I made it!
I just got the best news of the weekend. John sends me an email every Sunday with a little commentary about the coming week’s training. I knew that next week would be a recovery week, but I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant. Well, the email that I just got tells me that I get tomorrow and Tuesday off. Sweet. From all my moaning recently, it’s obvious that I really need the days off. Today was a much much better day than yesterday, but I’m deep body tired. My muscles and limbs feel like jelly. I’m also psychologically tired. My back is still a little tight, which has me a little concerned, but all the other issues I’ve been dealing with the last few days seem to be on the mend and getting refreshed over the next week will be very valuable.
We decided not to run the 4 mile race this morning and it was a really good choice. We were both tired, it was going to be ridiculously cold and there was just no reason to trudge all the way uptown for it. Even so, I woke up pretty early still not feeling great. Elizabeth was still asleep and Charlie couldn’t keep his eyes open. So, instead of my normal hard-charging ways, I just got back into bed and read until I was ready to sleep a little more. When I woke up 90 or so minutes later, I felt better. I’m guessing that the combination of getting a couple good night’s sleep, plus eating pretty well yesterday after my ride was the key.
I took Charlie out for a quick walk – he is not enjoying the cold weather at all – then came home and set up the trainer for a 1:15 recovery ride. Nice and easy, kept my heart rate in zone 1 the entire ride. I’m trying to get in more time on the Crono, so I can do a ride on it outside in the next couple weeks. Unfortunately, I have to say that there’s something wrong with the fit. When I’m on the aerobars, my hands get a ton of pressure and my left arm from elbow to shoulder start to ache pretty quickly. This is not good. I have noticed in the past that the floor in our living room slants a little from the right side of my body to my left, but I don’t notice this pain when I’m on the aerobars on my Felt. This is obviously a pretty big problem. If I can’t be comfortable on the aerobars on the Crono, I’m screwed. I went into Jackrabbit and discussed it briefly with Christopher. I’m optimistic that he/they will help me work it out.
After running a few errands with Elizabeth and Charlie (who absolutely hated the fact that we brought him outside), Elizabeth and I got dressed and went for a run. I was scheduled to do an easy hour with some Strides; she is supposed to do 15 miles. It is bitter cold and windy, especially along the Avenues and the River. It’s in the low 20’s, but weather.com said that the wind is blowing between 12-18mph and that it feels like it’s in the single digits out there. We bundled up and got at it. I ran with Elizabeth for about 35 minutes and then did my Strides and jogged home. It’s amazing how well the running clothes work if you wear them right. I wore my good Falke base layer (my favorite, it’s almost perfect and would be if it just had a higher neck) and a mid-weight second layer, gloves, a hat and tights. My cheeks were a little cold and my hands got cold, but other than that I was fine. Elizabeth was bundled a little more thickly, but she gets colder than I do and she’ll be out there for a while still.
I finally signed up for CAF Race for a Reason today. I need to finish putting together my mini-website and then send out the email. I’ve set my goal at $15,000, which is pretty aggressive, I think, but not out of reach. I think that the initial email will go out to around 100 people and some of them may forward it around and I’ll add more people later. I’m excited to support CAF. I think about this damn race all the time, this way I’ll have something other than just my training to focus on.
Bike – February 4
Time: 1:15
Average heart rate: monitor not working, but I’m guessing I did the entire ride in zone 1
Indoor ride
Run – February 4
Time: 1:03
Distance: 5.5 miles
Average heart rate: monitor still not working, but I did the run at a low intensity level, except during the strides
Course: West Side Highway
Conditions: Cold, cold, cold. Very clear and beautiful – it’s more beautiful looking at it from inside though