A Good Training Weekend

SATURDAY
Lindsay arrived at 9am to head out for a ride. I was ready to go except...... I still had to walk Kita so she didn't go crazy while we were gone. So, in our bike gear we took her on a long walk which she loved. We got some great looks from people on the pathways, but Kita didn't seem to care what we were wearing and enjoyed being on the walk with us.

When we finally headed out, we headed out on my favorite ride, HorseCreek road out to Bottrel. The ride to Bottrel is so beautiful and fairly traffic free - which gives you a chance to visit and ride without too many worries. On the hill down to Bottrel I got a little excited and got my bike up to 64.9km/hr!!!! So much fun!!! We then hit 22X and followed it back to Cochrane. We were at about 70km and still needed to ride another 30km. So we actually headed back onto HorseCreek as to avoid the busy highways.

I was a little cold as I was wearing just a tank top and tri shorts and it was very windy and overcast (in fact I am pretty sure I had goosebumps the entire ride). Then I started to feel shaky. I thought I was just getting colder but as my cadence slowed and Lindsay thanked me for slowing down I realized I was incredibly hungry (all I had had for breakfast was coffee and 1 gel on the ride in 75km! Oops!) I downed a Powerbar which had never tasted so good! In a few kilometers I finally started to feel a bit better. We finished up the final 25km and I introduced Lindsay to "the bonus hill" (Susi and I live at the top of Bow Ridge so the only way home after a long ride is to go up it! Susi and I like to say we get extra training than all our friends who live at the bottom of the hill. Hence, "the bonus hill").

When we got inside we quickly set to work making a huge batch of spaghetti which we ate immediately. We then showered, walked Kita, and decided we were still hungry. We headed to MacKay's for ice cream and then headed to Coto for sushi. Yes, we were very hungry! When we got home we watched a movie and were both in bed by 9pm. What a great day!

SUNDAY
We woke up early and made sure we ate a good breakfast. Lindsay's friend, Kyle would arrive at 9am and we wanted to be ready when he got there. We of course were not, and we both scrambled to hurry up when Kyle and his friend Jeff, got there. I decided to dress warmer today as it was overcast and I was sure we would get rained on. When we flew down "the bonus hill" I said to Lindsay "How about 60km and a movie instead?". It was freezing! As we climbed out of Cochrane towards Bragg Creek we did warm up and I was glad I was dressed alot warmer. We made it to Bragg Creek fairly quickly and all agreed we would do the full 100km today as it wasn't as cold as it had been initially. We decided to go to Priddis and back. There are some great hills out to Priddis but after riding with all that traffic - I'm sticking to Horse Creek. The highways are just too scary!

We made it to Priddis and when we turned around our hearts sank - the sky was dark black. It looked as though the last 40-50km of our ride would be quite wet. We zoomed back and took no breaks so we could get home ASAP. None of us wanted to get wet. We made it Bragg Creek and and were relieved we still didn't feel rain. We of course did not stop and I knew that we only had 30km to go - PLEASE no rain! I got out a gel ripped off the top and before I thought to get it to my lips I squeezed. Gel all over my aerobars! I'm an idiot! We quickly stopped while I "washed" my bike and kept the pace back home.

We all smiled when we pulled into the driveway - dry! Yeah! No sooner had the boys pulled away and Lindsay and I had raided to pantry did the rain come. Wow! We got lucky.

Lindsay headed back to Calgary (after we ate everything we could in the pantry) and I showered, walked Kita, made banana bread, did laundry, tidied the house and then say on the couch where I didn't move for 2 hours. I was again in bed early.

MONDAY
I was up early today to head out for my 28km run. I struggled to hold pace through most of the run as I am sure riding 200km this weekend took something out of me (as much as I would not like to admit it). Unfortunately at the 17.5km mark my ITband decided it had enough. I limped through the next .5km and decided I would save the last 10km for after work.

Work was slow and I wanted desperately to be at home playing with Kita in the yard and taking her to the dog park, and finishing my run. My IT band ached all day so I decided to call Angie and let her know about my weekend and ITband. I asked if I should maybe just do the elliptical after work instead of run the 10km. She asked me to rest and ice both my ITband and my foot (yes, my plantar facsiitis is screaming at me right now). So, I sit, type and ice my foot and knee. Good thing I have an appointment with Dr. Myles tomorrow morning. I hope he can fix me! Damn body!