January 1, 2010

Happy New Year!

Two accomplishments this week.

Last night I realized that I only needed 8.7 km of running to reach 500km for 2009. How could I resist? My shins were sore and I had considered going to the gym to use the elliptical instead, but now I was torn. Should I try for the miles just to make the numbers nice and round for the New Year, or should I rest my shins?

In the end, I chose to run, although I switched down to 5/1 run walk to baby them a little. By the time I hit the road, it was dark, -2, icey, and snowing. A perfect time to try out my new Salomon XT Wings! I decided to forgo the orthotics for this first run, since they are already a stability shoe and they felt a teensy bit tight with them in. I also wore my new Bike/Run merino wool socks. The shoes felt really comfortable for the whole run.

I did a good warm up and then ran the 3km out and back section, 3 times. The shoes didn't help much on the ice, and I wasn't really expecting them too, but my feet were very warm and dry. By the last loop, my left knee was getting tight so I took even more walk breaks but I got 'er done. Yeah baby.

(Today, I double checked my stats, comparing my two logs, and I found I actually only have 74 km for December, but 502 km for the whole year. I am happy about that.)

Accomplishment Number Two

Today was the 100k trainer challenge. Quite a few people signed up on both Buckeye Outdoors and the Daily Mile websites, and a few others just told me verbally on twitter. Overall, there were 7 who tweeted about their results.

They were:

DaveGilli - from the UK who did a 100km commute in subzero temps today!
Coachprs - Jeff who was the first to finish in 3 hours this morning!
Gabox_ - my friend from Mexico who rode the trainer for 3.5 hours today!
Gabsatrucker - who finished the whole 100km at the same time I was riding!
Milkthecowbaby - Jon who finished the challenge half in a spin class and half on the trainer!

Honorable mentions go to:

Tri2conquer - who managed 50km before he succumbed to a bad sinus cold
Picsiechick - who set a personal best on her 50km ride.

Can't forget my good friend gdwscott who tweeted, "I'm afraid I managed 16K, got bored and gave up. But I was there with you for a while anyway!" LOL!

These are only the ones who tweeted their results on twitter today. I know there were a few more who finished on Daily Mile and Buckeye, as well as a few who have committed to doing the ride tomorrow.

Congrats everyone, doesn't it feel great! (and awful.. ;)

My quads are pretty sore right now and I doubt I'll feel like doing much tomorrow.

No worries, Happy New Year everyone!

My time? I had a 1 minute and 23 second PR from last year, finishing up in 4:06:22.

For what it's worth, there is a lot of variability in trainers, and it's difficult to accurately measure your distance, because it depends in part, on the tension it's set at. We have two trainers, same brand but different years, and one has a heavier fly wheel than the other. Erik is kind enough to take the 'hard' trainer, and finished his 100km in 4.5 hours. I can attest that his trainer is definitely hard to get the speed up very high. Erik is a much stronger cyclist that I am and the difference in our times is not accurate. However, we still think it's fun to try to ride to 100 km. instead of just for time....