Yes,
Justin and I wanted to be there duking it out on the race course, but he is still in full-on recuperation mode:
Big thanks to Ken at
Sock Guy for the
Test Dummy socks. Those are awesome! He'll be sporting them hopefully on a recumbent in the next few weeks.
Friday I got my work from home situation up and running, so I got to put in a few hours after leaving the real office and still play nurse to Justin.
It's working out well so far. Got in some quality time this morning before the real office beckoned!
Since Justin isn't riding, and I'm not back up to my normal hours I've been trying to feed us pretty well. We had kind of an odd assortment of food in the house... fresh pork tenderloin, organic spring mix, left over bbq'd squash and zucchini, fresh limes, quinoa, and left over sliced chicken breast.
Cooking
I cooked the quinoa and set it off to the side to cool. I was trying to duplicate a quinoa salad I'd had at a restaurant on Easter, but didn't have cilantro or cucumber, so just went for a dash of salt and some lime juice along with the leftover yellow squash and zucch. I sauteed some garlic and sweet onion, then added in the spring mix and chicken. The pork we actually saved for leftovers.
Ta-da!
For those of you wondering...he beat Call of Duty only a few hours after I left for my ride, so he's moved on to another roll playing game courtesy of Jefe. Thanks again, man!
Saturday I did eventually make my way out of the house to get in a ride.
I spent a little bit of time Saturday morning setting up my bike to have an extra cage. I didn't really want to carry a pack, but knew I'd be out for maybe 3 hours. Temps were pretty warm, but not hot, most of the day, and I went through most of my fluids, so was happy to have carried 3 bottles all day. My pockets were loaded down, but it worked out!
Getting ready to start the big descent
I neglected to check the course instructions before heading out to ride, so I actually didn't have to ride through this creek at all. That's ok; it was fun (and not nearly as deep as I expected it to be)
Sunday I got up kind of lazy, unsure if I wanted to hit road or dirt. I'd done a decent drive on Saturday getting up to Idyllwild, and Justin suggested I hit the road. I wasn't super into the idea, but I do like the route I'd picked out.
I'd just gotten my first shipment of
First Endurance EFS drink and
liquid shot, so naturally decided to give them a try! I roughly knew how many kj's I'd burn through, and took two full bottles of mix, 2 shots, a package of bloks, 3 fruit leathers, and a Lara Bar. I didn't grab anything before leaving, and had had breakfast about 2.5 hours before I hit the road. I busted into my bloks and ate half a few miles from home. I had a liquid shot at about 45 minutes in, finished the bloks at 1:30 in, and had my second liquid shot at 2:15 in to the ride. I should've stopped to refill my bottles, but ran out a few miles from home (after limping through the last one), but my energy level and power output/RPE all seemed great. I was definitely getting shakey and in need of food within sight of home, but the fuel kept me going no problem. I was stoked on the flavors (Fruit Punch drink - very mellow; I actually don't mind sugary tasting drinks, but this was slightly more "refreshing". The Liquid Shot is vanilla and tastes sort of like liquid cake frosting, in a good way) and can't wait to try out the drink during intervals this week to see how it goes for hard efforts.
The flowers were out in bloom!
I hadn't gone back here yet...sort of made me feel a little ill as I rode down the street where Justin crashed just over 2 weeks ago.
After a short jaunt I made it up to the teets... Very very little traffic up here. I think I went about an hour, maybe more, and saw 3-4 cars.
Cruising over to Couser
Was visualizing riding with Justin up the climb. It got really warm, no moving air, and I knew just the spot he'd keep pushing and I'd hold back, trying to get in my workout as "prescribed"
I hit the rollers on the way back over to the highway, and as I crossed over the bridge I saw what I thought was a rope spanning the bike lane and out into the lane of traffic. Luckily vehicle traffic was low, because as I was just about riding over it I realized it was a snake, and as I passed I realized IT WASN'T DEAD. Oops.
I flew down the big descent and as I pulled up to the first stoplight I'd seen in hours I realized I had company. He cruised with me a little, and eventually pulled around. A gap opened up and I closed it down with an effort. He was chasing the rabbit, I think.
I felt like I should've worn my Discovery jersey.
Finished up the ride solo, and only had one near collision... a woman was walking her dog up the last descent on a windy narrow 2-lane road. Had there been a car near me, I would've been totaled!
After the ride my fro-yo fail from Saturday actually turned out quite nice, and then we stopped by Trader Joe's for some steel cut oats and eggs. Justin insisted on cookies, carne asada, cheese, and tortillas (they were gluten free at least). I cooked up some tasty tacos, if I may say so.
It's nice to get back into the swing of training, but missing the big events lately has been tough on us both.
Congrats to all who raced at Sea Otter.
