A little running, a little cycling

Saturday morning Bree and I ran 8 miles along the Lafayette-Moraga Trail. After Thursday's painful run I was worried about how my lungs and knee would react so I arbitrarily decided to go with a 4:1 run:walk. I knew Bree wouldn't have a problem with going my poky pace, even though she was speedy the week before. The run went well, much better on the second half when the wind wasn't blowing wildly in our faces. Also, the second half is the downgrade half and is always better. Also, the second half means the end is in sight. My knee was sore from the get-go, still sore from Thursday. It didn't get much worse during the run and happily didn't ache horribly afterward. I made sure to ice and took a couple (or several) ibuprofen which helped considerably. I guess my new normal is that I'm accepting constant pain while I run, it's just a matter of how much that'll make the difference in going or stopping. My lungs were a bit sore from sucking in all that pollen but that's an annual thing and I can't do anything about it. Except run easier and stop gulping air, but that'll take time.

Instead of the nap I so richly deserved after my longest run of the year (and isn't that pitiful, late April and my longest run is only 8 miles) I took my mom shopping. She needs window coverings because there are none in her new house and her bedroom faces east. Bad enough that the sun wakes her every morning at dawn, but this weekend the full moon shone like a spotlight in the evening. She found some blinds she liked and we waited while a quote was written from our guesses about the size of the windows. We wandered around the store and looked at light fixtures too. There's a big ornate chandelier in her dining room that she hates and wants to replace and she saw a simple fixture she really liked. The store was out of stock but we were told the Emeryville store had a couple in stock.

It was getting late so instead of heading from Concord to Emeryvville we went out to dinner. We stopped at a local Chinese restaurant and had a pretty good meal. Then back to her house where I helped her with some paperwork. I finally got home about 9pm-ish.

Sunday morning I went for a bike ride with Bree. Too bad that Saturday's wind storm trailed over to Sunday. According to the paper, the second half of our route should have a tailwind, or possibly just a cross wind the whole time. Getting ready I managed to jam the little strap thingie on my new shoe (cycling shoes can get ridiculously complicated in their closures) but it was wearable so it was ok. We set off and headed north along San Ramon Valley Road.

SRV Road, under different names, goes from way down in Pleasanton to Walnut Creek. Our plan was to ride 20 miles, give or take. It was sunny and very windy and pretty cold. We were bundled up and it was funny to see so many cyclists riding with just shorts and jerseys. I made a mistake of wearing cycling shorts under running tights. Whereas the shorts have a gusset, the tights have a seam down the middle and ouch on the girly bits. I'm planning on a warm riding season so I don't really want to have to buy cycling specific tights, but I may do it just to spare myself the discomfort.

So we rode north through San Ramon, Danville, Alamo and reached Walnut Creek. At the turnaround our bike computers had a difference but we each had at least 10. We'd been zooming along and weren't surprised when the wind was in our faces for the start of the ride back. I think my body would have been pretty happy with 15 miles but 20 was pushing it. We finally got back to my house with 20 miles (21.1 on my computer). Why didn't I use my Garmin? Simply because Mr. Garmin was unable, for the entire ride, to find a satellite. How annoying was that? I'd hoped for a cute little map showing speed and elevation but got nada. All it did was show the elapsed time which thanks, a watch could do that nicely. Technology - sheesh.

And speaking of technology, I could not unlatch my shoe. I had to force it off my foot, then later take it to the bike shop to see if it was salvageable (and since I'd only worn in on 2 rides I was pretty ticked that it already didn't work). When I took it in they fiddled around with it, then ordered a new strap. I didn't know they were replaceable but apparently they break down even without stupid wearer errors.

Bree and I celebrated our ride with some lardy Mexican food. Although it tasted great at the time, it weighed me down the rest of the day. I took a short nap then took my mom shopping for her light fixture. When we got to the store and saw it again, she decided she really didn't like it after all. Oh well, better than returning it. We made another stop trying to find her a file cabinet but that trip was fruitless too.

So I produced 29 miles this weekend. It's a good start for tri training, even though I left out swimming. I don't think I'll be able to swim this week, there just aren't enough non-working days. I'll have to stop at my mom's house, have to pack, and I want to run at least once before I leave. Strangely enough my knee felt better after cycling than it did before cycling, so I think the cross training is working. I guess that means I have to keep it up!