Last Sunday I did not ride because it was 38F and raining. The week before, however, I did ride. Every week I show up thinking that it is going to be my worst ride. Every week I think this is the week I'm not going to make it. Last week was even worse because I felt like I stood out as struggling the week before.
I didn't start out well, forgetting my energy drink. Still, I started out strong keeping up with the main group with little trouble for the first part of the ride. When we got to Old San Antonio Dr I started to fall behind the lead group. Determined, I continued to ride as hard as I could. This kept me between the lead group and the people somewhere behind me. It was the first ride in a long time that didn't have a strong wind so I didn't have to fight the fact that I don't draft well. Right as I approved the HEB Evelyn and Bill caught up to me. Evelyn noted that I was hauling and that she had Bill had to bust ass to catch up with me. I felt pretty worn out at the HEB but got longer to recover since I arrived towards the head of the group.
When we headed back out I was ready for the fact that I would probably fall behind after pushing so hard on the way down. I was surprised when I was able to keep up pretty well. I fell behind a little on S1st but was able to catch up at the first light (barely!). From there I was better because there were so many lights to stop the group. By the time we got towards the city I was feeling pretty good until I pulled my calf taking off from the light at Stassney. I rode through it but it definitely slowed me down, especially on the hills.
When we got back to the BSS, Paul made a point of telling me how much I had improved. I felt really good about my ride, and even after a few minutes of cool down my average speed was 16.6mph. Which is not really fast but it's better. Every week I get better and thats all I want.
Then Thursday I ran the Turkey Trot with Kat and Megan (and Bennett, mans best running partner). It was so cold and my leg was hurting from running with Bennett on Saturday so I was not expecting a great run. We started and I didn't even look at my watch. It was tough keeping up with Kat and her friend Ashley and I was just praying that I would be able to hold on without injury. Bennett was much better at the TT than he is running in the neighborhood which helped. My leg held up and before I knew it we were at the 3 mile point. Then, after what seemed like only a few minutes we were at the 4 mile mark. Bennett was feeling great and having so much fun and so was I! It was the easiest run I've ever done. Based on how I was feeling, I expected us to come in at 10:30 to an 11:00 mile. We crossed in just under a 10 min mile!!! I could not be happier. Bennett was ready to do it again and I think I'm going to have to sign him up for a half marathon soon.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Another good ride
The week was very windy leading up to the Sunday ride. That, coupled with the fact that in my gut I knew I was coming down with whatever horrible virus had crippled Brian the week prior, had me very concerned about my performance in this ride. I knew Stacy wouldn't be there so I would likely not have anybody to fall back to either. I set a goal that I would work my butt off to keep with a drafting line and not fall back.
I was doing fine for the first half of the ride. I swear we have never hit so many green lights and I knew that as the wind picked up and the ride had less interruptions; I was going to be in trouble. Coming down 1st street I was falling behind. Paul picked me up and brought me into the slowest drafting line so that I wouldn't be alone before taking off again. It wasn't easy keeping up at times but I did; and was very happy to see the HEB.
I was still tired when we took off again but I knew we would have the wind (15 - 20mph at this point) at our backs. One third of the group took off quickly and were gone before we even finished the first mile. I really wanted to make up for the fact that I had dragged on the way up so I really kicked it up to show what I was made of. I was doing fine until we made the decision to take S 1st all the way up to Riverside. It was more traffic than I was used to plus I was very tired and having trouble breathing. There were a few tough hills and I fought hard to keep up with the group.
This week I was pushed hard to keep up with the group and in the end had some great stats to show for it.
28.86 miles
1:45 hour:min
16.4 mph ave
I was doing fine for the first half of the ride. I swear we have never hit so many green lights and I knew that as the wind picked up and the ride had less interruptions; I was going to be in trouble. Coming down 1st street I was falling behind. Paul picked me up and brought me into the slowest drafting line so that I wouldn't be alone before taking off again. It wasn't easy keeping up at times but I did; and was very happy to see the HEB.
I was still tired when we took off again but I knew we would have the wind (15 - 20mph at this point) at our backs. One third of the group took off quickly and were gone before we even finished the first mile. I really wanted to make up for the fact that I had dragged on the way up so I really kicked it up to show what I was made of. I was doing fine until we made the decision to take S 1st all the way up to Riverside. It was more traffic than I was used to plus I was very tired and having trouble breathing. There were a few tough hills and I fought hard to keep up with the group.
This week I was pushed hard to keep up with the group and in the end had some great stats to show for it.
28.86 miles
1:45 hour:min
16.4 mph ave
Monday, November 5, 2007
Wurst Ride and Race for the Cure
Last week's Sunday ride had a bunch of new people. When I pulled into the parking lot I noticed a guy sitting on the curb that looked alot like Jud. Turns out it was Jud, and Jesse. They were going to go on the beginner ride but I knew they would be better than that. Turns out Jud is a beast on the bike. During the ride I found out that they were doing the Wurst fest with a couple other people from AMD. I was so syched that I might have somebody to ride with. So last minute I was signed up for the Wurst Ride. For those that don't know, Wurst ride is a metric century that ends at a party next to WurstFest.
We met up at AMD since the ride started right across the street from AMD. The final group was Paul C., Jud, Jesse, and me. John and his wife Jody met up with us but weren't part of the ride back. We started out feeling great, the weather was perfect. There were a couple of hills but nothing killer. We stayed together pretty well up to the first rest stop. I was slightly behind Jud and Paul and Jesse was just behind me. When we set out from the first rest stop Paul left first but thought that he was behind us so he kept riding as fast as he could to catch up. We were trying to catch up to him but at mile 15 Jud took a pretty bad spill (11 stitches after the race). I fell trying not to run over him and scraped up my knee pretty badly. Paul was way ahead of us at this point.
We all met up again at the second rest stop where Jud and I got cleaned up. We were at the rest stop for an extra long time and getting back on the bike was hard. We decided to skip the 3rd rest stop to keep our legs going. When we set out from rest stop 2 we all stayed together for the first couple of miles. We left Jon and Jody about half way to rest stop 3. We lost Jesse slightly just before rest top 3 so we rolled through rest stop 3 to let Jesse catch up. After that Jud and Paul took off and I spent the next 12 miles somewhere in between Jud and Paul and Jessie. At the 4th rest stop we were all feeling the effects but were really happy with our overall time. We stopped to take a look at Jud's wounds and joke that he was still kicking our ass.
We left rest stop 4 together but, again, I could only keep up with Jud and Paul for about 4 miles, even through a random off-road trip and rickety bridge. I was feeling the affects and could not catch them. Jesse was behind me somewhere but I'm not sure how far. The 5th rest stop was up an on ramp and I swear I slowed to 5 miles an hour up that ramp. The stop felt good though. I got up the ramp and found Paul and Jud enjoying snacks already. We waited on Jesse while I tried to down some bananas to ease the cramping I was beginning to feel but couldn't bring myself to eat more than a half of one.
After that stop I was feeling really good and the rest of the ride was relatively down hill. Paul and Jud were machines and as much as I wanted to take over the lead spot for a while, I just couldn't find the energy. As we reached the city and the roads twisted and turned we were laughing and having a great time. Jesse was just a little behind us but we could see on our watches that we were going to come in at under 4 hours of ride time so we opted to finish without Jessie and wait up for him.
Final Ride Stats
Total Time 3:55:18
Ride Time 3:57:12
Distance: 61.69 (not quite a metric century)
Ave Speed: 15.7 mph
The party was pretty cool except for the horrible announcer. There was plenty of food and beer. I had one sausage but no beer. We checked out Wurst Fest afterwards but not being a huge fan of meet on a stick I was not enthralled with it. We talked for about an hour before realizing we were all ready for a long nap. We headed back to the car and home. It was an awesome day and we were all so happy we did it.
The next morning I woke up to hit the Race for the Cure. Kat couldn't run because she got sick a few days before so I was on my own. I spent as much time as possible stretching because my legs were still stiff. I started out fast hoping I could wake my legs up and get through it. Around the half mile mark I hear somebody behind me. Turns out that Paul somehow spotted me in the sea of 4000 timed runners. We ran together the whole way. I know Paul was pushing me to go just slightly faster than I would have otherwise and I'm pretty sure I was doing the same for him. We pulled into the finish at 26:50 putting my pace at 8:36 min/mile, second best ever.
I wish every weekend could be this good.
We met up at AMD since the ride started right across the street from AMD. The final group was Paul C., Jud, Jesse, and me. John and his wife Jody met up with us but weren't part of the ride back. We started out feeling great, the weather was perfect. There were a couple of hills but nothing killer. We stayed together pretty well up to the first rest stop. I was slightly behind Jud and Paul and Jesse was just behind me. When we set out from the first rest stop Paul left first but thought that he was behind us so he kept riding as fast as he could to catch up. We were trying to catch up to him but at mile 15 Jud took a pretty bad spill (11 stitches after the race). I fell trying not to run over him and scraped up my knee pretty badly. Paul was way ahead of us at this point.
We all met up again at the second rest stop where Jud and I got cleaned up. We were at the rest stop for an extra long time and getting back on the bike was hard. We decided to skip the 3rd rest stop to keep our legs going. When we set out from rest stop 2 we all stayed together for the first couple of miles. We left Jon and Jody about half way to rest stop 3. We lost Jesse slightly just before rest top 3 so we rolled through rest stop 3 to let Jesse catch up. After that Jud and Paul took off and I spent the next 12 miles somewhere in between Jud and Paul and Jessie. At the 4th rest stop we were all feeling the effects but were really happy with our overall time. We stopped to take a look at Jud's wounds and joke that he was still kicking our ass.
We left rest stop 4 together but, again, I could only keep up with Jud and Paul for about 4 miles, even through a random off-road trip and rickety bridge. I was feeling the affects and could not catch them. Jesse was behind me somewhere but I'm not sure how far. The 5th rest stop was up an on ramp and I swear I slowed to 5 miles an hour up that ramp. The stop felt good though. I got up the ramp and found Paul and Jud enjoying snacks already. We waited on Jesse while I tried to down some bananas to ease the cramping I was beginning to feel but couldn't bring myself to eat more than a half of one.
After that stop I was feeling really good and the rest of the ride was relatively down hill. Paul and Jud were machines and as much as I wanted to take over the lead spot for a while, I just couldn't find the energy. As we reached the city and the roads twisted and turned we were laughing and having a great time. Jesse was just a little behind us but we could see on our watches that we were going to come in at under 4 hours of ride time so we opted to finish without Jessie and wait up for him.
Final Ride Stats
Total Time 3:55:18
Ride Time 3:57:12
Distance: 61.69 (not quite a metric century)
Ave Speed: 15.7 mph
The party was pretty cool except for the horrible announcer. There was plenty of food and beer. I had one sausage but no beer. We checked out Wurst Fest afterwards but not being a huge fan of meet on a stick I was not enthralled with it. We talked for about an hour before realizing we were all ready for a long nap. We headed back to the car and home. It was an awesome day and we were all so happy we did it.
The next morning I woke up to hit the Race for the Cure. Kat couldn't run because she got sick a few days before so I was on my own. I spent as much time as possible stretching because my legs were still stiff. I started out fast hoping I could wake my legs up and get through it. Around the half mile mark I hear somebody behind me. Turns out that Paul somehow spotted me in the sea of 4000 timed runners. We ran together the whole way. I know Paul was pushing me to go just slightly faster than I would have otherwise and I'm pretty sure I was doing the same for him. We pulled into the finish at 26:50 putting my pace at 8:36 min/mile, second best ever.
I wish every weekend could be this good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
