Lots of training... and why is it still so cold?

I was determined not to have a repeat performance of last weekend's water bottle issues. The simplest solution to the problem would be to just wait until it got warmer, or ride the stupid trainer I guess. But thanks to the weather.com hourly forecast, if I wanted to wait for it to get warmer I'm not sure I'd have enough daylight to get the ride in. That's the problem with this time of year, the "high" temperature is usually only reached by like 3:30 in the afternoon, when the bitter cold of morning finally relinquishes to the power of the sun.

It wasn't quite as cold yesterday morning as it was a week ago, 21 this time instead of 16... or at least it was when I first checked, then last check before I walked out the door it was back down to 19. Seriously? Why am I not skiing instead? As further precautions to guard against the frozen water bottles, first I started with warm water. Because, well, then maybe it would take like 5 more minutes to turn to solid ice, right? I also carried one of my bottles in my jersey pocket. I had thought about doing this last week once they were already frozen, but I figured all it would do was make my back cold. That was really all I could do, since I had futilely hoped that maybe since it was spring it would be warmer out this weekend, but that of course didn't happen. I started drinking earlier, exposing my face from behind the mask so that I might at least be hydrated in the beginning of the ride, as opposed to last week where I waited long enough that it was too late.

In spite of the ice that had formed on top of my aero bottle, I was able to drink from it for at least a little while. I could see the water in the bottle on my down tube was still in liquid form, so I thought maybe I'd make it this time. Well, eventually the straw on the aero bottle stopped working and in spite of the water in the bottle being liquid, the top of the bottle was frozen and I couldn't get any of it out. Great. Eventually I pulled over to eat something, which would've been difficult while riding considering my annoyingly thick gloves (not thick enough to keep my fingers from being frozen) the zipper on my pocket and the giant water bottle blocking my energy bars. The bottle in the pocket was still 100% liquid, so that was a good sign. Unfortunately, it had made my Powerbar rock solid. Powerbars are not as much fun to eat frozen as, say, those Charleston Chews you might've put in the freezer when you were a kid. I managed to snap off half of it and clear the ice out of the top of one of my bottles before setting off again.

Another stop a while later had me thawing the tops of all of the bottles so I could drink from them, although they were still filled with ice chunks. I figured that would all melt pretty soon since it was getting later, even though it didn't seem to want to warm up at all. I fully expected by then to want to ditch my face mask, but I still wasn't ready, and it had already been 3 hours. I chewed on my aero bottle straw and sucked the ice out of it so that was finally functional.

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful, and involved me drinking water, which was a huge step up from last week. I rode by Crotched Mountain ski area and the conditions looked great because it was still so cold. I honestly could not believe how cold it still was. The sun was as bright as it could be, there wasn't even a hint of wind, and yet I was frozen.

There was some big state-wide thing going on this weekend about maple syrup making and all of the sugar houses were hosting events. It's bad enough riding by breakfast restaurants and getting a whiff of all of the delicious things cooking inside, or even just someone's house and you can tell they are making a nice, big family weekend breakfast. But it is torture to ride by a maple sugar house when they are serving pancakes right in front of your face and all you've got are a couple of gels and rock solid Powerbars.

By the time the ride was over, right at 1:00, there was still some ice in my water bottles. Still in the 30's. I had laid out some shorts for my transition run, but quickly dug into the run-stuff drawer to find a pair of tights before grabbing my hat and gloves again. I swear, if I ever get to run or ride in short sleeves I'm probably going to go a whole lot faster just by virtue of busting free from all of those layers. The run was cold of course, but it went well and I was very happy to be able to relax for the rest of the afternoon and even squeeze in a little nap. I only wish I hadn't felt too lazy to cook any more substantial food because by the time dinner time rolled around, I only had enough stamina remaining to cook eggs. I'm lucky I even did that much, but I knew I needed some sort of protein.

This morning I hit the road again for an easy bike ride... in the cold, of course. Well, not so cold this time, but still colder than I feel it should be since it is spring, after all. The sun wasn't out to start, but it did eventually come out, which made it slightly more tolerable. After that it was time for my long run. I decided to live dangerously and not wear a winter hat, but rather just a run cap. I still wore stupid gloves though. The wind kicked up as a cold front was supposed to move through during the afternoon (seriously? I thought it was already cold enough...) so that made it extra fun. That run finished up the biggest volume week I've done in a very long time. I'd be able to tell you exactly how long, but last season when I got injured I stopped keeping such careful track of my training because I didn't want to be reminded of how much less I was able to do. Anyway, I was quite tired and just counting down the minutes until I'd be done. And boy, was I glad when it was over.

Just to top off the first spring weekend, it snowed for a bit late this afternoon, luckily long after I was safely indoors. Otherwise I might have jumped in front of an oncoming car just to put myself out of my misery. And tomorrow is apparently supposed to be especially cold and windy, probably in the 20's. I am eternally grateful that Monday is the day of no outdoor workouts. It'll get warmer someday, right?