3 hour bike

Great bike ride today. A lot of good things are happening out on the road for me.

It was very difficult to get on the bike today. I didn't sleep all that well last night, and I've been entirely too dependant on caffiene for most of my pep. I think a little of it has to do with seasonal depression, and the other part may be that I'm just not disciplined to get in bed and turn off the damned tv when it's time to go to bed. Either way, this morning was rough.

So I trudged along, got on the bike (whiny as all hell) and just started to pedal. I left the house with every intention of shortening my 3 hour ride to 2 hours. My coach even tweeted me (haha, this is just an example of how whiney I was being) to take the day off and go back to sleep. With my Spain trip coming though, I was reluctant to miss a workout-especially on the bike. So I left the house, started to ride, and immediately felt better. The time flew and before I knew it, I was on my way back home on the back half of my out and back, riding into a headwind and grinning ear to ear.

Two things about this ride that make me happy: First is that my heart rate was super, super low. At first I was concerned because my percieved exertion wasn't matching up. I felt like I was killing myself, but the low heart rate indicated otherwise. On climbs that would normally spike my HR, I felt nothing. After a while though, I realized that, in fact, I wasn't getting tired, I was moving fast, and my HR was low! Wow, I'm actually getting in shape! Just to be sure though I added some sprints just to make sure I could get it up (insert dirty joke here) and I could.

Secondly, I realized that the weather has had a HUGE impact on the way I veiw training right now. Let's face it, it's not exactly fun to spend 15 minutes getting DRESSED to go out to ride. Layering up like nobody's business and still freezing your ass off because the windchill is in the teens. The weather the past weeks here has been in the 40's and that's WARM!!! Today was sunny and warm in some spots, making it much more managable. Anyway, the point of all this is that when the weather is nice, I'm nice. When the weather is bad, I'm a pissy bastard. End of story.

Tomorrow is a big swim day. I'm scheduled to run as well (only for 20-40 mins), but I think with the foot only feeling back to normal for slightly less than a week, I don't want to chance it. I still think February 1st is the best option for my running return. This will give me almost 2 weeks of no pain. I'll feel more comfortable going into it with the confidence that I most likely won't do anymore damage to it. The swim tomorrow, although long, will be welcomed rest for my body. I don't feel beat up from the volume, but it'll be nice to get off the bike and into the water for a little bit. Looking forward to it.