Progress!

Time check: One month til Rev3 Quassy and 3 months til IMLP. This is when time goes by so so quickly. This is the fun part. The part when it gets really hard, but the weather is good and I have buddies to train with. This is when all the months of riding on my trainer in the pain cave, countless laps in the pool, cold snowy runs, hours in the gym, and cold rides pay off. This is when I have to force myself to do that ride the day following a long brick, but when I feel surprisingly good on it. This is the fun part.

I've been out on the bike for a month or so now. April ended well. I made some excellent progress with endurance and speed. But I never felt great on my bricks. It was cold. It was windy. It was hard. It was hard to jump on the bike alone, when it was cold and all my friends were riding later. When Amy was snuggled in bed with Tootsie. It was hard riding thru the wind. But I did it. I ended the month with a 70/4 brick. I ended with a 16 mile run. Both killed me a little, but made me stronger. I started feeling a bit of progress each week. I recovered faster; both after workouts and within a workout. I could feel myself getting stronger.

I've completed my first week of the May block and am feeling awesome. My 16 mile run was less hard and a smidge faster even though I did a hillier course. This past Saturday I did a 70/5 brick on a very hilly course. Parts of it were really tough, but I ended feeling really strong! I paced myself and it payed off. I averaged 16 mph on the bike and 8:53 in the second half of the run, averaging a little over 9's on the run. I'd like to be faster on both, but this is progress and it is only May. O and did I mention that Speedy is in the hospital. We found a defect in her chainstay. So I am riding Ole Reliable the Giant rode bike. She is over 10 years old and a heck of a lot heavier than Speedy. Yesterdays workouts were tough. I felt tired, but my body performed. Today still a bit fatigued, but I killed my 7 mile run. I ran mostly trail tonight. Parts of it felt hard, but that hard that means your working hard. My legs were springy. I pushed hard on the hills and felt my lungs burn. I felt like I was flying at times. I felt like could have run forever in the late day sunshine. No fatigue on run and feeling good tonight!

I am being very careful with my diet. Clean. One (only one) beer per week and one (only one) cheat meal per week. It's game time. I want to be a clean mean racing machine. I perform better when I am a smidge leaner. I feel better when I am eating super healthy.

I feel the progress. Training is paying off. I am excited to see what happens in the next two weeks. I will end the month with a 90/7 brick and a 20 mile run. And then eat a pizza and a beer!