Running Chick

I have not been feeling very bloggy the past few days so my runs have gone undocumented. Time to fix that.

On Monday, the day after my half-century bike ride, I had a short two-miler scheduled. I was a little wary of this run because of above-mentioned ride and previously mentioned ankle sprain. I am happy to report that neither was a factor. My ankle, although still a bit tender, was fine as long as I ran on a flat or right-sloping surface. Running on a right-sloping surface meant I had to run with traffic, which is a no-no. Oh well, I gotta do what I gotta do.

Yesterday, I had seven miles on my schedule. I'd rate that run as a solid meh. The first four miles were okay, I was maintaining my 10:15 or less pace per minute, but then I quickly started to realize that I did not eat enough carbs before my run to sustain my pace and soon I was feeling very doggy. I did bring some supplements with me, but since I was already running on empty (ha ha, that's so retarded), it only gave me about a 10 minute burst. I struggled through the last few miles. My pace per minute doesn't reflect how crappy I felt, but I really had to dig deep in order to maintain it. I felt really crappy the rest of the night and slept right through my alarm this morning. I still feel like I need another two hours of sleep, which I'm hoping to catch up on tonight.

Since my weekday runs are starting to rival weekend long runs in length, it's time to start experimenting with food during the day. I think I'll head to the Co-op after work to restock on Pemmican bars.

Next up, an eight miler on Saturday. I'll probably run in Copper Harbor while waiting for the Copperman Triathlon to start. James has entered again this year and we're heading up to cheer him on. Since I'm an early bird (...unlike some people I know who are coming up later in the morning so they can sleep in ... ahem), I'll ride up with James at seriously-early-o'clock and get my run in before the event starts at 9:00. I've just got to figure out a decent route. I'm thinking I'll have James drop me off at the Burma Road and run that to Lake Manganese Road then head toward the end of 41. About five miles of that is running through the woods, good thing I picked up some pepper spray to ward off the bears.

And finally, Sunday marks the Otter River Pneumatic Yachting Club's Fifth Annual Gala and Regatta. Beer, burgers, tubing and lighting James's lawn on fire. Summer is officially here!

Miles, that is. That's how far I rode on my bike today.

The first leg of my journey took me to Laurium via M-203 & Calumet Waterworks Road. Aside from the enormous hill on Waterworks Road, the ride to Laurium was pretty easy. I think my odometer was right around 25 miles when I pulled into Josh's driveway.

I hung out at Josh's place for about 45 minutes before heading back home. I was going to take US-41 back, but didn't want to fight with the traffic, so I decided to take M-203. Lucky me, the wind shifted and was directly in my face and blowing hard. To say that my ride back sucked would be an understatement. My legs were on fire from the moment I left Laurium and by the time I arrived at McLain's Park, they were spent. Great, only 15 miles back to my house. I took a 15 minute break at the park and headed back out. More leg misery.

I got back to Houghton with 46 miles on the odometer and was within .5 miles of my house when my inner sadist took over and I decided it would be cool if I hit 50 miles on this ride. So, off I went to add another four miles to my ride. I promised myself that as soon as my odometer hit 50, I was getting off the bike and walking no matter how far I was from my house. I hit 50 about 25 feet from my driveway.

I have no idea how my legs are going to feel tomorrow. It's a good thing my scheduled two-mile run is supposed to be slow and easy because that's probably about all I'll be able to manage.

I took a nice 22.5 mile ride after work today.

I finally figured out how to properly operate my shifters and trim but I keep on forgetting which ones make the gears easier and which ones make them harder. So, most of the time I spend correcting my shifting errors. Gah. I was able to maintain an overall pace of 13mph on the entire ride and I think my maximum speed was 31.5 or something.

Anyway, first ride, good ride.