Beautiful weekend!

This weekend was phenomenal, weather-wise, and I took full advantage.
Saturday, I woke up early, packed up my cycling gear and headed for my first ride on the IM CDA course since last year. My plan was to do 2x 40 mile loops, and fortunately I was able to coordinate with enough people so I wouldn't be out there suffering alone. Jen and Zach joined me for the first loop, and I felt really good. A little chilly (and snowy!) still in some spots, but the sun was out and I was lovin' it! I struggled a bit up some of the steeper pitches, but I'm used to that feeling in the early season, and I'm confident my climbing will come around pretty quick. I also felt pretty good with re-gaining my gearing edge on the course, which I consider to be a big-time advantage when race day hits, since this course is pretty technical.
I had planned to meet up with Steve at noon for a second loop, and Brian and Cary from EWU joined us, as did Matt Cusak. I only made it back 15 min late, and then hustled thru shedding a few layers since it was warming up nicely. Then the 5 of us set out again. Since I was the only one who had ever been on the course, I thought I had an advantage and they'd have to ride my pace :) Ha, how wrong I was!! I gave Steve and Matt the directions for the first 10 miles, and then they proceeded to drop the hammer. It felt pretty easy, probably because it was the easy (flat) part of the course! Once we hit the hills, I got dropped damn fast. But no worries, they all had to wait for me when they got to intersections. So, here comes Tim, huffing and puffing up the hills, while they all enjoy a picnic in the sun. All in all, I managed to hang in there pretty well, and I think my overall average actually went up over the second half of the ride. Having 83.75 miles under my belt is a great feeling, even if the speed wasn't where I'd like it to be.
Afterwards, we all had burgers and beers at the CDA Brewing Co., the thought of which pulled me up a few of the last hills on loop 2 :) It was a great day, except for the crazy idea we had of doing an ice bath by going down to the lake. Uh, yeah, I am praying that the water warms up significantly in the next 70 days!!! Thanks to all who rode with me, and huge props to Jen and Zach, who went out and did an unplanned second loop.
I was debating whether or not to get up early and do the first Spring Thaw Duathlon on Sunday, and since my legs were a little tired from Saturday, I decided that a long run would be more beneficial than trying to gut out a short, speed effort. So, we slept in a bit, then went up to cheer on the Tri-Fusion crew at the Du. Of course, we totally rocked the race. Steve had a great day, shaving something like 6 min off his time from last year. I'm kind of glad I didn't race, because it would have been another case of "Steve takes Tim out behind the woodshed and kicks his ass" days.
Andy graciously volunteered to get on her bike and ride with me while I attempted to do a 10 mile run, which I think we did at about the "hottest" part of the day. I put quotes around that word, because, well, mid-70s shouldn't really qualify as hot, but with the long winter we've had, it actually did feel pretty warm. I even had to put sunscreen on!!! Anyway, I knew it was going to be a tough run from the first mile, because my legs felt dead. If Andy hadn't been out there, there is no way I would have gone the whole 10. She's a great motivator, and an awesome mobile aid station! :) I felt like I was running so slow, and I felt every little upward pitch of the road. Reminded me alot of the IM run. In fact, I wasn't 2 miles in, and I was thinking, ok, this will be a perfect practice for IM. Just slog thru a bunch of slow miles, but just keep going. Well, I made it thru, and my watch said I averaged 8:30s. Whoa! It felt so much slower than that, but hey, I'll take it. I then proceeded to suffer thru my first ice bath of the season...ouch, but good.
So, even though I didn't race, and missed being able to swim with the club (racing season is here!), I'm pretty happy w/ 84 on the bike and 10 foot-pain-free miles running. 9 weeks to go.....