Onwards

On the bike with Spamsi and friends. At this point she was the only one who knew the way home. And the swim finish for the "Escape from the Rock", low budget version of "Escape from Alcatraz". More fun and accessability for the spectators, more laid back. There was also the option of competing just in the swim.

Can someone find my real legs cause these ain't the ones I went to Bighorn with. Har har har, oh man this race has got me on longer recovery than usual. Really did a number to my system. It definitely tested my limits and I appreciate, much more now, my finish.

Recovery is slow but steady. I set myself back a little bit by going too long on the bike ride last Saturday but it went a long way into controlling the weight gain from all the eating I was doing. Besides it was really nice to get out and I knew from the map that we would visit a couple of my favorite places; Pt. Reyes and Tomales Bay. I was also promised a car ride out of San Francisco for a Marin start, much nicer because you get to avoid the time consuming, rhythm breaking traffic of San Francisco, the Bridge and Sausalito. I've kept up with the spin classes but have not been on my bike since the Wildflower Triathlons in May. My weekends after Wildflower were devoted to the final preparation for Bighorn. It was nice to be riding around again. I tell ya, being able to travel so far, so smoothly with less effort was a welcome experience and to be in the company of good friends. These guys I was riding with, Spamsi and friends are training for the Seattle to Portland ride in two weeks. Thank God for my bike.

This past Tuesday I went to Track and ran the whole workout. Slower but steady and even though I felt somewhat awful at the start, all tight and with "leaden" legs, I felt a lot better in the end. Definitely a big disparity between my perceived level of effort and how fast I was going but I'm so thankful I don't have to deal with blisters anymore or sore toes. Nutrition wise, today is the first day that my appetite feels normal again. The last 10 days I've been eating like a farm animal, pig comes to mind. Lot's of brown rice, meats, sweet drinks and my weakness, sugar. I was pretty sure I had gained all that I lost from the race and maybe even gained a couple of over compensatory pounds. Today I got on the scale and was pleasantly surprised. I'm 1.5 pounds lighter than my starting weight. I must have burned a lot of calories for me to be under despite the "eatfest" I've been on the last 10 days. And yeah that bike ride was a huge help too, notice I'm not giving out the distance or time. There is at least three people who follow my blog who would give me the cyber equivalent of a slap in the back of the head if they knew....you know who you are.

So what's next?
Bunch of races. The next A race on the horizon is the Headlands Hundred on Aug 11-12th. I hope it doesn't fill up because I have yet to sign up. I have to recover from my expenses from Bighorn before I can sign up for another race. This racing stuff is getting expensive, IS expensive. The other A race is the Big Kahuna Triathlon in Santa Cruz, a half-ironman event in September. That one is going to be fun, planning on getting folks together and renting a house this time. No more driving the day of and driving back after the race. There's a bunch of other stuff happening in the fall but I'm still sorting those out; Firetrails 50M and the Quad Dipsea is in the mix. I'd probably also do a 50k here and there just for training. According to my schedule there's the Angel Island 50k next weekend. Hmmm, sounds like a great race to get back in the groove of things. We shall see. All depends what my body tells me at this point. It will be ready when it's ready.