This past weekend was quit the athletic endeavor for our household which then resulted in laying on the coach for hours upon hours watching countless numbers of football games. Thank goodness both IU and Michigan won, which of course results in a very happy husband. The dogs are also much happier on these days because there isn’t as much yelling at the TV and no, I’m not the yeller. Oh yes, you just read that correctly, I was lying on the couch for hours, that’s how tired I was from my sporting events.
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| Ellie ready to cheer for the Hoosiers! |
Saturday morning started off with me doing a 6 mile time trial on my bike. Yes, pause and reread, me “racing” my bicycle. Long story short some friends needed a female to fill in so even though I was hoping it was because of my legendary bike skills that I was chosen, turns out I was just a convenient human with the right parts. After some coffee and a bagel to fill me up for 45 minutes T and I headed down to the start. My bicycle mechanic was great, got my ride all ready and told me when I should be warming up and how the heck I was supposed to pace myself for 6 miles.
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| Thanks to JS for the pic 🙂 |
Should I give the shocking, laughable news now?! I haven’t ridden my bike since May, yup hadn’t touched the thing in 3 months. Smart decisions, Lauren. So after trying to remember how to ride the rollers (note a road bike is much different than a little 5 bike) I warmed up to the best of my abilities. I figured I just ran 13 miles two weekends ago; riding 6 shouldn’t be too bad. HA! I was as nervous as a 14 year old boy getting ready to talk to a girl for the first time moments before the start. I of course wore my Kappa Delta bike shorts to try and squeeze any amount of Little 5 victory vibes out of them that could help me on these next 6 miles.
Time, goes and I’m off. I take the first right turn and I’m feeling good, not awkward on the bike and I can do this. 45 seconds later, I’m currently wheezing for air, each of my legs weighs a 1000 pounds and I’m not sure if I’ll be making it the full 6 miles without collapsing. I pass a girl running and honestly would have loved to ask her to switch places. Holy crap, I feel out of shape! Alright, turn the gear up and just crank this thing out so I can be done. Turn, turn, turn, alright one last turn and I’ll be heading back in to the finish. The last road is completely straight and the head wind is strong. At that moment in time I think this may be the first time in my athletic career that I may puke. Not at a state championship or after winning Little 5 but on a 6 mile fun time trail. Awesome, Tom will never stop making fun of me. Luckily I knew, there was a downhill coming up and oh heck yes, I was riding just for that! Down the hill, tight right turn, and yes, the finish line, cross and AH I’m done! Luckily my record of no puking is still going strong.
Note to self: ride your bike before ever attempting a time trial, no matter how short. I didn’t do half bad but now know that being an endurance bike racer is not going to be my future career…I’ll hopefully leave that one for Tom.
So if you’re not already thinking I’m a little off the deep end crazy, I woke up early Sunday morning to go meet LG to run the furthest I’ve ever run…14 miles. I’m officially training for my December marathon now. I’m glad to be able to report that I felt great on this run! We ran 5.5 on the trail, met the rest of our group and ran 6.7 on the road so I then had 2 miles to finish by myself. I was incredibly happy and know that the cooler weather is definitely helping me conquer these longer runs but I’ve come a long way since I started in February where I thought a 4 mile run was long. But I still have a long way to go to get to that finish line of 26.2 J
While I was running Tom was on a ride with a good friend who had been staying with us this weekend. After stories about our workouts we all grabbed some lunch then Tom and I resumed our positions on the couch before dinner with some dear friends. Overall we had a wonderful weekend and my legs are a little sore J
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| I’m gonna miss this girl come next Sunday 🙁 |
Time, goes and I’m off. I take the first right turn and I’m feeling good, not awkward on the bike and I can do this. 45 seconds later, I’m currently wheezing for air, each of my legs weighs a 1000 pounds and I’m not sure if I’ll be making it the full 6 miles without collapsing. I pass a girl running and honestly would have loved to ask her to switch places. Holy crap, I feel out of shape! Alright, turn the gear up and just crank this thing out so I can be done. Turn, turn, turn, alright one last turn and I’ll be heading back in to the finish. The last road is completely straight and the head wind is strong. At that moment in time I think this may be the first time in my athletic career that I may puke. Not at a state championship or after winning Little 5 but on a 6 mile fun time trail. Awesome, Tom will never stop making fun of me. Luckily I knew, there was a downhill coming up and oh heck yes, I was riding just for that! Down the hill, tight right turn, and yes, the finish line, cross and AH I’m done! Luckily my record of no puking is still going strong. 
