Weekend Training...

After a big weekend out of town for Labor Day, this weekend I was back on my home turf. It actually felt good to get back on "the plan". I have been off plan more than I would like lately which is messing with my head and my sense of preparedness.

This week, I got back on track and even tried out a new masters group which seems like it will be a great fit! My last group was at my gym. There were not a lot of participants and there was a fair amount of turnover in the coaching staff which was frustrating. I went for my first session on Thursday which was a time trial day. Can't wait to go back Tuesday for more!

My long workout this weekend was a 20 mile run and 15 ride brick. I went across town for the run because Stone Mountain had a special event and I was afraid it would be super crowded. The run went great! It wasn't easy but I didn't expect it to be. As long as there are no real issues and I finish the miles, I call it a success.

I took a quick sandwich break before I loaded up for the ride.



I was expecting the ride to be a little painful since my legs were still feeling that run but the spinning actually felt pretty good. Who would have guessed it? Once I got home, I took full advantage of my runner's high and made dinners and lunches for the week before crashing. :)

Sunday, I met up with Meredith for what she described as "a terrible ride" Apparently, it is terrible in a character building sort of way. We arrived bright and early to start off with a swim.



There were what seemed like a hundred ducks, geese, birds, whatever in the water. Having never been to this park before, I was trying to visualize myself swimming through all these creatures secretly hoping that they would take off when we approached. Apparently they were practicing a mass swim start. Luckily, a boat motored through and they went on their way.

We did a quick one mile-ish swim. Meredith chose to sight on the buoys while I decided to strike out on my own towards the middle of the lake. Clearly I am not good at following directions. I found my way back to the buoys and we finished up without having to call out the dive team.

Leg two was the "terrible" bike ride. We took off with Meredith leading the way. She offered little tidbits along the way like "this is the worst hill" and "the last 10 miles are all uphill". I am a planner so it was good to know these things :) We finally hit the turnaround and stopped for a coke. I feel like I have taken her to the dark side, poor girl had not had a diet coke for months until we started riding together. (hanging my head in shame...).



As promised, the last half of the ride was a little worse than the first but we made it. There were no tears and no one quitting on the side of the road. #winning.

As if the 3600 feet of climbing wasn't enough, we laced up our shoes and knocked out a six mile run before parting ways.

On the way home, I stopped by Dutch Monkey Doughnuts, a gourmet doughnut shop owned by our friend Arpana and her husband. They recently won the American Express Big Break for Small Business contest which is pretty exciting! If you are in the area, you have to stop buy and pick up some treats.



All in all an awesome weekend of training. It felt good to hit every workout and not make any adjustments to the plan. Beach 2 Battleship, here I come!