This weekend was all about trying to get back to a normal schedule of workouts. Well, as normal as a holiday weekend can be.
Saturday, I got up and headed out for a run. I figured I’d go for about 5 miles or so. Ended up doing a very sad four. My body just wasn’t into it. I’m definitely going to have to get myself back into running shape. Thankfully, I don’t have another half til August, and am only doing 5ks at the end of triathlons til then, but I would like to get back to doing a comfortable 7-8 on the weekends. And I so need to pick up the pace.
Sunday, I went out for a bike ride with the Princeton Sports group. It was awesome as always. We rode last year’s Iron Girl Columbia course. I have a love/hate relationship with that course. It’s hilly, which is good and bad. Bad in that I have to get my ass up those hills. Good in that I can really cruise when going down. Though I’ve discovered that when I hit around 35 mph going downhill, I start to freak out a bit. That feels just a little too fast. I’m sure I’ll get used to it and learn to position myself to go even faster. After all, every little bit helps when I get to the bottom of the next hill.
These rides are always a bit of hit or miss for me. The team is great, but I’ve discovered that how I feel after my ride depends on where in the pack I end up. If I can get in with a group of like-paced riders, I do awesome. I can push myself to go faster and really enjoy the ride. But sometimes I end up stuck in a pack of slightly slower riders, which can be frustrating and leaves me feeling like perhaps I didn’t get that good of a workout. (Of course, when the slower riders are following the rules of the group and riding single file so that I can pass, it’s not an issue, but well… that doesn’t always happen. Oh well.)
However, I have to remember that just because I might not be going as fast as I would like, I’m still getting in a good workout. Especially since I don’t know how my race days will go. Sometimes in a triathlon, you find yourself stuck in a line of riders that you aren’t quite fast enough to pass. So when that happens to me, I have to learn to ease up on my pace and ride without having to ride my brakes. It’s not a bad thing – it allows me to save my legs a bit for the run. Of course, I would prefer to be able to ride at a pace I’m happy with, but seeing the positive side to every training ride is good.
Plus it’s fun to cheer the newer riders up those hills. At which point they look at me like I’m crazy because I’m able to talk while powering up a hill. I am a woman of many talents.