Rest and the Tundra Time Trial

This past week was a rest week. That doesn't mean I sat on the couch. It meant our workouts were reduced in effort and time, and we got a day off (today in fact). The beginning of this week was a lot like the first week of tapering: I felt tired and blah. This is typical for tapering, and I didn't expect the rest week to feel much different. Around about Thursday I turned a corner...and didn't feel like I needed to nap for 15 minutes in the middle of the day!

Hopefully, come tomorrow, I am ready to jump back in to training full speed. We start off with a dozy of a swim workout.

Yesterday was my first bike time trial. The IronTeam participated to run a lactic acid threshold test. Basically to see how far we can go pushing ourselves.

I got there early enough, but had forgotten all my purse/wallet and had no ID or money. Luckily they didn't ask for ID and my coach lent me the $10. She actually saw me drive by (it was crowded) and made room for me to park. Thank goodness! I was pretty grateful for that. I could have parked far away fine, but I didn't want to have to drive back through everything to get to a parking spot. I looked at Mary and said - "I am not as organized as people think I am. Thank you."

My lack or organizational skills was pointed out to me not only with leaving my wallet at home, but because I had gotten out the door and down the road before I realized I had forgotten the directions. So, I had to turn around. I got ther elater then I wanted, and had a shorter warm up then I wanted, but I got it all in. No complaints.

I finished with mixed results. I had a pretty good time and did push myself. But, I was in too low of a gear, so I didn't push myself as much as I could have. My quads did not burn at the end as they should have. I could have changed gears at the turnaround, but didn't think of it (a teammate and friend said he had done that...which was when I realized I could have done it). Sigh - lesson learned for next time. However, with the high cadence I had I still got my heart rate way up there, so I still accomplished the goal of the test.

With the time trial each person starts alone. There is a 30 second interval between riders. The picture below of me was taken by a teammate. It's me at the start. I felt like I was going to fall off the ramp on my way down...but I made it!

My team did great. There are many times you love being part of a big team, and this was one of them. I was calm until I went up to the start. I was glad to have teammates around me to keep me calm - talking and gabbing. I think it was how others kept themselves calm too! Once I started my heart rate skyrocketed. And it remained high for the entire ride.

So, our first set of workouts are done. We are moving on to the next block.

I have a good start with my fundraising - over $1000. But I have a long way to go to get to $10,000. Lots of fundraisers coming up including a Mardi Gras party and Oozeball tournament (volleyball in the mud). Details will be coming up.