Memorial Day Weekend Tune up

As I write this I'm setting at home enjoying a cup of coffee after a great weekend of training. I took Friday off from work as I had a huge weekend planned and I wanted to be able to enjoy Monday with my wife instead of training all day. So what was on tap? A century ride each day. Followed by a run on two of the days. The idea here is that we are really trying to build the bike fitness as we can't push the run miles up too much. So here is how it played out: Friday - Luckily, a teammate and friend of mine was in town and had Friday off as well. He is also coached by Muddy so we had similar weekends ahead of us. We slept in a bit and rolled out of town around 9am. We hit the climbing right away. I was astounded with how great my legs felt. The rest of the ride was either flat or rollers. We stopped at a really cool state park to get some water (which ended up being tough to find!). The park is right along the Willamette river south of town in the country. Lots of green space, etc. Anyway, we made our way back to Portland area and dumped the bikes and took off for our 30 min run. It was supposed to be easy and did feel easy except for the hills. However, at one point Jonathon asked me what we were running. I looked down and said 7:20-30. We both laughed about it...as that pace would not really be considered easy :) Saturday - Big team ride that left from our main sponsor's shop, Athletes Lounge. We had a good range of athletes on this ride: 9:10-9:30 guys up to 11 hour guys and gals. As we rolled out I was definitely curious to see how my legs would react. We rolled out about 90 minutes of flats until we started a 12 mile climb (gradual grade). I was very happy to be climbing with the front of the pack with relative ease. That being said, the pace was not pushed. If it had been I wouldn't have been towards the front. I could now feel the fatigue in my legs. Despite that, I still felt pretty decent. We basically made a giant loop out towards Scappose, Vernonia, Timber, Banks, and then back into town via West Union with a final climb up the backside of Thompson. That final climb hurt, but I felt ok going up it. I didn't try to push the pace, just to relax and stay seated. That day ended with 101 total milage, about 4500 feet of climbing. Sunday - I rode by myself. It started off pretty interesting as I ended up on gravel roads. It was about a 20-30 minute stoppage (well just REALLY slow riding/walking) to get back to main roads. It was pretty frustrating. However, I did make it out finally and was able to resume my ride. I was definitely feeling fatigued on this ride. It was more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge however. And I know that is what Muddy wanted. Obviously there would be physical gains, but the mental gain was just as important, if not more. So I rode along trying to enjoy the beautiful Oregon country side. I ended up with about 4k of climbing so not a ton, but I had to ride mostly flats the second half of the ride to make up for all the slower parts earlier. It all worked out in the end. I hopped off the bike and put on my runners for a quick five mile run. I was happy with how it felt. My legs werre heavy, but I was able to get into a nice rhythm and click off the miles pretty easily. So there you have it. 300 mile weekend with some solid runs on top of two of the rides. I am happy with how the fitness is progressing! Thanks for taking the time to check in!! T