This’ll be a loooong post. I wanted to write a few blog posts over the weekend, and I never got around to it. So it’s all going on the interwebz today.

Friday evening, I met with my Plutonium Man relay teammates. I’d never met our runner — she’s the friend of a friend of mine — and I needed to know who to look for to hand off the timing chip. Our swimmer is a lifeguard from the club I belong to. Jeannie, our runner, couldn’t stay long as her son’s first football game of the season was that evening. Kelsey, our swimmer, arrived and advised she couldn’t stay, either, as she’d learned of a co-workers going-away party earlier in the day. I’d already ordered dinner, though, so I felt kind of stuck. I have to admit, it was pretty wonderful eating French fries. (They’re a rare treat!)

Kelsey did great on the swim. She hadn’t been in the river prior to the race, so her first OWS this season started by jumping off the dock for this race. I felt pretty good at the start of the bike, but something was off. I felt like I was sliding all over the place on the saddle. My thumb started hurting, making it difficult to grasp the aero bars. I kept switching back & forth between aero & the brakes to reduce the pain. I had to shift with my other hand because I couldn’t make the lifting motion to move the shift lever.

The worst of it was my contact patch. I’ve never been in this much pain on the bike. It didn’t matter what I did. Usually I can alleviate the pressure by engaging my core, but that did no good. It felt like I was sitting on a seat made of lava. The pain in my thumb was enough that I would have quit if this wasn’t a race and I didn’t have teammates counting on me; you can imagine how awful the tender-bits pain made things. I picked up the pace toward the end, deciding that the sooner I got off the bike, the better I’d feel. I averaged 16.8 mph on the course; that’s the fastest I’ve ridden on this bike (and I believe there was more elevation gain than Race the River).

The contact patch pain lingered longer than it should have. I surveyed the area using a mirror and I discovered abrasions – there should never ever be abrasions in such a tender & sensitive area! I have no idea what went wrong. Same bike, same clothes, same rider as three weeks before, and that ride was almost twice as long and it had more chipseal (more vibration). It’s possible my achy hand changed my position on the bike, but that doesn’t address why I felt like I was sliding all over the place. I don’t need to ride this bike again until next year, but I may get on the bike for a short spin to see what happens.

I was also supposed to do a 6-mile endurance run this weekend. I’d wisely moved that run to Sunday, but my legs were still a little tired. Based upon the tempo run I’d done during the week, I changed my run/walk ratio to run a mile, walk five minutes. I like it! It gave me a better overall pace than my previous endurance runs. Currently, it’s a pace best suited for flatter courses, but I’d like to try it with the upcoming half-marathon. (I’m not sure I’m fit enough to keep that ratio up for 13 miles.) Unfortunately, it’s not going to do me any good with the Multnomah Falls trail run, though.

The Hubs announced that he wanted to take the canoe out. I bought a rack for the truck, but it was still in the box. It took us a fair amount of time to put the rack together and get it installed on the truck, so we decided that was enough for a day. We went out in the canoe on Sunday. We put in at Chamna, and paddled around in that area. The Hubs really enjoyed it. I’ve mentioned drifting down the Tapteal Water Trail (from Benton City to the Tri-Ciites), and based upon our experience this weekend we’re going to work toward that. The Hubs thinks we should start off about half-way up the trail and just run the last section of it before attempting the entire distance.

The more amazing thing? We managed to put together and install the rack, load the canoe, paddle the canoe, and put the canoe back on the truck without, at any point, getting into an argument. I’m still in awe.

Monday was a small flurry of activity. I was tired, because I was awake from around 1-3 a.m., so I didn’t get started with my chores as early as I’d planned. I baked two pies for CFF Cycle for Life donors and some sourdough rye bread for us, and I canned a bunch of black beans & black-eyed peas. With the left-over pie crust I made a couple of little apple pies and a cherry pie, and with the left-over apple pie filling I made small apple crisp. We grilled chicken thighs & corn for dinner, and spent the evening on the patio with a small fire in our fire pit. It was a nice, relaxing way to end a very pleasant weekend.

While I was rolling out pie crusts, The Hubs came in to the kitchen and asked if there was anything he could do. I said I didn’t really know what help I needed, but I could use a hug. That made for a nice treat. He also helped keep the kitchen tidy and folded almost all of the laundry without nagging. And this was before he realized I’m made several small pies for us to keep.

I also had a run workout on Monday. It was day three of leg workouts, and I could really feel it! I was running 2:2 intervals. I’d set my pace for the intervals between 8:00/mile and 12:00/mile – I could barely manage the 12:00/mile pace. My legs were TIRED. I’m happy that today is a rest day, and that I can spend some stretching and relaxing. I’m hopeful this tired-legs training will pay dividends at mile eleven of the upcoming half-marathon.

Today is my birthday. I had to remind The Hubs this morning, and I asked him to not bring home flowers. I’m still curious if we didn’t get into any arguments this weekend because he decided that would be his birthday gift to me: just let the little stuff go. Whether it is or not, perhaps I shall do the same for him on his birthday.