March 27, 2009

In Good Company

My coach isn't big on switching training days due to weather, but when I woke up to sunny skies, birds chirping and warm weather, I decided to switch today's swim with tomorrow's bike/run. I have suffered on the trainer more than anyone ever deserves and needed a break.

I had to take my old road bike out since my tri bike is in New Orleans. That made for an interesting ride. I realized I miss the road bike just as I've been suspecting lately. The only downside is that it hurt my shoulder to put all that pressure on it after coasting in the aero bars over the past few months. I only needed to ride 25 miles so I headed off to Prospect Park for the loop after loop after loop after loop... It's fairly boring. After about 13 miles I was headed up the "big hill" and these guys next to me started to talk and the one guy said, "well I was going to draft this girl up the hill for a little break..." and I joked about how slow I was going, that I was tapering for a race. It turned out he was tapering as well for a big bike race. These guys were serious cyclists, the kind who ride fast in tight packs right on each other's wheels and tell tales of their broken bones and staples in their heads. They were urging me to sign up for some races. No thanks.

I'm not big on training with others but this was really fun. We chatted for countless loops and before I knew it, my time was up. I caught a first name, Eddie, but will be more likely to recognize his bike before I'd ever recognize him again. I didn't even get the other two guys' names. They wished me luck in my race and I exited the park. I hit 27.5 miles as I returned home.

My run today was short, just three miles, and at a relatively easy pace. I'm feeling a little tired from tapering, and perhaps I was overchatted and underfueled today in particular. But I know my body is getting ready to race so I won't stress over it. It was just so wonderful to get out on my bike and actually enjoy it. That's something I haven't been able to do since August. Maybe times are finally changing.

Biking
Distance - 27.5 miles
Time - 1:45:17

Running
Distance - 3 miles
Time - 25:33

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