LiveStrong Ride and National taco day

So the last few days of training have been going really well. Shall we recap? Ok, then....
Saturday was a 30 mile (turned into 25 the route was cut short) for LiveStrong Day.  It was sponsored by Lifetime Fitness in Flower Mound in conjunction with a local bike shop. I was very excited for two reasons 1. It was LiveStrong Day and anything where I am able to honor Jess makes me warm and fuzzy (even of freaking cold mornings)  2. It was through my hometown of which I've never seen on a bicycle.

My friend, Cassandra, and I met up around 7am at my house, loaded up and headed out.  It takes me about 20 minutes to get to Flower Mound and I wanted to get there early just in case.  Group cycling rides are notiorious in my opinion for leaving earlier than the scheduled time. 

When we arrived, everyone was very friendly.  We checked in, geared up and were grouped with the 30 mile ride, moderate pace (14mph - 16 mph average).

Around 6-7 miles into the ride we rode out to Bartonville, Texas (Fun fact: My mom used to be the city secretary of Bartonville).  The ride leader indicated we would be completing the "Jeter Loop" - I assumed it was an outskirt loop around the town and then we would head back.  Groups of only 10 or less cyclists are allowed through Bartonville so a few riders turned back to make a shorter ride.  We forged on....

The ride leader also indicated that we were going to "pick up the pace" to maintain our average...which was fine with me it was going a little slow anyway.

I guess by "pick up the pace" he meant he was going to go 20+ mph and drop everyone behind him.  Between serious rolling hills (I'm talking serious grades for Texas) my average was right around 14 (as indicated at the beginning of the ride)... So everyone besides the two riders riding with the leader were "dropped".  Which...pissed me off... DO NOT advertise as a no drop ride if you are not going to actually be a NO DROP RIDE.

I had no idea where we were going; I had one lady riding next to me who had ridden the route before.  We were 14 miles in at this point and stopped at the next stop sign.  Cassandra was about 15 seconds behind me with a man we met named Jerry.  Jerry was a LTF cycling club member and thank god for him or we would have never made it home.

The ride was very hilly coupled with my uber amount of frustration with the initial ride leader it was a less than stellar ride.  (plus they cut of 5 miles) - BUT we did it and I was glad it was over when it was.

Sunday I ran 5 miles out on the Katy Trail.... in a faster pace than my previous 5 mile run on Thursday.  I was very excited!!!

Monday came too quick and so did 4:15am..... I woke up and went to Master's Swim... Irondave worked with me on my breathing and proper stroke.  Still mainly doing drills rather than long swims...which is great for my technique - terrible for calorie burn.  AH - the conundrum of training and weight loss.

Last night Bill and I went out for a three mile run.  He had never been to the Katy Trail so we went and ran together...for the first time in probably 5 years.  5 years ago I could barely (and I'm sure I walked) run a mile.  It was nice to work out together...he of course finished before me and was at the end of the trail to high five me and then rub my calf because it cramped up.  That was a definte plus!

Yesterday was "National Taco Day" - did you know that?  One of our favorite places was having $1 tacos...so we went after our run and met up with our friends Tim, Miche and their new baby Collins.  Had a great dinner and great coversation...we haven't caught up with them in a while!

This morning I slept in...until 6:45 :)  I have an hour bike ride tonight that may have to happen on my trainer.

This week is so hectic...tomorrow I leave on a 7:00am flight out to Little Rock...I'm in LR for the day - leave at 4:15 to head to Philly and I'm in Philly all day Thursday.  Can we say tired?


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