Feeling stronger after some rest and some limited workouts by relegating myself to mostly swim workouts and a few bike rides, I decided I'd become restless enough and felt strong enough to go risk some damage and hit the trails. 7 miles later, I felt pretty good, pleased with the distance for having only run a little bit since the North East tri several weeks before. With Ragnar around the corner, some quality mileage is required.
When a brief heat wave dissipated last week on Friday, the weather has been phenomenal. Mid 40's in the morning, maybe touching 70 as a high and sunny blue skies, it's the kind of weather where I flirt with the idea of quitting my job and becoming a mountain man. Seriously. I love it outside. Church is officially on Sunday but there's a lot of Spirit outside, lost in the woods, any time, any day. Nature truly is my happy place... I think I'm becoming a hippie... CRAP.
After the run, post-run shake and some relaxing, Kristen and I visited her Crossfit Box to watch a small gym to gym crossfit games competition. It was pretty awesome. I could see myself enjoying that kind of competition but there are cost limitations going on here. Adding $130-150 per month isn't really one of the things I think I need to do. I'm already going to add USANA supplements back into my daily nutrition regimen which isn't very cheap. I have no intention of hiring a coach, either. I'm prepared to self-coach and suck before I submit to paying someone to identify and fix my faults and weak points.
Saturday night was a boozey, "dirty-30" birthday party for a good friend but I think after finally logging 7 beautiful miles on foot, it was time for some reward. Sunday morning was a little painful but we survived, chowed down at a diner, did our grocery shopping, went to church and I had time to go to Dick's for some cycling supplies all before 11. Not bad for arriving home at 1AM that morning. I was compelled to go for my longest ride in years. I was considering going out for an hour then making my way home so I loaded up on water, gu, snacks, Hammer perpetuem and a fully charged Garmin. I rode out on the Schuylkill trail to Valley Forge and found my way to some really beautiful sections of trail through the Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary. I rode around there for a loop then found the Perkiomen Trail and rode north for a few more miles before turning around for a cruise home and to ice my legs. I rode almost exactly 30 miles that afternoon and celebrated by making some pulled pork.
Garmin's services were down so I couldn't look at the details yet of my run and bike but based on overall feeling, I was very pleased with them. I'm anxious to have a few longer rides soon and build up the mileage and pace.
I rested yesterday, and had a quick swim this morning. I forgot my Garmin so I was forced to pay attention to my yardage. The first 500 yds ticked off very easily then I broke into a set of 100's on 1:45. I wasn't sure how many I'd do but getting really bored with it after only 4, I warmed down and headed to the office. I know I'm hitting a mental wall at 1000-1200 yds with my swimming workouts. Swimming is always easier when you're not trying to do a workout alone and you have at least a workout partner to pace, chase or race. I skipped the USMS 5K over the weekend and may take on the 3000/6000 challenge. There's a yardage hurdle that I think is my mental block. Once I regularly swim about 2-3 miles/pool workout, I am certain my swimming gains will be more quickly realized.
No comments:
Post a Comment