Brick day

Ah, Sunday...I'm leisurely drinking coffee and thinking about the people (Cheryl, Nancy, Julie, Ann, etc.) who are running the Eugene Half/Full marathon right now...and I'm on a rest day!! But I definitely feel that earned and need it.

Yesterday was a long ride/brick day. We had a Tour de Cure training ride scheduled at the Issaquah Chipotle, so I went out there to do the first part of my ride with the group. It was raining when I left the Shoebox, but Issaquah was dry with dry pavement...for a little while. We had about 20 people and Ed and I took them on an out-and-back to Marymoor via East Lake Sammamish...I got about 8 miles down the road before the consistent pattern of showers/dry/cool/warm/repeat started (and continued the whole day) There were a lot of stops for lights, re-grouping, Saturday strip mall traffic, helping a dude put his chain back on, and sheep-dogging the strung-out group, but it was OK. We got back to Chipotle where the group got their free burritos and were happy with their 25ish mile ride...I had one of my brief longings to be a "normal" person and throw my bike in the car, but practiced thought stoppage, ate a banana, topped off my bottles, and took off for more miles. I did the Rte. 900-May Valley-Issaquah Hobart loop and then went around Lake Sammamish through Marymoor again. With all the repeats of East Lake Samm and the sheep dogging the first round, I know I passed the same dead smooshed racoon at least 3 times. Not very creative on the route, but who cares, I got the miles.

I was supposed to do 70 miles and had to add a short out-and-back near the car to get to 65, but my legs were really done, so I figured I could round up from 65. I was never miserable, but it was a hard ride and with the off and on showers all day, it wasn't exactly a ride I'll remember as "fun," either. I got back to the car for a quick transition and ran toward the back of the strip mall...right away I found a cool little running trail (who knew there was a scenic trail behind Target?) and I had a nice little 20 minute run. In the middle of the run, I felt really good (much better than I'd felt on the bike) and considered running longer, but then my body reminded me that I was hungry and had to pee so I promptly bagged that idea and stuck to the original agenda. It was a bit of a long day and close to 4:00 p.m. by the time I got done.

When I got back to my car in the strip mall, I inhaled the usual V8 recovery drink and went into the Panera Bread store for a snack...wow, walking into that place after a 4+ hour workout is a little overwhelming...mountains of bread, muffins, bagels...a regular wheat/carb festival. I managed to choose a bagel from the mountain of options available and it held me over until a BIG guac cheeseburger a couple hours later...and a lot of chips...and some chocolate chip cookies...

I got in about 13.5 hours of training this week...good week and I was really body-tired by last night, for sure.

Brick:

65 mile ride:
4:05
Avg HR = 122
Avg pace = 15.9

20 min run
2.3 miles
Avg HR = 135