8 run.....13 on bike

Me on my bike, a rarity. Taken with my cell phone, which has a horrible glare on it and you have to "guess" when you take a picture to see if subject is really in there. So Becky had no idea her finger was in the viewfinder, it was an "aim and see if you get lucky" picture. She did pretty good :).


Though not on my "plan" my friend and woman that cuts and highlights my hair, Becky, had a free afternoon and asked if I wanted to ride bikes around the "pond" (as she calls it....it's the reservoir at Cherry Creek State Park near my house) today. She's an incredible cyclist whom I've admired for years....from the side, never partaking in a any sort of cycling adventure with her. I mean, I don't bike. I own some bike shorts and go to cycling class when I can but when I venture out on my bike, it's usually at a snail's pace with my kids or on my own (though as the boys are getting older and stronger, they can do most any sport now much better than me....except for the marathon :) ). So I forewarned her that I would be slow...especially since I needed to get my 8-mile tempo run in first. A must do. Biking was secondary. She understood. But I was still skeptical, she owns a super nice bike. I had to ride my mt. bike. It's a great bike, I paid a small fortune for it some odd-years ago, but it's not light and it's not meant to ride on the streets of the park. But ride I went.

My 8-mile tempo was tough; my quads were tight from yesterday's failure at intervals and it was hot. I am not acclimated to running in warm temps yet so it was a challenge but I loved running on the trails with the sun warming my body; it's been a long time waiting! It felt great to get a little sun and vitamin D on my skin; I can even see the beginning signs of my watch tan line....one of those 'medal of honor' signs that I like to look at deep into the middle of the summer. It's one of those signs of the sacrifices that I have made with my running.

After I got back to my car from my dusty trail run at the park, I was tired but Becky was right on time and waiting at my car. I ran into the pediatrician's office right there where I parked and changed into my bike shorts, had some intestinal problems to take care of (sorry, had to share), and then off on bike. She was good and stayed with me most of the time, but on some of the downhills, I let her take off and man...she is fast! For some odd reason, there was a bike race going on in the park and there were lots of really REALLY fast cyclists out there and we were in the middle of them many times. You know, those guys that wear those aerodynamic helmets and have a solid rear wheel!! Yep, they were surrounding us. I have no idea why there was a bike race on a Wednesday afternoon at the park, but there was! So when all was said and done, Becky told me that I rode well (uh...not sure what she was comparing me to cuz I was really struggling at points, but thanks....I'll take the compliment- any bike compliment) and that we averaged about 13 mph and rode about 13 miles. Not speedy but if you take into account the times we had to slow way down for the racers, it wasn't bad. My left knee bothered me a lot and I made sure to ice it when I got home. Feels better now.

I came home and just crashed, I was dead, and I was so light-headed. I had to down a Diet Coke, which I really have done a good job of giving up but somehow got back into my diet since Boston. I like to treat myself to one after a good, hard, long run as it just goes down so well...but I seem to not have weened myself off of it since Boston and today I just craved it so bad! I was almost in sleep-mode when Abbey came running in my room stating she HAD to go to Target to get some "stuff." I guess I sort of promised yesterday that we'd go today when she wanted to go and I was too tired to. So went I did. I was so light-headed and having a splitting headache when I got there but we had a great time at Target, laughing at all these cards and looking for things she may need in college. We didn't buy much but we did have fun. Then we got sandwiches on the way home and I think I inhaled mine in less than a minute!! I didn't even care that it was bread and I don't eat bread. Very often.

So a good day for lot of exercise. Tomorrow is weight training and a very short 5 minute run. I'm glad to have the day off of hard running!!!

8 miles run
cross train: 13 mile bike