Mer Lessons: No rest for the weary!

Strangely, the highlights of this week’s workouts are the book-ends. After a fantastic high at Sunday’s half Marathon – Matt asked Jim and me to ride out (easy) to Maricopa and back on Monday, late morning – since we all had the day off. I admittedly texted Matt early on Monday to let him know that I was pretty sore from my race and if he wanted to “get after it”, I would bail and let him simply ride with Jim. He wasn’t having it and told me we would all stick together – at whatever pace my legs could muster.

So, at 10am – the three of us hit the road for a 35 mile ride out and back. Honestly, we could not have asked for more perfect weather. It was SUCH a change from the sub-freezing temps on the century ride a mere 8 days prior. And, of course, we ALL commented several times as we headed out about how fortunate we were.

The ride out to Maricopa was awesome. We agreed to take 1 mile pulls off the front the whole way out and – while I think I may have been the only one who seriously stuck to that plan – the ride was easy and a lot of fun. It almost seemed too good to be true, as we hit 21-22 mph the entire way out.

The half-way point came and we took a rest at a local Circle K so Matt and Jim could take care of business. And, as Matt came out and Jim went in – I asked, “so, do you suppose we’ll hit a decent amount of wind on the way back, since the way out was such a piece of cake?” Matt nodded, “yep – that’s exactly what I was thinking!”

Sure enough, we hit the road to head back and were faced with some fairly decent winds – sometimes only relieved by a passing semi or a large line of oversized vehicles. However, I was still feeling really good and I knew I could push out 3 minutes at any pace (the approx. time on the front when doing 1 mile pulls at 20 mph). Matt took the lead first and kept us over 21 mph, even with the winds. I tried to minimally keep us over 20 and we all took turns making it so! Every so often, I would glance at my Garmin to see that we had maintained well over 20 mph, which was incredible motivation to keep it up there for the rest of the ride.

As we finished off 30 miles and turned into the reservation to head back to Ahwatukee, I could tell Matt really wanted that 20 mph AVS – so we kept it up, but only for a smidge longer. We were all pretty tired from the 12 mile windy, return trip. In an effort not to lose anyone, we backed off in the last few miles to enjoy the temps again and chat with each other. However, I do admit, that in our last couple of miles, Matt and I got incredibly competitive and in a last ditch effort to kick the other one’s ass, we pulled away (FAST) from Jim and sprinted for about 2/3’s of a mile – speeds over 25 mph after some hard work coming back from Maricopa. All we could do was laugh at each other as Matt screamed ahead of me. We both didn’t last long, but it certainly was fun to give it one last “go”.

Jim bailed on stopping at the Park ‘n Ride where my car was parked, so he didn’t make it into the blog shot. But he was there – so you’ll have to imagine an older dude with blondish-white hair who stands FAR taller than the two of us and has a couple more wrinkles.

I hit the Masters Swim class on Tuesday night and was beaten to a pulp by Amy – our drill instructor. You never know what you’re going to get in her class and Tuesday was ALL about the upper body – almost NO kick-work at all. I can’t even describe the kinds of drills she had us do, but suffice it to say, I was surprised I could raise my arms above my head when all was said and done. The nice thing about some of these drills, though – I can REALLY see a difference in my 100 meter times, as a result. Since starting Masters Swim, I have knocked nearly 20 seconds off – and over the course of a mile, that’s like 5 ½ minutes. It really excites me for the upcoming Tri season!

Wednesday morning I got a text from Matt saying he hadn’t slept and wouldn’t be joining me for our planned 4.5 mile run. In truth, I didn’t care. My body ached from the ½ marathon, the 35 mile crazy ride and the hard swim the night before. I had absolutely nothing in me and everything seemed to hurt. It would have been irresponsible of me to have gone out alone – so I opted to reset my alarm, too, and grab an extra hour of sleep.

By Friday morning we were both feeling ourselves again and we hit Pecos Road for a 16-18 mile strong ride. I don’t think anyone really understands how important it can be to have a work-out friend and I don’t want to EVER look a gift-horse in the mouth – so I am just going to say, I hope Matt is as grateful to have me willing to wake up at some un-godly hour as I am that he is (willing). I gazed at Matt’s tail-light on his bike for the majority of the ride out Pecos Road, trying desperately to even up our wheels. I refused to draft off him because I wanted to own it with no help, but I struggled. It seemed every moment I got close to his tire, he’d up the ante and push even harder to stay in front. At the half way point, Matt knew he’d gotten me pissy – not in an upset way, but in a venom-I’m-going-to-try-to-kick-your-ass-way on the way back.

Sadly, I never did – but I came damn close! We were neck ‘n neck for most of the ride back and only briefly foiled by 3 runners about 30 seconds apart on Pecos Road. It certainly botched our mojo and as we crested the hardest hill at Desert Foothills, we both backed off and laughed at the other. We’d worked our asses off – both of us. I never quite caught Matt, but I was right there, ready to make it happen. Without the challenge, I don’t know that I would have been able to pull nearly 18.5 mph for the entire Pecos ride!

Strangely, I had a mid-work-morning run with my former running buddy, Lora, on Friday, as well. I needed to design a route for an upcoming MCC/Mesa United Way 5K and Lora was willing to put on a pair of running shoes to keep me company. It was really nice to spend a half hour chatting it up with Lora as we remembered what it was like pulling 18-20 mile long runs prior to the 2011 marathon. The route is now marked and the weather was amazing at 10am – well worth the second workout!

I got up on Saturday morning and headed back to the gym for a newly-offered Saturday Masters Swim class. As I got there I saw Spin-Steve getting into the pool for his work-out. He’s had several dreadful falls/crashes on his bike in the last several months, so the pool was not in his work-out regimen for some time, so it was awesome to get into the pool with him prior to the start of my class. He wasn’t there for the class, but only two of us showed up for the class anyway, so he simply stayed in the lane next to me while I pulled serious sprint drills for Mike, the Masters coach. I felt like I had two coaches for a full hour in the pool. What Mike wouldn’t catch in my form, Steve would. “Calm down, Mer – you’re working too hard. Focus on stretching, reaching and gliding,” Steve would remind me.

But ultimately, it was Mike’s comment toward the end of class that made my hard workout worth it, that morning. “I love watching you swim, Meredith. Even during the longer (300 meter) sprints, you keep your form consistent, like you could go on for miles, never breaking form.” I have worked so damn hard on my form in the last 6 months (thanks, mostly to Steve) that it was literally music to my ears. But, again, I could barely move after 1900 meters of straight timed sprint work. OUCH!!!!

But I mentioned “book-ends” at the beginning of the blog, so it won’t surprise you to know that today was another great highlight of the work-out-week.

Yep, Matt made me rise for a 5am run (on a Sunday, no less). We both have some of the longer runs in our Ragnar Relay (3+ weeks away) so we’re focusing on those distances. This morning was the tough long hilly 7.5 Ahwatukee run – the one I try to get into a workout at least once a month. The heavy rains in the valley this weekend made it, once again, impossible for me to hit the trails, so this is the next best route to keep ones elevation legs in check.

I KNEW Matt would push me – especially after I had done so well the weekend prior in the ½ marathon. Matt needed a good long-ish run, too. (Its also worth mentioning that a couple of months ago I was seen teary-eyed in his office at work because he was injured and wouldn’t be able to push me to go faster on my runs. I am occasionally selfish and only think of myself when others are injured. It’s a failed quality – I’m working on being more caring.)

As we climbed the toughest section in mile 5, Matt said, “You’re doing great, Mer. Just over a 9 min mile, uphill.” And as we crested the top of the hilly section, we both gave it everything ‘til the end. Every remaining mile got faster and faster until Matt finally pulled away from me in the last ½ mile to really make me work for my breakfast. I could see my pacing going down, down and down. I couldn’t get near him, as he had me gasping for the finish line. 8:49 overall pace – even with the hills and long stretches up. Another personal record for me. Again – tears or not, having a work-out partner really makes me fight for it.

Click on it to see the negative splits he put me through in the last 3.5 miles.

It was 95% humidity (and a little drizzly) -- see the water beads on my head. Super cool!

Shortly after my high wore off – I met Anne at the end of her 3.5 mile run. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the Chandler Airport and then spent a couple hours with the kiddos. We danced, we sang, and we played with dinosaurs!