Bridge of the Gods Ride 4/28/7

Saturday Zan, Colleen and I rode the Bridge of the Gods ride. It was a beautiful day. It started out kind of chilly but then cleared up and was clear, sunny and WARM.

So we took off meeting Colleen at the 205 bridge and rode to the WA side and through Camus. There you hook up with HWY 14 and start your climb to Cape Horn and Beacon Rock. It is a veautiful ride. Waterfalls, trees, astounding views, you can't beat it.

I felt pretty good climbing. I rode steady and it was easier than I recall in the past. On the flats Colleen helped to push my pace up higher than i would have otherwise.

Crossing the BOG is always a thrilling event. It's grated so a fall sends fear into your heart. And when you look down you see the river below you. it's scary.

From there you hit the bike trail and it's travels in and out of coveered woods and then alongside 84 and back again. Right before Warrendale you hop the guardrail and ride 84 for about a mile. There you head to Multnomah falls the last climb up to Crown Point.

The descent from there was awesome, as always. It's like a drop from heaven. Colleen and I then work together into the headwind along Marine drive making it easier going on both of us.

Overall I had a 112 miles for the day. It was beautiful and tiring.

I tried to ride the next day but couldn't really get comfortable on the saddle so only rode for about 90 minutes.

Today I was comfortably running. I ran for over 2.5 hours today. Almost 2 hours this morning and then 45 minutes in the evening.

Thursday Swimming

So after my day of just taking care of myself and not working out I feel MUCH better. The soreness seems to be gone and my energy is higher.

Today during swimming we had our dreaded "test set". This is a set that we used to do with Andrew periodically.

4 X 100 1:45
2 X 100 1:35
4 X 100 1:40
2 X 100 1:30

I made all of them until the last 100 on 1:40. I sat out a 50 and then did the last one on 1:30.

On the 1:45 I was holding 1:35. On the 1:35 I was on 1:35. On the 1:40 I was holding 1:38.

So not too bad. I know I could do the set if I started at 1:50. SO this is a good stretch for me.

I'm planning on doing the Bridge of the Gods loop this weekend so I need to keep that in mind these next couple days.

Treat Myself Kindly Day

Today I decided that it is a treat myself kindly day. My back is spasming even after my massage this morning. For whatever reason my hip flexors are really sore right now. The only thing I can think of re: is that maybe I over stretched them on Monday.

So massage this morning and my swim lesson was rescheduled to Friday and then a haircut this evening. And tonight Cate and I are going to have dinner together.

Hopefully tomorrow I will feel better. maybe I need to go see Dr. J for an adjustment too.

Swimming

This morning was my regular swim workout with "The Crew". Tuesday are usually stroke days so that's always fun in my book.

However my back is a bit tweaky since lifting yesterday. So I avoided Breast like the plague today but was still able to throw down some fly.

The thing I realized this morning is that I have been working on reintegrating my kick back into my stroke but now it's reversed. I have the right kick but I'm not long anymore.

So tomorrow during my lesson that will be my focus. Keep the kick and keep the DPS. Once that happens I know I will feel that effortless power.

Base 2 Week 2 Long Run

Yesterday, Sunday, was a recovery day for me. I didn't do anything but run errands with Cate and try on clothes. :) I actually bought a couple small sized tops! Believe it or not.

So today is long run day. I run basically 3 times today. To work. A warm up before weights and then a run home from the Max. It ends up being about 15 miles total.

I slept like crap last night. I woke at 1 and couldn't settle back down. I took a shower and took some Tylenol PM and finally fell back asleep around 3:30. But when you wake at 5 that's not's a whole lot of sleep. Oh well I had 10 hours the night before and will likely sleep fine tonight.

So I ran into work today and it no longer feels like a long run. Its becoming a tempo run instead. I felt good all the way through and felt like my speed was actually getting faster, not slower.

Let's see here.... I guess I can look can't I?

1: 11:23
2: 11:01
3: 11:16
4: 11:18
5: 10:42
6: 10:10
7: 10:18
8: 10:42

Not too shabby for me.

Overall feeling good and strong these days. It feels good.

Catching up Part 2

I'm really going to make a concerted effort to keep this blog up to date. (Here's my whine... it's my blog I get to whine, right) It's just that between work, family, training and logging just the basics of workouts and food that one more thing feels like too much. Some nights I just want to go to bed and close my eyes and not worry about "logging" everything. I mean who cares anyway right?

So here's what I've done the past couple days:

Link to Friday ride

Friday was sunny so I asked for the afternoon off. I had planned on riding the RACC metric century route starting from work and ending up at home. However I got out of work late and knew that route would likely take me 6 hours and I didn't really want to get home at 7. So I decided to head up to Corbett and Crown Point. It was a beautiful day for it.

I felt really strong. It's amazing there are some days when I just feel like I could take on almost anything. And yesterday was one of those days. I never felt fatigued. I did feel hungry a couple time but over all I felt really good.

I really feel like since losing some weight my climbing has really improved. I don't feel that gravity pulling me down so much. And the other part of that is that I don't feel like I've lost strength on the flats either. It probably actually helps because if I'm not pulling so much weight up hill then I have more to spend on the flats right? Or does it all become even? Who knows....

So total for the day with my commute in 5:30 hours and 85 miles. Not too shabby. Oh yeah and I also saw a sealion feasting on salmon in the Columbia river. I even called my sister and let her know my seal count for the day. :)

Today I had planned on not riding but yesterday felt so good I thought I'd go out for a little jaunt. The forecast was also for rain and I have to tell you I AM SOOOOOOO READY FOR SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This extended winter is killing me! Anyway.....

Link to Saturday's ride

I meet at the Bakery to ride with Sorella Forte. Who shows up but Maureen and Uma. Both strong cyclists and Maureen just spins right up the hills. And guess what they want to ride? Hills, of course. So being the good sport that I am I saddle up and head out with trepidation of getting left in the dust as we head up Cornell, to Thompson (argh that's a long steep hill) then out along Skyline to Cornelius pass road.

They had plan to head up Logie Trail as well and I just didn't think I had that in me after yesterday. But plans changed and we decided to head back Skyline to add more mileage as desired when we hit Thompson. When we got to Thompson they both decided to head back to flatter land while I (the anti climber) continue along Skyline.

Now, I have only done this route once and I did it in the other direction. So I didn't really know where I was going but knew that I would probably figure it out. I wanted to go on Skyline then to Council Crest and then drop to downtown so I could go to work.

Wellllllll, I kind of got lost at Skyline and Scholls Ferry. SURPRISE! Not me! HAH!

So I look over and I'm like Humphrey sounds familiar but I don't go with that gut instinct and instead travel down Scholls Ferry Road. Not a big deal as it is all downhill there but no shoulder, lots of traffic, rough road and I'm lost. And I'm also tired and getting low on Perpetuem.

Fortunately I figure out how to get back to downtown but probably added another 5 miles to my trip. It just feels like more when you're not really sure where you're going. Fortunately I got onto roads that if I had to I could get more fuel for the tank.

So I made it. I felt pretty good throughout the ride. I still feel like my climbing has improved. There seems to be a steepness that just makes me fall off the back but as long as it isn't probably more than 4% I do pretty well keeping up. Especially if it's rolling because I'll catch ya on the descent and can use that to help power up the next hill.

So tomorrow I plan on swimming. So hopefully I'll keep my resolution and log in again tomorrow.