Back in the Saddle!

Yesterday was a bike/run workout at La Cañada and Edgewood Roads in Redwood City. Of course, workout at 8:30 means people congregate at 8:30 and we roll around 9. It's cold, too, so while standing there I can feel my fingers and toes getting colder and colder, and I just want to get on the bike and ride already! They handed out maps of a ~22 mile ride that went down Cañada to the 84, then left on 84 and a quick right on Whiskey Hill Road (actually not a bad hill), left on Sand Hill, right on Alpine, right on Portola, then back to Sand Hill/Whiskey Hill/84/Cañada. Here's a map of the lovely ride:

It was rolling hills and while a bit chilly the sun was out. It really was a nice ride, and I felt shockingly strong after my two-plus week hiatus. They have us roll out in three groups: fast, faster, and fastest (as there are no slow people in TNT of course). I figured I'd go out with the Fastest group since I was cold just standing there and let people pass me. However, there weren't that many people that passed me, and I hung with the fastest riders (not all of them, but I wasn't at the back of the fastest group!) pretty well. I was also one of the first to return - I don't understand why they don't send out the slowest group first since that would get us all back around the same time? Whatever, it was great to get back and I rode in with a mentor named Meggen (she wishes her name was spelled like mine, she claims), who turned out to be a really fast rider and I had a hard time keeping up with her. Great workout though!

After the bike it was a quick change into running shoes (I destroyed my good ones in Costa Rica, thankfully I have my old backup pair so I wore those, but had to order another pair of my faves) and a 10-minute out/10-minute back run.

THAT was hard. My legs are NOT what they used to be, and the uphills were deadly. I had to walk parts of it, which made me a little sad.

There was an extra run today that I am skipping in favor of the open-water swim at Quarry Lakes in about an hour. I have a wetsuit and am water-ready and am excited to see how badly my swimming has suffered as well. Rob has cleaned the hell out of the garage so the treadmill is accessible and I'll probably hop on that later today after the swim to try and jump start my legs back into some kind of running shape!

It's frustrating to feel like I've lost fitness, but I have a feeling I'll get it back quickly if I just focus on getting in all the workouts I need to get in. I have to fit them around some short travel plans coming up as well - San Francisco in January for the weekend to see Wicked, maybe Palm Springs in February... At least it'll be not-too-hot and I can run at both places!

Wish me luck in what is sure to be a freezing cold open-water experience!