A slight correction in direction…

Yesterday as I struggled to get through a bike ride, I realized it was time to adjust my bicycle goals, a slight correction in direction if you will.  It has been 10 weeks since I climbed on my bike and embarked on a regular effort to ride.  Before then my riding was spotty at best, and then there was the crash in February…



With the decision to return to the bike, I followed a strategy to ride several 12-15 mile days during  the week and increase my longer, Saturday rides by several miles a week.   The goal was to have everything come together for a 40-mile group ride on August 25 and several similar rides in the fall. The plan worked for a while, up to and including a strong 26-mile ride last Saturday.. 

Yesterday the plan called for a ride of 30-miles, only I didn’t feel it when I woke up. I was sluggish and slightly ill. Could have been the Mexican food we ate for Friday dinner or the restless night’s sleep (most likely aftermath of the food), but I felt like I had been hit by a truck.  We followed our usual Saturday plan, John left the house early to bicycle to Walland, TN  (about 27-miles) and I left 45 minutes later to meet him at the entrance to Old Walland Highway with fresh drinks and ready to ride.

I was running a few minutes late (gas gauge read E when I left the house-whoops) but it turned out to be a good thing.  All available designated parking areas and roadside shoulder parking spaces were filled with cars sporting bike racks.  Luckily, a few pulled out just as I arrived.  John was a little early which resulted in a rush with sunscreen application and drink transfer but we were on the road pretty quick. 

Mentally I had divided the ride into 3- 10 mile segments.  I focused on the  1st 10, which would take us just beyond the end of Walland Road.  Riding out was tolerable though my legs felt heavy and my mind was not focused on the task at hand.  I must have been complaining a lot because about 4-miles in, John asked if I wanted to go on or turn around.  I chose to go on.

As we neared the end of Walland Road and entered the 2nd of the 10 mile segments, some decisions had to be made... rolling hills or flat into Townsend, TN.  I chose flat, climbing would have ended the ride for me.  The Townsend police have been known to harass bicyclists so John suggested we take the greenway.  I think he was concerned about my lagging pace and possible panic in fast, heavy traffic.  Good call on his part.

As we bicycled  toward Townsend, John suddenly decided to cross 5 lanes of Highway 321 to pick up the greenway on the other side.  The frequent  hotel, restaurant and roads crossing through the greenway was driving him crazy.  We caught a brief (and somewhat scary) opening in traffic and hurried to the other side where we wound our way toward the Little River and a quiet 2-lane road that ran parallel to the highway.

At this point in the ride I knew that getting 30-miles would be difficult.  I needed more than 16 miles and we were only about 12 miles from the car.  We started doing loops on a residental street near the river until it occurred to us that the residents might think we were casing the neighborhood.  It was time to head back to the car.



The last miles were painful for me. I peddled and coasted, peddled and coasted. Somewhere around the Wesley Woods Camp driveway, where I stopped for the 2nd time in 4 miles, I realized it was time to redirect my goals. I will continue to struggle and suffer until I can increase endurance and strength so adding additional miles is pointless right now.  It was time to let go of my goal of 40-miles by the end of August. 

Coming to this decision did not make the rest of the ride easier.  I grumbled all the way to the car.  On several occasions I contemplated sending John to get the car and pick me up but my pride would not allow me to do this. As the wind picked up toward the end of the ride, John pulled in front of me.  Instead of being my protector by riding behind me or my companion and cheerleader by riding beside me, he became a life savor by pulling me back to the car….at a painfully slow pace for him.  I completed 28.25 miles, John, 55.75 miles.

I planned to take today off from exercise to formulate a training  plan (it will include dreaded hill repeats) and rest my very tired muscles, but I really couldn't sit still. I went out for a very short 1.5-mile run.  After discovering that running is not completely compatible with an aging body, I don’t run much in the way of distance these days but it was nice to get out and feel the pavement under my feet....something I am doing a little more frequently.

Foul riding...

I went out for a ride this evening, it was a mistake.  My legs were wobbly from the addition of running and steps to my workout schedule, I felt exhausted and I was a bit whiny.  Whiny quickly turned foul when I discovered my Garmin, which had been updated with the latest software last night, would not download a satellite signal.

I rode 3/4-mile loops around the neighborhood while I waited for the satellite signal to download.  It did not. John road with me, then around me and finally ahead.  He was silent with my inability to get over my technical malfunction and I was vocal.  Finally he suggested we go home and give it up for the night.

Upon arrival home, my Garmin promptly loaded the satellite signal...

When Did Running Get So Complicated….

Running use to be so easy.  Shorts, shirt, a favorite pair of Asics and maybe an iPod tucked in my pocket.  There was a great freedom in the act of running and each run was a new adventure.  Somewhere along the way, running became complicated. 

I don’t know exactly when it began.  Could have been the hip problem which had me in PT for months or maybe the foot issues that left me with a falling arch but sometime in the last year, running fell off my radar.  I replaced it with lots of walking and some bicycling and didn't think so much about running.  As far as I was concerned, my body was no longer able to handle the stress.

Then last week, a couple of girls from work asked me if I wanted to do a spring triathlon with them.  None of the girls are particularly athletic so the question came as a bit of a surprise.  Sure, I said without thinking. Then I started thinking....

During the endless chatter about a tri, someone (it might have been me) suggested we do the Marine Corp Mud Run in September.  The other girls dashed to their computers to look up last year's run and with a resounding "looks like fun, let's do it as a team,"  I once again I found myself caught up in a challenge, without thinking.  At this point I should mention that there is a 40 year difference between the youngest member of our adventure team and me.  Oh, and no one my age did the Marine Corp Mud Run last year. 

So tonight I found myself surrounded by a combination of running shoes, inserts and laces, attempting to find the right combination that will allow me to run somewhat pain free.  After a few starts out the front door, I ended with discarding my old Asics, new Brooks and new flat shoe laces. For tonight anyway the perfect combination was the new inserts, old round shoe laces and fairly new Asics 2160's. 

Fall in July?…

It’s been raining this week, big rain.  I 'm not complaining mind you, even though thunder and lightening disturbed my sleep for several nights. We have been suffering from temperatures that are too hot and ground that has become too dry, all too early in the summer season. Initially the potted plants showed signs of stress, then the gardens and finally our trees began to drop their leaves. 

One day last week, I stepped outside and realized that fall had arrived in July.  I am not sure what day it arrived, I hadn't mowed the yard in weeks.  But I had made frequent trips out to drag the garden hose around so I was paying attention (or so I thought) .  How could I not have noticed so many leaves be underfoot?



As soon as the rain ends and the grass has greened up, we will get the mower and blower out to clean things up for the next round of summer.  Meanwhile, for another day or two, we will enjoy the cooler temperatures and break from the task of watering.

Corn, Cycling, and Cooler Temperatures…

With June temperatures topping 100-degrees, we are going to spend the summer hunting for cool places to escape.  Wednesday, July 4th, we had just such a place in mind.  Old Walland Highway , located in Blount County at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains foothills, is a favorite of local bicyclists and runners.  Aside from relatively flat terrain (as flat as it gets in these parts), this nine mile stretch of two lane road provides beautiful scenery, lots of shade and pockets of cool air drifting off the Little River.  Nice destination on a hot summer day! 

I had a long bicycle ride on tap, well, long for me.  I think John considered it a warm up to his long weekend ride and a chance to encourage his wife in his favorite sport.  We got the bikes packed and left the house about 8:45 AM. Our drive was a quick 35 minutes along the country back roads in South Knox County. While Old Walland Highway is a multi-use road (motorists, motorcyclists, bicyclists and runners), it was clear by the large number of cars with bike racks parked in the parking areas,  bicyclists ruled!

 

View from the parking lot at the beginning of the road

Getting ready to ride!  We look cool and collected here.  At the end of the ride we were a hot, sweaty mess!

For as long as I have been cycling this road, summer means the 1st mile + is acres deep in  corn.   We have always assumed the family that owned the acreage would continue to farm and every July we could ride through their maze.  Then, a couple of years ago, we noticed large earth moving equipment in the back of the property.  A few months after that discovery, we found buildings going up.  So sad, so we didn’t go back for a while. 

Then the next year we discovered the owners had sold the property to the University of Tennessee for an agricultural farm.  Nice!  To the delight of all, the corn will likely continue to line the 1st mile or so of Old Walland Highway in the future.

One side of the corn maze

Old bridge that once connected Highway 321 to Old Walland Highway.  It has long since been replaced with a modern new bridge.  Luckily this little piece of history still stands.

Star etched into the concrete of the old bridge

                              The bridge is now a shaded footpath

 

         Little River from the abandoned bridge      

              

The turnaround point on the Townsend end of  Old Walland Road was once the only bridge, a one lane bridge that could accommodate one vehicle (car, motorcycle) at a time.   It too has been replaced.

We stopped at the halfway point for the photographer (me) to catch my breath, the photograhee was doing fine!

When we arrived back at the car, the parking lots were still packed.

Since John changed vehicles, neither of our cars have a hitch for the bike rack so he had to devise a creative way to transport our bicycles safely.

Only a man could come up with this system of Styrofoam and seat belts.  It worked well but the squeaking Styrofoam almost drove us crazy.

 After looking at all that corn along Old Walland Highway, we slammed on the brakes when we saw this...



Yep, 14 ears of corn for $5 at RivenDell Farm.  

I am never particularly good at describing rides (or runs for that matter). We pedaled and pedaled. I had moments of utter brilliance (in my mind anyway) and a few mental breakdowns. My legs felt strong, my legs felt weak. But in the end, I rode the 18-miles (my longest ride in over a year) and I overcame a bit of the fear that has recently dominated my bicycling attempts.

So now I have a goal, a plan to ride from the beginning of Old Walland Highway to the Wye at the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountains. The ride is about 40-miles out and back and I have my sights set on late September, a time that falls in between the heat of the summer and the crazy leaf peeper traffic in October. In between now and then, I have some riding to do!