Rest week with a loop on the MT

Weds: BIKE 1hr 16 miles indoors
Thurs: RUN 1 hr 6.6 miles
Fri: Unintended rest day
Sat: BIKE 3.5 hrs and 58.2 miles
Sun: RUN 5:40 and 25 miles
P90X rest week
Totals: 12hrs training, 72.2 miles biking and 36.2 miles running

Not bad for a rest week! But not great either: No swimming! I had a 1000y TT on the schedule but two things messed me up. First the poison ivy on my legs needed to heal and I honestly didn't think going to a pool with the bright red, itchy, raw, dry skin was such a great idea. I asked myself, if I saw someone else getting into the pool looking like that would I be happy about it? I know I'm not infectious, but others don't know that. So that was Wednesday. Friday was a 10+ hr day at work along with a special family occasion (sushi!) so I needed to stay on task.

But the weekend made up for it all! Saturday was my first real ride (as I define group rides anyway). Previous rides on the MCTs are nice, but they aren't real road riding. I was concerned about not being able to keep up and had mentally planned cut-off points where I could recatch the group or turn short to go home. In the end, I needed none of it. As if I'd been biking all spring, I was just fine! I led the pace for awhile, which isn't such a big deal considering they were going on for 40+ more after I finished and that was probably a comfy pace for them was tough for me. We all got what we needed today! By the time I finished, my neck/back were tired and my hands were humming from the road vibration. And dang I was tired!

The Sunday run was a SLUG group run at the OT, the same trail I'll be running in September. This was my first preview of the trail. First off, it's remarkably less hilly than Potawatomi. As in, you could run the whole thing if you were ready to without having to walk steep hills. The hills were slow climbers and although I walked (and will walk in the race) I could see where a steady pace is do-able too. Second, it's very monotonous. At Poto and other trail runs there are landmarks you can find--hills, creeks, views, whatever--but here it was more and more and more of the same single-track, sorta rocky, sorta muddy, trail with switchbacks and turns galore. That's another thing about this--with practice you could go fast, but the turns and switches are one right after the other. The only landmark was Brazil Creek which was 15-16 miles into our loop. And we ran the loop backwards (clockwise) from my upcoming race direction, but it will look too similar either way for me to tell.

This was a great run for me. I finished feeling kinda sick and realizing that what I just ran is not my race pace,  at least it's not today's race pace. But it got me thinking--what kind of improvements could I make and what work do I need to do in the next weeks to make that my race pace?

And on another note, for the first time EVER I pee'd in the woods. LOL. I just had to say that. Can you believe I did all that trail running this past winter/spring and never had to do that?!