I have only gone on a few bike rides outside, but they have all been lovely. And, most important, they have all been in different places and with great company. Hooray for more than one ridable road and good training partners!
IronAnne in IM St. George
One Saturday, I recruited IronAnne for intervals around West Mountain. Anne is great to have around. She keeps me entertained and honest. She also happens to own a Garmin which was a nice plus since mine is broken. Coach M had just lectured me on how I need to focus on race pace the next couple of weeks and so I needed numbers. Well, wouldn'tyaknowit, Anne left her Garmin in SLC. I was having a minor nervous breakdown. How are we going to know that we are going fast enough? What if we go too fast and we blow up later? I really need to know what race pace feels like! We won't even know how far we've gone... Then I remembered that I had been just fine training without numbers for 14 years and I got my act together.
The ride turned out great! We just rode hard and according to feel. We worked great together and I really enjoyed Anne's company. She texted me later that day that her Garmin was in her car the whole time, she just did not see it. I am glad she did not. Who needs a Garmin anyway?
Coach M and Coachie after IM St. George
The other Saturday was a training day with HT Training. I love living close to my coaches again. I can just pop by there and have a quick chat with Coach M about the plan for the week or about how to be mentally stronger. Or I can hop in their endless pool and Coachie (Heath) will give me a few valuable tips on how to improve my stroke. So nice!
On Saturday all of their Boise 70.3 athletes showed up for a nice long brick. Coach M sent us off in pairs to ride 60 miles (with plenty of intervals and a few hill repeats) and my partner, Matt, was great. We were very well matched and worked together great except when he would forget the recovery mile. It happened twice! How can you just forget about recovery? I don't think I ever forget recovery... Maybe we were not as well matched as I thought... I think he liked me ok until I suggested we add one more hill rep and the coaches agreed. He was not so happy about that. And then I started happily chatting with another rider and promptly missed my turn to pull. Sorry, Matt!
I am not sure why but I ended up starting the 8-mile brick run with Coachie. It is always good to talk to Heath and the first 4 miles went by pretty quickly. Then I swallowed a big fly and while I was trying not to choke to death, Coachie decided to take off. Well, that is not exactly how it went but after 5 miles he picked up the pace and I just tried to hang on for as long as I could. I was pretty excited to run the last 3 miles at 7:00 pace and not lose sight of Heath. Afterwards I was smashed. Mission accomplished.
This Saturday I get the chance to compete in my favorite local sprint race, the Salem Spring Triathlon. I might be showing up with tired legs but I won't miss out on the fun of racing with great friends and teammates!
Happy Training and Racing to you!
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