Thursday, June 5, 2008

More rainy training

After struggling somewhat with how to finish off my big volume training period before my long-awaited taper, I decided to do a short brick on Thursday. The weather was looking sort of ok as I was heading home on the bus, so I was looking forward to a good workout. While still on the bus, I talked/texted Steve into joining me, which was nice, because the only part of the workout I wasn't looking forward to was having to push through it solo.
As I left the park and ride headed for home, the first drops of wind-blown rain hit my windshield. Crap. Looking west, it was looking pretty dark and ominous. Double crap. For a moment, I regretted talking Steve into joining me, because if it had just been a solo effort, then it would have been so much easier to wuss out and stay warm inside. The news did not get any better when I got home and turned on the weather. The radar showed a huge blob of green and yellow was headed our way, along with increasing wind speeds. Tom Sherry said it would be upon us in the "next 20 to 30 minutes". This was at 6:10pm. Steve and I had planned to get started at 6:30pm. I'll let you do the math. I nevertheless got dressed to ride and set out my run gear in the garage. Andy got back from her run just as the rain started, and she and I waited in the garage for Steve to arrive. Every 5 minutes, I had to run inside and get another layer on, so that by the time Steve did get there, I was outfitted as if it was a March ride.
Apparantly, Steve is the source of the bad weather luck, because this was going to be his 4th workout in a row that would take place in the rain.
WTF is going on here??? ITS JUNE, for goodness sakes!!! Don't we look excited to go?!?
Well, now that Steve had arrived, there was nothing I could do to wuss out. So....off we went!
Proof that we actually did get on our bikes....
While we did get wet on the ride, it was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting, especially after looking at the radar. We didn't push the pace too hard, and it ended up being quite a nice ride.
Once we got back, we changed into our running gear and headed out for an easy 4 mile run. Steve's achilles was still bothering him a bit after Boise, so about a mile in, he wisely stopped to stretch and not do any more long-term damage. So I set out to finish up by myself. I was feeling pretty good, but not wanting to push the pace. Just after I turned around, it was a nice surprise to see that Steve had continued on the run, so I ended up having company for most of my run as well. We ran in and chatted, and, of course, by the time we were done, the rain had gone away and it turned into a nice evening.
All in all, it was a great workout!

4 comments:

Trish said...

Nice job toughing it out in the rain Timmers! After seeing how bundled up you were on Saturday, I can only imagine how bundled up you were for you ride in the rain! Tim outfitted for a March ride is probably the equivilent of Tripi bundled up for a December ride!

I'm glad you and Steve-O were able to workout together and fully embrace the sucky weather. I love the WTF picture for sure :) This weather has GOT to get better soon, or we are all going to have to stop working out with Steve!

Tiffany said...

Great post! I was laughing out loud at that first pic! I, too, am so sick of working out in cold, wet weather. WTF is right!!! I'm beginning to think summer will never come...but SOMEHOW, it will and we'll be complaining about how hot it is! :)

Steve said...

Thanks for encouraging me through the workout. Once again I am sick of this weather and having someone to meet up with definitely makes it more fun. I will try to break the curse but I can't guarantee anything.

jessithompson said...

You guys are tough... we were running in the sprinkles and 40 degrees this morning. Hard to imagine an actual long-term stint of warm weather. WTF is right! Can't wait to rally with you guys this weekend!