Of course when I finally break down and purchase a computrainer, the weather turns nice enough for some outdoor riding. No problem, I am sure this won't last and there are sure to be plenty more winters of indoor training in my future. For now, I'll take advantage of it. Every once in a while the timing of these bonus nice days works out perfectly with the workout schedule. Of course, just as often it seems to work the opposite, but for now, luck was on my side. The forecast for Saturday and my 5 and a half hour bike ride was for partly cloudy and a high of 55. Normally this time of year when we are treated to high temperatures they are accompanied either by wind, rain, or my favorite: both. Not this time. A little breeze, sure, but not really much to contend with. Perfect.
I prepped the bike on Friday night and made sure I had all of my outdoor gear ready to go. So yesterday morning when I woke up as the sun was coming in my window a little after 6, all I really had to do was eat my breakfast, get dressed and hit the road. Of course, at that point it was only 30 degrees out, but I'm one of those people who likes to start my workouts early, so I dealt with it. The only really tough part was walking my bike past the icy part of the driveway that never gets sun and stubbornly refuses to melt, but once I got past that, I was on my way.
My clothing choice was good enough that I was never really cold except for maybe my toes in a few choice spots. Sometimes the air would feel 15 degrees warmer depending on where I was, and then I'd hit a valley or something that was way colder. It was so nice to be going somewhere instead of watching the 300th movie on the trainer this winter. I love movies, but when you watch that many of them, by default you wind up watching quite a few that are absolutely terrible.
I picked a loop that I figured probably wouldn't be too bad in terms of leftover snow, ice and water on the roads with wide shoulders. It takes me down into Massachusetts through a state forest and then back up north of the border to finish it out. There aren't a whole lot of cars on that route, especially early in the morning, and it's got some good, sustained hills on it which is good for me. On a few back roads I encountered some serious frost heaves, which are just going to be tons of fun for the next couple of months. For those of you fortunate enough to live far enough south that you do not know what frost heaves are, it's sort of like if there were some huge underground creature that was trying to burst through the pavement from underneath only it didn't quite make it through, just created a massive bump. They're not so much fun on a road bike, but were greatly appreciated when I was a kid on a mountain bike looking to go off, you know, "sweet jumps".
The roads were wet in spots and basically me and my bike were a mess, but I didn't care. And only once did I come across a large patch of melting ice that I couldn't get out of the way of due to the fantastic timing of a passing truck, but somehow managed to stay upright as I noticed it just in time. I rode for about 3 and a half hours and went back to the house to get more water and shed a couple of layers for the remainder of the ride. I might have even been able to get away with shorts at that point, but my tights were such a mess that I figured I might as well just let them get dirtier rather than let me get dirtier.
There is definitely something about outdoor rides that makes them just feel like a lot more of a real workout than a trainer ride. Obviously moving actually helps. And fighting wind and hills. I would've gladly called it a day after completing 98 miles (I know, I could've gone and done the other 2 to make it an even 100, but I don't really care about that kind of thing anymore and didn't want anything to put off any further the nap I was so focused on as my reward) but no, time for a 40-minute transition run. The good part about that was for once I didn't have to deal with tights, a jacket, gloves, hat, etc. Just shorts and a new shirt and I was off. Yep, it was hard. And I hate that I live in sort of a valley so there is pretty much no such thing as a flat run, but at least they usually end easier than they start.
After the whole ordeal I was certainly exhausted. But in a good way. Whenever I finish a workout like that I'm almost always torn between just sitting or lying down for a couple of minutes or just getting that obviously-necessary shower out of the way. It's just too bad standing is involved in that second option. But after getting clean and eating some of my delicious home made chili, I was finally ready for that nap I had been thinking so much about. This was one of those cases though of being too tired to sleep. I just lied completely still with my eyes closed for about an hour. I think it was equally satisfying.
Just a quick note about my night last night. I went with some friends to see "Milk". It was one of those cases of us wanting to go to the movies, but there not being a whole lot of good choices. Two of us had already seen Slumdog Millionaire (highly recommend it) so aside from Hotel for Dogs and that Mall Cop movie that somehow has made millions, this was the choice. And it reaffirmed to me why I almost never actually watch the movies the Oscars nominate for best picture. Can you say, boring? Or maybe I am just not cultured enough. Slumdog was an exception though. That was a good movie. This one was not. I did manage to get some sleep during it though that I missed out on at nap time earlier.
And as you know, today we were robbed of an hour of our Sunday. Here are two propositions for if I ruled the world: 1. Fall back shall remain the same, gaining an hour on a Saturday night. But spring forward shall now occur at 3pm on Friday afternoon. And 2. Leap years will no longer include February 29th, but will now have a June 31st instead. Really, who wants an extra day of February?
So when I awakened this morning and saw my clock said 6:45, which in and of itself to me is considered sleeping in, I was not happy to learn that really it was 7:45 because I didn't change it last night before I went to bed. The good news was though that I noticed right away the sun coming in the window. I drove home in rain last night and expected more of the same this morning, but apparently it moved out rather quickly, so I wasted no time getting ready to head out on my bike once again. It's amazing how much less mentally taxing a 2-hour easy ride can be outdoors rather than inside. I think I actually zoned out to the point where I don't even remember much of what happened in the middle. Just an even messier bike that I still haven't cleaned off because I've been way too tired!
But the weekend was not over yet, as I discovered doing some math that more than half of my weekly training volume falls on these two days. Just one 2-hour long run standing between me and another completed training week. I wanted to lie in front of the TV and fall asleep to the Harry Potter movie marathon on the Family Channel, but I had to get out and run. At least this was the second run this year where I've actually been able to carry water without the fear of it freezing on me before I was able to drink it. I also got to wear shorts, and am hoping that this winter sun gives my legs a little color quickly so that I don't have to scare passing drivers with the whiteness.
My legs were tired, but I was running much, much faster than I have for these long runs recently. Seriously, like a minute per mile faster, and I didn't even really feel good. Still not fast enough but faster. It managed to make me feel a little better. Although I was certainly quite tired when it was all over, an hour later than it should've been because of the clock change.
But what's on tap for tomorrow? The easy day. Just an easy swim. But that's not all. Apparently, we should expect 4-6" of snow. Yep, after two days in a row of temperatures in the mid 60's and seeing some grass exposed, not to mention there finally being a pathway around the ice remaining on the driveway so I can ride straight from the garage, it is going to snow again. We seem to always get stuck in these 7-day patterns where it snows every week on the same day, and lately that day has been Monday. I am going to try not to get too irritated by it, seeing how quickly last week's storm managed to melt given the warmer weather. That, and the fact that I don't have to deal with any outdoor workouts anyway. I guess it will be back to the computrainer on Tuesday, but that's what I got it for, right?
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