Well the weekend came and went, but I was able to have a lot of fun and also get some good training miles in! Friday night after work, I met up with some people from work and played a few rounds of Texas Hold'em. I'm not going to go into how bad my luck is when it comes to lottery tickets, raffles, and contests, but suffice to say I lost every penny I showed up with. That's ok; I consider it cheap entertainment (I only lost 40 dollars) and had a TON of laughs! Saturday was awesome. I actually slept in until about 9 (very unusual) and Sara and I went for an 8 mile run at a relaxed pace. It is so different to run without worrying about your time and all these other things that make you anxious. We went into it wanting a recovery run after the hard week of training and I think it paid off BIG time! There is something to be said about a recovery run. I actually took in the scenery, which is fantastic right now with everything growing and green here in Florida. My breathing was rested; heart-rate was low. We ended up doing 9 minute miles which was just fine by me! It really cleared my mind and was just awesome hearing all the birds and seeing all the new trees and flowers.
After the run I went and checked the ebay auction on the Felt B-12 TT bike that I have had my eye on. The bids were going up fast so I expected to give up and let someone else have it. We did some shopping and decided to see what all the hype was with Slumdog Millionaire. We were'nt too interested in seeing it when it came out, but for some reason we decided to give it a chance. I am SOOO glad we did! It was one of the best movies I have seen in a very long time. It wasn't anything like I expected and it had me at the edge of my seat the whole time. I'm actually considering seeing it again with a friend that wants to go!
I get a text at about 10pm Saturday night from one of my cycling buddies asking if I want to go on a 40 mile group ride out in the hills. Hills in Florida you ask? YES! Clermont, Florida is where the "Great Floridian" Ironman/70.3 is held every year. There are some very respectable hills and it can be quite a challenge if you have never ridden hills before (or haven't been on them since last October like me!). We woke up early on Sunday morning and headed out to Clermont to meet the group at 8am. It was a perfect day for riding. It started out at about 65 degrees without a cloud in the sky. Since I hadn't been on the hills in about 6 months I figured I would be in for a serious hurting. It turns out that although it was challenging, it wasn't half as bad as I thought it would be! We did several of the big hills out there and completed 40 mile with about an 18-19 mph pace. Not bad for hills! It's crazy what a different workout this is from the weekday rides that I do. Those rides have you hanging on for dear life at 30+mph speeds for 25 miles, but the hills have you hurting at 16mph. I love it though!
Ahhh, the Felt B-12... Sunday after the ride, we did some grocery shopping and layed out in the sun in the backyard! It felt so good and I tried my hardest to get rid of those stupid bike short tan lines. Hey, it's my backyard and I can jack my shorts up a little bit to get some sun, ok!? We took a sweet nap in the sun and it was so refreshing. The bid on the bike I've had my eye on for over a year was winding down fast. The bids were going back and forth between two people and it wasn't looking good. My plan, which I ALWAYS use when bidding on ebay, was to come in at the last second and steal it from the bid battlers. It worked!!! The bid was going up in increments of 25-50 and was getting close to the max price I was willing to spend on this beauty. With 10 seconds left, the bid had just jumped from 2000.00 to 2050.00. I launched my bid with 5 seconds left and STOLE THE BIKE IN THE LAST SECOND! Sara and I were wooping and screaming like little kids on christmas. I am SO excited to get this bike! I have been lusting for so long and now I finally have it. I can't wait to get fit on it and start training with her!
The start of triathlon season is approaching fast! I feel more ready than I ever have. St. Anthony's Tri is only a little over a month away and I'm excited!
