whoa

Today was my second ever BRick workout (Bike + Run = ick) I'm here to tell you right now, I am so proud of me! It all started with an 8:30 AM bike ride. It was foggy, it was cold, it was hard to 'mount up' and go. My legs were killing me from the marker set on Thursday. Every time I run one of those that bothersome muscle in the side of my calves stiffens up and I'm walking like Frankenstein's monster. It's so frustrating because I don't hurt anywhere else! I had rubbed a big ol' dose of Ben Gay into last night with the hopes things would loosed up a little - it did a little but it still hurt to walk. But I got on my bike anyway - I mean, after all biking isn't running right? :)

The ride felt pretty good. Not easy but not as hard as some others. The slight adjustments I had made to clothes, seat and riding posture was making sitting on the bike tolerable - that was a huge improvement over last week when I had to quit early because the bike was so uncomfortable. The best part was I was able to keep up with the 'Back of the Pack' So I didn't feel totally alone. I kept up until we hit a HUGE (in my eyes) hill. Hills just kill me. I made it to the top but had to stop to catch my breath. After 45 minutes out I turned around and headed back - made it back in record time... I'll bet you can guess why.



Yeah - that green line is elevation.

In total I made it 15.4 miles in 1hour 18 minutes- that's my longest/furthest/fastest bike ride yet!

Then it was on to the run. We beginners were asked to run 4 minutes and walk 1, three times (that's 15 minutes). And so I set out. My legs were grumpy but at least the ride had warmed up my calves and much of the stiffness was gone. Of course the fact that I pretty much couldn't feel my legs at all could have lent to that sensation. No pain yet but they wouldn't MOVE either. I made it through the first 4 minutes though! The I walked for 5 hoping to get some kind of functionality back, before starting the next 4 minute shuffle. I was so glad to hear the end of that interval! I wanted to collapse right there on the trail! But I wasn't done yet - so I turned around to do the 'back' part of my out and back. 1 minute isn't very long when you're so tired and I watched the next run interval come up with dread. But I gritted my teeth and went for it. Around 2 minutes into the last interval I couldn't push anymore I dropped to a walk. The last two minutes were a combo of my terrible shuffle job and walking but I made it the entire 15 minutes! Of course I felt like I had just crippled myself - but I did it!

Total: 22:51 minutes (cause I did some extra walking plus did a cool down) and 1.42 miles. My running intervals were hitting just over a 13 min mile. In all a productive and satisfying day - and I topped it all off with a nice long soak in the tub