The Road Less Traveled

What a great weekend. The kind when things get tough and you need to remember something good to get you out of the slump. This was one of those.

First, Saturday morning is training day. Hot. Humid. Like stand around and sweat humid. Key word: hydrate. Two water bottles...for an hour ride-check. Arrive just as swimmers are regrouping for the bike ride. Decision to ride 15mile race course made by about 6 of us....8 or so to head out for the 28mile loop. Map? One map....no street markings - check. Consensus on route to take....er....no check. Somehow, I end up with the map...therefore I have been elected to NOT get us lost on a hilly course on a morning that feels like we're riding in a blast furnace. I do my best but can you guess where this is going? Yup I missed a turn. Ended up riding an extra 7 or so miles (translates into about an extra 30 min ride with the hills). I'm thinking I'm probably not making any friends. Everyone's water bottles are empty. But, I am once again reminded why this is such a great sport. No complaining..no whining.....just a little ribbing about what a great workout we got in. Off the bikes, hit the trails for a 20 minute run. Not going fast enough to get lost this time so I'm safe. Fantasizing about the HUGE fountain diet coke (not a good recovery drink btw) I'm stopping for on the way home. Next weekend I'm actually going to get wet....first open water swimming since I was a kid. I love the water but lakes/rivers/oceans still give me the heebie-jeebies. Should be interesting. The picture is Alpine Lake....swim is across the lake and back.
My goals this week are to continue to adapt to the heat which means slower paces and since I"m not breaking any speed records, that means longer workouts. It's summer in St. Louie!