Week 18 totals:
Swim: 2. 3950m, 1hr 57min
Bike: 2. 5hrs 40min, Saturday Ride: 79mi
Run: 2. 19mi, 3hr 31min
Strength: 1. 15min
Total time: 11hr 23min
Challenges:
Spent part of the weekend up in Flagstaff, so Sunday's prescribed 8-miler was done at altitude (starting at 7000ft) and proceeded up the side of a mountain for the first four miles. It was virtually the same course as my very first race ever (the Run for the Magic Half Marathon). The intervening six years haven't made the route any flatter, but luckily it's still just as pretty. Ran with Cassie and Not-So-Imaginary Scott and a couple of Cassie's other friends. It was actually really fun, but man was it brutal.
Accomplishments:
Saturday morning's 80-miler was actually a really good ride. Cool temps, light wind, minimal hills. Felt like I nailed my nutrition. Also, I wore my new bike jersey that Gerry gave me (the one that matches Hansel), so obviously that makes me faster. Averaged 17.4mph for the 80 (well, 79) miles.
Surprises:
Coach LO asked us all at Tuesday's group swim how we were feeling. All of us replied that we were feeling surprisingly good, considering the beating our legs had taken at Bike MS a couple days prior. With that in mind, she tossed us right back into regular training, which included a 10-mile run on Wednesday morning. Starting out, I felt great cardiovascularly, but it soon became apparent that my legs were just toast. My warmup pace felt like a brisk 9:45. Turns out it was actually an 11min mile. Oh boy. Both glutes and my right IT band felt like they were going to snap in half during miles 2-4. As usual the last few miles felt the best. Rolling out my legs on Wednesday night was EXCRUCIATING. I cried. No shame. JK hovered nearby saying, "Isn't there something I can do for you? I just feel like I should be able to do something." I squeaked out, faux-dramatically, "There's nothing you can do. Just bear witness to my pain." Ironman training is awesome.
Bonus:
On Sunday, Cassie and I were doing my prescribed post-run leg strength exercises in a little park near the mountain. A group of rough and tumble young men (possibly in their late-teens? I'm a terrible judge of ages.) sauntered in to sit on the nearby picnic tables for awhile. They were a little obnoxious, but seemed to be pretty harmless. As they were leaving, one of them swaggered by and asked "Do either of you ladies have a band-aid--?" We very clearly did not have any band-aids on us, and began to reply in the negative, when he continued, "--because I scraped my knee when I fell for you." Oh. Oh, honey. We gave him the obligatory eye-roll and half-smile, and he continued on his way.
The trip up to Flagstaff had a purpose. My fabulous cousin Cassie, my partner in crime for nearly all of my racing/riding/obstacle-ing adventures over the past seven years, and just flat-out one of my favorite people ever, is moving away. She's off to Dallas for a new job and new adventures, so I needed to visit and get in one last weekend of our patented Power Relaxing (TM) before she heads east. We did the aforementioned athletic endeavors, and then balanced that out with pedicures, barbecue, frozen yogurt, movies, and Alpine Pedaling. It was a wonderful weekend, and she's a wonderful person, and I'm going to miss her so much.
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