Last weekend was one of our first big weekend of workouts. The rest of the team traveled to Green Bay to run the half marathon and I stayed home since I had already done a half marathon in New Orleans in February.
The Saturday workout consisted of a one hour swim at Ironman pace and a 4.5 hour bike. My friend, Kelly, agreed to join me for as much of the bike ride as her hinder would take – most people don’t have a 4-hour bike butt this early in the season in Wisconsin! So I was thrilled to have someone willing to ride with me. My swim at the Y went really well! I felt strong, comfortable and was moving right along at the pace I hope to swim in the Ironman. I did a 15 minute warmup and then 2250 yards in 45 minutes with no breaks and most importantly a calm and happy brain! Upon exiting the Y for my bike ride, I noticed the weather had not improved much – cool (in the 40’s), rainy and wind out of the north. Ick!! This was not going to be a fun bike ride. I got to River Trail Cycles where I was meeting Kelly and we proceeded to bundle up in our wet, cold weather gear and off we went. The first loop was about 40 miles north of Holmen. The first 10 miles were straight into the 15-20 mph wind. The rain was mostly an aggravating mist so you didn’t realize how wet you were getting and there were dry periods so the roads were not too bad. We made the first loop in just under 3 hours. Kelly decided her hinder was done (I don’t blame her! I probably wouldn’t have come out for a ride in that weather at all! I was sooo thankful to have company for so much of the workout.) After a potty break at River Trail Cycles and a discussion on my route and time frame, I set off for a second 20 mile loop. Again, I met a stiff wind out of the north for the first 10 miles coupled with a light rain – not pleasant cycling but heck I was already wet so who cares! Well that was true until I felt the cold wet rain start to run down my hinder! ARGH this was not going to be fun! Luckily, the rain let up about halfway through the loop and all-in-all the second loop went very well. I got back to Holmen in about an hour so I still had 30 more minutes on my bike. I called River Trail Cycles to let them know I was adding on and would not be back at the store by my designated time. I gave them a new “be back by” time and off I went back into the wind and of course, the rain. This time I knew I would get the advantage of the wind at my back on my way home so I went 20 minutes out and was back at the bike shop with 4:36 on my bike computer! YEAH!!! Time for food.
Sunday’s workout was a 1 hour bike followed by a 2 hour run. Well the weather forecast was cold and rain again on Sunday. I decided if in fact it was raining Sunday morning, I would bag the ride and just run. When I got up Sunday morning, it was not raining so I started to get ready for my bike ride. All was going well until I started to pick up my cold/wet weather gear and it was still damp from Saturday’s workout including my bike shoes, insoles and toe warmers! Since the thought of putting cold, wet stuff on to go out and bike in the windy, cold weather did not sound appealing – I bagged the bike! I pulled on my running clothes and started off. Wow! I was working hard and not going any where very fast! Icould tell my legs were fried from the bike ride Saturday and I hoped they would loosen up and my pace would pick up. Luckily at 25 minutes into my run, I joined the River City Running Club for their regular Sunday morning route. I was glad to find a few club members who had run 20 miles on Saturday and very willing to run my slower pace for the 6 mile loop. As we completed the loop, I still had 35 minutes of my 2 hours remaining. A few of my supportive friends suggested I “round up” my time and join them for coffee, but even with my generous rounding rules, I could not turn 1:25 into 2:00! I did take their second suggestion of running to Grounded Coffee and see where my time was at that point. I ran down to Grounded and still had 20 minutes left. I joined them for a glass of water and then took off to run home which was about 22 minutes. While the pace was very slow, my legs were very heavy and I had lots of stops, I was pleased that I stuck to it and got most of the weekend workout logged in.
One week later I think I am still feeling the effects of last weekend’s workout. My legs have been heavy and sore all week during my runs. Today on the bike ride, my quads were screaming on every little uphill and every time I had to accelerate from a standstill or a slowdown! Wow I hope this is just a little glitch in my body’s ability to recover and it starts recovering faster as next weekend is another Big Workout Weekend!
Feet up and fingers crossed!
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