Ahh, the weekend again...

Sorry I've been MIA for a few days - I've been enjoying some down time at the river with friends:



Forgive me now? It was as fabulous as it looks. Here's how I passed at least some of my time:
Our friend's parents own the house. They were there all week; we rolled down on Thursday afternoon. Our kids are the same ages so a great time was had by all.

Rainbow is an avid fisherman and Taz discovered the thrill of crabbing with a net on the dock. We played in the river and pool, did a little row-boating, and mainly just hung out and relaxed. My parents have a river shack themselves so I grew up fishing, crabbing, and water skiing. We haven't gone to their house much because the stinging nettles are terrible on their part of the river. (Stinging nettles are jelly fish for those of you who don't speak Southern.) Now that the kids are a little older, we'll have to go more often.

I did fit in some workouts. Thursday, I ran before we left. I was actually having a pretty slow run but picked it up at the mid-point for a serious negative split to finish 5 miles at a 9:19/mi average. That included a final mile at 8:36. And on Friday, I swam for about 30 minutes in the small pool pictured above.

This weekend, I was supposed to ride 28 on Saturday and run 10 on Sunday, but I didn't want to take my bike with me so I swapped the workouts. Saturday, I made it 9 miles (9:56/mi average) before I completely died. The run was flat but hot and exhausting. The last 1.75 miles were particularly brutal. I did see a shop called Anna Banana's and Corbett Road so I felt that TriGirls were with me in spirit.

This morning, I biked 32 miles (17.9 mph average speed). I rode to West Creek to have a familiar route and the company of other cyclists. I may have seen Deanna L up there. (DL, were you at WC today wearing a cute hot pink top?) I yelled "Deanna!" several times, but either she didn't hear me or it wasn't her. I'm sure I looked completely normal to those around me.

Soon after I got to West Creek, another cyclist went blasting past me like I was standing still. Another guy passed me shortly thereafter, but I passed him back. A lot of people out there today seemed to be a tad clueless - runners side-by-side blocking a whole lane of traffic and several packs of cyclists taking up the entire road. I weaved through one group and passed their leader on the right because he was so far over. He immediately hopped in my draft and rode with me for awhile, never saying a word or otherwise even acknowledging me. Then he jumped right in front of me on the u-turn, slowed down and grabbed some water. I couldn't wait to blast by him again and leave him in my dust.

He was wearing a UVa jersey. Calling him an a$$hole would therefore be redundant.

(Sorry, Annnnnn!)

I tried a new way to get home thanks to a forum tip from Cyndi - it was hilly and excellent. As I dragged into my neighborhood, some guy passed me from out of nowhere. That perked me back up again, and I soon passed him back.

Training has definitely made me realize how competitive I am.