The brick that wasn't...oops

The Seattle-impersonates-rainforest July has continued for the better part of the last 2 days and it's NOT making me happy, to say the least. Fortunately, however, I had a window of opportunity this morning and got in my ride with water and dirt only coming UP from the pavement and not DOWN from the sky. My bike and I had a filthy contest and it was a tie (more than one wet wipe needed per leg post-ride and still mosly just rearranged the crud...bike will be cleaned tomorrow).

Anyway, starting at the beginning of the day...Seujan and I got up and had coffee with the dogs (still housesitting) while watching at least 2 weather channels (I needed a second opinion, didn't like that one, either) and waffling about whether to ride indoors or outdoors and when. The dogs recommended and started to model an entire day of couch-surfing (we are going to be in a lot of trouble for allowing some bad habits), and Seujan and I made independent plans...she opted to go home and get on her rollers with a stack of DVDs and I went to Issaquah to ride outside. We both had to do 60 miles with 2 x 15-mile tempo/time trials thrown in the middle. I didn't remember until I was 2 miles out that it was also supposed to be a brick and I didn't have any other shoes besides flip flops in the car...CRAP. Although I really like bricks now, a barefoot brick didn't sound like a good idea, so I figured I better just bust ass on the ride and call it good.

I did both TTs on East Lake Sammamish again...there are some turnarounds and traffic, but it's possible to push the whole thing. I tried to attack the small hill both times (or maybe it was attacking me?) and felt my legs especially on the 2nd TT, but was happy with both intervals as I averaged about 20mph on both. Stopped at the car after each one, refueled, and did a nice 15 mile loop up 900, to May Valley Rd., and back down Issaquah-Hobart Rd. at the end. This was a good plan because coming down Issaquah-Hobart is always fast---it's a slight descent with a tailwind and it's great to feel really fast and strong at the end of a ride like that, even if it's falsely fortified. I'll take it.

Rest day tomorrow...

Summary:

7 mile warm up

15-mile TT #1:
0:43:55
Avg HR = 151bpm
Max HR = 166bpm

8 mile recovery

15 mile TT #2:
0:44:49
Avg HR = 148bpm
Max HR = 163 (?) bpm

15 mile recovery
------------------------------------------
61.3 miles total
3:26:00
Overall avg pace = 17.7 mph
Overall avg. HR - 134