It was a smaller group, which I am fond of smaller groups, but a small group going the shorter distance does not mean a slower group by any stretch of the imagination. This week I would like to blame the fact I kept getting dropped the whole time on traffic lights, like last week..but well...that would be lying.

We regrouped few times as the first flatter in the group had a few more issues with the tire so a lot of tire changing was happening on this ride. We would regroup, take off on the hills...which I could at least kinda sorta keep up...sorta and not get too far behind, but triathletes have this nasty habit of on straight aways and down hills of getting all aero and gunning it. And considering that I just got my aero bars and my bike fitted yesterday I did have a few points where I could try them out...but for the most part I stayed out of them...still getting used to the squirrelly nature of them. One person did loop back and keep me company most of the time which was very nice and will have to 'pay it forward' in the future when I'm a stronger biker and someone is struggling in a group I'm in.

The 'funny' thing about the situation was when I was getting slightly frustrated on the flatter parts due to not keeping up very well...I looked down at my speedometer only to read:

18-20mph

Err...That's pretty fast for me on flats...so at that point I just stopped giving myself a hard time. It's not like I was on a beach cruiser going 8 miles an hour. Another thing that may have made things a wee little bit more difficult was when I got home I realized I hadn't pumped my tires up that morning. I checked my rear tire...um, yea...less than 80 psi. I'm sure that didn't help the situation.

It was a good day overall. I learned a few things:

-Be well stocked with tires and tubes, you or your riding mates may need more of them than you think.

-Know how much of a CO2 cartridge your tubes need...I offered my puny 12.5 gram cartridge which they couldn't use and then was informed that since I don't have 650 tires I need a bigger cartridge. Glad I didn't find that out the hard way.

-Have more calories than you might need for the actual ride. I didn't bonk, but I was woefully low on calories by the end of the ride.

-Always pump your tires before your ride. Always.

-At the end of the day...it is always your own ride...enjoy it...even if you can't see the people you are with any more. Take in the scenery...enjoy the feel of the road...being out there and taking it all in really is an awesome thing that so many people don't do.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

The skort fiasco

Alternate title for the post: running skorts in review.

I am not a shopper. I do not pretend to be. I may be female, but somehow it is just not in my nature to 'shop'. I get bored, but most of all I'm not a shopper because I think entirely too much. I debate and debate...and debate. Buying clothes is a bit of a chore for me. Buying much of anything is a huge chore for me because it becomes somewhat of a mental exercise and it is entirely too exhausting. Sometimes the planets align and miracles of miracles the experience is simple and straight forward and I don't debate til I want to die, but most of the time I debate...debate...debate and sometimes after all of that exhaustive effort I walk away with nothing.

NOW take my inability to efficiently shop and mix that with being exhausted from being sick last week...and well it spells fiasco in my book. So I should clarify... it was a fiasco by the very nature of my inability to make a decision on clothes coupled with the fact I was exhausted from being sick. But at the same time it made me laugh as I attempted to wade through a 'newer' running trend in women's clothing...THE SKORT.

The skort in general is making a comeback in the world of woman's clothing...and I have to say...i LOVE it. I bought my first skorts since I was a kid last summer and I have to say: Truly Amazing. The comfort of shorts with the cute factor of a skirt...I say win-win situation. But I have to admit...I have been skeptical on the whole 'running skort' debate out there. Will I be taken seriously running in a skort? Will I just look plain silly? I wasn't sure, but considering I had heard some rave reviews I thought...sure...i'll at least try some on.

So I went up to Road Runner Sports and grabbed a bunch of running skorts to see what exactly I might think of this whole new trend. For starters...The Nike running skort:


Now Ladies...I have to say...if you are of the ilk to say: "I want a running skort because it is more 'modest' than a pair of running spandex shorts or one of those short shorts that runners run around in...bla, bla, bla" AND then you decide that this particular skort is FOR YOU and you go and purchase one of these babies...all I have to say is.: You must only run around in your underwear.

Because this skort is so short (and I am no tall person either...5'4" and mostly torso). Yes this skort is more modest than running around in a one's underwear, but that is about it. That is my opinion at least. Granted if you can pull this skort off...well then you probably look cute in an oversized race t-shirt and sweatpants that are 5x too big for you, you know ...a size small.

So I moved on from the 'barely more than running in a pair of underwear skort' to the Adidas version. I honestly can't remember any great impression about it. I think it fell under the 'too short for me' category. I then moved on to the Under Armor skort.

I do have to say...Under Armour does it right again. The compression shorts under the skirt actually act like....well... compression shorts. Wow could this really be something that is function AND fashion. I'm intrigued by this particular skort for a second, but then for me it is still on the too short side of things. But the skort was a little longer than the previous two I'd tried, so an improvement.


It was then on to Road Runner's version of the skort. I had read the reviews and most said the compression short underneath wasn't very good...but the price on the skort compared to the others was pretty affordable. Only 25 bucks compared to most everything else which was running 40-50 bucks. Also the RR cut of the skort...A-line.

A-line makes everyone look good. Who is designing these things anyway? ALL should be A-line, I mean if part of the material is going to be flapping around as you are running around well then...we all need the whole picture to just look good. How hard is that?? So...I was slightly hooked and then I tried on the Brooks skort which trumped the RR skort. The Brooks had both function and fashion to it...the compression shorts actually worked AND the skort was a nice length for me. Although the cut was not as flattering as the RR...But here is where fiasco came into play...which one and what size?

So...over the next 30-40 minutes (i swear it took this long) I tried on the RR skort in two sizes and the Brooks skort in 2 sizes....back and forth. The dilemma...what size and which skort. I probably tried on each of the four skorts 5 times, if not more. Combine this with my afore mentioned inability to make decisions while shopping and my exhausted state and you get STUPIDLY long time to make a decision.... hence fiasco.

In the end I got so frustrated with the situation i bought both the RR and the Brooks. The verdict after running, I will cut out the shorts on the RR and just wear with a normal pair of compression shorts...the shorts on those are just plain stupid. The Brooks...shorts are great..skirt is great.

And OVERALL...big thumbs up on the cute factor. I even got hit on while I was at the local farmer's market on sunday before my run. Must have been the skort ;-)

So I have to say the SKORT: cute, fashionable AND functional...just gotta love it.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Random Facts

Mindy tagged me for 7 random facts

1) My life is filled with random and bizarre 6 degrees of separation situations. Friends of mine think I am only separated by 3 or 4 degrees from another person. And the truth of the matter is that I don't actually know that many people and i'm not an extrovert...so go figure.

2) I tend to wave my hands a lot when I talk. When I was about 7 years old, my two older sisters made me sit on my hands and wouldn't let me talk unless I didn't use my hands. I sat there speechless...and then it made me cry.

3) I laugh a lot. I have what people have described as a hearty 'belly laugh' and it can be heard down the hall. It is quite loud actually and if someone gets me hysterically laughing, good luck getting me to stop. I've even been heard laughing through elevator doors.

4) I've played the violin for 25 years and I even used to blue grass fiddle when I was a kid. I can still play 'Orange Blossom Special' and No...I don't know how to play 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia'...but I think I could learn it if I wanted.

5) When I was 4 or 5 I was asked to sit and wave from a firetruck as part of a local parade, but I was irrationally afraid of doing it and refused. I was wearing a pink 'Leo the Lop' t-shirt and I still regret not sitting in the firetruck in the parade. I mean, when else in life do you get that kind of opportunity? Only when you are a little kid. Bummer.

6) I know how to water ski slalom, but I hate bumper tubing behind a ski boat. I get bored and I don't actually think its that fun.

7) I can be rather absentminded at times, but equally have a stupidly good memory for unimportant things. If I can remember a conversation I had with someone, chances are I can remember what they were wearing, what exactly they said and where we had the conversation. But in order for me to remember to do much of anything I need a list, that I made about 10x. And I tend to put too many things on that list.

Tag...you're it!

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Feeling better

So I've been pretty wiped out the past few days after getting sick on Tuesday. The main problem with this cold hasn't been that I sond ike dis and have to blow my nose constantly, it has been more that energy wise I have been wiped out. I tend to be a fairly energetic person and on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being little energy and 10 being bouncing off the wall...I typically am between a 7-9 on most days. This cold has put me more in the range of -5 to -6 on the energy scale.

I was out from work on Wednesday and Thursday. By Friday I was feeling a little better and even had high hopes of getting in a quick workout that evening. But by the end of the day my energy had really sagged and I ended up being low key and catching a movie with some friends. Saturday I really, really, REALLY wanted to get at least a 20 mile bike ride in, but I still wasn't even hitting a 1 on the energy scale. I took a quick 'power walk' down the street to grab some coffee and when I came back and felt like I needed a nap I accepted the fact that another day of rest really wouldn't kill my HIM training this far out even though my head was screaming that I needed to get some training done. I finally rationalized that if anything another day off would probably help me get better faster. So...I accepted it and took another day off. I wasn't happy about it though.

This morning when I woke up I could tell I was back in the positive numbers on the energy scale. I had a 6.5 mile run slated in my training plan, but I decided that even if I could only get 4.5 miles that would still be golden. The upper respiratory infection didn't aid the whole breathing and lower heart rate, but it didn't kill me too much either. I tried not to look at my watch too much as I realized I was probably going to be running backwards in time if anything so it was somewhat futile to worry too much about my time. It felt good to be out running and it was a pretty warm afternoon. After last week's debacle where my sock decided to eat the back of my ankle and stop my run, I was armed with band-aids and ready for most anything.

The did the whole 6.5 mile run and it actually felt pretty good. I even tried out a new running skort...which the fiasco of buying the stupid thing is worthy of another post...so maybe for another day...over all I did like the skort so that was a bonus. I'm encouraged that even after this cold that has totally sapped all my energy, and taken me out for a bit, I have a feeling that I will bounce back pretty well and I hope to hit the training pretty hard once I fully recover. I have tweaked this next week so that hopefully I don't totally kill myself with the training and relapse, but it still will be a good full week. I'm happy to be feeling much more energetic, that's for sure.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Out sick

So I have been feeling a little tired in the past few days, my swim on monday was more of a 'try not to sink' sort of effort. Getting up in the morning for monday's crossfit workout didn't happen and when tying my shoes so I could go to the Tuesday night tri club run made me want to take a nap, I knew something was up. I attributed it not getting enough sleep or more training...or whatever. But in the last few days I have had a sore throat too. So yesterday I decided to go to bed at 8:30 or 9 ( as i've been getting up at 5AM most days) and see if that would help...I figured between 8-9 hours of sleep might sort this out. But in the end I skipped my AM crossfit workout workout just so I could get an extra hour of sleep. But even after getting almost 10 hours I still felt EXHAUSTED.

Somehow I convinced myself I would feel better as the morning wore on and dragged my sorry self off to work. After finding reading my email a mental drain, I decided in the end to go home. I wasn't going to accomplish anything today as tired as I was...and even though I hadn't spiked a temp in the AM...i was starting to feel warmish.

I didn't know if it was allergies (but claritin hasn't help the situation) and my energy took a HUGE dive in the last 24 hours. So I did go see a doctor as I didn't know if it would be strep throat, the flu, allergies, mono... or some strange disease. (i have an overactive imagination). Went to the doctor...and she ruled out strep (on the 5 minute culture), the flu or another strange disease. Probably just an upper respiratory infection...i have a cold.

I came home and slept for 3 hours. I still feel exhausted and we shall see how tomorrow goes. I have to admit I'm a little frustrated as this was supposed to be week 1 of my dedicated HIM training and I have to just hang out until I feel like I have enough energy to tie my shoes again. I am hoping that this is a cold and not allergies because at least with a cold I will get better...allergies I would just have to battle and allergy meds are not helping.

I did discover a fast way to make chicken soup:
Chicken broth (minimum 64 oz, use the low sodium that is even salty to me)
Pre-cut carrots
3/4 bag of egg noodles
celery 3-4 stems
pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from the deli at a grocery store

Use about half of the chicken and dump everything together. Add some 'multi' seasoning like 21 seasons from Trader Joe's and in less than 15 minutes you have chicken soup! Cook to a boil...turn down to a simmer...and all is well.

Alright off to rest up.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

You look tired

I kinda hate it when people come up to me and say: You look really tired.

Gee...THANKS!!

I am trying to get to bed earlier since I am now consistently finding that I need to be up at 5 am to get my morning workout in...yuck. I wish I was one of those people who only needed 6 hours of sleep to be alive and alert, but that is not me. I'm more like 8 hours. That just messes everything up.

But lately i have felt exhausted. While my training is increasing my exhaustion is not proportional to workout effort, so I am thinking it might be something else. It was pointed out the other day that maybe i'm allergic all sorts of new plants here in southern california. My allergies tend to manifest differently in different places I have lived so I hadn't thought about the fact that lethargic and scratchy throat would equal allergies. I looked at the allergy forcast today and realized that my main problem may be freaking pollen. This is seriously hampering my training.

I am going to try to get a ridiculous amount of sleep tonight and see if that improves anything. If i'm still exhausted, well I will know that it might be allergy related. This is so not cool.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

The weekend and such

Stoplights

I decided that this was going to be the weekend to give the saturday tri club ride a go. I used to ride all the time with one other person during my first two seasons of tri training, and really had only ridden with a few other people at any given time, so I have found that group riding can mentally psch me out a little, mainly because I think about large packs of cyclists like on the Tour or when I lived out in western MA there were a few pretty hard core cycle groups and on a fairly regular basis I would see double pace lines of cyclist flying by at a zillion miles an hour by my house. So that's what I think of when I think of a 'group' bike ride, hence it freaks me out a little bit. So I had a few nerves showing up. But the truth of the situation was that the large group of 50 or so, got broken into smaller groups of 5-10 ...which was more my size.

We start off, I head to the back figuring that might be a reasonable place to start out. We've gone 1/2 a block. I get stuck at the stop light. Now the group has gone on ahead...they aren't that far away I tell myself...and then I get stuck at the next stop light...again only 1/2 a block away from the first one...after the light changes it becomes apparent that I have lost the group. Now i can't even see the pack at this moment. There were a few stragglers with me so i wasn't completely alone, so I decided 'well ok this would just be sprinting practice' as a few of us tried to catch up to the group. The next 8 or so miles were much of the same, I would get near the group only to get stuck at a stop light when I was within 1/4 mile of joining up. I did finally catch up around mile 8.

I was feeling a little relieved to finally caught the group, and my legs were a little toast by this point so I worried a little bit that the return trip would be notsofun. After I finally caught the group I was relaxing at a stoplight with the group this time (bummer thing about urban riding) and I look over and Paul has caught our group, says hi and quickly passes us as he proceeds on for his 100 mile jaunt.

We reach the turn around point for the 30 milers...the 40 and 50 milers with our group continue up north and I turn around with those heading back. Fortunately I find a few other people who are going the pace that I needed and head back. Despite the first half being a lot of sprinting (which is good for me anyway...right??) it was a lot of fun and I will definitely be making this a habit of mine! Much more fun to ride with other people.

Sunday I was slated to run 6 miles. I started off...sluggishly...it wasn't getting better...i was making stupid excuses to stop...I wanted to turn around...take a nap...do anything else really...and then it happened.

I actually had to stop.

I was a mile away from home, and I was getting a ridiculous blister. The funny thing about the incident was that once I had a reason to stop, I didn't want to even though the run was sucking like no other. I debated the pros and cons of continuing the run. The biggest con I came up with for continuing my run was that since my foot hurt, I was dramatically changing my gait...and this was all on the leg that had all the hip issues that I had JUST been given the OK to go do whatever from my PT. I was confronted with the stark reality that I could screw up everything good that I had been doing with PT by being stubborn and proceeding and I somehow recognized that it wasn't worth the risk of reinjuring my leg and hip. So I turned around and walked home. I got home only to discover I had a hole in my sock at the blister point and that is what caused the trauma. I promptly threw those socks away. I now have Bandaids packed in my water carrying case.

It was a good weekend over all. Yes...more running needs to happen, but it will. I may have even found a running buddy today...so that may workout pretty well.