Day 1, Week 6: Pros and Cons.

I didn't blog yesterday because I was pretty much exhausted by the time I sat down to do so.  It's amazing how much a 35-mile ride will do that to you (not really). 

In terms of pros and cons, "exhaustion" is most definitely a con of training for a long-distance race of any kind.  In fact, let's review some of the pros and cons of the workouts for the past few days, shall we?  Because that's really all I have time for before I pass out again from today's workout, which was a 13 mile run if you really must know.  And I guess you do need to know, since this is a fitness blog and all.

Anyway, to the pros and cons!

Pros:

• Temperatures were very, very nice (60s and 70s with low-ish humidity) considering it's July in northern Illinois.  That meant I didn't have to go out as early in the day to get the workouts done.
• It stayed cloudy for both workouts.  It's always nice not being fried by the sun when you're trying to get some distance in.

• I am really enjoying the bike riding - way more than I thought I would
• I spent a total of 4-ish hours working out this weekend and that makes me feel like a badass. 
• I actually met other cyclists on the ride on Saturday, who all gave me weird looks as they passed me and realized I was blasting music from seemingly nowhere on my bike.  Nowhere, by the way, is from the little pouch on the front of my bike where I stow my bike speaker.
• I did not crash on my bike and did not get hit by any cars on the run.  Always a plus.
• I took some pretty awesome selfies with my bike.

• I got to wear my Partridge Family shoes on the run I did off the bike on Saturday.

Cons:

• Doing a long bike ride and a long run in the same weekend makes your legs, you know....tired.  I'm realizing I will need to take it easier on the bike to get the run done on Sunday.
• I'm also realizing that the long runs are not going to be at the pace I would normally run them at--I'm going to have to slow them down too.  I'm still in the process of convincing myself that training low to race high will actually work.
• Large dog went with me for the first 7 miles of the run because he begged me to go...and then he kept trying to lay down every half mile.  BUH.

• I sure do know how to make a mess of my transition area.

• I made and ate the BEST japaneno popper tater tot casserole on Saturday night which caused me to spend a lot of time looking at the inside of a corn field on the run today.  In case you don't know what that looks like, here you go:

So what can we learn from the random lists above?

• Don't eat japaneno-baked goodness the night before a long run (this is a lesson I'll have to re-learn because I freaking love jalapenos)
• Always bring toilet paper with you on a run
• Large dog is getting lazier and lazier during the run
• I have too much crap in my dresser drawers
• I am a masochist because, you know, two huge workouts every weekend for me!
• A blog post can never, ever have too many bullet points.  Ever.

Tomorrow's workout: Upper body weights because I'm freaking tired.