Live and Learn

Give yourself enough recovery Kat! I need to know when to cut back just a bit.

Friday I woke up and felt like someone had slammed my body across a wall. Frick! I hurt everywhere, I hurt in places I didn't even know I could hurt. Damn cross-fit. The fact that I would moan every time I sat up or down was a good indicator to take the day off...so I did.

Saturday I woke up feeling the same muscle fatigue. Two days, really? The workout of the day was to ride a few loops around Sauvie with the Wildflower training group. Now, I could have easily just done the loops....but what fun would that be? Instead I opted to ride to Sauvie's, intending on doing the two loops and then riding back home. Note the word INTEND. I jumped on Cadence and was off. I rode out along 185th on to Springville Road. 2 miles in I started my 1000ft climb up to Skline. Nice little warm up I do say so myself. Rode Skyline out to Newberry and descended. Now, this was a BIG milestone for me. I have avoided descending most of the wets hills, I chicken out and take Cornell or Corneliues Pass as the grade is less intense. So a little background on Newberry, it's about 765ft in 2 miles, with a max grade point at 15.5%. I think going down by myself helped. I was able to talk out loud and calm my nerves. The first mile wasn't too bad. Hitting the second mile sucked serious ass. Out of all times for it to start raining, it had to be now. Not a little sprinkle either, it started down pouring. Awesome! Not so much. I had to stop and put my Gore jacket back on. I had told myself that if I needed to I could walk my bike down the descent. I think the rain was a blessing in disguise. There was no way I was going to walk and get even more soaked in the rain. On I descended, staying on my breaks. Lol, the last 800 ft were scary as can be. A couple sharp corners....hitting that max grade with leaves everywhere. My bike slide and drifted out as I calming started cursing ^%^%#$%#%^$%^%%$E$%$&*&*(&*(. But alas, I survived....and didn't fall. This is a huge step for me. Now I know I can go down a step curvy descent in the rain and slick leaves. This memory should help in future riding. It sucks how one bad ride can f^%$# up you up mentally for so long. Anywho, on I went to join the group at Sauvies. By the time everyone showed up and we were ready to ride the rain was at an all our downpour. Great! Misery loves company and I had 10-12 people out there embracing the beautiful Oregon weather with me. The plan was to do 2 loops, the first being easy and the second being an time trial. The thought of a time trial for me today was really a cruel joke. Energy was present but the muscular power was not. The first loop wasn't too bad. There was no "warm up" loop as I had done that on my ride out from my house, plus I had to start out with higher energy since it was rainy and I needed to get warm. As I rolled in from loop 1 to start loop 2 I hesitated. I went out too hard one loop 1, the headwind was strong, the rain was hard and I knew the 2nd loop was going to own my ass. Yet for some stupid reason I went out for another.....thankfully Steve joined me. The first few miles weren't so bad, then we turned and hit the phenomenal headwind accompanied by a down pour of rain. Occasionally. I would let out a loud moan and Steve would join in....yet these were not pleasure moans, they were moans of pure pain. I looked down at my power tap and I'm pushing 12 MPR, HR is at 178 and my power is a 225. You must be kidding! My hamstrings were on fire. Steve and I parted ways as he fell back and I struggled to maintain my power output. I slowly dipped down to 160....I had nothing left. I was completely drained. I bowed my head down into my aeros, and pedaled as hard as I could to keep my HR up high enough to keep my core warm. I was miserable and really hit an all time low. I just kept thinking this was all mental strength and I would turn this negative into a positive....and that's what got me back to the start point. Upon finishing I realized I still had to ride home.....WTF was I thinking? Steve saved the day and drove me home. Thanks friend, I owe ya one.

The rest of the day I pretty much spent on R & R. A nice little nap, lots of rolling the legs out with the stick, treated myself to a hair appointment and then toasted the night off with some friends at my favorite martini bar in NW, The Vault. I must say, I had two amazing martini's. One called a Macaroon, it had Armareto, Vodka and Godiva Chocolate with chocolate syrup swirled around the glass. Not sure what the other one was called but it was orange puree with bourbon and clove/cinnamon, very holiday-ish. The best part was catching up with some of my girlfriends that I haven't been able to see in some time. Love ya and miss you girls! Called the night to an end rather early, wanted a good night sleep and some solid recovery.

Sunday -
I awoke feeling much better. Legs are still sore but much better. I decided to join my friends for a 14 mile LSD run. I hadn't anticipated in running the whole 14, my thoughts were to do 10-12 and just turn back early. BUT running felt really good. It felt like I was flushing all that poisonous lactic build up out of my system. I decided to do the full out and back. Coming back I ended up getting separated from the group, we kind of each fell into our own paces and I ended up losing some of them. I'm not too familiar with NE Portland so I found myself bonking on the way back. My perception of distance was off and I waited too late to take my Power Gel. My hamstrings started to kick in with pain around mile 12. I think my legs went numb, although I could still feel the pain....maybe it was just me trying to block them out. After a detour or two off course I ended up finding my way back to Scott's house. Scott and Ilana were uber awesome and made us all a giant hash scramble. Great recovery food with great friends.

I got in a nice little nap this afternoon and now think it's time to finish my weekend cooking. I'm making a minestrone soup and a pumpkin brown rice pudding for the week.

Things I took from my training this weekend
*I need to learn how to easy back into training. It is not ok to take a week and half off and go all out as I did in the last few days. My body takes 1-2 days to recover from high intensity work. I know this yet didn't give it the break it needed. I was lucky I didn't injure myself. This will be something I will keep in mind when planning out my training calendar. High intensity days will be limited to 1-2 a week and will be spaced out. No more track night followed up by cross fit night. Not a good idea.
*I made a rather large step in overcoming my fear of descending. All in time baby, all in time.
*I will not ride my bike to any training workout if there is the slightest chance for rain. Dry clothes are a necessity.
*My Powertap is badass. My HR zones showed to be 40% race pace and 38% threshold....I was not able to maintain power output yet my HR was through the roof. Clear signs I'm overdoing it. Nice to have actual data to back it up.
*I have a whole lot of mental toughness. Now if I could just learn when to say no.
*Hot apple cider + baking soda and baking power makes one bad ass electrolyte drink on a cold day. I did what I had to since I was out off my Cliff Hot Apple Cider, which I highly recommend.