Multisport Sunday

This is starting to be a Sunday regular. Run in the morning then bike hard in the afternoon. A good way to burn calories that's for sure. Past two Sundays I have burnt over 2500 calories each day. Not bad.

This morning started with a great run with my lovely wife Annette. We haven't gotten to run long together in a while and I really wanted to get in 8 miles. So we started out around 9am. No rush to get out the door, it was still nice and cool out, sunny and probably around 50 degrees or so. The sun makes it feel a lot warmer though.

We ran one of Annette's routes that she runs with the girls some mornings and it was great. We held a nice steady pace up to just past mile 3 when Annette started having some stomach issues and she had to stop and walk. We ended up running on to Knights so she could use the potty. On the return trip we had to stop again at Phillips 66 but really other than that we pretty much ran the whole time. On the way back Annette wanted to head straight to the house but I only needed about a mile or less to hit my 8 mile goal so I made a loop around one of the neighborhoods. Finished up with 8 miles at an 11:04 average pace. In reality the pace was much better, we pretty much stayed at around a 10:30 pace but the bathroom breaks slowed down the average. I'm happy though. This was the longest run I have had since June. The other good thing is I can still walk and the foot is not killing me.

After the run we loaded the bikes and went over to James and Michele's for some breakfast or actually I'd call it brunch. It was after 11 at that point. We had planned on riding with the group at 1:30pm and it was "suppose" to be an easy ride. LOL......with some of the people I bike with there is no such of a thing. It didn't help that James sent Gary a text and told him that I was there eating with them and that Gary was going to have to ride my wheel all day if he wanted to keep up! That was enough to get Gary and Curtis fired up and drive to Cabot to ride.

We had a good group of bikers show up. There was at least 15. Annette was going to ride with Brenda and Vicki so they could ride easy and chat. I had hoped that was what we were doing but no way. Once we hit Kerr Station Road, Curtis took off like he was on fire. Gary followed and James was right with them. Russ and I tried to jump on but they were just too fast. We drafted each other for probably 6 miles trying to catch those three but it was useless. Even though we were doing 19-20 most of the time. The wind was a factor though. We had a head wind and it was hard work when you were pulling. James finally fell off just before we hit Military Road. Gary and Curtis kept on.

During that time a weird, funny thing happened. Curtis ran over a squirrel with his bike and when he did I guess his rear wheel threw it up in the air. It hit Gary in the chest and then bit him on the arm. Funny but very strange. He was going to call his doctor and ask about rabies shots or what he needed to do if anything.

We met Cindy C. at the store at Furlow for the final 8 miles in. Of course she took off with Curtis, James and Russ on her wheel before I could even get out of the parking lot. I tried to catch them but I was a lone biker and they were four. Gary caught me a couple miles out and he said he was going to try to catch them. So I got on his wheel for a few. At 24 mph it didn't take me long to drop off. That new tri bike he has is wicked and he is a good rider so the combination is hard to keep up with when he wants to turn it on and he was then.

Great ride though, even though it was much harder than what I wanted to do but I was glad I did it when we were done. Only 22.2 miles but considering we fought heavy wind coming and going, we did pretty good. Average pace was just over 17.5. Slower than what I expected but then again, I had tired legs from that run.

Also Saturday I ran 4.25 miles. Was going to do my 8 mile long run but I got started late and it was just too hot and sunny. I was half sick with a cold so I just said the heck with it. Glad I made it up on Sunday.

This past week started week one of my 16 week marathon training schedule for Huntington Beach. I'm not going to get too excited until I get a few weeks of long runs in and see how the foot feels. I will say I am not training for speed, though I still have the goal of running at least a 4:30.

Hope everyone has a great week!