Its been another one of those let-down weeks. Its really silly, I know. But when you come off of something as large
and significant as Ragnar, one can suffer a little depression. It happens to me each and every time I
accomplish something so difficult. It’s
also a bit of a let down to have to say good bye to all those wonderful people
who shared the experience – allowing them to return to their families, their
jobs, their lives
.
.
Then there’s the need for rest. Your body’s just been through quite a bit and
you can’t get right back after it or you’ll risk over-use injury or something
as simple as fatigue. So, by Tuesday I
was pretty miserable. I got in the pool
for 1700 meters and just took it easy.
It felt wonderful. I was pretty
slow, but it was ok. It had to be.
Matt and I met briefly on Wednesday morning for the slowest
ride of my life. His bike was getting an
enema and he was relegated to his mountain bike. He complained endlessly for 8 miles before I
let him off the hook and went home.
Normally I would simply tell him to Harden the f*** up, but even I
wouldn’t have changed places with him. His
Mountain Bike looked heavy and after all the running we did in Ragnar, I couldn’t
muster up the words.
Thursday morning we ran – and it felt good to be out
there. But, sadly, since Tuesday (I
think), I had been fighting a chest cold.
I was so uncomfortable, but managed to keep up with Matt and run our
short and hilly 4.5 miles. I knew I
should have gone to Masters Swim on Thursday evening, but the chest cold had
gotten the better of me by mid afternoon on Thursday and all I could think
about was my bed and a nice cup of hot tea.
…and I slept in on Friday morning in hopes of finally
ridding my body of the infection swirling around.
Weeks ago, Matt worked out our riding schedule leading up to
the Leadman Tri on April 14th.
I really need him to coach me through it. Its 70 miles of riding – no drafting
permitted. And, well, riding is simply
his “thing” – I just pretend to know what I am doing.
After work on Friday I got a slightly panicked call from
Matt on his drive home, alerting me to the fact that our plans had been foiled
for our hilly ride out Pecos Rd.
Evidently, the City of Phoenix decided (rather last minute) to close 90%
of Pecos Rd and alerted residents mid-day on Friday. And, knowing that I am a “J” on the Meyers
Briggs, Matt knew he was simply OBLIGATED to let me know a few hours in advance
of our ride.
But, to then get another message from him 3 hours later
telling me he’d messed up his family schedule and could only ride on Sunday –
well, THEN he really tested my “J”!
(wink)
So, because my good friend, Kris, is a “P” on the Meyers
Briggs, it evidently didn’t phase her at all (at 8:45pm) to be asked for a
615am pick up on Saturday – so that I could do the full Desert Classic Trail –
instead of Sunday.
And like clockwork, after only 5 hours of sleep, Kris was at
my door ready to drive my insane ass to the Trailhead 11 miles away. (Thank you, Kris!) I told her that had things been reversed, I
would have told her “Nope! No can do!”…maybe.
It’s hard to say with a “J”.
It was three weeks ago that I last did the full Desert
Classic – that, in conjunction with Ragnar last weekend and my chest cold, I
wasn’t certain it was the best idea, but I went for it.
Once I was out on the trail I was reminded of my good
decision. Its simply the most beautiful
place in the world. The sun was coming
up over the south valley and South Mountain Park was decorated with the sun’s
beauty. The Phoenix metro area received
a LOT of rain in February and the trail was littered with green – super unusual
for us Phoenicians to see. As I hit
approximately mile 4, I was high enough to capture the surrounding valley as
the morning’s sky-frost was separating the earth from the atmosphere. If you look closely enough, you can see
it. I simply had to stop briefly and
capture the moment. Its nearly
indescribable.
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| You might need to click on the photo to really enjoy it. |
All was great on the trail until I decided at mile 5 to
begin counting all of the steep washes I was flying into and climbing out
of. By mile 6.5, I had counted 16 steep
washes and I was becoming sore as I pulled myself out of each one. This hadn’t happened before, so I rested a
short while later to take a Gel and some water.
The chest cold had made me thirstier than normal, so taking a 90 second
walk break was what was in order.
By wash 19, I took another short walk break and decided that
was all I would need to carry me the remaining 3 miles home. It cost me about 20 seconds/mile from my
fastest Desert Classic run – but considering the chest cold and recent efforts
in Ragnar – I was just fine with finishing strong.
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| Ragnar shirt and all. |
All afternoon and evening on Saturday, my sinuses would not
let up. It had me worried for my upcoming
ride in the morning. Anne picked me up
mid-day for a Chicago treat – Portillos.
A location just opened in the posh area of Scottsdale, so we took a ride
up and stood in long lines for the coveted Italian Beef sandwiches. With the exception of all the Chicago Cubs
attire worn by the customers of Portillos, it’s a pretty awesome place.
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| Can you see the long line behind us? Notice my contraband -- Go Cards! |
On Sunday morning I woke at 2:30am raring to go. I laid in bed hoping to fall back to sleep
for nearly two hours before finally getting out of bed to get my bike and gear
ready for my ride with Matt. Matt had
promised a ride laden with long, hard hills, so I drove to the Park ‘n Ride
with serious trepidation. I hadn’t been
the picture of health all week and the idea of climbing hard hills with the
remnants of a chest cold had me worried Matt would hate riding with me.
As usual, Matt was on time and we were off. The first major (but short) hill came about a
mile into the ride. Matt forged ahead
(slightly) and I followed. It seemed
like everything was uphill for the first several miles. Matt checked in with me here and there
worried that I was in a pain cave, but in truth I was just trying to save some
energy to get through 30 miles of hills.
Sure, my nose was running like a faucet and my chest was slightly
tighter than usual, but given the work I had done on the Desert Classic the
morning prior, I actually felt ok.
I admit that I am not a great loser and I spent 95% of this
morning’s ride a pretty decent distance behind Matt, but I never felt like I
wasn’t going to make it. On one of our
toughest, longest climbs, I was a solid ¼ mile behind Matt as we started the
ascent. Hoping he wouldn’t look back to
see my location, I slowly crept up on him.
This is the same hill I have managed to creep up successfully past him
over time, but with 4-5 bike lengths between us, Matt turned around and
realized I had gained substantial distance since we started the hill. He put it in high gear and was simply not
going to let me pass. I tried and tried
and tried, but I had started out with too much of a deficit to gain the
necessary distance to beat him to the top.
I was really proud that by the time we both reached the top, there were
only a few bike lengths between us – rather than a ¼ mile.
At over 20 miles of hills, with another 10 miles in front of
us, Matt told me that we were not backing off – and he moved like the wind
through our remaining climbs and descents.
I have no idea where all my energy came from, but I managed to stay by
his side and enjoyed the remainder of the ride.
All I could think at that point was, “finally, someone to talk to.”
As we pulled into the Park ‘n Ride and said our goodbyes, I
realized I’d had another great weekend of workouts – with a fading chest cold
and sinus pain.
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| I think we look pretty good for "wasted". |
As an aside, Anne created this beautiful memory for our
Ragnar team and finished it up, last night.
It’s worth watching. It’ll give
you an idea of what it was like for all of us. Click below and Enjoy!
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