Multi-tasking

I ended up taking Tuesday and Wednesday off exercise completely, but by Thursday was feeling improved enough to spend 45 minutes on an exercycle. Duck was taking RPM next door, but I know myself well enough to know that if I'd gone into her class I would have worked too hard and aggravated my injury. Instead I read my way through two magazines and a bizarre music video of women doing aerobics in g-string leotards (lots of pelvic thrusting). I didn't feel like I'd worked that hard, but my exercise gear was still wet with sweat, so my heart rate must have gotten up at least a little. I focused really hard on not letting my hips drop with each downwards stroke, and felt okay afterwards.

On Thursday night Nic, Leonie and I went to the opening night of Hamish's play, A Bright Room Called Day. This is Hamish's most ambitious project to date, and I was really quite nervous for him. It didn't help that I was sitting next to a theatre reviewer either! Thankfully John continues to be one of Theatre Militia's biggest fans. In the end the performance was brilliant and played to a full house. The depth of the acting is quite remarkable, and if any Wellingtonians read this blog they should do what they can to make sure they see the play.

With the play not starting till 8.30 it was midnight before I got to bed. One broken night's sleep later and I was up at 5.40 for Leonie and Nic's last RPM class. Dee went straight from track one into Sunstroke, Leonie's favourite massive hill, and things kept getting harder from there. I didn't feel my energy levels were quite up to their normal levels, but given the injury status and lack of sleep that probably wasn't surprising. After 40 minutes, right on cue, during the last track, the endorphins finally kicked in enough to enable some tentative yelping and hooting.

We followed THAT up with bubbly and breakfast at Rise, with me looking out for any managerial types who might note my not insignificant breach of my code of conduct. Back at my desk it quickly became apparent I was not going to stay awake for the rest of the day without chemical stimulation. One can of V kept me buzzing right through the afternoon.

Last night I messed with my training nutrition by drinking two bottles of cider and eating a Chicken Turboloo curry. Hmm, I worry about dehydration and nausea during runs, so I eat taste-bud annihilatingly hot spicy food and drink alcohol the night before my Saturday training? Excellent Pip, great plan!

Sarah and I had been weather checking, and knew that this morning was forecast to be very wet, with Southerlies predicted this afternoon. I toyed with the idea of putting off our training until tomorrow, but although less rain was predicted, the Southerlies were supposed to be strong. Figuring we'd prefer to train in rain rather than wind, we agreed that we'd meet up at 8.30 this morning. That and Duck telling me to let her know how we went made me feel compelled to turn up.

That said, both Sarah and I ended up waking up on and off all night listening to the rain, which was indeed heavy, and nearly talking ourselves out of going. But I reasoned with myself that it wasn't actually that cold (which it wasn't), and the rain had abated by 8.00 (a false security - it increased again after that).

Unfortunately neither of us timed our training, nor took note of what time we set out. We think it was probably around 8.40am, but we're not sure. We left from Freyberg Pool, running around the Bays for what was supposed to be two kilometres, before turning around and returning to the pool. We ran steadily, but neither of us was at top pace. My Addidas running jacket proved its worth, keeping me dry but not being overly warm to wear.

On our return to Freyberg both of us agreed that the distance felt more like 5km than 4, and a woman standing next to us backed us up. Our transition was slow, because we had to unlock our bikes and I had to take my bike shoes out of the bag on my back and get changed. Sarah took off ahead of me, but I managed to catch her up as we reached the 5km turn-around. Stupidly I'd taken my jacket off before getting on the bike, and of course I froze. There was just enough of a Southerly to make riding without something on my arms unpleasant, and they were red and goosebumped by the time we made it back.

On the return Sarah and I leap-frogged each other. We passed the Jog Squadders on their first Saturday morning group run, and it was heaps of fun waving and yelling encouragement to them all. I cruised at a comfortable pace, and I think I will ride significantly faster on the day, when I have other riders to chase.

Another transition, and it was time to run another 2km. Unfortunately 2km isn't long enough to shake off the bike legs, so we both felt leaden the entire run. Still, it's also not long enough to really suffer, and was out of the way very quickly.

On our way back we were running with and overtaking Jog Squadders, and Duck passed us while we were stretching out at Freyberg. It was a great feeling to get back to the pool and to know that we'd hauled our asses out of bed on a grotty Saturday morning and actually done the thing. We don't know what our final time was. We know it was under an hour, but we don't know any more than that. Both of us are targeting under 50 minutes for the SPARC duathlon on Sunday May 6th (3.5km, 10km, 1.5km). Based on today's evidence Sarah may still have a slight edge on me, but only a minute or two at most. I will really need to pick the cycling up though, because I know she'll really be pushing the run.

I was absolutely drenched, so took the time to change into tracksuit pants and a polyprop before driving quickly home so Nic and Leonie could borrow the Mazda. Unfortunately there was only enough hot water for a very quick shower (our old water cylinder isn't really big enough for more than two showers in a row, and I was number three), so I climbed into my PJs and jumped into bed. Even so, it took over two hours for me to finally start to feel warm.

The aftermath? I'm a bit stiff, particularly my problematic right side. I'll have to get the tennis ball stuck into my right glute tomorrow if I'm to avoid a killing by the physio on Wednesday. I'm not going to be at Jog Squad on Monday night, so I'll try to run Monday lunchtime instead. I'm optomistic I can start training again and not damage myself, so long as I take things easy. I needed to do this today for my head, to stay in a multisport frame of mind. I'm feeling like an athlete again now.