Thankfully, a Win

Training for two events this year means I had the "pleasure" of completing two double brick workouts - ride and run (repeat).  All this traveling for work every week is killing me so I was pretty insistent on riding near my house this weekend.  Fortunately, the former TNT'ers training for IMAZ in the South Bay also had a Double Brick on their calendar for this weekend, too, so we joined up with them.  


First off, it was awesome to arrive and have so much support.  Since the South Bay coach is also training for IMAZ, he had routes, maps, water, ice, food, etc. and volunteered to sit out the first loop to watch our stuff.  There were at least a dozen people riding the first loop and six of us for the second.  Sedonia came down from Napa and rode the first loop and volunteered to watch our transition area for the second loop.  It's amazing what a difference volunteers make in the long workouts.  

The least we can do is provide chairs for our volunteers.
She finished 3 Sudokus and a crossword while waiting for us.

Our first loop took us through Woodside and up King's Mountain Road, which was gorgeous.  My climbing skills are not great, but the descent gave me a boost of confidence at how far I went up.  After the climb, I rode with Sedonia, which was another luxury (to ride with someone).


The first run was ok.  My foot is still hurting a lot.  It's pretty evident that the pain is not going to go away unless I have surgery, which isn't going to happen any time soon.  Because of that, I need to get a plan in place for what I am going to do in November.  


The second ride was much harder.  We went north toward Belmont and since it was later in the afternoon, the wind had picked up considerably.  Canada Reservoir had white caps in it, if that is any indication of how windy it was. I just kept telling myself it was good practice, right?  This ride had a lot more pitchy short climbs rather than a long sustained climb.  I thought my heart was going to jump out of my mouth when we were crossing over the 280.  

Phil had a big day because this is the first double brick he's done without barfing!

When I was in high school, we used to drive over to Half Moon Bay almost every weekend to see my now-stepdad.  I used to always see those cyclists out by Canada Reservoir and Crystal Springs and think, "How do they do that?"  Oh the irony.  


For the second run, I decided to purposefully walk fast.  I walk because I hurt and because I hurt I walk slower than I should.  My resignation at doing a fast walk meant that I didn't hurt and I really kept my heart rate at almost the same rate as when I run.  I didn't have my Garmin to see my distance, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was pretty comparable.  So sad, but if I can maintain a 17 minute mile walking (and I meet my other goals), I can still cross the finish line before midnight.  And, that is all that matters come November 20.  

6.5 hours later -- We are jello, but still smiling!  

Thankfully, a training win, finally.  Did I mention that the Sun Devils beat USC this weekend for the first time since 1999???  Oh, and the Sun Devils are playing Arizona at Sun Devil Stadium the day before Ironman Arizona.  Can I make it work????  Highly doubtful.  But the wheels are in motion....