Sunday, September 20, 2009

It's been 1 week.....

Sounds like that Bare Naked Ladies song. It's been one week since my race and my recovery has gone nicely. I took it easy Monday since I had a long school day. I sat there totally useless in class due to mental and physical fatigue. Tuesday I had a run on my schedule but there was no way I felt OK to run. My legs still hurt and the inside of my calf was 'crampy'. Instead I went to get a massage and as usual, she worked her magic on me and I felt so much better. On Wednesday, I had a ride planned but because I felt like I was behind on my reading for school, I took the day off. You see a pattern here? And Thursday was a scheduled rest day and that made it a good day to start following my training plan ;-) By now, of course, I was feeling like a bloated pig.

Friday morning I went out for an easy 5 mile run. I felt great during the run. The temperature was nice and cool. I wore a long sleeve shirt! Yipee, I love fall running. I picked a relatively flat route, put on some tunes, and was on my way. My legs felt a little tight when I got home, but after some stretching they loosened right up.

Saturday I went for a solo ride in the afternoon. Wingman was running today and I have a run planned for Sunday so I went out alone. I took my new favorite ~21 mile route. The problem was with all of the fall/pumpkin traffic out here, it made crossing Sound Ave is a real chore. I usually cross over at the Cooperage, but not today. Too many cars. So I rode past to Edwards Ave. The Cooperage is having their usual fall festival and to attract people to come in, they had a costumed character waving at cars. Guess who high-fived me as I went past.

Yep, Elmo showed me some love!! For a second though I had a flashback to the race and when Elmo stuck his arm out I expected to exchange water bottles with him. So I went on my way with a little extra oomph in my pedal stroke. And I would need it as it was quite windy out. I rode easy as I could still feel some fatigue in my legs. There was a noticeable difference from my taper to now. Plus the headwinds were causing me problems too. Getting back home was a chore. I am not sure I ever felt the tailwinds. How wrong is that?!? I was seriously working to get back up Twomey. When I got back, Wingman told me he felt great on his run and that all the biking he did over the summer with me must have helped.

Today I went out riding again. Our running training schedules do not mesh so well. I like running on Sunday and he planned Saturday runs. He wanted to do an easy hour on the bike today so I joined him. Originally I was going to head out for ~2 hours, but I cut it down for him. It was a near perfect day. The only thing that would have made it a better ride was if all the cars disappeared for that one hour. Otherwise, the temperatures were just right and there was very little wind. I rode easy and the speed was there! Phew, I was worried after yesterday's ride that everything I worked for was gone in just one week. I will head out this afternoon to get my planned run in.

Since it's football Sunday, I will assume my position on the couch later and watch my Jets get their heads handed to them by the Patriots. I hope I'm wrong, but just in case I've got my Jets game watching uniform ready to go.


1 comment:

  1. Hey SU: well done in your diamondman! It sounded gruelling..
    I havea suggestion for you that involves MOUNTAINBIKING.. we will be having a wee bikefest in Montauk Oct 11th, some fun rides, a ladies-only beginner ride, led by yours truly.. and I would LOVE you to come..I promise not to leave you in the woods..You can cruise and learns some skills handy for dodging potholes and bunnyhopping all manner of things..come out, bring Chris and have fun..

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