Bike Focus Week

Every other Sunday, I find an email from Coachie that gives me my next two weeks of workouts. This time, I got an extra email telling me I have plenty of "volume in me to play around with" which meant I'd be getting a bike focus week. Bike focus week means that in addition to all the usual daily workouts, you get to ride your bike every day for 1.5-2 hours as well.

I love riding my bike. I will hands-down tell you that the bike is my favorite part of triathlon. But a bike focus week is pretty daunting just because a "regular" week leaves me pretty whooped!

Monday
Notes from Coachie - "ride strong for an hour and a half. You can even do this outside on your road bike!" Hooray! My favorite kind of ride, and permission to do it on the road bike too is just a dream come true. Shelly and I packed our bikes and happily brought them to work after our swim, then took 2 hours of vacation time for that afternoon especially for riding. (It didn't hurt that Monday was her birthday. Happy Birthday Shelly!)

Well, then the wind picked up and a wind advisory was in effect. Power lines were down in wind that was blowing at up to 52 mph. An email from Coachie read, "ride on the trainer today. It's too dangerous to ride outside." Ugh. We took advantage of the time off and got manicures (lovely!!) and then I headed home to do my ride on the trainer instead. At least I had pretty nails to look at while suffering on the trainer.

This is what the wind looked like; while I was sitting at the light, it blew out the power on these traffic lights.

Tuesday
Today called for a trainer ride, but after we got robbed on Monday, Shelly and I were determined to ride outside. We rode to Castroville and back (don't worry Coachie, I got in my intervals) and then did a 20 minute transition run. These are favorite workouts of mine too because I get to chat so much with Shelly. AND we had the added treat of wearing our Jenny Jerseys - hand-me-downs from one of the baddest ass cycling chicks we know, Jenny Park, who also happens to be a swim team friend of Linda's from high school. Jenny was going to donate some old jerseys and then decided to ask Linda if any of us would like to have them - of COURSE we would, wearing a jersey of an awesome Cat 1 cyclist that we totally look up to can only be good luck!

Here are Shelly and I sporting our Jenny Jerseys. They make us faster.

Wednesday
Oh, this was not a fun day. After a 7.5 mile crushing track workout in the morning, I didn't even understand how I'd get in an hour and a half on the bike after work. I was thinking maybe I'd fall asleep in my aerobars. I didn't pass out and I got it done, but it was a pretty lame effort and did not leave me excited for Thursday.

Thursday
Today we got to do the outdoor road bike ride. And oh my goodness, it was awesome. Shelly, Linda and I headed out from Helotes to ride around the 211 loop. This 25-mile route gives you 7 miles of hills followed by 7 miles of awesome, mostly downhill speeding. Shelly and I always play a game with the last part - we try to stay above 20 miles an hour the entire time. With a tailwind you can go way faster than that, and you just want to scream "woo hoo!" the whole way like a little kid.

It was one of those perfect rides. The weather was nice although chilly, and the three of us rolled along in a happy little pack, commenting on the beauty of the nature around us. This was Linda's first ride on the 211 loop and she crushed it! Shelly and I have never ridden this loop as fast as we did today. I can't believe how strong I felt at the end of this week full of bike rides.

And that's it! The bike focus week is in the bank; I get a day off riding tomorrow to "only" run and swim. Then we get to ride more hills on Saturday's 80 miler. I can't wait. Me and my Jenny Jersey are ready to go.