Hard Hilly BRICK

Yesterday, I decided to get 20 miles in before getting together with the group. I started out of the house and my legs were very tired. I drove all day yesterday from Texas and I think that takes more out of me than many exercises. Also, my race bike was making some noise from the left (non-drive side cranks area). I stopped 2 miles out to take a look at the bike - and just a break for my legs. I had already switched out the wheels, skewers, and pedals to isolate the noise - still no luck. I headed back home to mess around before the group ride.

I met up with Chris and Butch at Jackson Station right at 1PM. Shawn was nowhere to be found. Chris gave him a call and he was going to meet us at the next stations (3.5 miles away). Chris, Butch and I had a leisurely warm -up on our way to Clyde. Shawn was there and we all decided to hit the hills off of the trace. I had never been on this route. These rolling hills were demanding. I was hitting 30+ on the down hills and trying to climb them without standing up. Chris soon pulled away from me and I pulled way from Shawn. Butch took a side road about half way through and we said out good byes.

The group stretched out again and with 30 miles on the clock I lost sight of Chris. I looked behind me and Shawn was no where to be seen. I had a basic idea of where I was but the road did not look familiar. I just trucked along up the long stretches of hills. I rolled into Sumral and refilled my water bottles. Chris was absent. About 5 minutes later Shawn rolled up. He said that Chris had called him and had taken a different route back home - family commitments. Shawn and I chatted for a few minutes with a couple that was riding the trace. The man was on a cyclocross bike and the woman was on a 3 wheeled recumbent. Nice couple - they were heading back to the trail head. This was the hardest, toughest ride I have been on in Mississippi. It was the hills and chasing Chris who is faster than me. My legs were spent.

Shawn and I rode pretty fast back towards Clyde. I pulled way from him and pulled into my garage for a short but fast brick.

A couple of minutes transition and I was out the door and running hard. My heart rate was up and I was feeling strong - for exactly 2 minutes. My old Timex GPS watch said that my pace was 6:20ish. The instant pace is never right but that was way to fast. My entire right side of my body started to hurt. From my Achilles through my calf, up in my hamstring and even my lower back. It was painful. I stopped for a few seconds to shake it out. I started running again fast. I would have to stop again in that first mile. Even with the stops I clocked a 7:07. The next mile was also hard even after slowing down. It went off at a little over 8 min /mile. I walked the rest stop (Clyde) and got a drink of water. The couple from the other station were just making it to Clyde.

On the return trip everything eased up. I was not hurting anymore. I kept my heart rate down a little and just churned out some mileage. I'm not sure what happened but I was thankful. Just a few minutes turned a horrible experience into something that was positive. I continued running past my turn off and got a total of 5 miles in just under 39 minutes.

I spoke with Chris later after my run and he said that it is very difficult to run race pace after cycling - especially in just training. I have to agree. I think that I have sorted my paces out a little better after this brick.