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April 12, 2008
Training, Clearwater and Pizza
First the workouts -
I started off the morning in the pool which is not exactly where I wanted to be. I wanted to be out riding my bike in the nice sunny warmth! It looked sooooo beautiful outside. But I knew the swim was supposed to be the first workout of the day so I was a good soldier and went swimming first.
I'm not sure what got under my skin but boy did I have a great swim this morning! I was doing sets of 300 pull, 3x150 swim and my stroke just felt strong and smooth and for the last set of 150s I averaged 1:16 pace (SCY of course) which I know is nothing spectacular but for me is rather fast. I know these things come and go but I would like to take this as a good sign. Yep, that's what we are calling it - a good sign!
I raced home after my swim to gear up and get ready for my ride. Unfortunately the sun had disappeared and I noted that it was getting rather windy as well. Little did I know.
About 5 seconds into my ride I knew it was going to be a windy one. So I made sure to ride into the wind first because it's just no fun riding home in it. OH MAN. It was so windy. I literally rode into the wind for 90 minutes straight. It was never ending. Unrelenting. Unforgiving. I wanted to cry. I went through the full gamut of emotions - first angry about the wind, then accepting, then sad, then thankful as I knew it would make me stronger. At one point I decided to try crossing over the river (I was riding parallel to the Allegheny) to see if it was any calmer on the other side. You know, the grasser is always greener on the other side type of deal? So I picked a bridge (there are plenty to choose from in Pittsburgh) and rode over. WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING?! On a windy day, the best decision is NOT to ride up onto a high bridge above water. I was pretty sure I was going to be blown into the river. Then there was the point where I felt like dismounting my bike and throwing it INTO the river. ENOUGH! By the end of the 90 minutes into the wind I was talking to myself. Make it stop PLEASE! And then the unthinkable - it occured to me that what if all along this was really a cross wind and when I turn around it's going to be just as bad? The only thing that had kept me going up until that point was the promise of a huge tailwind on the way home.
But luckily that wasn't the case. It was indeed a headwind so when I finally got moving in the direction towards home (which involved going over another bridge of course!) I was pleased as punch. HR down in the basement and pedaling uphills at over 20 mph. On the flats? 25 mph easy. This still never really made up for the fact that I averaged about 15 mph the whole way out but...what can you do? :) What took me 90 minutes to ride out into took me 70 minutes to ride back in. Geez!
But I would certainly take it over a trainer ride any day and as cranky as it made me, I know it's good for me. Wind, hills, heat, cold, no breathe 25s in the pool - all the things we hate but secretly love right? ;)
So finally home and ready for my ice bath, shower, stretch, roll, etc, etc, etc... and then to get ready for our Clearwater get together! As you might have seen the 70.3 World Championships were on tv today so we had a few people over to watch with us, Chad and his wife Jen and O's friend Ben (who will be doing several tris this summer) and his fiance Laura. TIME TO TALK TRIATHLON! Oh boy! We had so much fun (or at least I did, perhaps I should only speak for myself) watching the show and just talking and of course eating pizza. If I was a real hostess I probably should have made something for dinner but let's face it, I'm no cook. Or baker. And since I've come to accept these limitations I have become a very good pizza orderer!
I thought the show was pretty good and it was neat to see some of the shots of Clearwater from the helicopter that you couldn't possibly see unless you were in the air. It was also neat to see Mirinda Carfrae totally destroy the women's field on the run. WOW was she running. She looked so effortless and fast and she was just eating all her competitors up. If memory serves me correctly she did run a 1:18 or something rather sick like that. (I just looked it up and she ran 1:18:41!!). Impressive to say the least. And in case you are wondering that's 6 minute pace exactly.
Regardless it was a fun evening and I'm always thankful for great friends who share the same interests and passions that I do. And Roxy even behaved herself (sort of).
So now it's time for bed because tomorrow is another day of training and life in general! Hope everyone had a day as great as mine!
Posted by beth at April 12, 2008 8:53 PM
Comments
Sounds like a good day, headwind and all!!
Posted by: kellye at April 12, 2008 9:59 PM
Wait a minute. You didn't even ORDER the pizza. I did that AND picked it up!!!!!! But, that's okay since I was the one EATING a lot of the pizza!!!!
Posted by: O at April 12, 2008 10:00 PM
Although, I did fail to mention that Beth did make an AWESOME fruit salad. Lots of good, fresh fruit.
Posted by: O at April 13, 2008 9:12 AM