Expectations

I've been struggling for weeks now in my training as far as running is concerned. I just can't seem to have a decent run. I keep going back to earlier this summer when I was nailing 6 mile runs - and then following them up with 15 mile bike rides. Then I got sick for the month of June and it all went to hell. Now I can't run 3 miles without stopping to walk portions of it. I'm so frustrated since I now know that 6 miles are possible, and my legs are capable of going that far but so far distance has eluded me.

The main problem with this is that on September 27th I'm competing in the DuWop Duathlon, which I did last year and was my first ever duathlon/race anything and got me hooked on the sport. And now that the Venus de Miles ride is over, I really need to buckle down and get in some brick workouts. But based on my training of late, I've resigned myself that this year's du is not going to be pretty and it will just be what it'll be and there's always next year.

And that was the frame of mind I was in when I started my workout yesterday and headed out to our neighborhood lake which is has a 1 1/2 mile trail around it. The plan was to run the loop once, then ride my bike, which I chained to the fence and had my transition area in the back of my car, for 5-10 miles, then come back in run another loop around the lake. My other mindset was I was going to take a page from Sonja's Ironman game plan and have a big smile for anyone and everyone.

So I get my "transition area" all set up and walk/warm-up out to the start of the loop. My thought is that I have no expectations for this workout and it could very well be hideously ugly, but even I should be able to run 1 1/2 miles around the lake (although I still remember a time when I couldn't even come close to doing this). So I run. I run very slowly. My only strategy is go get around the lake without having to walk. Unfortunately there isn't but one person to smile at for a long time. Finally toward the end there are a couple of girls running together that get a big smile and "Good Morning!" which I think shocked them and that was fun. And then I realized that I get to ride soon - which got me very excited and kept me going. I run all the way back to the car so my total distance for the run ends up at 1.57 - and at an average pace of 11:48. Like I said slow, but I made it.

But now the fun starts, I get to ride. I'd decided that I was going to ride in my running shorts and that I was going to just put my day-glo yellow riding jacket on to keep my upper-body warm (note for subsequent workouts: take Garmin off BEFORE putting on jacket), got my helmet on, gloves on, and changed into my riding shoes. Now the shoes were going to be interesting. My shoes are pretty new and since I'd gotten them I'd been experiencing some calf and knee pain. So after the Venus de Miles I decided I need to move my cleat (the little metal piece on the bottom of my shoe that allows me to clip into my petals) back. So I'd moved them all the way back - whereas before they were all the way forward - but I'd never actually gotten back on the bike since then to try them out, so this was going to be a fun experiment. And, of course the first problem was that I couldn't get clipped in because it's all done by muscle memory and feel, of which I had none. But I eventually get it worked out and have an almost immediate feeling of "Wow! This feels so much better!"

The ride was great, twice I revised my planned route to make it longer. I love my bike - it's almost unnatural, but, I never want to stop riding, and I want to avoid that last run. I threw in a big hill - on which I felt very strong, which I'm crediting to the new cleat position and I really felt it in my hams and glutes, which is where you should feel it (unfortunately I felt it for the rest of the day too). Along the ride I had lots more people and cyclists to smile and "Good Morning!" including the two girls that I'd seen earlier on my run - which I think came as more of a shock to them since we were at a completely different lake/park and this time I was on a bike while they were still running. But alas, all good things must come to an end and I ended back to my car. My ride ended up being 8 miles.

I transitioned again back to runner girl, and ran from the car out to the loop and headed around the opposite direction to shake things up a bit. I smiled and "Good Morning!"-ed one guy who said "Good morning, how are you?" to which I responded, "Great!" It really is fun to be the annoyingly happy person out exercising. It was later in the day now and a lot more people were out walking their dogs and running the loop so that was fun. But the most "fun" was that my legs felt crazy. My muscles were still very much in bike mode and it was like I was trying to run through mud. It'd been a long time since I'd done a brick of running after riding since the last du I trained for was all running first. And I don't know that I have ever been more acutely aware of my hamstring and butt muscles. I felt horribly slow and that I must have looked like complete moron form-wise. But I kept going and was shocked each time I looked at my Garmin to see that I was at a good pace. After about a mile, my legs were starting to feel somewhat normal again and I settled in for the last half mile with a bit of excitement that I was actually going to accomplish this workout.

And that's just what I did, I finished it and finished strong - all the way back to the car again. I was so stinkin' proud of myself. I did it!! I had no expectations of having a good workout and it was my best in weeks. It felt good to know that I'm not that far off from the distances for the Du Wop which are 2 mile run/ 12 mile bike/ 2 mile run. And I'd just done a 1.57 mile run/8 mile bike/1.66 mile run. And somehow I'd managed to pull off a faster pace on my second run of 11:26 (versus 11:48).

I walked around the parking lot drinking some water and cooling down, reveling in my accomplishment and realizing that my grin was no longer forced. I was on such a high that when I was back in the car and saw that my Dad called I didn't cringe (I knew it was about a fight I'd had with my sister earlier in the week and I've been dreading this call from my dad -knowing my sister would tell him about it, he'd feel in the middle and he really didn't need to be involved) I called him back on the way home. Assured him that whatever was decided about the issue was fine, and when he tried to defend my sister's actions, I told him calmly that I really didn't want to talk about it and I was over my sister at that point. And we got off the phone happy with each other and most importantly - I was still in a great mood. I got home and was Chatty-Cathy talking non-stop to Jay (poor guy) and the adrenaline felt so good rushing through my veins. And that mood kept with me for the day - and thankfully for Jay the talking didn't.

Now I'm just nervous about keeping this high going. We're going on vacation later this week for 5 days - Jay's running over a mountain pass (Imogene Pass) next weekend and we're taking a long weekend to explore the southwestern portion of Colorado. But again it'll be whatever it'll be.

6 days down of no Junk in my Trunk.