The weekend starts early!

Before i start writing my la-dee-dah post on my outdoor Brick ( pat myself on the back...yeah me) I have to give a huge shout out to Powerbar! Ok sure you may dump my butt and tell me you dont want to sponsor me, ( and no i havent heard a word, but am expecting that 1,304,200,400 other women my age would also be good ambassadors for your products...

But anyways...I love these gel blasts. I was not a fan to begin with bc they seemed kinda...just...an odd texture. Yesterday on my ride when my lobster glove was stuck on my hand and i had no way to get to a powergel ( Green Apple, btw), much less rip the the top off, while still travelling at high speeds on the Wagon ( that is a joke) I managed to get to these. As soon as i shoved 3 in my mouth i thought "BRILLIANT!!!!" You are an oral surgeon's ( or dentist if you want to make it simple) dream. And more important you are my dream.

No stickiness in my teeth.

No gummy chewiness

No chewing needed

These were great. I think i could possibly even run and eat these.

Ok end of the PSA.

The day had been mapped out to include 4 loops to begin with, but when i thought about it i knew that meant climbing 4 x Ohio and 4 x Marie and for those of you who know those hills, that isnt a good time on the "wagon" ( with her fenders, she just is dang heavy)

So instead i added onto the loop to make it 2 loops instead. But as you can tell from the roads below, I didnt really account for 1) The Wagon 2) Bad roads 3) ice where i had to get off and put a foot down 4) stop lights since i made the loop more urban. So i got thru 1.5 loops in 4 hours and that was good enough for me!

Note: I did think of this while riding and know some of you ladies are curious about riding outside on snow and ice and during your spring thaw. ( as I write this DC/Mid Atlantic is either getting more snow or you are all drinking lemonade under the blossoming trees, I know it all changes so fast!) But...

DONT hit the brakes if you see ice. I think that is the biggest instinct you have to overcome. I came around a corner yesterday headed down under a freeway and duh if it wasnt totally iced over. MY instinct was to hit the rear brakes ( and then fishtail) but i just cruised on thru, staying very quiet up top and spinning in an easy gear. IF you have speedup and cant stop, keep going. IF you are going slow and have time, put a foot down. But by all means DONT SLAM ON THE BRAKES!!!

Above was what alot of the roads look like. Pot hole heaven. Job security for summer construction crews i guess. And a few large puddles that were ice on top and I did put a foot down bc i knew i would go right thru and potentially get stuck...or go over!

You can see the bike path in there, cant you?

Mid ride Rest Area

I know i am not really telling you about the ride, but what is there to tell? It was 26 when i left and it warmed up nicely. I was toasty, I dont think i really needed the toe warmers bc they were burning my toes by the end, but i never and shy about being a bit warm.

I rode hard, as hard as the wagon would allow, and tried to work on my nutrition. Kinda hard to do in the winter, but i tried. I seem to not need as much in the winter, but i think deceptively you get dehydrated...anyways i wasnt bc I had to stop about 2:40 in and found this nice rest stop.

HOME!

Rich asked how the shammy butter tasted, and thankfully i couldnt tell him. The Powergels and the blasts were my top picks:)and left a bit of trash at this rest stop as well. Pet peeve, dont throw your wrappers folks you are gonna be a sticky mess when you are done anyways, just put them in your pocket and do the wash ( after you take the wrappers out of course)

And back to the roads for loop 2 +

Upon finishing there was that run. I had a fantastic run last time i did the outdoor long ride so i was optimistic about this one ...sometimes its a self fulfilling prophecy to think mid - ride how tired your legs are and how hard you worked all week and that you had this many more hills do go, and how heavy your legs feel and....so I work hard to just NOT go there. I have to admit i was SOO glad to be off the wagon, but kinda was excited to go run! I had orders to run 10 min Z1 then the rest of the run was Z2.

Now some of you know that Jen's Zones seem to be a "bit" more challenging this year. I can run pretty darn hard/fast ( fast for me) and still be in Z2. So When i hit the road on the peg legs It was hard to keep it in Z1, but i tried. After 10 min Z2 was easy to keep and i was moving ALOT faster than i felt. It felt hard but i felt like i could have run all day ( ok not all day but for another 5 miles!)

I kept thinking about how hard those first 1-2 miles are after you just biked 56 miles, and how it is good to not start running too fast or too hard. And then i thought about how running 10 miles has been pretty routine for me, and then i thought about how those last 2-3 miles are just plain HARD. And then i realized I was HOT. I mean HOT like it felt like it was 60 degrees outside. I didnt even have alot of clothing on. I somehow thought " I bet its record highs today, it has to be at least 50 out here." I was sweating like it was summer. ( well not really)

And here is proof, see I am suntanned:) and sweating!

IT was 40 degrees. See, whacked out temperature perspective...gotta love it.

And what a difference the sun makes.

So off i go to the "pool" for some ice time and my recovery snacks. I know the Twizzlers have no place in this but in my world, they do....

Looks like some dirty ice, yup, the snow is melting! Horray!

And while this is random...I wanted to be in the Lake, and i tried, but my ice bath wasnt this cold. But i love this pic, summer at the cabin, and especially my sister in the background getting the heck out of DODGE as fast as the rocks under her toes will let her escape Lake Superior's chill!

Then mom and dad had me over for Salmon at their home! Yippee for Salmon.

So..since I did my saturday ride on friday i got to do my friday swim on saturday AM.

Loved it. 10x 400 a variety of things, it really wasnt bad at all.

Enjoy your weekend everyone...Think SPRING!

PS...Roger is back at it at Indian Wells starting in about a week! If you live in so-cal you get your butt over to indian wells and watch, this is the most fan friendly venue out there. I would pick it over a Slam venue anyday. You can watch the pros practice, warm up, and i even saw Rog a few years back...and Agassi, and Henin and Venus and...but to be honest, the best tennis at any of these events is usually the middle ranked pros. They are SO good, it amazes me how good they are and they are ranked like 30-50.