Mmmmmm

First real protein shake workout since Ironman, and oh how good it feels! I took the recovery thing out a little longer than I wanted, but life got busy, and that's ok. My little family and I went camping Sunday-Tuesday up a local canyon and it was great! Didn't bring a wetsuit, didn't bring the bike, yes, I did bring my running shoes though :) Got a great 6ish mile run in up the canyon, on a trail, then back down the canyon. Felt great! The first couple miles I felt like I was sucking wind and that was a little un-nerving as I didn't want to think I'd have to rebuild any fitness, but by the end I was holding a strong pace and feeling good. My hubby also went on a run. He's more of an ultra style runner than I am. Not in distance per-say, but in the kinds of runs he likes. He likes to climb mountains. He likes to bushwhack, he likes to pothole through snow. I LOVE me some trail, don't get me wrong, I just like trails that let me open up and run fairly fast. But anyway, I expected him back in 2 hours, and 3:45 later I was about ready to call in search and rescue, kind of scary, but thankfully he was fine, just very worn out from all the exposure. Lesson to be learned : Run only out and back on a trail you're unfamiliar with.

I haven't gotten up early to workout except maybe once or twice since Ironman, but today woke up at 5:30am (thank you early sunrise!), loaded the bike in the car and drove to the course of my next race. Mmmm, GREAT tempo ride! Rode the course twice, with it's 2 l..o..n..g uphills each time. Rode aero all the way down the big hill for the first time. I feel so much safer and confident in aero on the new bike. Those cross winds seem so much more manageable with an aggressive position. It was a beautiful sunny early morning, had a great ride that makes me think I haven't lost all my fast twitch through IM training (which I know I haven't, I still worked a lot of speed through IM training). Can't wait for this race season to get started!