Week Two Wrap Up

So since I seem not to be the most active blogger, weekly updates will probably be the norm with the odd daily blog thrown in.

Tuesday:
Swim.  It got it's own post where I learned the pool length (still not ratified by a human source) so I won't rehash it here.

Wednesday:
Riding with Colleen, she did well our moving average speed was 16mph.  The ride was thankfully without incident.

Thursday:
Swam.  Started out with 24 x22.86 for a warm-up (a little under 550m).  Then to mix it up I did some "timed runs".  Going down and back on 55 seconds.  So wait until the clock hits :00, swim down an back (2x22.86) and rest until the clock hits :55, then go again.  I did 12 of these (24 x22.86 total).  I was going as quickly as I could without destroying myself and had a good 15 seconds to rest at the end of each one.  So I probably should have been doing them on 50 seconds and will next time,  For the first time I was relatively pleased with how quickly I was doing them but a little alarmed at how hard I was breathing at the end of each.  Finished out with another 22 x22.86 (500m) to complete the metric mile (1600m)

Got home late on Friday which precluded the chance to go for a ride.  Looking forward to  better weather, daylight savings and longer spring and summer days and we can ride until 8pm.

Saturday with the weather bad, I headed to the Sports Basement in Santa Clara and bought a bunch of stuff to "re-animate" my old Trek.  The thinking is - if I want to ride to work, I don't really want to do it on the "pretty bike".  I don't want it getting all the miles, but more importantly bashed, scratched, scraped and/or stolen in a bike rack.  So I spend the majority of Saturday learning how to take everything on the bike apart, clean it and put it back together.  It scrubbed up well.  Unfortunately I might have spend as much "fixing it" as I did buying it in the first place!  The components I put on it are of much superior quality than those I took off, of course.  But it is going to have to go for another 3 years before I am going to see this as a "win".  Although in searching for a picture for a future "before and after" blog on the Trek I did learn it was Cycling Plus' 2006 Budget Bike of the Year, so perhaps it was worth saving.

Sunday:  Part 1 Ride
With the weather terrible it seemed unlikely that anything outdoor exercise related was going to happen.  However late in the day there seemed to be enough of a break to get a 1+hr ride in, so we took off.  We decide to the the "Alpine Loop" about the same distance (20miles) as the "Normal Loop" but a little faster as there is less climbing.

I decided to debut the revitalized Trek.  We got hit with a bit of rain at about half way and it was probably the coldest ride I have ever done, but better than sitting around doing nothing.  On a downhill the old Trek took the record for the fastest speed recorded on the 310XT so far at 43.3mph (a shade under 70km/h) however probably not the smartest moving on a bike that I had just put back together and was riding for the first time on wet roads, but I survived.

The Trek

Colleen said she "felt slow", and our speed confirmed that, I thought it was just the cold.  Later in the ride she seemed slow in places where it is downhill and she is generally quite quick.  Finally coming up the back of Sand Hill hill, heading East.  I noticed her back tyre almost flat!  We have no idea how long it had been like that, but gave her "feeling slow" credence.  So off with her back tyre and in with a new tube and a quick fill with the compressed air bottle (I love those things).

Sunday: Part 2 Run
When we got back, I guess because of the slower speeds (due to Colleen's slowly deflating tyre) and the stop to fix it, I felt like I need to do more.  With the pool shut and my PT telling me I could start running, I decided it was time.  So on with the running shoes, 310XT into running mode and off I went.  I told Colleen I would try to do 3 miles and I would be back in about inside 40 minutes.  About 400 meters into it I was wondering "what am I doing!?!"  But I pushed through.  Then the watch beeped for the first mile, and I was thinking "2 miles is enough, turn around" but I persevered.  I looked down at the watch after forever and it said 1.67 miles.  So I turned around and started back.

Apart from consistently fighting my desire to just stop, everything felt fine.  My surgically repaired left knee, now just under 16 week post surgery felt fine.   In the end I did it a whole lot better than I expected to (especially given all my internal complaining).  The 310XT said I did 3.32miles in 29:43, not a bad first run at all, especially considering the aforementioned knee surgery and the fact I haven't run 3 miles in more than 8 months, plus I had just ridden 20 miles.  All in all a good first run.  I am guaranteed to be sore on Monday!

Finished the week icing my left knee.