Ahh Summer! Here is my (Amber's) recap of the weekend's events (I think it is kinda funny how two people can do almost the same things all weekend yet have pretty different perceptions of what happened):
Thursday saw us up early for a track workout with a definite speed emphasis. The whole workout was nearly derailed at the very beginning during our warm-up when we found the bathrooms locked. We were driving away for work (with plans to try again in the evening, after work), when we spotted a port-a-potty in a nearby park and then headed back to the track. It was my best track run yet of 2008, I was finally not distracted by shooting pains in my quad or a tumultuous tummy. Good stuff.
Our normal routine is to Swim on Thursday mornings, but the track workout got in the way of that, so I headed to the pool over lunch. Eric was at the dentist for a filling. That swim is normally coached by Dave Scott, but Monica (Byrn?) was subbing instead. Good swim, but one that pushed my limits. I am one of the faster swimmers at Thursday-morning swims, but this workout saw me in the second-to-slowest lane, barely hanging on. More good stuff.
Friday we did a mellow run through the Country Club neighborhood before biking to work. I then left early for massage with Josh, a trip to fleet feet for new training shoes, and a cruise home by bike. While at work, I got a call from Sunny. She was in Boulder, but only for ~1 day....could we do lunch on Saturday? Hmmm... we had a 6+ hour ride on the schedule......
Both Eric and I knew we NEEDED to see Sunny, so we decided to get up EARLY on Saturday and try to get out the door ASAP. The plan was to shoot for leaving between 0515 and 0530, with a drop dead time (whatever that meant) of 0600. We were rolling by 0545, so sorta on time. The ride down to the start of Golden Gate Canyon took us along Indiana. Not the best road for biking, but we hit it early before traffic got too bad. The road and traffic in the canyon and through the state park was great. We had ~ 2 hours of straight climbing with two small descents. The Peak to Peak Highway was gorgeous from Gap Road to Nederland. We ride parts of it often in the summer, but this section was new to me. It had many awe inspiring views of the Continental Divide (still lots of snow up there!).
I still felt great in Nederland (back was tightening a little, but spirits and energy levels were high) but hit my cracking point around the 5 hour mark somewhere between Nederland and Ward. It was right at the 5 hour mark and was our first stop of the day (which at ~5 minutes I found to be too long. I was ready to head towards home. Eric, can't you pee faster?). Ward was crazy and crowded, as was most of Left Hand Canyon. I normally love descents and bomb them as fast as I can, but I was fading fast, so I let Eric pedal into the headwind. We saw some of our bike team mates climbing up as we zipped by and we got a nice (but short) pull from two Swift guys before we turned off for the short cut up and over Olde Stage.
We arrived home just before noon, which was what we were shooting for to see Sunny. I was slightly amazed at all we had accomplished at that point, since we still had most of the day in front of us. We were tired, though, so it the rest of the day was spent doing errands, visiting with Sunny, resting, and then heading to the neighbors for a back yard cookout.
Sunday we again rose early to get our 2 hour run in with time for me to go to church and make the 10am swim. The run was a bit of a suffer fest for me. My legs, glutes, and lower back were cranky after getting worked by Josh on Friday afternoon and then worked on the bike all morning on Saturday. And I just couldn't get my HR up into the zone I was targeting. But the goal was to steadily build pace and HR for 30 min, 4 times through, and that was accomplished.
It was a beautiful morning, too. The longer days let us have full light by 0545 when we started, but everything was still pretty still and quiet (and cool, it has been HOT!). Our long runs on Sundays are normally my favorite workout of the week. I have a hard time picking a favorite, because it is all working so well together, but those Sunday runs are long, normally peaceful, and allow me to get some distance covered and enjoy what it means to live and train in Colorado. Unfortunately, I was not able to fully enjoy the run this week. I was sore. I was tired. My legs hurt. My back ached. Aaaahhhhhh! I even tried telling myself that this run was my treat for the week, but my mind and body were not fooled. There were highlights, but there was also much time spent with my head down while I talked myself through it step by step. I guess that is part of the process, and I did learn that I can hold steady even when things get tough. "Icing" in the ditch after the run was good, too.
And then the swim. Sunday Masters at our club is always an adventure, but this week it was more than I could handle. I was nearly getting lapped during the "warm-up" set (1800 m) and found myself pulling stunts that I normally find appalling when others do them (like cutting the turns short or doing free during nonfree sets). I actually felt like I might drown, and then thought that might be easier than finishing the workout! I mean, geez, here I was in my normal lane with the normal lanemates, but I could get my arms to pull the water, I couldn't get my hips up and my body correctly positioned, I kept hitting everybody, in my lane and in the lanes next to ours, it was ugly.
Following Masters, we drove into the heart of Boulder, parked, and proceeded to do some errands on foot. First stop was lunch (mmmmm, Tokyo Joe's........grilled Tofu and veggie bowl anyone?) then Target, then the hardware store, then groceries. I started to bonk on the walk over to Target. It was pretty pathetic, but all I wanted to do was lay down and take a nap. Even in Target, I tried to convince Eric that I should get to ride in the cart while he pushed (we ended up just making a return, not shopping, so that was a no-go). Before hitting the hardware store, we detoured to a coffee-ice cream shop. Eric was trying to help wake me up by treating me to ice cream, but when I was about to order, coffee sounded better. Shortly after the coffee, I was back to my more-normal self.
Enough so that I convinced him that I did not need a nap when we got home and instead proceeded to tidy up the front yard. We have some great shade trees at home, but they drop a lot of junk (seeds, branches, seed casings, etc.) and I picked up a whole sack of debris for the yard waste drop-off center's compost program while only doing a "light" clean-up. It does look much better, though. Dinner was spent on the back deck, dodging cottonwood seeds. They are EVERYWHERE! Then an early bedtime to start the recovery.
Good weekend!
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