It has been the LONGEST winter! I have been itching to bike outside for the last three months, and finally this week I was determined to make it happen. Initially I was just looking to do one of my shorter bike rides but as the week went on, another freak storm moved in on Wednesday and the mornings have been SO cold. However, as luck would have it, Saturday was shaping up to be a perfect bike riding day. And so I moved my long run to Friday and went for it, freezing weather and all. I'll detail the ride in the Workout of the Week, but there is something renewing about a change in seasons. It's like when I'm finally done with a particular season...a new one is ushered in and renews my spirit and makes everything magical again. Yay for spring!
Weekly Totals
Swim: 4287 yds
Bike: 78.5 miles (50 long)
Run: 24.1 miles
Workout of the Week
I had some awesome workouts this week--payment for such a crappy week last week, I guess. But I'll highlight my 50 mile bike ride this week.
I knew it was going to be chilly, but I was determined to not have to do 50 miles on the trainer. So when Saturday came, I put on two pairs of pants two shirts, an ear warmer, and a pair of gloves. I dressed perfectly. There was only about 10 minutes where I thought maybe I had overdressed. The rest of the time I was pretty comfortable.
I'll break this up into parts:
The Good: I felt SO MUCH better than I did in St George in October. Like 1000 times better. Also, outside biking is SO MUCH better than inside biking. YAY for spring!
The Bad: Ugh. I didn't realize how hard it would be to bike in the big city. We have trails galore. But there are some definite setbacks to them. Like, all the families that take up the entire trail and you have to slow down so you don't mow some kid over. And all the stop signs at the intersections. And how the trails just...end and you have to reroute yourself to get to your destination.
My destination was Utah Lake in Saratoga Springs. I would have figured it would be a lot farther than it really is. Another drawback to biking in the city. In Tooele County you can just go forever and the miles fly by. Out here, the landmarks are so close together that it feels like it's been miles and it hasn't. It was only about 17 miles to Utah Lake, but thanks to having to reroute and go around construction, I hit Utah Lake at about 20 miles. I rode around Saratoga Springs for a while and then headed back. It was an arduous ride and kinda boring as it was only me out there. But I made it and made some mental notes:
(a) It's amazing how so much of this is mental. There was a point where my nose was runny and I was so tired and home was so far away and I started going into a negative head space thinking about how this was too hard and so stupid and why was I doing this. Luckily, I pulled myself out and forced myself to sing the songs on my headphones and that got my mental game back. But it's easy to get into that negative self-talk that is so damaging when you're tired and everything looks so far away.
(b) I really feel like my endurance is on track. I could have kept going. In fact, after the 50 mile bike ride, I ran 20 minutes with Wade and Aunika and kept a sub-10 minute pace for most of it. Granted, 20 minutes is not that long, but I felt like I could have kept going (though don't ask me at minute 3, because I wanted to quit) and that's a good feeling.
(c) If Wisconsin looks anything like Saturday did, the bike ride is going to be pretty good. Which brings me to this:
The Ugly: I still suck at hills. Like majorly suck. I am not good at them. Never have been. Even spending all winter working on "hill" workouts with Trainer Road has not made me any better at them. Sigh. I don't know what the secret is, but St George is hills. All hills. I only did about half of the elevation gain that St George will have and it was brutal and slow. Ugh.
There is still so much work to be done and we are closing in on the last 2 months. I have a plan. I hope it works.
Weekly Totals
Swim: 4287 yds
Bike: 78.5 miles (50 long)
Run: 24.1 miles
Workout of the Week
I had some awesome workouts this week--payment for such a crappy week last week, I guess. But I'll highlight my 50 mile bike ride this week.
I knew it was going to be chilly, but I was determined to not have to do 50 miles on the trainer. So when Saturday came, I put on two pairs of pants two shirts, an ear warmer, and a pair of gloves. I dressed perfectly. There was only about 10 minutes where I thought maybe I had overdressed. The rest of the time I was pretty comfortable.
I'll break this up into parts:
The Good: I felt SO MUCH better than I did in St George in October. Like 1000 times better. Also, outside biking is SO MUCH better than inside biking. YAY for spring!
The Bad: Ugh. I didn't realize how hard it would be to bike in the big city. We have trails galore. But there are some definite setbacks to them. Like, all the families that take up the entire trail and you have to slow down so you don't mow some kid over. And all the stop signs at the intersections. And how the trails just...end and you have to reroute yourself to get to your destination.
My destination was Utah Lake in Saratoga Springs. I would have figured it would be a lot farther than it really is. Another drawback to biking in the city. In Tooele County you can just go forever and the miles fly by. Out here, the landmarks are so close together that it feels like it's been miles and it hasn't. It was only about 17 miles to Utah Lake, but thanks to having to reroute and go around construction, I hit Utah Lake at about 20 miles. I rode around Saratoga Springs for a while and then headed back. It was an arduous ride and kinda boring as it was only me out there. But I made it and made some mental notes:
(a) It's amazing how so much of this is mental. There was a point where my nose was runny and I was so tired and home was so far away and I started going into a negative head space thinking about how this was too hard and so stupid and why was I doing this. Luckily, I pulled myself out and forced myself to sing the songs on my headphones and that got my mental game back. But it's easy to get into that negative self-talk that is so damaging when you're tired and everything looks so far away.
(b) I really feel like my endurance is on track. I could have kept going. In fact, after the 50 mile bike ride, I ran 20 minutes with Wade and Aunika and kept a sub-10 minute pace for most of it. Granted, 20 minutes is not that long, but I felt like I could have kept going (though don't ask me at minute 3, because I wanted to quit) and that's a good feeling.
(c) If Wisconsin looks anything like Saturday did, the bike ride is going to be pretty good. Which brings me to this:
The Ugly: I still suck at hills. Like majorly suck. I am not good at them. Never have been. Even spending all winter working on "hill" workouts with Trainer Road has not made me any better at them. Sigh. I don't know what the secret is, but St George is hills. All hills. I only did about half of the elevation gain that St George will have and it was brutal and slow. Ugh.
There is still so much work to be done and we are closing in on the last 2 months. I have a plan. I hope it works.
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