Weekend Update

The original plan for Saturday involved a fun 5k (the Jingle Jog - what is not fun about a race that gives you jingle bells to attach to your shoes and where people dress in costume?). After getting an invite from a local group (Peachtree Tri Club) for a ride, I thought it might be divine intervention and through it would be stupid to pass it up. I had picked up a flyer from this group at the ING expo and had been thinking about joining up for a while. Besides getting a chance to meet the group, they were riding from a store about 2 miles from my house which meant I did not have to get up so early (in my world on a weekend, that is HUGE).

Rick put together my trainer Friday night and I gave it a quick test run. It had been several months since I rode on anything other than a stationary bike so it was a good chance to remind myself how to shift. (I'll say it for you, DUH!) I spent a few minutes testing out the trainer and tossed it all in the car for the morning ride.

Without taking you through every mile in painstaking detail, suffice it to say it was a great ride. I believe the official temperature was 28 degrees. It was cold. I must have dressed appropriately because the only place I felt the chill was my face. We went about 16 miles from the store and back. It was pretty hilly but a great chance to prove to myself that I can do this. I really had no problems at all shifting (in previous runs, I had a hard time figuring out what gear I needed to be in for the hills). I got some advice from one of the ride leaders on the downhill which was a HUGE help. There was some fear going in that I would be the last person in the group but the reality is I was in the middle most of the way and even close to the front at the end so at least I know I am not as pathetic as I might think at this biking thing! I came away from the ride with a lot of confidence and had a great time. I also ran into Sarah there. It was kind of ironic because someone said something about Mr. Cupcake (her husband) and I thought to myself, I know her! (well I read her blog...not to sound stalkerish) :)

The store, Tri Your Best, has been there for several months which is sad because I live around the corner and had no idea! (I live so close that we rode by my street on the last leg of the group ride). They have rides every Wednesday morning and Saturday morning. I will definitely go back :)

Post-ride, I had to bail out quickly as I had two tennis matches scheduled to round out the day. Won one, lost one. The one we won was a playoff so we move on in the bracket!

The downside to all this Saturday activity is that my scheduled 18 mile run suffered because of it. I KNOW I made the right decision going on the ride but my legs were feeling it this morning (did I mention the ride was hilly?). I will say most of the issue was mental, I have so many things I want to get done today - wrap presents, clean house, laundry, make divinity (it was a co-worker request) and other assorted baking. As I am running, I keep thinking of all the things I need to do and how much my legs aren't into this run and I finally just decided to stop. I got 8 of the scheduled 18 in. Part of the problem is that, prior to this weekend, I was using Saturday as a "rest" day. I had tennis but that isn't all that exerting (sorry tennis ladies... it is the truth) so I felt good to run on Sunday. After the ride and 2 matches, my legs were super tight. When I left the house I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to make the full distance. There was a lot of stopping on the hills today. At mile 7ish I was trying to convince myself to at least do one more 5 mile loop around the mountain. My legs and mind were having none of that trickery today. At 8 miles I was toast.

As the schedule oriented over-achiever, I am not certain how to get back on track. I think I may try to do a couple of longer than normal runs during the week and get back to 20 next Sunday. Not sure. I am trying not to freak out too much. I kind of felt behind already because of the stress fracture. The reality is I probably could make 26.1 now it just wouldn't be pretty. I really don't want to die on my 40th bday :) Rick offered to follow me around in the dark if I wanted to try and get a long run in during the week. Sweet but... I think I will come up with another plan.

OK - enough whining - off to make divinity! OH! did I mention that in looking over the race booklet, one of the food stops at the Disney marathon is candy. You gotta love Disney! The stops are something like water, gels, bananas, gatorade, etc. and then around mile 22ish there is candy. Funny. I like it!