Sunday, May 24, 2009

A beautiful weekend in the Gorge....

shared with wonderful friends

Saturday
2.5 hour LSD run - 15ish miles
All week I was nervous about this run. It would be my longest post injury. I was engulfed by butterflies the moment I awoke. Life is so weird, activities that once brought on comfort and joy now cause distress and dread. :le sigh: The one thing that made my outlook on the run better was Michele - I had a great running partner. The run that I dreaded turned out to be highly enjoyable. We ran a beautiful out and back and then some path through the Gorge. No leg pain, no GI distress, limited fatigue (at the end) and GREAT companionship. Thank you Michele, I couldn't have done it without you.

Open water swim - 40 minutes
Post run Michele and I met up with LeAnn for open water swimming - in the freezing 54 degree Columbia Gorge! Brrrrr.
I let Michele use my blue fish cap and I wore my pink camo shark cap over the neoprene. We have this kickass picture of us face to face with the caps - she is smiling (happy fish) and I am growling (mean shark...do sharks growl? Maybe tiger sharks :)) It was funny as hell. It was soooo hard to growl at someone so damn cute!

David was kind enough to stand watch and make sure the wind didn't carry us away. I think this is the coldest water I have swam in. I was very fortunate that my co-worker gave me a neoprene swim cap, it helped keep my skull and ears warm. I did feel like I got "freezer burn" when I stuck my face in the water. The cold was a motivating factor to swim fast. Within 5 minutes I felt pretty good. I swam 3 loops around the cove. The first 1/3rd or so of the loop was pretty easy, the remainder was spent fighting wind and current, it was a bit brutal. I got out feeling ok. Michele on the other hand experienced "the claw" and had the 1st or 2nd stages of hypothermia. Recovery was spent in the hot tub.

Sunday
2.5 hour bike ride
After the best french toast breakfast in the world....a group of us headed out for a bike ride.
*The way out was pretty much a steady climb. At times it would look as if we were not climbing, but we were.
*It was a beautiful day!
*At the turn around point we stopped and shared a turkey/cheese melt and fries - among 5 of us :)
*The way back was suppose to be easy, we were descending the climb....the wind had something else in mind.
*Flying back down at 24-28 mph pushing 200+ watts against the wind - awesome!
*Being pelted by bugs is NOT ok, ouch. Seriously, they hurt.
*A dump truck full of dirt decided to pull out right in front of me, not only did he spray dirt all over me but I got his lovely exhaust fumes in my face as well. It took me a good 5 minutes of coughing to recover. F%^# Stick!
Avg watts - 149 / Max watts 387
Avg HR 146 / Max HR 168

Recovered with a glass of wine in the hot tub.

I had planned on staying out of town w/friends the 3 day weekend, but my energy had a different agenda. I have been training off of 6-7 hours sleep for the last 5-6 days. I'm an 8 hour a night girl and with the volume I'm currently at (16-18 hour weeks) I can't afford to continue on like this. I am becoming a zombie. I thought it was best to come home, rest and get good solid sleep in my own bed tonight. I drove home and rocked out the Rolling Stones and U2....which reminds me. "And I stiiiiiiillllll haven't found.....what I'm looking for." I hate having a hole in my heart.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Those swim caps are awesome!

~v