Different kind of weekend

Yesterday I was supposed to race Chattanooga 70.3. However, I decided to skip the race as I discussed here. I watched as everyone got ready for that race and another local half, Mountains to Main. I saw pictures and read as everyone tapered and discussed fourteen thousand times if M2M would be wet suit legal. I tried to not be bothered that I didn’t get to be part of the excitement of nearing race day but instead focused on the positives.  I’ve been surprisingly ok with the fact that I skipped my race. Even when Facebook was kind enough to remind me several times that I had an event coming up… thank you, I wasn’t aware.

What’s even more surprising is how ok I’ve been with the fact that I’ve barely been running. Before I was so freaked out about it because I had a race looming over my head. Once I dropped the race, that stress dropped away with it. I am 100% positive it was the right decision. I feel better than I have in probably months in regards to injuries and this has given me a chance to really focus on healing. I’ve been able to make some more baby steps forward in the running department. I’ve slowly worked my way from 2 run/ 1 walk for 15 min to 3 run/1 walk for 20 min. That’s still a sad amount of running but I’m thrilled I can do that without being in bunch of pain afterwards.

I’ve been able to get in some solid riding recently since I haven’t been tapering. That included a not so solid 4 hour ride Saturday where the goal was to climb as much as possible. I did the Bakery Ride and then a northern loop in the North Carolina mountains. Unfortunately I only stop at the bakery to use the bathroom. I did that loop for the first time earlier this year and decided to try it in reverse thinking riding up the switchbacks might be better. Don’t know what the hell I was thinking because that was a way steeper grade than going up the other side. That was the lowest point I’ve had in riding in a long time. I actually got off my bike and WALKED!!!! I’ve NEVER walked my bike up a hill or at least not since I was kid. In all fairness this was a mountain, those hairpin turns had me mashing some very high power numbers and I was struggling even trying to walk my damn bike up. I think I walked about a half mile before I threw my ass back on the bike to finish out that one climb. I did redeem myself a tiny bit when I later made a last minute decision to do one last hard climb on the way home. Still, that was horrible. But I will say that by the time I was driving home and already felt ok with what had happened. I’m having an easier time letting go of bad training days. It happens just like really good days happen. Try not to read into either of them too much. I still did a 4 hour ride with a bunch of climbing so that counts for something.

The other good thing about not doing the race is I got to be home for the weekend which was nice for two reasons. One, I’ve been out of town the last two weekend and leaving again in a few days so it was nice to have some time home. And two, it was my 5 year wedding anniversary on Friday. Instead of spending the day with my husband in a car and being careful about what I ate, I got to actually celebrate it. This meant I got to surprise him with a nice home cooked meal followed by his favorite dessert, lava cakes. I even added some peanut butter to mine as an experiment. The next day we went to Melting Pot. That’s always been my favorite restaurant but now I think I might be ready to venture out to different places for special occasions. Don’t get me wrong I still think that place is amazing and sooo yummy but it is the complete opposite of how I eat now. It’s all sugar and dairy and grains and more sugar and alcohol and more sugar. Like I said, yum. So not the weekend I had planned but still a good weekend in a very different type of way.