New Toy!

Saturday
Run
Course: 101 North
Distance: ~5 Miles
Time: 40 mins
Gym

Sunday
AM: Bike
Course: Hwy 101 North
Distance: 20.92 Miles
Time: 1:42.29
Avg. Speed: 12.2 mph

PM: Run
Course: TP Cliffs South
Distance: 5.0 miles
Time: 39:12
Avg Pace: 7:49
Avg HR: 168

Week Summary

Running: 24 Miles
Biking: 30 Miles
Miles on Shoes: 5 miles


Soooooo Obviously SOMEONE got a new toy ;) I am pretty sure my new Garmin is indeed to coolest thing on earth. It has allowed me to maximize my dorkiness potential by knowing every single detail about my run. I'm pretty sure there's a setting that can tell me the amount i have sweat in gallons, liters, or pints.

Ok, maybe not that extreme but still it's pretty cool.

I have a lot to update on because I stopped posting during my rehab period because it can just be too frustrating. So I'm kinda jumping in after a few weeks of un-blogged running. I'm running about 5 days a week now with 2-3 days of biking (Sunday being a double). Things are feeling really great and as I mentioned before I am seeing a PT who really knows what is wrong with me and how to make it better. I'll blog more on that experience later.

I've just transitioned from the stationary bike to the road bike and man do I love it. I'm still a little shaky on the dismount but I just get nervous about shifting my weight to the wrong side. Today was my first long (relatively speaking) ride up to Carlsbad and back. I didn't push it too hard since I haven't ridden that far yet and I didn't want to kill my legs and end up keeling over somewhere in Encinitas on my way back. So I'd definitely like to work on my speed on the bike and push things a little more. Woulda liked to see my HR data on that but I decided to use the garmin for the first time without the HR monitor just to get a feel for it (i did however accientally pick up some other dudes heartrate data while biking by him. So the data that downloaded is a little less than accurate)

Was pleasantly surprised that I managed to stay under 8 min pace for the double today considering the toll the biking took on my legs combined with my lack of being in shape. I discovered that it is exactly five miles to run down to the Restrooms where I used to start my runs in HS and back to my apartment.

Overall feeling optimistic.

I swear I know how to ride a bike.

Bike Ride

Distance: 16 mi - ish

Time: 90 min - ish

Location: 56 Bike Path

Today's bike ride was fraught with difficulties, which is ironic because as I started out I decided I was finally comfortable on my bike and ready to try a different route then my typical out and back.

First I realized that as I've improved my fitness I can go longer and farther, but the bike path ends and so I decided to venture out a little further on the roads (insert dramatic scary music here, as I live in fear of being run over due to my beginner skills in biking). Unfortunately this had me riding down the steepest hill I've ever seen (and what goes down must go up...at least on an out and back ride) and to top it off my brake got stuck which just didn't bode well for the uphill climb.

After I got that all figured out and made my way back it started to rain. Now I've never been a huge fan of running in the rain but that is nothing in comparison to biking in the rain. The storm clouds came and the temperature dropped, meanwhile i'm cruising along and it felt like every ice cold drop slammed into me.  Finally add in the rushing wind factor, as biking is generally faster than running (except when I"m biking up steep hills...that's a toss up).

I was almost home and waiting for the green at a very busy stoplight when I heard a strange noise to my left. As I looked over I felt my center of balance shift and...yep, I fell. I hate falling! Not because of any pain but because a) it usually scratches up my bike and b) It's really frigg'n embarrassing. This time it totally bent the brake/shifter on my handlebar so now I need to take it in, which is actually ok timing because it needs a tune-up anyways.

So I managed to survive but didn't exactly get the nice recovery bike ride I was looking for. For now I'm heading to Pipes (breakfast in Encinitas) and then to the Moving Shoes (running store) as a reward for making it through the morning.