Tuesday, June 10, 2014

A Plague on My House (RNSHM - Week 11)

Just what I didn't need: The Plague has descended upon the Rabbits and Runs house.  

Monday was a fun day, or at least a fun night.  Mr. R&R and I attended the Food Truck Safari at The Zoo. We arrived at The Zoo around 6:30pm and did a quick cruise by the handful of food trucks before deciding where to start.  There were only about 6 trucks (all with hideously long lines) but we eventually settled on the Five Star Nachos truck.   I tried the bbq pork nachos which weren't terribly impressive, especially given the $8 price tag! 

 As neat as the concept was, I think they needed a few more trucks.  Once we finished our "dinner" we were free to roam through The Zoo.   Usually The Zoo closes at 4:30pm, so this was a unique opportunity to see the animals after hours and most of them were much more active than they are during the day, and since this was a members only event, there weren't very many people around either!






Tuesday, however, brought a text from Mr. R&R that he had suddenly been struck by chills, horrible body aches, and a stuffy head.  Uh oh...that sounds a whole lot like the flu to me.  By the time I got home from work he was curled up on the couch in a heap and pretty much didn't move for the next 48 hours.  I did my best to take care of him while trying to keep my distance as well.  

I was kind of excited to run on Tuesday night as I had new goodies from REI waiting in my mailbox when I got home.  I threw on my new tri shorts (Zoot Performance 6 inch), sports bra (Moving Comfort Vero), and sunglasses (Smith Parallel) and headed out the door.  The first 3 miles were interesting.  I took a slightly different route than usual and discovered a new-to-me long, nasty hill to run up.  I'm almost looking forward to using it for hill training in the future. 


I'd been running pretty hard for those 3 miles, so for the last mile I decided to: reset my watch, find a comfortable pace, and run the last mile without looking at my watch.  Not bad!



Wednesday was a rest day since I had a much needed appointment with The Mane Wrangler.  

I had planned on running or riding on Thursday, but I ended up falling asleep on the couch instead.  Ooops!

Friday was awesome.  It was my first week for summer hours at the office and despite having a minor crisis crop up, I managed to leave by 1:30pm and by 2:30pm my bike and I were on the Rail Trail.  I wasn't too worried about riding fast since I had plans for a brick-ish workout later in the day.  It was pretty much me and the geezer contingent on the trail and everyone seemed to be in a pretty good mood - except for one dude I can only describe as "A Raging @$$ Monkey".  I passed this guy on a beach cruiser shortly before the first road crossing.  No big deal, right? That's just riding. You pass. You get passed. You go about your business.  Apparently this guy didn't like getting chicked since he caught up to me while I was waiting for a break in traffic and proceeded to ride straight across, causing several cars to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting him!  I waited for a suitable opportunity to cross and passed the guy again.  He caught up to me at the second crossing and rode straight into traffic again!  I was was willing to chalk the first one up to inattentive riding.  The second one cemented my opinion of him as a Raging @$$ Monkey.  I was done watching him be stupid, so I upped the speed, passed him again, and made damn sure that there was no way I'd have to see him again.  I hit the turnaround point and headed home - with no Raging @$$ Monkey sightings.  I did, however, come upon an older man pulled off to the side of the trail, looking at the shrubbery with a great deal of concern.  I stopped to make sure he was okay and was informed that he'd seen a kitten dart into the bushes.  We spent a few minutes looking for the kitten (no luck) and when I took off, the guy asked if he could ride with me. Holy crap...for an older dude on a 3 speed, I had to work to keep up with him! I was running through my gears and pedaling my booty off!  We chatted for the remaining 6 or so miles until I turned off to go back to my car.  Gotta love when random people surprise you - in a good way - and I had my fastest outdoor ride of the year!


I got home, hauled my bike back downstairs, took a short nap, and then headed to the pool.  Okay, it doesn't qualify as an official brick workout since I got a nap in the middle, but still...  I planned on swimming 1000 yards and surprised myself by sticking around for an extra 200.  I'm still slower than most of the grannies at the pool, but I'm okay with that.  I've accepted that the swim will never be my strength, but hopefully I can find a way to enjoy it.

Mr. R&R and I went for a short run on Saturday to see if he was going to be able to hack his way through our planned 12 miler (last long run before Rock 'n Sole) on Sunday.  We didn't even make it a full 3 miles before he was completely toasted, so we called it a day and walked home.


I woke up on Sunday morning, prepared to slog through 12 miles on my own, only to discover that my throat felt like it was filled with rocks and dust.  Damn! Just when I thought I'd escaped Mr. R&R's plague.  I didn't have the fever and body aches, but I sure got all the respiratory symptoms.  And just like that...I knew I was going to be dealing with an unplanned taper leading up to Rock 'n Sole and likely having to revise every single plan/goal I had for this race.

I closed out week 11 with:

Swim: 1200 yards (40 minutes)
Bike: 14 miles (52 minutes)
Run: 6.76 miles (1 hour, 4 minutes)
Strength: 0
Total: 21.53 miles (2 hours, 37 minutes)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, I'm starting to get real jealous about this zoo thing. We don't have one. Not even in Albany which is our flippin state capitol! Whats up with that?

Mary said...

I never used to be a big zoo person...now I can't seem to get enough!