Just call me Bat Girl!

. 

Several mornings each week, I set my alarm for 4:02 so I can haul myself out of bed and drive a few towns over to swim. I turn my brain off and just go through the motions at that hour. You know, if I was to really think things over at that hour I'd come up with at least 10 good reasons Not to get up that day.  Reasons that seem perfectly logical at that time, but two hours later when I get up (yes, I've blown off the alarm a couple times ) to go through a normal morning, I am  full of regret and disgust at my laziness. 

The thing is, it's Hard to get to bed early enough to make that hour less painful. I have 3 boys with busy evenings full of everything from lacrosse to concerts to homework, just to name a few things.  I think 95% of the time, I go to bed before my oldest son these days.  The point is, those pre-swim mornings are short enough. But throw in this fun & it's even better when the alarm goes off. ha..

Last Tuesday night I set my alarm and climbed in around 10. That's about the best I can do. That gives me 6 hours IN the bed but not necessarily 6 hrs of sleep. I try to make up for it other days, it's just part of my deal. 

In the middle of the night that night, I had the most annoying feeling on my neck. After  a bit of confusion, and swatting and screaming, "Something is biting me!" I did in fact realize I was Not dreaming and I really was feeling something on my neck and now on my hands as I tried to fling it off me. 

I remember my husband saying something along the lines of, "what? stop it. What's up with the chain?" (He told me later, and we laughed very hard at this, that he thought I was whipping a chain around in the air!!?? Turns out, it was the sound the bat was making!!!! Ewwwww!!! So gross. But the chain part is pretty funny. ) Before too long the light was on and he was standing next to the bed, looking down at his pillow. 

I proudly pointed and said, "SEE! I told you!!!" 
(one of those moments I secretly wished I was wrong!!" 

  
Ok, it really bothers me to post that and to LOOK AT it!!!! ( this is not OUR bat, just  picture but it's close ) -- There were other pictures of bats online showing bats with big wingspans and teeth and they looked more like bats. But what we saw, was a little blob. 
IN OUR BED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Mark just stood there with his hand over his mouth and said, "I do NOT like this." 

I actually kind of laughed and then started yelling, "Let's get it! Do something! WE have to go back to bed, I only have an hour!" 

Seriously..it was 2:53 a.m. and what was on my mind?? The alarm going off at 4 so I could swim. I know... why was I so worried about that at that time? Tunnel vision I guess. I hate missing workouts! But, It would have been the "Perfect" excuse for myself 65 minutes later! :) 

The thing took off and started dive bombing around our bedroom! What the heck???? 
This is where I win wife of the year. 

Mark starts running around the room with a big towel to catch the thing while I pulled the covers up over my head and hid and screamed a few times when I peeked. I remember thinking, "phew, it's hot under here... hope he gets that thing soon!!" Seriously, I was a lot of help. ( eye roll at myself ) 

He did get it pretty fast I must say. He caught it and we opened up a window and chucked it out. I didn't look at the clock again but we had the lights off and went back to bed asap. I had a few dreams about bats (really... lots & lots of bats in the dreams ) over the next 45 min but the alarm went off as it always does and I went to the pool! I was proud of myself for that. 
When I got home a few hours later,  we talked and we thought about it. Hmm... bats= Rabies. Oh #$%^$!!!  I didn't have any broken skin on my neck at all. There was a tiny red spot but that may have been there before. I was probably fine. I didn't want to overreact and seem silly. And yet, I called my doc and they said to come in to see them. I really felt like I was probably wasting everyone's time. However, they called back a bit later and said we had to go to the ER ( not avail at the office ) for an immunoglobulin injection + rabies shots. Turns out, if you wake up in the same room as a bat, you have to do this. Or... risk worrying about death by rabies. And you know, that's not really what we need. Three boys left because parents bit by a bat? Sounds a bit dramatic and like a bad tv show but seriously... we went in for the shots. 

How did it get in there? No clue. We have new windows and the house is tight. Or at least most of it is. I think it came in the attic or was there Before we had work done last fall to tighten a few places up. Gross. 

Why didn't we kill it!!?? No clue on that either. It didn't cross our minds. They eat mosquitoes is what Mark's said in the past.  Ha..that's the last time we don't kill it. We could have had it tested and avoided some VERY pricey shots.  

Last Wednesday, I spent over 2 hrs in the ER getting round 1 of the shots. I had to have 4 that day.... one in each leg and one in each arm. They did two at a time. It hurt but I thought I was fine, until I stood up. My heart started thumping, I was HOT and then very very dizzy... so down I went. But 5 minutes later I was fine.  At first, Mark was very resistant to getting treated. He hadn't felt the thing on him and didn't see the need for double whammy ER bills PLUS the cost of the meds. Well.... doc examined him and he had several decent sized scratches on his shoulder. I think I Flung the thing off me and onto him.  It was on His pillow after all...... thank god I convinced him to get the TX too. 
The stuff is weight based, so he needed more of it. And, they had to inject it all around the site of the wound. So he had about 8 little injections on his shoulder + two in his hips and arms too. Thankfully they said they couldn't put it in my neck so I only had arms and legs shot up. 

Saturday, we both went back for more. And today. And again next week.  

But hey, we wont' get rabies!!!! And if another bat comes near me again, it better run for it's life! 

That is Enough about that!!! 

Day 3- Madiera Canyon Climb or where I remembered how to be tough

Once again, my day started here. Perfect. I actually loved my early mornings that week. It was very easy for me to get up to my 5 a.m. alarm since 1) I'm used to an even earlier 4 a.m. call for my swims at home and 2) I probably never fully switched my body's clock to AZ time. 

To make it easier, this was the view out my window. So, I could set my alarm for 5, look at this, grab a cup of coffee, get back in bed and call home ( 8 a.m. there ) and catch two of the boys before they went off to school. ahhh... 
Then, I'd just get dressed and have a short, quiet walk down to the pool.  One morning I even saw a little bunny hop in front of me as I walked across the lawn. All this made me smile and enjoy the time on my "vacation."  
The day before, at the very very end of the Mt. Lemmon climb to the ski area, I was alternating between, " pedal pedal pedal & @#%^^%!!!! " as I climbed what I was told  was only a portion of a mile but it actually was a LOT more. ( I honestly don't know how far it was... but it was way more than I thought, and after 25 miles UP and 103 miles the day before, I wanted OFF that bike for a few minutes. ) So..as I made my way up I thought about the next day and had it in my head that it was going to be 'easier.'  But then, some guy came up next to me on his bike, looking like a fresh little mountain goat and tried to have a  big ole' conversation with me ( as I tried to breath) about how I should go FURTHER beyond the ski area because it's... ?? I can't remember why he said I should. Because honestly, there wasn't a chance in hell I was going Beyond where the group was. Nope! I was done. 
But when I told him we were riding Madeira the following day, he made this noise. And then said something about the road going on and on and then UP. Yeah, whatever... I was so focused on the present moment that I didn't pay that much attention to him... 
ooops. 
He knew what he was talking about.... I should have begun my mental prep Right then. I needed it. 

Later that night, a few of us looked up the profile for the ride the next day. Hmm... that has a sharp little curve to it. Ok... but really. They were all starting to look like that. Plus, the total ride was only going to be 60 or so miles instead of 80+. Again, Easy day! Right??
Ahem.

We drove a ways to a safe starting point and started the re-assemble bikes, get ready process. When I headed to pump the tires, I discovered a flat. And then I pulled out a small tack. Someone had actually thrown tacks on the Mt. Lemon road --- nice. Several of us were lucky enough to pick them up. I'm just lucky the flat didn't appear while I was trying to escape the bees the day before. 
Finally, we all headed out. 
The first 15 or so miles were  basically flat. I felt good! Miraculously I wasn't screaming to sit on the bike and the legs were responding well. Alright! I had a few strong segments along the way, sometimes alone and sometimes with some guys for a few miles. Our awesome support crew of Josh & Jenny { fellow camper who got sick while we were there :( } were at a corner letting us restock our bottles and make sure the bikes were ready to roll. We didn't stop much on these rides & since I rode alone most of the time I appreciated being able to talk to folks for a few minutes and gather some needed moral support. 

I think my bike read 15 miles at that point. One of the guys told me we were heading up to about the 30-31 mile mark. Ok... that is what Stuck in my head. Call it 31 miles... 

And with that, off we went. 

The sun was shining and the mountain was off in the distance. But I had no idea what we were heading towards. This is the view we were looking at: 

I knew we weren't going ALL the way to the top of that. So, what were we climbing? Where was that spike? Maybe it really didn't get like that? 
By now, I was alone. I had been riding strong and fairly fast. 
And, I wasn't all that concerned about what was left.  If we were only going to 30 or so miles, how bad could it be? I still couldn't see any steep grade so it must not really be that big of a deal... right? 

So I rode and I rode and slowly but surely became very frustrated. I think I looked behind myself a good 10-15 times. What the heck? I am NOT moving!!! What's wrong with this bike? I'm not climbing... am I? { look behind} -- Repeat that self- talk over and over and over. 
I was sure I sucked. I had officially run out of gas and was just crashing. look behind..
I kept waiting for the other campers that had been back from me a bit to catch up. Surely, everyone was about to ride up next to me and say, "What's wrong Ange??"  I think there was wind, I can't seem to remember that part but I do remember talking about it. 
All I know is, just like that fresh mountain goat rider on Lemon had said, "the road goes on Foreevvvvver." It did. He was right. The words he had said to me, the ones I was ignoring at the time, seeped back into my head.  I could see miles and miles in front of me it seemed. And, while it didn't LOOK like a hill, oh believe me it was. We were climbing 10 miles of relentless, demoralizing grades. I realized this on the way back DOWN when I FLEW without pedaling for miles and miles. 
I lost myself during that part. I was lonely and bored. I was SICK Of it. I really really wanted someone to talk to. Someone to commiserate with me and assure me yes, you ARE in fact going nowhere but so am I. (I did have to stop at one point for some cows to cross. :) Yup, there were 3 big cows wandering in the road and I really didn't know what they would think of me. And since I was moving like a turtle, I decided to let them move along before I went their way. ) Truly, I think I was moving about 6 mph along a road that didn't Look like a hill. As I said, demoralizing. I was in a bad place. I kind of pride myself in being able to stay OUT of those bad places during my training and racing so the fact that I had slipped there was discouraging too. 

The Good news was, I was nearing mile 30 on my clock!!! The signs said, "MADEIRA CANYON " so... I was almost There!!! Yay!  Not sure that that peak was all about because we were almost there and the road did NOT spike. IT was a nasty long climb, but no peak. yay! 

fake picture in my head at this time on the ride 

insert maniacal laughter right here.

The scenery changed now. It looked less like a desert and more like home. Madeira Canyon is surrounded by the Coronado National Forest so the hills are tree covered, there are streams and apparently it's filled with many bird species and a favorite area for those who enjoy watching birds! 
There's a Very cute B&B up there ( stopping to snap a photo would have resulted in me falling OFF the bike so you'll just have to believe me) and the view from there is: 

It was definitely nice to see the landscape change from barren  desert to lush forest on all climbs. 
Back to business. 

There was an evil laugh echoing in my head as I made a turn and realized the last 10 miles of "climbing" were just a little warm up.
AT this point, I am Expecting to see my group any second since I thought were finishing around mile 30. 
I saw no one. No one with a bike that is. 
All I saw was the road, tourists enjoying beautiful little picnic areas with food and shops and then my hands....clenching the bars. For dear life. And, to stay UPright! 
why?? 
because the road, without warning went STRAIGHT UP! 
At least that's what it felt like since I was on a Bike! You can't just push the gas pedal wait for the engine to shift gears, you must NOT hesitate or pause because you will FAll over to the side and crash. And then you'll never be able to get going again.     :) :) 
seriously, it was that steep. 

I started to swear again. I was SURE that every time I went around a corner I'd see the van and the 6 or so people that were ahead of me. 
WHERE WERE THEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
I was sort of losing it. I mean, at least I Knew I was on a hill now so I didn't have to wonder why I wasn't moving. That helped. A little. 
It was survival...each leg stroke was just to hold on. 
I saw so many of these: 

Seemingly Perfect rest areas to stop and rest. Or eat. Or just STOP RIDING UP! 

Yeah... I wasn't in my happy I love this sport place. 

I passed a few people walking Down the cliff. I was starting to wonder if I was going the wrong way! What if I had gone BY Them!!! NO!!!!  So I spoke up: 

 "I'm looking for some other bikers. Have you seen them?" 

"OH! yes!!"

"Are they close??"

insert laugh... "No." 

@#$^$$%#@&&**@~!$!!!!!! 

What is going on??? 

AT that point, I was done. Done with the bad place. That wasn't me.  I was sick of my tantrum and little pity party. After all, as I had been saying all week, I WAS there to work. Suck it up babe and get up the damn mountain!!  I put my head down and just kept going. AT some point, I knew I would have to get there. 

33 miles now... 

ugh! 

Crazy crazy how LONG those 3 miles had taken!!! 

I got to a corner and saw some kids at yet Another perfectly good rest area...

I asked the same question I asked the last group. 

But this time I got: "Oh yeah, they're right over there!" And he pointed UP. 

YES!!!!!!!!! See.. I knew I'd make it if I just stopped all the bitching in my head! 

I rounded that corner and heard them first. I gave it all I had left and finally, finally, reached the very TOP of that road with my friends, in their typical Awesome fashion, Cheering me up and then high fiving me upon completion. I think I maybe dropped the bike as I dove for a bench. It was like a race-- someone grabbed it from me. I have no memory.. so if you're reading this and you were the one ( Bob? Rick? John? ) Thank you! 

I smiled. And then,I sat there and shook from exhaustion for a few minutes. It was that hard. 

The next guy finishing and getting the same awesome welcome and GOOD JOB at the top. What a Great,  great group. 

I was happy to be there with others for a few minutes. Again, the camaraderie is everything. Everything. It made me happy to see how wiped everyone else was too and that even those kick-axx rider friends of mine  who crushed that climb thought they had flat tires etc on that long long nasty non- hill climb on the way to steep crazy peak.  We took off and FLEW back down. Ahh.. much better! 

I was almost to the bottom where we made the turn back to the regular road home when I felt some things hit my leg. I brushed them off and then felt the sharp sting. Huh?

I had to stop. Unreal. I had a stinger in my leg! I got stung by a bee. What was UP with me and the bees!?  I rode on and wondered if  actually was a bee or something else. I didn't really see what hit me. But the leg started to HURT. Great... This might not be good. 

And then as quickly as it had come on, it went away. The pain just disappeared. 

I was fine for the rest of the but later on, it swelled, turned red and hurt a Lot. Oh well.. I can handle 1 bee. The swarm turned away from me so I was just thankful for that one little bite. 

Just like the day before... we drove home, changed up, and then hit the road for a little run. 

Big mental toughness gained that day!!!  

In the bank. 

Mt.Lemmon

If you go to Tucson, Arizona to train for triathlon, chances are a ride up Mt.Lemmon is on the agenda. I attended a training camp back in 2010 with Coach Jen Harrison and we did this ride. I was looking forward to doing it again after a few more years of experience. 

My legs were no longer fresh and sitting on the bike for another 4+ hrs was definitely going be a challenge after the big ride and climb on day one. But hey, that's why I traveled across the country! Hard work was part of the plan! 

Our coaches changed our original plan and decided to load the bikes into the car and drive to the base  ( 5 miles away ) of the Mountain rather than ride over. GOOD CALL! The roads on the way there were horribly rough & very busy with city traffic and construction. It was a 45- 50 min ride in addition so it would have been a very long day with that too. I consider myself to be pretty organized. I am also very rarely late. I packed my bag the night before and had everything ready to go so I could swim, eat, get dressed and be at the van ready to depart without any issues. yeah... I did do just that but I am embarrassed to say that after driving about 30 minute in the car with 3 of my friends ( multiple vehicles drove) I had a sinking feeling and shouted out, " OH NO!!!!!" 
Ugh. My helmet was not in the car. @^%$^$$^#$&&**!!!!
I was horrified. And a little stressed. Now what? 

Well, I'll tell you what happened. 
On that same ride, just a few minutes before, my friend that was driving, Pat Kelley, said, " You know what one of the best things about this sport is? The camaraderie." We all agreed and chatted a bit about how great all our friends in the sport are and how everyone looks out for one another. 
Well.. I Insisted we drive to the meeting spot without any stops. I knew the stores weren't open yet and I had to own this one. I thought I would drop them off and either go back for my helmet or get to a bike shop once they opened. I would have to do the ride alone and catch up later, somehow. 
My three friends in the car with me, Dave, Pat and Jenny wouldn't hear of it. They started searching shops on their smart phones and before I knew it, Pat and I were running through a super Walmart in our bike shoes for a new helmet for me. I think we lost about 10-15 min. I took a little ribbing from the other groups, but not much. My friends totally rallied for me and made sure I got on the road for that ride. It was really really cool of them. Sadly, we couldn't find a Dora or Spongebob helmet to don instead of a boring Bell. We had laughed that that would have been a much more memorable way to remember my slackness. 

I decided to cut off the giant tag in the end. 

 With that taken care of.. it was time to climb. 

 Mt. Lemmon is about 25 miles up! I must say, I did enjoy this ride. I started out alone, then hooked up with my friends Bob and John for a few miles and pushed just a wee bit harder than I would have alone, and then I let them go. As I said on the post about day 1, I rode alone for most of this camp. I was fine by myself this day. I knew some were ahead and some were behind but we were essentially all out there together challenging ourselves up a long long relentless climb. I worked hard this day but stayed at a steady state. I didn't stop once. I was proud of that. The temps were great... warm and sunny. Towards the top, as you can see on the chart, the road dips down and it gets cold!! I did quickly pull over to pull the arm warmers back on for that part. Finally... I was at the corner to turn Right for the final ascent. Bob was there to alert us of the turn so we wouldn't miss it. Let's see..what did he say? " Less than a mile!"  I think that was what he said. HA! It was Much longer than that! That final climb was Brutal! Steep and never ending. Little did I know.... Madiera was the next day. 

Some shots taken on the way down... 

I stole this from my friend, Pat, who watched these crazy kids on Longboard Skateboards descend the Mountain!!!!!????

I made my way back down in slow careful fashion. I was very very bundled after nearly freezing on my way down Kitt Peak the day before. I had too much on for Lemmon. It wasn't that cold. After getting off the hill, I stopped to take off all the layers. I had a 5 mile ride back to the van. My feet hurt too, so I took the shoes off while I peeled off the jackets etc. Why does that matter? 
Well... I thought I heard some more bikers coming. I heard a low frequency strange humming-like noise behind me. 
I turned-- straddling my bike, shoes on the road, layers 1/2 way off 1/2 on..NOT ready to go anywhere fast and I saw this: 

BEES!!!!!!!  
I was SCARED!  I have never seen anything like it. A HUGE HUGE swarm was behind me and the buzz went RIght into my gut. Thoughts of the swarm engulfing me and stinging me to death freaked me out and while I panicked, I did react. 
I grabbed my shoes in my hand, left my clothes and started to just ride off with my sock feet on the pedals. But in a moment, the fear turned to oh PHEW as the swarm 'took a left and headed off towards the desert. The sound of that loud buzz was very very unnerving. Very quickly I put my shoes on and grabbed my shirts around my waist and BOLTED back to that van. I had a cold sweat with a high HR for a while.... 
But I was fine. 

The group all came together, we gobbled some calories, put the vans in the car and made the long drive back. 

Once again, it was time to run. 

Ouch. We were staying on a hill so the runs were all up up up, down down down. My legs were trashed, I was tired and it was hard. But, a few miles were in the book and another great day was logged. 

Camp!!!

Last fall, my friend  Bob invited me to join his group in Tucson, Arizona for their annual training camp.He's a coach with E3Training Systems. I'm not an E3 Athlete, but they were allowing non-E3'ers into the camp.  While the invitation was much appreciated, I admit I wasn't sure it was what I wanted to do. 

Why was I so unsure? It's a lot of work to go away without the family! Getting things all organized to continue on while I'm gone really takes some time and prep. And, it requires a lot of time off for my husband &  of course, there's the big expense of travelling across the country with a bike to boot. I went to TX for a training camp last year and really wasn't sure I wanted to take the time away to do that type of thing again. 

I waited until after Ironman Cozumel so I would at least know what my 2014 season would be focused on. After securing my spot in Kona, I knew it was probably  a good choice to kick off the season with some strong training out west. Maine is unpredictable this time of year and as it turns out, our winter was very snowy and even though it's mid-April, I'm still not able to ride outside safely here in Western Maine. 

Taken a few days before I left! :) And, we'll be back there again tomorrow! {that's Mark, my husband..}

I'm home from the AZ camp now. And wow, I am So so happy I went!!! I worked my tail off everyday, I spent some much needed time by myself &  away from the daily grind, and, I had a Blast. Seriously.... so much fun. I laughed to the point of almost tears almost every day I was there. Perfect. 

Day 1-- 3 a.m. wake up call and out the door by 3:30 en route to the airport. My 6:15 flight was delayed 2 hrs so that messed up the entire itinerary. Great start! But, lucky for me, the lady working the counter was quick and rerouted me on another airline with the same schedule! Bam! I had to hurry and haul a lot of gear by myself ( bike, suitcase, carry-on, purse) but I made it happen and was on my way by 6 a.m. Three flights later, 4 hrs next to a guy I think was on his way to rehab somewhere {yikes... what an interesting flight that was.. }, a  shorter trip with a young guy who believes in aliens and was sure the crop circles we were looking at were put there by them and I landed in Tucson HAPPY to see a familiar face! Our on site bike mechanic, sag vehicle driver  Josh Freeman, picked me up and shuttled me over to the group at our great resort in Tucson. I was really happy to visit with Josh & then arrive at the hotel with the rest of the crew. By 4:30 p.m. ( 7:30 Maine time...getting to be a long day since I started at 3:00!), we were off on our 1st little run to kick off camp. I can't say the legs felt good. But I didn't expect them to after the long trip. Heavy and tired. No big deal.... shake it out and get to bed. 

Day 2-- My 5:00 alarm didn't seem too bad even though the day before was nearly 21 hrs long. I was pretty excited.After all-- this is what we were doing by 6:00: 

Swimming outside!!!  Yes! The air was cool but the water was warm and the sun rose over the mountains off in the distance as we worked out. You can't beat that!!! 

Seriously!!! That was our view!

After the swim, we hustled back to our rooms to eat and prep for the long ride. A few of the groups made breakfasts in their rooms for the group or we could just eat what we had on our own. I did a bit of both. Borrowed some peanut butter, grabbed a few bites of pancakes, and took care of myself with a bagel & coffee each day. 

8:30 a.m. and the group gathered for the first ride of camp and MY first ride outside since that 112 spin around the Island of Cozumel on 12/1. I was a little nervous....we had a 100 miles ahead of us. Not only was it my first ride outside ( was for most of us ) but it was a LOT longer than I have been riding so far this spring.  

We headed off together but we all split up into small groups or on our own pretty quickly. When there are 17 people, there's a good chance you have a lot of different ability levels. I was with some people for a while, but then they went ahead. Some were behind me. After a while, I was by myself. And  honestly, I spent a large part of camp riding by myself. I was fine with that. I knew my friends were around me. Some of the guys were just too darn fast  & I rode ahead of some others. It gave me a lot of time to take things in and concentrate on my own riding. After about 50 miles, we came to the turn for Kitt's Peak. All I knew at that point was it was about a 12 mile climb. As we got closer, this is the view we saw: 

I wasn't sure where on that mountain  we were headed but the peak was clearly significant.  Game on! 

I liked this climb. It was steep, but not too steep. I felt strong. It was day 1 so the legs weren't trashed yet. I found a few friends to say Hi to on my way and that broke things up. E3 Coach Jorge rode by us at the top blasting: 

this song

Seriously!!! How great is that? I had about 2 miles left to climb and one of the most kick ass songs from the 80s is being played next to me as I pedaled! haha.. totally made me smile. 

 Alright, That is the pretty elevation profile of this day 1 climb. Nice huh!!  The ride up wasn't horrible really. It was hard, dont' get me wrong. I was just still fresh at that point. As I neared the top, it got COLD! The temps dropped dramatically as we were blocked by big  cliffs. Snow was even  seen in small piles along the road. Brrr.  It was fun to reach the top, high 5 with a few others who were already up, eat some boiled potatoes ( new thing this week for me ), get some encouragement and a warm coat ( only one? !) and then head down. 

Kitt's Peak Obervatory-- this is where we met at the top. You can see the road we were on leading up to the peak.

The ride down this peak, while only 12 miles, was possibly one of my hardest parts ( just one ) of the week and certainly the least enjoyable. ( well....maybe...more to come on the week  ) It was FREEZING!!!!!  It was scary with tight turns, steep sides, and because I was so cold, it was hard to brake. I stopped a couple times just to shake my hands out and regroup. I went so so slowly but was miserable from the hard cold descent. At the bottom, Jana and I actually got into Jorge's car to warm up for about 10 minutes. I was really happy to be done with that part. 

From there... we rode about 35-40 miles back to the resort. Only a handful of us made that final trip back. It was long, but my legs were fine. The biggest issue were the road conditions. Who would ever think that Maine roads would be in better shape than AZ roads? It was horrendous through a few sections. Just extremely rough and beat up.  
103 miles later...... I climbed off the bike. Finally. Hot, tired, and Happy to be done. 
Almost- time to do what we triathletes do next! 
Run!
It was actually a little pathetic. The road around our place was just up or down so that hurt. And made it even harder. It's one thing to ride 103 miles after a long winter on the trainer but it's another to ride 103 then run uphill in the desert. Ouch. There were a few little walk breaks to catch my breath. There were a few little breaks to bend down and stretch out the legs, or at least that's what I was telling myself I was doing. :) It was just hard. 
But, I did it! 
After that-- recovery time! The treat about that? It was truly my recovery time. Most days, my long workouts end with a rushed shower while gulping down whatever my post-wko food is IN that shower or at least in the bathroom then off to get the kids and move along to whatever that afternoon activity is. This post-wko chill time is part of what made this training trip a vacation for me. In addition-- the guys next door made us dinner!!! BONUS! I got to relax AND someone else made dinner. Voila-- a perfect day 1. 

That's enough for one post. I accidentally deleted all the photos I uploaded to use so I'm giving up for today.