Sorry I have been so boring lately! I don't seem to have tons to write about these days. I'll give a quick recap of what has been going on though.
Last weekend, HRTC had its first organized ride out of Brookshire High School. Shellie and I set out to conquer the 60 mile loop that conquered us in a big way last year. We made it, and it was not exactly pretty, but it was much better than last year. It was decently hilly and the road surface was pretty bad for the first 35 miles or so. We finally had the wind at our backs at mile 50...with only 10 miles to go. At least the last 10 miles were ok. I kept telling myself that my ride this weekend was going to be so much better - less hills, hopefully better weather, etc. WRONG! The Feb 22 ride started in the mid 30s and the wind picked up through the day, but it was never too cold to bear. Well, the Mar 1 ride was ten times worse. It was in the low 30s at the start of the ride, with roaring wind, and wind chills in the mid-20s. Fun times. Add to that the fact that most of the people who were supposed to ride decided to stay in bed, and it was just a marvelous ride. NOT. I rode the 65 miles by myself and just kept telling myself it was all good training. My poor nose has never hurt so bad - my heavy bike gloves are not very nice to the nose. I had on tri shorts, leggings, compression socks, toe covers, shoe covers, a jersey, long sleeve dry-fit, arm warmers, nike wind shirt, and bike jacket...and I was still cold. I tried to wear 2 pairs of gloves, but then I couldn't use my hands at all.
My 17.9 mph average quickly slowed to a whopping 13.6mph when I was in the thick of the awful wind. Once the wind was not 100% in my face, my average sadly did not rise much. I was too spent by then. Oh well, once it was over, it was over, and I did live to tell about it. Deposit in the Ironman bank: check.
Oh yeah, I also ran the Rodeo Run 10k on Saturday, and ran just over 11.5 miles total for that day. My race was almost 3 minutes slower than last year, so I'm still not close to being back where I was, which sucks. Oh well. I'm not doing too many shorter races for a while, so I'll just continue to be oblivious to how much I have lost.
On the food front, I am trying to "eat clean" for 10 days to see how that goes - nothing white, no sweets, nothing fake, etc. Yes, I'd love to say I'd eat like this forever, but let's get real: that isn't going to happen! I have given up cokes and candy for Lent, so I won't be having any of that until Easter, but I know there will be a cookie or brownie or two in my future (after my 10 days of super good). I'm just interested to see if eating clean makes a huge difference. I kind of think it won't make much of one because I'm eating about the same number of calories, and before this little 10 day trial, I was still eating clean probably 90% of the time. I really don't drink much alcohol at all, I rarely eat processed foods, and my 100 calorie cupcakes can't be that harmful, especially considering they have 5 grams of fiber per pack!
Last weekend, HRTC had its first organized ride out of Brookshire High School. Shellie and I set out to conquer the 60 mile loop that conquered us in a big way last year. We made it, and it was not exactly pretty, but it was much better than last year. It was decently hilly and the road surface was pretty bad for the first 35 miles or so. We finally had the wind at our backs at mile 50...with only 10 miles to go. At least the last 10 miles were ok. I kept telling myself that my ride this weekend was going to be so much better - less hills, hopefully better weather, etc. WRONG! The Feb 22 ride started in the mid 30s and the wind picked up through the day, but it was never too cold to bear. Well, the Mar 1 ride was ten times worse. It was in the low 30s at the start of the ride, with roaring wind, and wind chills in the mid-20s. Fun times. Add to that the fact that most of the people who were supposed to ride decided to stay in bed, and it was just a marvelous ride. NOT. I rode the 65 miles by myself and just kept telling myself it was all good training. My poor nose has never hurt so bad - my heavy bike gloves are not very nice to the nose. I had on tri shorts, leggings, compression socks, toe covers, shoe covers, a jersey, long sleeve dry-fit, arm warmers, nike wind shirt, and bike jacket...and I was still cold. I tried to wear 2 pairs of gloves, but then I couldn't use my hands at all.
My 17.9 mph average quickly slowed to a whopping 13.6mph when I was in the thick of the awful wind. Once the wind was not 100% in my face, my average sadly did not rise much. I was too spent by then. Oh well, once it was over, it was over, and I did live to tell about it. Deposit in the Ironman bank: check.
Oh yeah, I also ran the Rodeo Run 10k on Saturday, and ran just over 11.5 miles total for that day. My race was almost 3 minutes slower than last year, so I'm still not close to being back where I was, which sucks. Oh well. I'm not doing too many shorter races for a while, so I'll just continue to be oblivious to how much I have lost.
On the food front, I am trying to "eat clean" for 10 days to see how that goes - nothing white, no sweets, nothing fake, etc. Yes, I'd love to say I'd eat like this forever, but let's get real: that isn't going to happen! I have given up cokes and candy for Lent, so I won't be having any of that until Easter, but I know there will be a cookie or brownie or two in my future (after my 10 days of super good). I'm just interested to see if eating clean makes a huge difference. I kind of think it won't make much of one because I'm eating about the same number of calories, and before this little 10 day trial, I was still eating clean probably 90% of the time. I really don't drink much alcohol at all, I rarely eat processed foods, and my 100 calorie cupcakes can't be that harmful, especially considering they have 5 grams of fiber per pack!
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