Apr 1, 2007

just trying to keep up

Friday I swam in the morning and evening(unplanned) for a total of 3800 yrds.
Saturday morning I ran a mile mile loop with Bryan, Col, and Steph out in the middle of nowhere at Lake Young(I think). I only say with in that we drove out there and maybe ran a mile and change all together. Col pulled away pretty quickly (which is normal when she is not pacing for me), then Bryan and then Steph. I brought up the rear and held it almost the entire way - I kept fairly close to Steph but mostly lost sight of Bryan - did not see Col till the last .5 mile when she helped me finish up. The trail was super muddy and generally nasty - before mile 2 I had my entire left shoe pulled off by the mud and twist my leg up - my leg never really felt the same after that. I rolled my ankles each a few times as well. It was mostly not my day - with exception to all the hills. I felt really strong on all the climbs and was even able to run (as slow as it was) up the final very steep climb. Afterwards Col said the 10 miles were comparable to a 12 mile run due to all the hills and the challenges of the trail conditions. Final stats was 10 miles in 1:33.
Today (Sunday) Bryan, Col, Steph, Kyle and I met up at Mercer Island to ride the lake - even though my plan only said to do 45 miles the group wanted to do the entire lake not just the north end. It was super chilly when we got started - one of those spring days where you just don't know what to wear and what the weather will do. We headed north in hopes of avoiding any rain and to get the largest hill out of the way in the beginning - I assume anyway. This was the first "real" ride on my new bike and I felt great - it bl owes me away at how much more powerful it feels from my other bike. I was able to do the long Juanita hill climb better than last time and I did not even get into my lowest gear. We maintained a moderate to easy pace especially compared to Kyle who always loves to really push himself and goes all out. The rest of the ride was mostly uneventful - my legs felt good, no real aches or pains. I had to work hard to try and keep my shoulders down and back so that my arms/shoulders would not cramp up. I still have a ways to go with that - my neck/traps got fairly tense but nothing to bad. My only goal was to be able to stay with/near Col and finish the entire ride. I did well until about mile 47ish - even though I had a gel around 45/46 and it was not enough - I fell behind the rest of the crew up the last few rollers back to Mercer Island. Mostly I just felt done - my legs were tired, I was tired. So much for finishing the ride strong or staying with Col for the ride. This is what happens when I train with a whole crew of people who have way more experience then me - I get dropped. Maybe it is all mental and I need to push myself further and know I can do it. I guess in the long run it will make me stronger in the long run and next time I will do better - maybe someday (or as Bryan would say "when I grow up") I can actually be equal with them and hold my own. Anyway final stats for today 54.5 miles in 3:41.
Time for a nap.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Macbeth,
Let me know if you run at Lake Young's again. I will meet you guys. That is like 1 mile from our house. I run there all the time. I ran that loop on Saturday.
Amy Ford (Adam's wife)