Just Like Old Times

Ten years ago... 2005(!) Wait I can't do math that's eleven years I had recently moved to Hawaii but didn't really know very many people. One day I was swimming (same pool I still swim at today!) and saw a gal swimming who was wearing an Ironman Florida swim cap... Ah ha! Possibly a new friend? I struck up a conversation with her, found out she lived down the road a few miles from me, and met her and her husband for a ride that weekend. For several years I felt like we were the 3 Musketeers riding together pretty much every Saturday like clockwork.

Things changed a bit when I hired a coach and had more specific types of bike sessions to do (mostly it was that I was assigned a HR cap and those drop rides grew over the years and got big/fast and I couldn't do them and stay within my prescribed HR range, so I stopped doing them). Last night though I got a bit of a wild hair up my ass and sent them a message asking if by chance they were riding today... They were! Score! I warned them that I hadn't been riding and they said ok no worries just Sunday cruisy ride. Ya right I knew better than that but whatever.

So last night I spent a bunch of time prepping my TT bike which hasn't been ridden since Oct (I was riding my road bike this week). Took the race wheels off, adjusted the brakes, pumped the tires, lubed the chain, checked the flat kit, dusted the spiderwebs off... I even got my new power tap pedals working and pared with my garmin. I was genuinely stoked to go ride with my old friends today!

It was a gorgeous perfect morning to ride. Seriously perfect. I enjoyed the ride, even though I pretty much got my ass kicked. About 30 min into the ride Mike and I were chatting and riding along at a moderate pace... he asked what my heart rate was. Ha! 151. I told him but I think he thought I was lying. No really. That's how out of shape I am on the bike! It was the kind of day where avg heart rate was higher than avg power, though there were some times where I would think GAH THIS IS SO HARD and look down and see a 30sec avg power at 190+ so at least my perceived exertion isn't broken. Anyway, I didn't mind seeing HR and power data today. I'm currently missing ~20 watts across the board (which didn't surprise me) but I rode 58 miles and felt stoked enough about that to let go of the lack of power. I have hope that my cycling just might come back at least to a point where I won't be like an anchor on a group ride.

Later, Moana and I went to a painting party. I'd wanted to do one of these for a long time... She had a blast too and enjoyed it a ton. Art seems to be a passion of hers.

I hadn't run today but I didn't want to break my streak, so after consuming the better part of a bottle of wine at the painting party, I took Maia out for a mile jog down the road and back. Turns out, 8PM is a great time for the dog jog because all the cats are out. Everybody won.