100 Miles Until DC United

Today = Sneezing + Coughing + Sniffling + Dead Tired. All the result of a long, fun weekend here in DC.

It all started on Friday when the weather was supposed to hit 75 degrees. Work had been fairly hectic most of the week but as 3:00 rolled around, I had wrapped up most of my tasks and the staff was getting rowdy around the TV thanks to the drama of March Madness. After yelling nonsense about a couple games, a few staffers took off for the Waterfront to enjoy the last few hours of sunlight. For those not from DC, the Waterfront is the go-to yuppie spot when spring time rolls around. And of course, $2 Coronas with a view is enough to get me anywhere.

Initially, I only intended to have a few of these guys and get to bed early for my planned 100 miler on Saturday, but I’m terrible with peer pressure and 2-3 beers turned into… well… more than 2 or 3. Not good news for that whole long ride thing.

Before I knew it, it was Saturday morning and I was up early. After 30 minutes of questioning and an hour of convincing, I was out the door with minimal supplies and a new cycling route to try out. Originally, I was supposed to start with the DC Tri crew and continue farther once they turned around at mile 25 but my late start meant I was riding solo and on a time crunch. I was headed for Sugarloaf Mountain – a baby mountain in DC that provided plenty of elevation. Honestly, within 30 miles I was already cursing this foolish idea. I wasn’t training for anything this long and a ride with a nonstop headwind was not how I wanted to spend my Saturday. But thanks to a little Powerbar gel (with caffeine), I sucked it up and handled my business. I got lost. I made a new route. I passed gorgeous farms. And I bonked like crazy.

This is what happens when I’m not in IM training and I just do things without planning. I didn’t pack enough food to last me the whole ride and sugar became my enemy during the final hour. The only thing that got me through it was my schedule. I needed to get home for….

DC United!!! Saturday night was the home opener and I was heading to the game with a few Boston College alums in honor of Charlie Davies’ first game back. Our seats were insane (9 rows up behind the bench) and Charlie gave us a little shout out when he was our BC shirts. DC United started this season off right with a big win and Charlie scored two goals in his comeback.

Sunday was another busy day from the get-go. Brunch in the morning, matinee movie (Limitless, which I enjoyed), National Gallery of Art (they rearranged their galleries, not cool), then back home. Once I was home, I knew I was in trouble because after 6 miles of walking and my poor planning on Saturday, my immune system was shutting down fast. I spent the rest of the day watching basketball and popping Vitamin C tablets.

Which brings me to today – I’m sick. Not a fun feeling at all but it was worth it because of the highlights from the weekend:

Century ride with 4500 ft. of climbing
DC United (seemingly) returning to MLS glory
Walking around DC in shorts
Crappy beer with good company

Short Break from Running

For once in my brief training life, I did something smart. That’s right, kudos to me. This past weekend, I was planning on tackling a quick little duathlon to wet my palette for the upcoming tri season. Instead, I decided it would be too much of a risk to put in a couple fast 5Ks so I sucked it up and opted out.

Rewind two weeks. I was back to running and feeling healthy after attempting to nurse my 2010 aches and pains back to 100%. After 6 weeks of no road work, I stepped back outside and slowly picked up my training. 4 miles here, 6 miles there, 9 miles one time, and a couple speed days. No big deal. Then I tried to go out and put in 14 and that’s where things went wrong. Honestly, I have no clue how or why but for some reason my foot felt like a bunch of tiny little bones were cracked all over. Putting pressure on it hurt and walking to bars that night felt terrible.

So now, after a couple weeks in the pool and on the bike, I’m trying to do the right thing and let myself heal. This might mean I have to cancel a couple of secret road races I had planned but I’m going to try this patience thing out and see if it sticks. If not, oh well. It was a solid effort.

But seriously, I’m enjoying my time back in the pool and on the saddle. For now…

Long Rides and Stolen Rides

So this weekend was a fairly eventful, uneventful weekend. After two days of working at home (did I mention I absolutely despise working from home) because we are moving offices, I woke up Saturday morning well-rested and with no plans. Naturally, I decided that I had two options – lie in bed for another hour and think about all the things I could be doing, or get outside and go for a bike ride. Surprisingly, Option #2 won.

I threw on some gear, packed my bike for a longer ride, and wandered around the apartment a bit thinking I forgot to pack something. Then, baby bro informed me that my road/commuter bike was gone. Assuming I just forgot it somewhere or he was confused, I dismissed the thought but double checked just to make sure. Nope, he was right – gone. This was weird. Yes, I probably should have expected this to happen at some point because I’m way too trustworthy/lazy when it comes to this particular bike, but I keep it out of sight from the street so it would take a clever or familiar thief to get his or her hands on it.

To paint a picture – we have a basement apartment with a little cove before entering. You can’t see the bike from the sidewalk so unless you’re trying to break into the apartment, you would have no reason to be down there if you didn’t already know a bike was around the corner.

Anyway, long story short, my bike is gone and I’m just annoyed because now it’s more of a hassle to make those quick trips to friends’ houses and random museums. Fear not though. There are two conveniently placed Craigslist ads that (actually) could be my bike. I’ll keep you all posted on whether they turn out to be the thieves.

Back to the ride. After I realized my bike was stolen and noticed the first of the two shady Craiglist ads, I knew I needed to get out and put in some serious work to forget about the news. So I headed straight for the 75 mile ride I used to do for Ironman training. Here are a few images to give you an idea of what I was blessed to look at for a few hours. Farms, orchards, vineyards, and more farms….all in the winter.







When I got home, I spent a little time sleuthing on the computer and then darted straight for the grocery store. I wish I could tell you I made some lovely sweet potato, spinach, and [insert another healthy item] meal but let’s be real, that’s crazy talk. Of course I went straight for my favorite junk items. Coke, check. Pizza, check. Cookies, check. Beer, check. All four of my food groups, check.

Overtrained...oh wait...that's not it

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve read a few too many blogs about the idea of a coach. Blogs about the importance of a coach. Blogs about self-coaching. Blogs about training smart and knowing your plan.

Rewind one year. I was religiously following the Ironman training plan and filled in my schedule with all the required sessions. Granted, I moved things around more often than most but I still made sure I hit everything I needed to. And it worked. Thanks to my mix of self-coaching and mildly smart training, I enjoyed a successful first IM in Idaho.

But now, one year later, I’ve come a very long way from that method. Last week I did a 13 mile run, a 10 mile run, a short speed workout, one trainer session with my bike, and one very short swim workout because I just got bored. And until a couple hours before those workouts, I had no clue what I would do. So what’s the point?

I train poorly, and it works for me. I love those long days outside hitting it hard but I also love skipping workouts whenever I want to. It suits me. Because let’s be honest, everyone knows I’m the worst planner in the world and I would lose my mind if I always had my nights/mornings/days planned out for me.

Ultimately, I’ll get it done or just suffer tremendously when I slack off. It’s an exciting prospect, right?! But hey, I can guarantee that it’ll always be fun and interesting.