Now that I have that out of my system (yeah, right), on to the point of this post. Last week was a tragedy. It took until Saturday to recover fully. I really scaled back the workouts, battling both fatigue and mental burnout, even going ballistic with some gluten free banana cake one night. I focused on rest and remembering the joy of it. If I didn't want it, I realized that was my body not being ready to go back to work.
The good news? It worked.
Saturday night I did a spin on the trainer and while the first 45 mins felt rough, right at the end I began to pick it up and there was a glimmer of hunger there. I took Sunday off and came back Monday with a vengeance. I did a LONG ride with a good amount of climbing and was joined by a new riding buddy. It was nice to try a new route and to not be alone for a change. I turned right around an hour later and put in a solid (but slow- it was 105 degrees and the pool was probably in the 90's) swim workout.
What was really significant was bouncing up at 5 this morning to do a run with speed work, immediately followed by a ride with fairly long threshold intervals averaging 23-25 mph. I never really got to threshold, both because I ran out of gears (and it was SOOO hot) and because my heart rate has been staying really low lately, but the perceived effort was appropriate. I finished before lunch and temps had already reached 103, a few degrees more on the road. (It is around 110 now, but I am safely sequestered in the AC for the rest of the day.) I turned in a solid effort on both workouts. I feel like a new athlete after some rest.
I had to laugh at myself. I still judge a book by it's cover. I met this new riding buddy on the Slowtwitch forums and when he rode up to our meeting place I almost died. He was dead fit, shaved legs, fancy kit, FANCY bike. He was one of those people that just LOOKED wicked fast. I was sure I was in over my head. So sure in fact that I totally panicked when I saw him and considered backing out of the ride. As it turned out, it was a good ride for both of us. It's not that he isn't fast, it's that I have gotten much stronger, even on the hills (though I am still not going to be wearing polka dots anytime soon). I am looking forward to hurting him (and most likely getting a little hurt myself) a bit when I get back from Colorado.
Sunday I leave for Traverse City. I will say goodbye to triple digit temperatures and say hello to 70's and 80's. My only regret is that I feel like I have finally started to handle the heat a little better and I will not experience it again for two months. Then a week after I return to Texas (mid AUGUST) I have a race!! I will probably really struggle with the heat there if I am not careful.
But tomorrow? I have to get through tomorrow. Why? Because Thursday is right behind it. 10 am Thursday morning the magic will (hopefully) happen!!
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