After yesterday’s ride, I wasn’t sure how I would feel when I woke up. And I wasn’t too excited about waking up. That’s because the group planned to meet at 8:20 am for a long run.
A piece of toast, a cup of coffee, gear up, and we’re off to run. Seton, Jenni, Chris and I headed east on the Coal Creek Trail for a long run. Surprisingly, I felt ok. Well, other than the fact that my quad had completely locked up at some point towards the end of yesterday’s ride and still was on lockdown.
Boulder in the morning is beautiful. The creek ran alongside the trail, wildflowers were in bloom, the sky was so blue. Chris and I kept the pace easy for the first 20 minutes, the settled into a quicker pace, building steadily along the way.
I felt great. Again the quad wasn’t happy but other than that (and when you’re training for Ironman – there is always some “other than that” going on) my breathing felt great. It was like I was in a completely different body, state, world than yesterday. I kept my feet quick and my pace under control.
Turning around at 45 minutes, I picked up the pace. It feel good and when it feels good – you go with it. The scenery heading westward was amazing. The mountains were gorgeous, clouds, sky, grasses, sunflowers, it was some of the most beautiful and invigorating scenery.
Afterwards, we ate what I would call a big ass breakfast then Jenni took me for some delicious coffee and walked around. I bought a new bag – like I needed a new bag – and a shirt – like I needed another Element shirt – and then spent the rest of the afternoon walking feebly around the square because at this point my quad had decided to lay down and die for the day.
Late afternoon I was grumpy, tired, and hungry. I alternated rubbing out my leg with laying in bed with ice bags attached to my quad. Training hard is never pretty and my legs were gently reminding me that I had reached my training limit. And Chris and Red Bear were probably about ready to remind me they had reached their whiny Liz limit.
After loafing for a few hours in bed, we decided to swim easy in the pool. I helped Red Bear with his technique then swam a nice and easy 2500 yards before calling myself done.
Almost done – it’s time to eat and then head off to bed. And inthe morning I’ll wake up to the mountains, good coffee, and be grateful for a safe weekend with perfect weather and good friends.
