double digits and bagged brick

What is it about alliteration that I like so much? Hm...don't know, but I do always try for an alliterated (is that a word?) title for my blog posts. Anyway...yesterday was the first double digit run in a long time...10 miles. It wasn't fast and it wasn't pretty (as witnessed by my friend, Tara, who was rowing on Lake Washington and told me later she saw me slogging along)...but it was OK. The last 2 miles were "pick up" or tempo, but I didn't have much to push and these last 2 miles were way slower than last week. I really felt body tired all day afterwards...my calves were tight by last night, my hamstrings were sore, and my back and shoulders felt it, too. I pretty much decided during this run that I'd like to go back to Olympic distance races for the rest of the season after Hawaii. The longer runs really take their toll on me. I took some Aleve before bed last night and slept OK, but not that great. This whole week I felt like I was dragging ass on workouts...my indoor bike workouts on Monday and Wednesday both really felt like a slog and were nothing resembling fun. It could be, though, that other stresses (like the bike crisis, for one) were spilling over into my workouts and body tiredness. Oh, and the quick update on the bike situation is that I borrowed my friend, Elaine's bike and I'm looking for a frame to replace mine as it is, indeed, totalled. But I have at least one lead and having a substitute bike in the meantime has reduced my freak-out factor significantly. Today was supposed to be a swim and weights day...however it was the first sunny day in quite a while---and might be the only one for a while. My afternoon was free, so I made a Carpe Diem mental health decision and rode the bike part of tomorrow's brick today because tomorrow could be crappy again and the idea of 3 hours on the bike trainer tomorrow and wasting the sun opportunity today seems almost criminal. My friend's bike fits OK...not as well as mine, but I put my pedals on and it'll do. I definitely missed my aerobars! Anyway, there was no way I was going to run off the bike today after doing a 10-miler yesterday, so I just rode and, I guess, kind of jacked up my training schedule by sabbotaging this weekend's brick, but...I think I'm over it. I'll get in at least one more run over the weekend. I get to go to a big dinner party tonight that will also be attended by my friends Christie & Theresa who are training for a full Ironman at the moment...they rode 102 miles today and the party host has been informed of the likelihood that we will eat everything in her house except the cat food. I'm pretty sure she decided to make a second roast when she heard they were riding a century today! Thursday's ridiculously slow 10 mile run: 2 mile super slow warm up: 21:37 (Avg HR 124, Avg pace 10:48) 6 miles moderate: 1:02:27 (Avg HR 134, avg pace 10:25) 2 miles pick up/tempo: 19:03 (avg HR 146, avg pace 9:34 Today's 51 mile ride: 3:28:22 Avg HR 124 Avg pace 14.6