A great ride on a perfect day

After a long and sucky spring, we are at last getting the sunny warm weather we love so much. Which means, of course, yard work. Mowed the lawn, repressed the dandylions, picked up garbage, and did a bit of raking. Not my fave, but it has to be done.

Spent some time with my coach on Saturday. She wanted to see me run, and check out the core stuff for herself. We talked lots about the upcoming training and race season. All is going well. I was happy to hear the core is being dialed back a little in favour of more time on the bike. Both of us were impressed and surprised at me doing 15 pushups. A new record for me! Yay!

Sunday morning shortly after 9 I was out on the road. It was already warm and sunny. Just coming to 22X I saw a huge pack of bikes, about 20 or so heading south on Road to Nepal. A few minutes later another pack of 17 followed them. I debated jumping on the train, but stuck with my plan. 22X in 19:30 or so, turned left on 22 at just under 45 minutes. Working on keeping cadence up and heart rate a little higher. Towards the end of this south leg the wind started picking up and I started slowing down. For a bit. Then picked it up and pushed harder.

At Millarville turned right onto 549 and headed west. I felt like a total champ here! Riding west, with a beautiful view of the mountains just right there in my face. Riding at 30+ Kph without really trying. Turned around at the 90 minute mark, then realized how much of a tail wind I had had. Riding back to 22 at 25 Kph was work. Just before getting there I saw another big pack go by, not sure if it was one of the same ones or not. This is the first time I've ever seen such big bike packs. In fact, I saw more bikes today than any other ride I could remember, lots of pairs and threes. Most of them waved, a few said hello.

Somewhere about here was 40 K in 1:34 or so. A small pack started riding north at 549 east just as I got there so I rode with them for a while. This is the first time I've really ever ridden with a pack and it made the ride go quick. Turns out they were lost, and stopped to debate the way home at Plummer's road. They caught up again as I struggled up a hill and once again I picked it up rather than get dropped. Rode with them till the hill down to 22X. I was starting to have to feather the brakes to avoid closing in too much, so I said screw it and dropped them. I essentially did race pace from there to 37th St. I knew they would stop at the Red Deer School, and I didn't want them to catch me. Grrrr. And they didn't. Easy ride up 37 St home.

Days like this are why I love owning a nice road bike. The scenery here is first rate. There is a wide shoulder for most of the ride I did. Where they aren't so wide the drivers are pretty considerate. The hills and wind were just right today; enough to be a challenge but not so much to turn it into a slog. I felt strong throughout the ride. This is the first time I've ever, EVER dropped "real" bike riders. My legs were right into the spinning thing, and my butt didn't mind the saddle. The only part going numb was my left hand.

2 minute transition. Run. Ugg. This was not pretty and not strong. I never did find my running legs, and plodded along. My left leg was feeling a bit pokey and it felt like I was limping on it. I ended up walking a couple times in that 20 minutes to give my legs a bit of a rest and get my heart rate back down. I was just beginning to feel the heat. I didn't mind though. This is the first real brick of the year for me. For some reason a run off the trainer isn't quite the same. Plus I'd pushed the bike a bit so I knew I'd have tired legs going into the run. They have to learn to deal with it.

Back home in 2:49:30 for 76.5 K.
27.2 Avg pace
81 rpm avg cadence
127 bpm avg heart rate on the bike.

Weekly Summary
Swim 3.0 hrs
Bike 5.9 hrs
Run 3.3 hrs
Walk .33
Total cardio 12.5 hrs
Core 2.25
Total 14.75