Almond Joy

Yesterday was supposed to be a brick with a tempo ride included. And I fully intended to do it, honest. Tatyana and her friend, Matt, wanted to ride together and I'm starting to like riding with other people more and more so I was all over that idea. We went back and forth on Friday about routes and options...and finally decided to go over to Vashon Island and do an interupted brick with the run after the return ferry ride.

We started riding on Vashon a little after 9:00 a.m...and as soon as we climbed the first 1-mile hill right off the ferry and started flying downhill on curvy roads, I started realizing that the whole tempo idea on the hillly Vashon terrain was pretty much shot...oh well, hills are good, too. We picked up a solo rider, Christoffe (or he picked us up?) and the group became a fun foursome for the day. After the first Coke stop at about mile 22, my legs started really feeling it...I was eating all the regular stuff, but my legs and my stomach were starving and my legs really started falling apart. Of course, this was right about the time everyone else was really warmed up and flying...I started whining about how bonky I felt and Tatyana promptly saved my life by busting out a big bag of almonds...I ate a LOT of them (in addition to PowerBars and Perpetuem) and tried to hang in there the rest of the ride. All day my legs just felt like dishrags that someone had wrung out...I'd get a little energy and then feel like crap again. Fortunately, it was hot and sunny and the scenery and company were so stellar that I was really happy. And I was totally on board and thankful for a break every time we stopped to take photos. My workout plan was completely scrapped, but I still feel that I got a good enough butt-kicking and I can probably afford to go off the schedule a bit here and there. Overall, I'd have to say that my biggest physical achievement of the day was peeing in the bushes twice and never hitting my shoes.

We did 53 hilly miles and by the last 10 or so I'd pretty much abandoned the idea of running. When we got to the ferry dock, I sealed the no-run decision. We had a few minutes and there was a Mexican restaurant right there...I was still starving and felt like eating the equivalent of my body weight in cheese, so I got a really great quesadilla for the ferry ride...YUM!

My legs felt heavy the rest of the day and when I got home all I could do was, well, eat MORE (for godsake, I'm wondering by now, do I have a tapeworm???), grab a towel, and take my tired legs to Madison beach to crash in the sun for a while.

Later I had a super great evening...I met HH after her work day at Seward Park and we went for a nice mellow sunset/moonrise swim. It was a sweet warm evening and the water was great, although the 8 zillion boats made for a bit of an obstacle course. We got out of the water at about 9 p.m. and had a great picnic in the park. FUN DAY!!