Saturday, April 17, 2010

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

Thursday and Friday could have gone unnoticed. Training was light and easy. A spin here and a run there. My "injured" foot is no longer "injured" and feels fine BUT the other one has now decided to turn B****. WTF? I'm a little concerned that my shoes may be an issue. I normally run on my mid to forefoot. The shoes I've been in for the last few months propels me to my toes, thus making me faster and efficient. BUT the speed and economy comes with a price as some serious wrath is unleashed on my achillies. I'm going to test out my old Brooks and see if they help. If so I'll just cycle through two brands of shoes. One for faster tempo training or race day and the other Z2 runs.

Saturday Bike - 52 miles with a 45 min TT
I was uber excited for this ride. I've never done an actual TT before. The plan was to hit high Z3 to mid Z4 and I executed a mid Z4. The first 5 mins sucked. It took me a bit to get my cadence and watts were they needed to be with the wind and road that laid ahead. After that Carnage, and my quads were synced. 10 mins in and I go for my malto mixture. Ouch, new bottle and I smack my lip....BAD. For the next 5-10 minutes all I thought about was how my lip felt swollen and I was going to end this ride looking like I had a collegian injection. The last 25 minutes of the TT I was in my groove. I was able to grind through the higher watts and do so with a smile. Speaking of a smile. As I'm grinding away happily I notice I have a huge grin. I am so HAPPY. Then I thought, am I giving it enough? Should I be smiling? Shouldn't I be suffering? So I stopped smiling. I thought for a minute. Grrrrr. ROAR! Grrrrr. Nope, that doesn't work either. I'm going to go back to my happy face and I went, smiling like a silly fool. The end of the TT felt good. The recovery was welcomed as was riding with Sue and Alanna.

Want to give a shout out to Don for closing my aero bars in. They felt fantastic and made me that much more AERO! Another shout out to Sue for letting me borrow a trainer to get my low rpm high wattage grinding sessions in. Have I mentioned how much I love you guys!?

Recap - In the last few weeks I got a coach. My volume has dropped a lot. My intensity has picked up a bit.
I have new found TIME - I am cooking like a mad scientist. Reading 3 books at one time. Duel In The Sun, Fast Food Nation and Are You THere Vodka? It's me Chelsea. All different kinds of reads, all really good. I have been able to go out and do more, enjoy movies, see friends I haven't seen in ages and well.....live the good life.
I have new found ENERGY/PASSION - I am excited for every workout. A month of so prior I had lost my spark, my drive, my direction. It has all came back with a fury. My drive is fueled by my direction which has ignited an inferno. I'm on fire baby.
I have once again found my long lost love - Training / Racing.

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