I had a solid week of running. Pace continued to be upbeat for most of the week, although I had one day that was about 50 seconds slow. Body wanted recovery, so I did the required volume, but scaled the pace back a bit. It seemed to work, because the next day I was back in good form.
The weekend was perfect, with high 40's/low 50's for running on Saturday, and mid-to-low-60's for biking on Sunday. Saturday's run was odd...it started out rough with cramping low in both calves. I promised myself that I just needed to do the miles...if the pace was even two minutes slow, I would be proud of myself for finishing. What do you know, evidently it worked, because my splits the rest of the time were fan-freakin-tastic.
The bike ride started out beautifully, and I hope that the forth comming whine fest doesn't detract from that. AMA and I had a fine tail wind and clipped through almost 13 miles without a care in the world. It was sunny and felt grand. Muscles were relaxing, and once we got through the glut of people on the bikepath between Cherry Creek and REI it was smooth sailing. Knowing that Denverites are like puppies rolling in the grass on the first fine, spring like day, we opted to "go north". Heading up the South Platte River Trail is one of our favorite Sunday rides. We made it out to one of AMA's favorite suspension bridges, where he was able to get a few "product shots" of his bike that will hopefully show up in his blog later this week.
On the way back, we hit the spot that's always windy, and is even more brutal on a windy day. I had gone ahead of AMA (usually I ride behind, but sometimes I get over enthusiastic and pass for a bit). AMA generously attributes the fall to the wind. I think I am incompetent, wasn't paying attention, and found myself about to careen over the edge of the embankment. Either way, I dropped my front wheel off of the bike path, over compensated in an effort not to fall down said embankment (complete with rocks and shrubbery at its base), and fell over sideways.
I'm pretty sure it would have looked funny if I was, oh, watching it on youtube and it had circus music playing as I fell. Mostly it just hurt. I sat in the middle of the bikepath stunned for a minute, trying to similtaneously be brave, pissed off, and super-first aid lady. Okay...what hurts. I know you are supposed to start at the head and work your way down, but I went for the "Identify your injuries from hurts most to least" method. It is too a method! So...Left knee-check. Both hands-check. Side of left elbow-check (WTF, how did I get the side of my left elbow AND both palms?). Left hip---YOWZA that hurts. Left palm/wrist-internal, not road rash, something else. At some point in this proccess AMA showed up. He must have been the one who stood up my bike. He hugged me and asked if I was okay. I tried not to cry....I'm supposed to be awesome, not a baby. Shit roadrash hurts. He asked if I was cold. Stupid adrenaline was making me shake like a leaf. I poured some of my remaining water over the road rashy spots.
The Good
I got lucky, nothing was bleeding bad enough to make an ewww-y gooey mess. Most everything will scab, but nothing too awful. I was lucky that that particular stretch of bikepath doesn't contain a lot of debris...it was really pretty clean as far as road rash goes. Nothing broken. Maybe a sprain on the wrist and shoulder is kind of jacked up but nothing some TLC at home won't fix. The hip hurts, but I'm hoping the NatureMade saddle bags went to good use in protecting me from anything worse than an epic skin bruise (1 hour and it was already turning purple)
The Bad
AMA wanted me to ride out front so that he could keep an eye on me. I went sprinting off, or as "sprinting" the internal balance between adrenalin, tired legs, and head wind could manage. Didn't mean to, but it was a bit up tempo all things considered. Poor AMA was left trying to keep up with me without the benefit of adrenalin---then he had HIS go boom on a patch of ice. I felt like a jerk. for pushing it and should have forced myself to be more moderate.
The...There.
We made it home. I got washed up. Did a final non-medical-person-medical-assessment and pronounced myself "banged up". Took some ibuprofen, gorged on a bunch of random food and went promptly to bed. I feel better. We'll see how it all shakes out tomorrow, but I'm glad it's a zero day.
The Silver Lining
Girls with roadrash on their hands, a tetchy shoulder and questionable wrist get out of planks and push ups for a while!
Oh, and most importantly...it was gorgeous....the girl got to go outside...and I'd do it all again in a heartbeat!
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