Very Tired

Yes that's me, super duper tired. Another tough weekend done and carefully stashed away in the bank. Yesterday Curtis and I went out for our regular Saturday long ride. The weather was calling for sunshine so we met at C.O.P. again and headed up stony trail. Crossing the bridge Curtis got another flat. Yes he did tape the front wheel, /shrug this time he says he hit a stone or somthing when it pops so I'm gonna just say this one was a fluke. It turns out he was right, we had no more problems after this. So we fix it and head on up to Cochrane. I love this downhill, the pavement is sooo smooth. Yes I still go onto the road even after my run in with the angry motorist. Hey, I'm going speed limit or over, catching cars why not? Oh I forgot to mention my energy level has been really low even after friday's rest day. I did nothing for training, but obviously haven't quite recovered from all the riding last week. It was 500k plus, not sure on the exact number and that included 3 hard rides. So ya, I was cooked to begin with. Curtis took it easy on me and we made it to Bragg Creek no problem. There was the rodeo going on near Bragg Creek, that was kinda cool to see. Lots of people, lots of horses, lots of booze, etc.

I half expected my legs to come around, they usually do. It's not like they were really hurting that bad, I just had no zip like I usually get an hour or two into my rides. Oh well, today's ride was all about distance, not speed so I didn't let it bother me too much. From Bragg Creek we headed south to 22X and then right aways south again on highway 762 to Millarville. If you've never ridden this highway you SHOULD. It's georgeous!!! Although I still wasn't feeling very zippy yet, at least my legs weren't complaining. I made a deal with them, if they let me make it through the ride, I wouldn't be hurting them anymore than absolutely necessary. That means, no tempo riding, no intervals or any pushing. So I kept it steady and only did what was needed to get me up the hills(the way south was hilly).

As we rode south the rain clouds were looming around us. We even got a really good lightning hit somewhere behind us. No rain for the trip to Millarville, however comin back after a brief visit to the General store we got a little bit of moisture. Nothing major, barely enough to soak the pavement. Coming into Bragg Creek again I was hurting. The lack of energy was also compounded with a wicked hunger brought on by the crappy gaterade that I was drinking. You see I was out of infinit and had to resort to a "normal" sport drink. Gaterade is fine for short rides, but man after 3-4 hours I gotta have something else. I convinced Curtis that we needed some real food so we stopped at subway and each got a 6 inch sub. It helped the hunger, but I wasn't feeling too good. Curtis asked if I was gonna throw up, I guess I didn't look too good either. With the damp jersey's it was chilly leaving Bragg Creek, I shivered as we rode. Curtis even pulled me for a ways, it was nice to sit on his wheel and relax, warm up, and let the body digest the food.

We got to Cochrane ok, by this time I was starting to recover and we made the climb up the Cochrane hill. That was at about the 160-170k mark. Yes we both had thoughts of hitting the covetted 2 0 0 number today. I was calculating and figured we'd be short if we didn't do anything extra. So I suggested after hitting the top to go north on Retreat Road or somthing? I forget what it's called, it's the road north just on top of the hill going to the super smooth road. Man I love that road, we could ride side by side on super smooth road and cruise up and down the hills with not a care in the world. Well except for the aching in my neck, legs, crotch, etc. No pain no gain right?? Eventually we got back to Crowchild right before entering the city limits and with a tail wind we made short work of the down hill Crow Child, then Stony Trail. After hitting the C.O.P parking lot Curtis's computer read 199. Well you could probably guess what we did, yes thats right we had to ride a couple loops around the parking lot to put it over 200.

So it's official 200km in one day. I'd only done that once before in my life time. Today it was really hard getting motivated. Kelsey had booked Sundance for an open water swim at 10am. I dreaded getting up in the moring. I'm not a morning person to begin with and plus I'm tired, grrrrrrrr. Oh well I managed to make it 10 minutes late. Curtis called me to ensure that I was in fact showing up. He had already introduced himself to Kelsey they were chattting it up as I drove up. Woo hooo swim time. It looked to be a beautiful day. Wetsuits on, and in we went!! I think we were all a lil tired,..... or hung over. I'll let you guess who was what. lol The swimming was fine, we did a full loop of the lake and then some. My kind of swimming, with long breaks, plenty of socializing, and some horse play to keep it fun.

After the swim I went home. Generally I get a quick ride in, then hang out with Lisa for the rest of the day. She wasn't feeling good so that meant more workout, what else am I to do right? I took my time getting the bike ready, taking in food and plenty of fluid. It felt like it would be another hot ride. Boy was I wrong, as I left Calgary on highway #1 the dark clouds looked to be chasing me. As I rode out I looked to be making time on the clouds. Do I dare go much further? Those clouds don't look too happy. I really don't feel like getting caught in another storm. Yesterday's little rain was refreshing, this looked kinda nasty. I decided to do the bare min IG workout of 2 hours, I think it was 2 hours??? Surprisingly I felt really good. I always feel good the day after a long ride, why is that??? I find it really hard to get going, but once I'm warmed up the workout seems easy. I did the 15tempo/5 easy with out a problem. After hitting the 1 hour mark I really wanted to keep riding. Boy it would be nice to keep going in the sunshine, then get a ride through the rain back home, hee hee. Oh well Lisa's sick, that would be mean even asking. So I turned at one hour, the legs felt good, but I knew they were still unhappy about the 200k yesterday. Back I went, now riding towards all the unhappiness in the sky, or at least underneath it all. As I rode back I realized the clouds were traveling NE, hmmmmm there was one cloud headed my SW of me but she won't get me. The big blue ones more towards Calgary though will I hit them? I continued to ride and wonder and watch and wonder some more. Most of it was already on the north side of the trans can already. I hit Chestermere now directly in front of the cloud. I even considered stopping and letting it cross the highway in front of me. The hazy stuff floating down that we all know as rain didn't look too too dense so I thought maybe a little sprinkle would be ok? Wow was I wrong, riding through nearly in Calgary I got dumped on big time, then the hail hit too. YOUCH that hurts, especially on the nose, face. I tryed to keep my head/face down so most of it would hit the helmet. It even hurt on my back. There was clear blue sky on the other side of the rain/hail so that kept me going. Just a little further, keep going. Evenually it stopped just as I entered calgary and we had clear blue sky again. I was soaking wet, but with the sun, not cold anymore. Still a little cranky, but it's always nice to ride back into town after a tough ride in the saddle.

I got home and got ready for a transition run. I've missed a few of these so I made sure to get out there. My lower level neighbors think I'm a rock star. They think I am crazy for riding all these miles. As I walk out to go for the run, he asks, "You're going for a run after the ride???" Today they got on their bikes and actually got caught in the rain too, hmmmm am I rubbing off on them??? We quickly shared our stories of the rain, me with the hail and I went off on my run. It was tough, my legs complained, but I kept a good pace up. I was surprised, I haven't been riding that much, but I felt solid. Well except when I hit the big hills. I guess that's where the cyling legs come in and that's where I walked, hee hee the quads/calves/hamstrings would have none of it. :P So I walked the steeper hills and ran the rest. I'll be concentrating a bit more on my runs the next couple weeks. I've def. neglected the running legs a bit lately. The funniest thing happened to me while running along the bow. So I'm runing along minding my own business, I see some people pulling in their rubber raft out of the bow. Kinda dangerous so close to the slew, or what ever it's called. But oh well I think nothing of it and suddently this chick jumps up right ahead of me beside the path screaming and running into the long grass. She had her shorts half way down and was trying to pull them up while running. I was kinda out of it, only realized later she was peeing in the long grass beside the path. Anyway I'm laughing my ass off and she's screaming and laughing(I'm guessing too drunk to be embarrassed). With out a doubt the funniest thing I've ever seen. I didn't actually see much, half her butt. It was pretty intertaining though watching her run trying to pull up the shorts. She probably thinks I saw everything, but w/e shit happens. I also saw a snake sunning himself on the path, once again I'm so out of it I nearly stepped on the poor sucker. Managed to jump over him and woke him up, how rude!! So that was my run, naked chick, sun tanning snake(just a garter) Back home I hit up the fluids and relaxed, got some pizza and pretty much sat around all evening. Another solid training day in the bank, mmmmmmm I love it. I wonder what tomorrow will bring. I love the adventures of training for IMC. Cheers,

Darryl