20 days and counting...

My friend Matt and I always joke that he’s a cyclist with a running problem and, on the flipside, I am a runner with a cycling problem.  This just means that when it boils down to it – he typically doesn’t miss a ride and I typically won’t miss a run.  However, the heat, these last few weeks, has certainly made cycling a hell of a lot more attractive than running.  What we’ve both found is that we’re pretty good on the run until somewhere mid-mile-three.  Then it’s a struggle to do anything without thinking about the heat, the thirst and the discomfort even breathing.  The monsoons have brought us an incredibly humid August and we have both been pretty miserable.

Tuesday’s 6 mile run wound up being a 3.5 mile run and a 2.5 mile walk.  And, Thursday’s trail run wound up being a 5+ mile trail run with some intermittent walking after mile 4.

However, I must have been on fire on Wednesday when we met for our 20 mile ride.  For a change, we opted not to do a ton of hill repeats and rather just hit the largest of the hills and then did some rolling hills around Ahwatukee and Pecos Road.  The ride started off with me in tears due to a tough (prior) day at work and a severe leak in my master bathroom, but ended with me pulling 21-22 mph at the front in the last several miles of our ride.  Matt claims I dropped him on the last hill, but I think he just gave up and I trudged forth.  It did feel good to pass him, until I realized he was fairly far behind me on the flats after the hill.  I am a crappy riding partner – I didn’t even realize he wasn’t with me.  (You should know he would NEVER do that to me.  Matt is VERY conscious of my comfort, speed and location at all times when we ride.)  Regardless – we had a great ride and I think, once again, Matt has a lot to be proud of.  He has, after all, taught me everything I know (about riding).

Do I need to label these, anymore?

At work on Wednesday, and given the great ride that morning, Matt was already talking about our 25 mile ride he was planning for Friday morning – lots of hills and speed work.  But, as luck would have it, when our respective alarms went off on Friday morning – it was pouring rain.  No ride for us.  Naturally, I took that opportunity to get to the pool and push out another 2000 meters, which – with the exception of the lousy company in the pool – was a fantastic alternative.

You’ll all be glad to hear, I actually took the day off on Saturday.  It had been some time since I took a day off of training; not to mention, I had to be in the office for a full day of work – last weekend prior to the start of the semester.

After a good night’s sleep, I awakened at 3:30am this morning so that I could push out a long work-out before the horrible sun and heat took over the valley.  By 4:15am, I was in the pool.  The 1500 meters came easily and I finished in 38:07.  Not my best time, but I will take it.  My right shoulder was a little sore, so I spent several hundred meters focused on working it out – it may have taken a few seconds off my time – but nothing I am remotely worried about.

After throwing on my bike shorts and shoes, I pulled my bike out of my car and headed out just before 5am.  However, before I could even get through the gym’s parking lot, I had dropped my chain.  I was really annoyed and it changed my focus, entirely.  I was nervous – I have never had an issue on a ride that didn’t include Matt.  Let me just say that putting the chain back on is MUCH easier when he is standing over me, holding my bike upright and coaching me through it.  However, after several very frustrating minutes moving my pedals and propping my bike up on my head – I managed to get my chain back on and was off.

As I turned west to head back into the foothills, I was met with a WALL of wind – and I mean wind like I had never experienced on a ride before.  My brain was already in an annoyed state for losing time with the chain, but now I was going to have 10+ miles of my 20+ mile ride facing 20-25 mph winds (and yes, the first of the major hills is due west and is all I thought about for the 30 minutes of riding prior to hitting it).  You can only imagine how defeated I was – but I trudged through.  I worried about dropping my chain and blowing a tube every inch of the ride, so I was never so happy to get the windy ride over with and pull into the parking lot of the gym, again.

As I took off my bike shorts and replaced them with my running shorts, I received a text from Anne telling me that she got a late start on her run and would meet me for breakfast at (closer to) 7:30am.  This was no problem – between the chain and the wind, I was also running behind.  

Soaked an unsure whether to even take a pic.

The temps were in the upper 80’s, the humidity levels were over 70% and the sun was beating down on me as I made my way into my run.  My legs felt fine, but I was soaked from head to toe.  By mile two I could feel my shoes soaked through and my socks sloshing around in them.  The sweat was pouring off my head, arms and legs like a faucet.  I drank from my Camelbak earlier than usual, but nothing seemed to quench my thirst.  As I approached the second mile I decided that 5 miles was not going to kill me – even though I had planned 6 – so I made a sharp right along a lovely trail/path through a Tempe neighborhood.  I took a couple of little water-walk breaks, just to try to get something back in my system, since I was losing water faster than I could consume it.

I was, sadly, out of water before I hit mile 4.5 and decided that cutting the run short was one of my smarter decisions.  Besides, I was tired and soaked to the bone.

I finished another tough 3 hour work-out in preparation for the San Diego Triathlon in another 20 days.  I KNOW the weather in San Diego has to be better than Phoenix; so please join me in praying to the weather gods that I am right.

Post-Breakfast at the Airport Cafe -- we're both finally less damp!

Ok, enough about me…nap time.