Thursday, March 8, 2012

Adventures in combining sports


I had quite an adventure in endurance sports on Saturday, March 3rd.  I had my longest training run for the Rock and Roll ½ Marathon (coming up on March 17th) and then went for a 24.3 mile training ride with the cycling Team.  Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing both Teams in one day.  It’s amazing how much these people have become part of my life in the last year.  The problem arises in the fact that our run was a very hilly run, which we haven’t been doing much of in this training period.  With 1025 ft of elevation gain, I was plum tuckered out after the run.  I did a quick ice bath of my feet and ankles in the Yellow Breeches Creek afterwards, ate a PB&J sandwich, changed into cycling clothes, and was off to meet the cycling Team at South Middleton Park in Boiling Springs. 

My plan was to ride at the back of the group and draft my way through it.  Unfortunately, pedaling slowly just hurt my legs more.  I decided to pick it up and ride with Jenelle, Jeremiah, Dave and Bob.  This was tougher than anticipated because of tired legs and a brutal head wind for the first 8 miles.  Luckily, Dave is a strong guy and pulled us for most of it.  At the base of Kings Gap we stopped and regrouped.  The guys took off after that with a short stretch of cross wind.  Jenelle hung with me as we made the glorious turn onto Route 174 with a tail wind for about a 10 mile stretch!  Nothing like going 20+ mph without really pedaling!

I got home for the day, showered, and didn’t leave the couch until bedtime.  I’ve got a new found respect for triathletes.  Just because you can do each sport individually does not mean it’s easy to combine them!

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