Days Eight and Nine - My Legs Are On Strike

I had my duaghter Cassie with me this weekend. Being a teenager, she sleeps in. Late. So I was up at 6:30 yesterday (Saturday) and did the triathlon bike route the full four times (40 K).

I think the greatest motivation to keep going was the threat of being eaten alive by mostiquitoes if I stopped too long. I've known people who won't attract a single bug while I'm swatting at a thick cloud of the little bastards just a few feet away. I hate those people.

The first road on the bike route is St. Mary's Street. It starts off level and then goes down. Then it goes up, but it's not a drastic up. It's more of a "this-is-a-taste-of-what-you're-gonna-get" up. This stretch is good because there's nothing drastic, so it makes for a good warm up for the biking. At the end, a short stretch of road swings to the right. A few hundred feet later, the route swings right onto the Ring Road.

And the work starts.

The Ring Road circles around a bunch of subdivisions, providing a fast lane to the northwest end of the north side of the city. It's a highway. It's wide and it starts with one of those gawdawful long long long hills, the ones that go on forever and, just when you reach the crest, you realize that it really hasn't crested, it's just not as steep but it's still going uphill. The reward is an equally long downhill coast the brings the route to Brookside Drive.

A right hand turn takes the route by the Brookside Mall and a road surface that's so far removed from perfect that it could be defined at the exact opposite of perfect. TThe biking is level for about half a K, before the up hill part begins. And it just keeps going up hill. In fact, to me, this is the hardest part of the route. There's three hills but they're not high, just long, and they're joined together by stretches that level a bit, but are still mostly up slopes.

It doesn't take long to do this stretch, but it's murder on the bod, and it ends with a sharp up hill climb that seems downright cruel.

After the biking, I ran around the like for half the triathlon course (3 times). The first time around was murder. Slow murder. Have to work on those transitions.

But the lake was beautiful. It was just before nine and the place was nearly deserted...just a few people out walking their dogs.

trail around the lake starts at the beach and disappears into the woods. It goes up hill gradually and then sharply as it veers to the right and along the crest of a hill that overlooks the lake through the trees. It turns right again and goes downhill. This segment of the hill is like a gentle roller coaster. At the end, it turns right and goes by a frog pond and back to the beach.

With the exception of the sharp hill at the end of the first leg, it's not a difficult run and it has enough natural beauty to soak up all the pain if you think about the trees and not about your legs.

Got up early again this morning and ran around the lake three times. Tonight I'll work out on my Gym 1000 and call it a day.

It's looking more and more like I might actually live through this...if I can just get my legs to speak to me again. Legs? Legs? I know you're there...