It was an AWESOME weekend. The weather was beautiful, and I took full advantage for some good triathlon training.
On Saturday I went for a 6.3 mile run. At noon. It was a little warm, but still not awful, though it certainly won’t be long before running in the middle of the day becomes completely out of the question. I was out for just over an hour, and sunburned my neck. Oops. That was my own fault. Even in March, I can’t be outside for that long on a sunny day without sunscreen, but apparently I still have not learned this lesson after 31 years.
L to R: Kathleen, me, Steve (in the gray & blue behind us), Donna, Cleve, and Mike (in the blue in the back)
On Sunday morning, I drove over to Manvel to meet up with some people from my tri club (and hundreds of others) for the Great Escape Ride. It’s one of the many MS150 warmup rides that go on in the greater Houston area in the spring, which means it’s a supported ride with rest stops, snacks and fluids, and police support at major intersections. They had routes mapped out for people to go 16, 42, 55, and 73 miles. Most of the tri club people rode 55, but I’m not quite ready for that distance yet (maybe next weekend). When the two routes split at mile 20, I rode the rest of the way with my friend Cathy.
The start of the ride was a bit chilly, but it warmed up quickly as the sun rose. By the time we hit the final rest stop, it was warm enough that I took off my tights (which I’d been wearing over my bike shorts) and just tied them around my handlebars for the rest of the ride. It was an awesome day for a ride, and it wasn’t even too windy! I took things easy and finished with an average of 16.4 miles per hour. Not too shabby for a nice, easy ride. I still felt good when we finished, so it seems my legs could have handled 55 miles. I’m not sure my butt could have taken the extra 45 minutes in the saddle though!
I was pretty hungry after the ride, and when I got home, Jose was cooking eggs and biscuits. He is pretty awesome.
My first tri of the season is coming up in just under 4 weeks: the Gateway to the Bay tri in Kemah on April 11. I’ll be doing the Olympic distance — 1500 meter swim, 40 kilometer bike, and 10k run. This is a new race, so it should be fun. I love races that are practically in my backyard!
