“DAMMITTT!!!!”

DAMMITTT!!!!

In a single breath my training for the weekend was over…

I didn’t crash my bike… or twist my ankle… but it was over all the same.

I slowed down… dropped my focus… I’m sure I slumped my shoulders… turned off my iPod. I knew I had about 10 seconds to compose myself… to go from the serenity of training… and being in the groove… to anger at dropping my workout goals… and finally to being a nice and supportive partner…

I fall in next to her…

“What’s wrong?” I ask

“I suck”, She answers.

“No, you don’t. You just rode 50 miles pretty strong and you are running at what… like a 10 pace now?”

“I just suck, I can’t keep up”

I started to ask her just why she felt the need to keep up in the first place

I decide that silence is the best alternative…. Oh, silence, and running with her… my plans of lighting it up for 4 miles at an 8 minute per mile pace were over.

We ran together for another mile… I told her again how strong she rode etc… but inside I was still unhappy… she told me she wanted to cut the loop short and head home earlier than last week… she then told me that I could run the regular loop if I wanted but I was far too deep in my martyrdom for that… so we ran two and walked a half home.

We’d had a nice 50 mile ride… 17ish average… We rode the powers Ave to Mandarin to Fruit Cove and Durbin route…. Basically the same as the week before but with a lollipop loop at the end….

I had paid close attention to my heartrate… knowing that if I go over a certain number it’s too much for her and she’s off the back… Beautiful morning, almost no wind… traffic wasn’t a problem either… The only real problem was my mouth… I’d had a toothache for close to a week and I had woken up with it hurting a bit… and the ride made it no worse… but no better either… I contemplated whether or not to run at all… but, since my legs felt good… and with Mother’s Day looming I thought I’d best get in the mileage while I could….

I got off the bike ready and raring to spread my wings… to take off like Wiley Coyote when he got the Acme roller skates with the rocket boosters…

As usual, my transition had been a bit slow…. And my little blonde partner had left a minute or so before me. That’s okay. It’s better to just pass her than it is to start running with her and dread the awkward moment when I tell her that I’m running ahead.

I always try to figure out a way to loop around and run the last mile with her… as kind of a cooldown… so we can finish together…

About a half mile in I caught her… I slowed a bit and asked her how far she planned to run… she said “Oh, you aren’t ready to turn around now?” in a kind of kidding way… but she was not about to budge on an actual answer… she did, however, pick up her pace… I ran with her for another 100 meters or so and asked again “you running the same loop as last time?” Her answer was “I don’t know”….

Man… nothing… she’s not going to give me much to work with here… I casually say…. “I’m going to run a little bit different loop”

truth is… my plan is to run 4 miles to her 3… I can do it… but I’ve got to hit the gas… my plan is to turn two blocks after her turn from home and do an extra loop that will add a mile and still dump me off about a half mile from the finish for the aforementioned cooldown.

I stated to pick it up just a little… She falls a step behind… then two… 10 meters… then 20…

DAMMITTT!!!!