Week 11 Workouts

Total Run: 17 miles / 3 times (Goal = 22 miles)
Total Bike: 75 miles / 2 times (Goal = 100miles)
Total Swim: 3.5 miles / 2 times (Goal = 2 times)
Total Gym: 3 times
Total Core Class: 1 time

This was a really fun week for me - I felt great, had excellent workouts, and enjoyed every minute of it!

Monday: Went for a 7 mile run with Michelle at 5:30 - was so happy to get this done early, and was impressed how great I felt after the 47 mile bike ride the previous day. In the afternoon, I went to the gym for a bit, then to Adam's core class. The class was hard, but when I was done I felt like I could have pushed it more. I wasn't really sore this time.
Tuesday: Swam in the morning. Got there early, so ended up swimming about 2 miles - thought I'd be taking it easy, but actually it was a really great (and hard) workout. Rather than work out in the evening, I met the Bluejackets in the Runtex Parking lot for a 2 hour parking lot happy hour. (Great workout! Ha!)
Wednesday: Met Stephanie at the gym in the morning. Quality run workout in the evening (1 x 2000 @ 10K pace, 2 x 1000 @ 5K pace, 4 x 400 @ mile pace) - managed to hit all my paces and even got faster at my 400s.
Thursday: Great swim class in the morning, followed by an extremely busy day. Ended the night with my company's crawfish boil, then the pub run. Didn't get home until 2:00am, but steered clear of alcohol. (Good girl!)
Friday: Somehow managed to get up and meet Holly for a run at 6:15am. We ran the perfect pace, had great conversation and I felt fabulous. Went to the gym in the afternoon.
Saturday: Rosedale Ride - 65 miles! See below for more info...
Sunday: Easy bike ride at the Veloway, met up with Leslie. I'll post about that separately. I'm going to try to hit the gym this afternoon, or go for an easy run, but if I skip it, then so be it.

My favorite thing this week was the Rosedale Ride. I had planned on doing the 45 mile distance, but Claire kept nudging me to ride the 65 mile route. When I saw Kris at the start, and found out she was doing 65, I decided to try it. Kris and I stayed behind Panther & Lulu for about 5 miles; Kris just wanted to keep them in sight, but I figured they'd drop us in no time. Somehow, we managed to keep behind them and at one point, Panther turned around and said, "good - I was just saying how the two of you should be keeping up with us." (Great, I thought, this is going to be tough!)

From there, we all rode together until the 2nd rest stop. We did some pace lines, and Lulu, Kris and I would speed up each time we took the lead. At some points, we were averaging 20-23mph which made me nervous about bonking later. We stayed together again until the 4th rest stop, and we were pushing the pace pretty good. Not many people passed us, but we passed a lot of people. At the 4th rest stop, Panther decided we should all push it for the next 15 miles and regroup. We split up and braved some intense headwind & hills on our own, and all came in within minutes of each other at our meeting point. We decided to take it somewhat easy for the last 15 miles, though we still ended up going about 18mph, even with some annoying hills and more headwind. The four of us crossed the finish line together, and ended up averaging 16.6 mph. (Total time= 3:49)

I must admit, I am very surprised that I could keep up with them for the whole ride. I never felt like I couldn't do it, and I wasn't really *that* tired by the end. (I could definitely have done more, though I was glad to be done!) I was talking to Claire about the ride later, and she said, "Erin - all of your training this winter is really paying off." And it hit me that she was right. I really am so much stronger than I was at the beginning of the season. I have been working hard at the gym. I can feel strength from my back when I pull up hills, and strength in my quads when I push the big gears. I also feel more comfortable spinning - I can tell that the work from the cycling studies really helped train me to spin spin spin.

The craziest thing for me? I actually enjoy riding! Yesterday was the most fun workout I've had in a while, which is saying something b/c I've really liked my workouts lately. (By the way, one of the best parts of cyling with friends is the ability to have conversations together and getting to know each other better. I was so happy to get to see Lulu again - it has been a while. And getting to know Kris better was great - turns out she's more like me than I could have imagined. And, getting serenaded KISS songs by Panther, well, what can I say about that?!) And of course, lunch at Vivo with the group + Banana was fabulous.

So, we'll see, but I think cycling may be my strongest sport by the time the summer is done.

Week 11 - Favorite one yet!