Outdoor Brick and a trip down memory lane

So saturday I had a 3.5 hour ride on the plan. With a T run. The longest i have ridden the trainer this winter is 2.5 hours and that was ok with a plan. I am not good at watching movies while i ride and to be honest the ONLY thing i can really watch and pay attention to while riding my bike is tennis. LOL. Yes the tennis channel is on at our house alot. Usually Rich says "Who is playing?" And i say " I dont know, doesnt matter."

So earlier in the week knowing it was going to be sorta warm and the roads were in decent shape ( no ice for the most part) I started putting my head in a winter riding mode. Emailed a few winter riders ( hardcore ones that ride in ALL weather I mean 20 degrees is a heat wave to them) and got my confidence up. I dont have studded tires, but I do have a nice cross bike with fenders ( haha you dont need those unless it is actually ABOVE freezing) but I know how to layer myself, how to use the chemical heaters, and that a 3+ hour ride in the winter means you get to stop to warm up and slam a coffee. OR whatever you want to slam for that matter.

So around 9:15 am Rich and i headed out the door. All the while i had said "Ok IF IF IF i get cold then we are looping close to home...." which in my head is a total cop out. As if I Really want to ride outside for 1 hour then do a wardrobe change and ride inside to some dumb TV or worse to Dick Button and ice dancing. ( Ok side slam, not a fan, of it OR dancing with the stars)

So deep down inside i knew that once we were close to 90 min out...hahaha gotta get home now Sucka! ( Me being the Sucka!) Anyways..the ride...all is bliss for the first 30 minutes if you arent going into the wind and your chemically heated toes are all toasty. I also have Lake Boots so those help and even tho they help they are far from windproof so as you turn into the wind or descend you still get that cold toe thing. Hands were fine, which is a first for me since my hands are usually cold. Heaters in Lobster Gloves. IF you really want to ride outside in the winter, pay the $$ for Good Lobster Gloves. Mine are Pearl Izumi.

So for a 22 degree start and no sun I was starting to wonder as we headed west into the wind into Rosemount. Oddly my Right VMO was cramping, and I know it was bc i wasnt drinking.

Oh yea, the bottle froze. Infinit Slushy. I tried to suck some out and that seemed to help.

Here we are about 90 min in, With Rich mixing his $.99 coffee/hot cocoa/vanilla coffee concoction at SA:

Oops, I think he looks COLD!!! I just look like some sort of pinheaded alien with my balaklava around my neck. The lady at the counter was kinda enough to let us loiter a bit while the coffee was consumed, my toe heaters were replaced with a fresh pair, and Rich tried to warm his toes. He didnt use the toe heaters at the start so i gave him some hand warmers and he wedged those in his shoes. Not sure how he did that but it helped. And FYI the toe warmers are flat and have adhesive so they go on the bottom or your socks, and the hand warmers are rectangular and more puffy so they go in your gloves. Fascinating isnt it. The art of heat.

Finally I was getting clammy, even tho we hadnt been there too long i knew the sun was shining and the best part of the day was ahead. Yippee. Sunshine. And Brr....clammy for the first 20 min of the ride. But toes and fingers intact. So win win. And the bag of day old Apple fritters was starin' me down, but i stuck with the Powergel and Luna bar thank you very much.

We looped back home faster than we got down there ( south of our start point) and so we added on some time near home, all in all feeling pretty happy we got outside. End temps by 12:30 were high 20's and the sun had melted my Infinit Slurpee. Actually it was ALOT better in slurpee form than it is at 80+ degrees. Seriously.

Now it was time to run off the bike.

This is what things look like when you have to do a major wardrobe change. Laundry. ( See the evil laundry basket there. IT no longer gets to go down the spiral stair....sorry bud)

My plan was 45 min of Z1-2 and to run how i felt. Feel good, go! Feel tired, dont go. Well I got going and I WENT! Trusty bottle of Infinit there if i needed it i could loop back to get it.

I covered my normal 45 run course in 40 minutes and had some to spare. So another 5 min at tempo and the day was done! Wow, outdoor bricks are better when its 70-80 but i was pretty happy with my outdoor morning and to share it with Rich was even better.

Who, by the way did his T run ( Triathlete in training!) on the TM and got in 30 minutes!

What a stud!

And here is where i landed after the run:

And busted, to the right ( your left) of my cheek marks is where i cooled off some wine for saturday night's dinner:)

So despite loving this day I will admit that when faced with the chance to ride outside again sunday after my long run ( for which i paid dearly for running hard saturday, ughh, talk about molasses on that run) i chose to leave my lovely vehicle to rest another week in the garage. Maybe next weekend, who knows...then again we could get another foot. Please NO!

I was going thru more pictures as i was moving more things ( junk) from my condo. I found these. OMG I think I was late 20's and this was my first half marathon. And it was hot. That was when we used to have summer up here. I think this is in Mora, MN home of the Mora Korta and Vasoloppet. North of the cities. Great race!

And for the total laugh and for me, the "Oh I miss those courts, and I do miss tennis...outdoors!" here I am serving and walloping and forehand. Look at the all cotton attire ...way before the days of wicking fabrics:) And obviously not wearing a visor till i was 39 yo was not a good idea when melanoma came knocking at my door. Oh well. Cant see the ball on your serve or your OH when you wear a hat or visor. Funny how that was such a big deal when i was in high school and college. Guess you are smarter as you get older.

This concludes our weekend in review. And boo hoo. They tore those courts down for more field space. We won 5 straight MN state high school tournaments using those courts.

Ahh, memories.