I back! I'm not dead, I've just been resting my eyes a bit. Here's a lesson I don't want anyone to learn the hard way: taking six weeks off of training after running 13.1 miles is a bad, bad, baaaaaaaaaaaad idea. Whew, getting back on that horse has been a hard process but I'm doing it. Ever so painfully, I'm doing it. Just because you ran 13 miles a few weeks ago doesn't mean you can run 5 (or 3 or even 2) this week when you've been slacking off in your training. Lesson learned. Sucking it up. Moving on.
Athletic endeavors I am currently training for are: the 3 running events of the Fall Run-A-Thon, my first FULL Marathon in WDW on January 10, 2016 (AKA: my 39th birthday!!) and, most imminent, the Tri For Sight Sprint Triathlon in mid-September.
Because of the sprint triathlon, it's been important to add swimming and biking into my training. I've mostly (read: only) been going to spin class and then running the 2.5 miles home as training for that leg of the race but, with Wendy's insistence, I pulled out the ol' Trek bike and hit the open road this weekend. Actually, Chuck pulled out the ol' Trek, cleaned it up and put air in the tires for me and then I hit the not-so-open roads of downtown Louisville to see how far I could get in an hour at medium effort.
Below are 14 random thoughts from the road:
14. Oh good grief, this bike! I feel like Dorothy Gale without the basket and the dog.
13. I am so proud of myself for choosing to bike during the baby's nap instead of napping myself!
12. (As my Runkeeper App chimes in at the 5 minute mark) I've only been riding for 5 minutes?!?! What the...?!?! How long did I tell Chuck I was going to ride??
11. Argh! Why didn't I take 2 minutes to change into more appropriate cycling shorts??
10. Thank you Metro Louisville and bicycle advocates for the addition of bike lanes throughout the city! They are wonderful for nervous bikers like me!
9. Why must I re-learn how my gears work every single summer??
8. Seriously! Why didn't I put on different shorts? Oh, the chafing!
7. At 38 years old I have finally come to peace with the fact that I just cannot stand and pedal. I just can't.
6. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.
5. I love cycling through UofL campus on a Sunday. This is so incredibly peaceful.
4. Oh, look! The new flyover bridge on campus is complete. That hill looks fierce but I'm going to try it. <shift gears> pedal, pedal, go, go, go, go, GO, try to stand and pedal, seriously swerve, nope, sit back down, go...go....go...Stop. Nope, not gonna happen. No one saw. Let's just coast back down like nothing happened.
3. (about 2 miles later) ARGH! I just realized I set my gears on the OPPOSITE numbers they should have been to make it up that hill. Stupid gears.
2. (Stop for water at Central Park, hit the hour mark) Hmm, 10 miles...I think I can go ahead and do another 3....
1. Mile 13 - OH MY GEEZ! Why did I bike so far from home? Why am I wearing these stupid shorts? How am I already out of water again? Why am I doing this? Biking is stupid. How in the world am I going to bike 13 miles and then run 3?? I'm going to die!!
Back home Chuck asks me how the ride was. I tell him it was good...and I actually mean it.
Off the chain
-JS
