And flat is the new hilly. Less is more, right? Today it was. Before your bullshit meter reading goes off the chart (like the voices in my head saying, "Slacker!!"), let me explain...as much to myself as anyone.
Thursday's run pretty much wiped me out and I spent much of yesterday feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. Although I had a pretty good lake swim (of course, because I love the lake even if it's throwing me whitecaps) and lifted weights, a lot of yesterday was spent fantasizing about a nap on the couch. It didn't help that yesterday's afternoon activity at work was loading and unloading a huge truck full of cr...um, I mean valuable and wonderful auction items for tonight's gala (an event for which I have about as much enthusiasm as riding directly into a 40mph headwind, but apparently "team player" is in my job description). So yeah...when I got home from work and landed on the couch, I pretty much didn't move until it was time to go to bed. Seujan was sweet to me and brought food/dishes back and forth from kitchen to couch which was heavenly. Eventually, I moved to bed and was out cold by 9 p.m.
The schedule for today had a 100 mile ride/2 mile run brick and originally, I was planning to do the Flying Wheels ride with Seujan. However, yesterday the coach downgraded that hilly route to a flatter outing, suggesting a ride to Flaming Geyser. I had a cue sheet from the stack Dave gave me last summer that was a ride from Cascade to Flaming Geyser and, from where I planned to start at J&J's, would have been about 90 miles RT. I figured I'd start and see how it went...I had to stop and look at the cue sheet a bit in Renton, and then there was some detour crap going on with the Green River Trail and I was riding through Kent on some roads I'm sure I couldn't find again...and eventually I hit the Interurban Trail and just went south. Fortunately, the wind was coming straight at me from the get-go, so I knew I'd get a boost on the way back. I got tired of looking at the cue sheet and well, just tired in general (or perhaps I started that way), so I went to mile 35 and turned around. 15 miles of tailwind on that flat trail was really nice. I got tangled up again in Renton (not full blown lost, just a little tangled), but recovered and found my way back to familiar territory. I had a few fleeting thoughts of going around the south end of the lake and over Mercer Island to get more miles, but fortunately, I managed to think something else before I talked myself into it. My legs are still heavy and I really think the smartest thing for me today was to back off.
I was not looking forward to the run, but my legs and I discussed it and they decided they'd give me the 20 minutes, so off I went. It wasn't that bad at all, really... a quick out and back in the arboretum and I was done by about noon.
I'm glad I truncated this one...I have to be at the gala (see above for enthusiasm level as it has not changed since yesterday) at 4:00 p.m. and might be there till midnight, so a little couch surfing with "Top Chef" is coming up!
My HR Monitor was schizophrenic today and must need a battery...it ranged from 0 to 42 to 205 to 38....to things that intermittently looked normal. No clue what my avg. was for this one.
69.8 mile ride
4:22:48
Avg. pace: 15.9
20 minute run
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