Sprints, Kids, & Trails

So, I'm a little behind I guess. I meant to put a post about doing speedwork last Wednesday. It was tough as always, but Brooke went with me so it made it better to have a partner. There were a lot of people out on the track that night so we ended up having to do some weaving through traffic, but all in all it was good - we finished! (I could make some side notes about how it's rude to walk on inside lanes of the track when people are trying to run - especially when they were there first, but I'll hold off on that rant for now.) Afterwards we went back to Brooke's for dinner - grilled chicken, grilled zucchini & yellow squash, broccoli salad, 3-bean salad, & cherries - yummy!

Next up was a ride on Thursday night - I did 20 miles - at a fast pace for me, but not quite fast enough for the group I was riding with. I've got some more work to do here - I think I'm in a limbo stage - to fast for a beginner group, too slow for the serious road cyclist group. I can hang with them if they work with me, but if not I get hung out. In time...

Friday was a 4 mile run in the morning.

Saturday I had planned to do Tornado Alley bike ride, but given my performance on Thursday I decided it would be better to hold off on doing something like that until I had people in town that would ride and work with me. So, given my upcoming races I decided I would hit single track trails. After sleeping in a bit to get caught up from the week I ended up hitting the trails around 9am. I started off by running a mile on the Frisco trail to hit the single track. I did get a few weirdo looks from people out for their morning walks - I guess it's not that usual to see some chic decked out in a full hydration pack running the Frisco (only 3 miles long). So, I ducked in the first single track loop I came too - ended up doing 6 miles. It's so weird how much different the trails look on foot vs. the bike. It was fun weaving down the switchbacks on foot - the same switchbacks that have a tendancy to scare me a bit on the bike. I practiced pushing up the hills and using as little energy as possible going down.

After running the mile back to my car I did a quick transition, changed shoes, grabbed my bike and headed back to the trails on the bike. Not sure about mileage for the bike, but was there for 3 hours total with no real rest breaks. I felt pretty good about the effort put forth.


After trails I went by the house and showered and then to pick up the niece & nephews. I had to make a trip to Monett before we did anything so I told them to bring their bikes and we would go for a ride in Monett Park before heading back home. We ended up riding for 1-1/2 hours - very slow with lots of water stops - it was really, really hot. I was so surprised at how easily they got tried. I figured they would run me into the ground after my morning workout, but it wasn't the case. I really need to toughen those little buggers up! They did get to appreciate riding downhills (although they complained about riding up). The youngest was so excited about how fast he would get going on the downhills. They thought the hills in the park were huge - they have a lot to learn - lol!! We took a break from the bikes to climb up the gravel staircase on the east side of the park & then run back down. It brought back memories - it's the hill we used to run 'hills' on in cross country - although the stairs weren't there back then.

You can see in the picture that one of them is wearing my riding gloves - they took turns using them. They thought they were the coolest things ever and now they all think they need some! It was one of the first things they told their dad when he picked them up the next day! ;-)

We did another ride on Sunday - it ended up being around 4 miles on fairly flat roads - they had drank both bottles of water I brought for them by the end of 3 and were ready to go home. I just wonder if they are bigger sissies than most kids? After talking to some friends I don't think they are. I just remember riding bikes for hours and hours and never feeling tired as a kid - even in the heat - it didn't seem to stop us. I have to blame a bit of it on TV & video games. I do like where video games are going - as far as being more interactive, but is Wii Fit really going to solve the problem? Or is it really a problem? Childhood obesity is, but these kids aren't overweight in any way - they just aren't overly active. Hopefully they will hang out with me enough that will change in the near future! ;-)