oh what a day

saturday starts at 6am with katie b telling me it's time to wake up. ummm excuse me? who would ever want to wake up this early on purpose?? oh right - i agreed to cause we're helping the current TNT teams with time trial. still seems ridiculous to me. probably cause i also managed to get little to no sleep the night before cause the creepy roommie came home at some ungodly hour, was grunting, and talking to himself. i SWEAR i heard a clank like something dropping on the fender of one of the beach cruisers but my Guru was out there so i was FUMING. anyway, lack of sleep and all, i pack my stuff into my car and we hit starbucks on the way to coronado so i could get some breakfast and caffeine to power me through the morning.

we're heading to coronado and manage to make it over the bridge before i lose katie b! wait - WHERE is she going?!?!! we get back on track and make it in time to see everyone getting their stuff ready and get in a round of hugs. mentor greg aarons is there!! he was my first mentor and he lead me on my first mentor ride with trevor k. forever ago! it was awesome to see him and took me back a notch or two. i did some catching up with those alum who showed to volunteer and those mentors i know from teams past. coach assigns us jobs and makes his speech to the newbies. we're finally ready to go! it was a fun morning and i end up doing the timing. it's readily evident that i cannot figure out the stupid math of their laps 1 and 2 so i give up and just put in their totals. apparently math fails me after no sleep :0) we eventually break up and move on to jim's place to get ready for our workout of the day.

katie b has us scheduled for a double brick of 60/30 (60 min ride then 30 min run X 2). we changed as quickly as possible (considering we had to get a tour of the place and say hi to hayley and jenn). we headed out of the naval base and out onto the strand heading south to ib. the wind was an interesting combo of side winds/tail winds on the way south and side winds/head winds on the way north. south jim and i hit around 23 miles per hour and about 17 miles an hour on the way back north through some pretty strong head winds. i kept my cadence pretty high and spun as much as possible to keep my heart rate down. i didn't want to push it cause i haven't been training as intensely as katie b since vineman and my legs needed a good intro into cycling and needed to be loose for running. the run wasn't bad cause i kept my pace down with jim and ryan so i felt ok just tired and ready for a nap when we hit jim's for the second loop. there were lots of i don't wanna go out again, even muttered by myself, though i never intended on sitting the next rotation out. c'mon now, i'm too stubborn for that!

we head south again and i can tell the wind has picked up - oh great! i kept my cadence high again and managed to lose jim, who'd been riding my draft the first loop and the first quarter of the second loop. i was out on my own and was really able to feel how my legs were doing and feel when i needed to knock it down a gear or lighten it up a gear to keep my cadence high and my legs feeling good. it was kind of nice to not have someone to distract me from my thoughts and being attuned to my body. i managed a descending split on both sides of the second loop regardless of the higher winds! as i was getting back to jim's, i saw katie b and ryan heading out on their run. my knees started feeling a little sore as i headed out and i met jim out on my run. he cycled with me since his legs were done from the ride and i ended up running only 15 miles since my knees kept getting more and more sore. we headed back to his house and got some lemonade and a few minutes later, katie b and ryan returned from their run. all in all, a successful day and a difficult one. it was SO worth it. i was exhausted and ready for a nap when we were done but my legs felt good and the workout was awesome! we headed to lunch and relaxed a bit while i re-hydrated a TON! we had some good laughs and good conversations and felt exhausted by the end of lunch.

i headed off to kate's b-day party fullly expecting to only stay for an hour or so. i ended up hanging out til 10:30 and had a phenomenal time seeing everyone there. i've missed kate and i've missed hanging/getting to talk with her. she's a best friend and a sister. we have plans to get together for dinner and head to gaia soon! i'll be seriously excited to spend time getting to know umut as he seems like a wonderful person and someone who is very supportive and loving of kate. i'm extraordinarily happy for her!!

today, i'm working and debating on the cove swim...... i hate it and am not looking forward to it. do i do something that brings me no pleasure or do i cop out and do a swim on my own at the gym? or do i be lazy and take the day off and focus on work and make time for the workouts this week? do i hope that luke will help with my swim and i'll be back in the saddle once i enjoy swimming as katie b seems to? answer: cop out, work, laundry, olympics, gym later, lazy, and hope for better with luke....
~danban