Sunday, August 18, 2013

Remembering.

I was planning on riding the TOBAY Runner's Edge bike course this morning with my daughter as a preview to the race next week (although registered I'm not racing). I got up and when I loaded the bikes on the car to drive to the start I noticed that my daughter's bike (stolen from my wife) had a flat. It had a flat the last time we rode. Since she IS racing next week, I decided to put new rubber on her bike and teach her to change a flat - just in case.

I did the back wheel and she did the front. We started the ride. About a half mile in we heard the sound of one her tires going flat. PSSSSSSSST. We stopped and it was the front  (I had a quick sigh of relief that it wasn't the tire I changed). We changed it again and rode the course.

A big problem for me on today's ride was that my daughter, being 17 years old and starting her XC season next week, is generally in shape. I, in contrast, am not, not even generally. She rode it. I slogged through it walking up one of the hills. It wasn't pretty for me.

But there were a few good signs with my ride amid the mess. One, I am now following the plan of my coach. Looking at TrainingPeaks made me realize that he actually thinks I'm not a mere shell of what my fitness was in the past. He'll learn once he sees the data. The normal of the aches and pains of training, even though it has only been a couple of days, are oddly good. Two, I was in the SF Bay area for the last week or so and didn't gain any significant weight. In past trips that would be good for a 5-10 pound gain. Three, I have a baseline on how far up that damn hill I got so next time there will be a gage to measure improvement.


5 comments:

TriMOEngr said...

More than once I've gauged my improvement by how far up a particular hill I could make it (or how awful I felt going up it) - thus the name of my blog. Sorry you are still struggling to find you way. Glad you daughter got her flat issues squared away before race day. Best wishes to her on her upcoming race and XC season.

MILF Runner said...

Double you tee eff? No bloggy meetup? I'm crushed. :(

Kate Geisen said...

Good that you taught her how to change a bike tire. It was a long time into my bike "career" before I could. Next up if you haven't already is changing a car tire. On your own in the middle of the interstate is a bad place to have to learn.

Glad you're seeing some positive signs. A friend suggested to me that I stop comparing what I can do now (running-wise) to what I could do a couple years ago. Looking at it from the starting perspective instead of the starting over perspective helps. A little.

Ransick said...

Awesome you got to ride with your daughter and teach her to change a flat. Also great you are liking the soreness of training. Even better you didn't gain weight in San Fran. Keep up the good momentum!

Carolina John said...

I bet the best part of the whole ride was getting to spend that much time with your daughter. Screw the walking, that's worth it right there.