weekend sufferfest

this weekend, as you may remember, i had two big workouts on my list.

#1: 14mi run immediately s/p an 8hr nursing shift. this nursing shift was straight from the 7th circle of hell, aka i didn't sit down once. needless to say, i didn't feel too fresh and peppy when i got started. and i have a cold, so i was snotty enough that my t-shirt could stand up on it's own by the end (i haven't mastered the whole snot-rocket thing.)  but it was a beautiful day in Concord, and that helped lessen the pain a bit. 2:24, on busted legs. could have been worse.

#2: BIG BRICK 70mi ride/4mi run. time to put the big girl panties on! it was 40 degrees when i left. did a route i'd never done before. [hint: this is foreshadowing]

turns out 7 mi of said route was 'under construction,' which in this case means there WAS NO ROAD. just dirt and rocks for 7 miles. took me forever and a year to snake my pretty princess tri bike through that mess. this route also had 1500+ ft of climbing. i did that part on purpose, and it wasn't too bad really (especially compared to TX hills) even on tired-from-the-day-before legs.

then i got lost. twice. then my GDDAMNED POS left rear aero cage broke! stupid rough "road" unscrewed the screws and buh-bye cage! then i got lost again.

i had planned for the ride to take me about 4:45. it took me SIX AND A HALF HOURS. between getting lost a bagillion times, stopping to check GPS because apparently there's no law requiring western Mass towns to LABEL THEIR EFFING STREETS like the rest of civilization, and trying to fix the water bottle cages, i added two more hours (and 5 more miles!) to my already loooongass brick. yay.

this mean that by the time i got off the bike, it felt like my vagina had been punched repeatedly with barbed-wire brass knuckles.

and this also meant the poor CTO and bebe had to wait around for me at the park for two hours! i was such a grumpy goddamn mess when i finally met them, i'm surprised they stuck around to run with me. all grumps aside, it felt surprisingly good to be off the bike and running, even with heavy legs that could only carry me 1:30 min/mi slower than my usual pace. i'm just glad i did it and didn't give up.

also, did i mention i have a cold, or allergies, or sinus AIDS? i had yellow goo running down my face/neck for all 6.5 hrs. in 40 degree weather. so i basically looked like this:

tell me, olde internete friends, are these long bricks supposed to suck? do they get better? or do you just get used to the ouch-factor? i was doubting my ability to do the IM for a little while today, not going to lie! (i pulled myself together, though. after surviving today, i figure IMLou will be manageable.)