Leadwoman – May 2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

In May, I ran ~126 miles and rode ~523 miles.  In May, I was still having some pain running (hence, the lower run mileage).  My yoga studio was going to be closing down so I wouldn’t have that anymore.  My warming up before running religiously evolved into dynamic stretching also.  I was stretching in the shower.  Stretching during breaks at work.  It took a little bit, but I eventually came around in June and got the run mileage back up.    This was the month that I was also playing around with my bike and adding things like bar ends that would make the rides more comfortable.  I was getting some saddle sores occasionally, which had completely gone away since my bike fit up until this point.  I had my first 100-mile ride with Gary, Eugene and Liz and that went well.  We rode from Ft. Worth to outside of Granbury and back.  The traffic is starting to get bad out there so the motorists weren’t exactly nice, but we got it done.

One thing that I haven’t mentioned yet, which you know if you live here, we got A LOT of rain this year.  My wedding got rained out.  Austin Rattler got rained out.  Benbrook lake flooded.  Every time I turned around, the trails were closed from running or riding.  I wasn’t getting any single track/technical experience very often on the bike or the run.  As a matter of fact, I had to get LP to come pick me up on 5/31 because a storm was headed right at me.  Luckily, it was at the end of my run that day and I still got close to 20 miles in. Speaking of 20 miles.  Oddly enough, 20 miles running was normal.  It was easy now.  At least in Fort Worth.  Jemez 50k was a little bit of a wake up call.  I started doing the math in my head.  7,000 ft. of climbing in 50k.  8:42.  Leadville 100 run was 12,000ish ft. of climbing.  The cutoff was 30 hours.  It’s tough to compare events, but I was almost convinced I could do Leadville by this point.  I just needed a little more convincing though.  Riding in the Texas hills was becoming easier.  I was attacking hills more.  I wasn’t getting tired.  And Dr. Pepper and Lay’s Potato Chips at mile 70ish were something I looked forward to on long rides!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I definitely got practice this month riding in the rain and cold.  Plastic bags do wonders for feet even if they don’t look professional.  I also got to a long gravel ride with Lisa Barton and Eugene once!  The ONLY reason I have a photo of me in front of the others is someone got a flat so everyone stopped to helped.  I used that time to try and get ahead so they didn’t have to wait on me anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other May news, life went on.  UIL competitions, fake tattoos, Father/Daughter Dance, voting, flying kites and Mother’s Day.  I was pretty much a walking zombie and I was warning everyone that in just a few short weeks, they would see very little of me.  Training was going to peak at some point.