Saturday, April 07, 2007

Good Friday and a pretty decent Saturday

It was good to see the end of this week. I spent Friday trying to catch up at the office after being gone, so by 5:00, I was out the door. Our church had a good Friday service that night and afterwards I met up with some friends at Surin West for a little Thai food and sushi. Can't say enough about that place. Oh, I did the unthinkable for lunch on Friday. We had a company lunch outing to Dreamland BBQ. You've heard me mention this place before. It has the best ribs I've ever put in my mouth. With a week to go before Powerman, Dreamland ribs is a big no no. Despite the catcalls and harassment I received from my co-workers, I was able to pass on the ribs and get a salad with grilled chicken. I even drank water instead of the blessed sweet tea. Wow, I was so proud of myself. I was the only one walking out of there not holding my stomach and feeling like crap.

Saturday - Big.Day. Very excited. Team Transitions (as ZBuck calls it) had scheduled a brick for 7 in the morning. I woke up around 5:30 to eat and get my stuff together. I made it over to Transitions just before 7 with the music rocking on the stereo. I was pumped. The problem was, no one else was there. Damn it. I'm going to have to do this alone. Not cool. Not fun. Nonetheless, I was there to train so I took off on my run. Did I mention it was freaking cold? 34 degrees was the temp with winds approaching downright ridiculous. Even though I had gloves on, my hands numbed up and swoll pretty quickly. I put in a quick three at my planned 7 minute per mile pace and practiced my transitions.
I took off on the bike to head over to the Powerman course. The wind, oh the wind was shocking. Somewhere along a straightaway my forehead froze to a point that it was painful. It was 6 miles to the course which was a perfect warm up before hitting the hills. I had just finished the first big hill and was heading down the other side, when I saw a familiar mug heading up. It was Coach. I spun my bike around and started sprinting up the hill trying to catch him. I caught up with him at the top where I found out the plan was to meet at the course rather than at Transitions. I headed off down the hill behind him where he took off and left me. Dude's been doing some work. He's not the same athlete he was the last time we rode together. He was an animal. With my legs still burning from that hill sprint, it was all I could do to keep him in sight.
I broke off from Coach back at the beginning of the course and decided to attack it again. It was a rough ride with the wind and cold, but it was well worth it. 37 miles of challenging hills and a stout wind is a good day for me.
Lauren and I went over to the Barber Motorsport Park to watch a Road Race. All Categories were represented, and it was a pretty tight event. It was exciting to watch, but at the same time tough to not be out there. Maybe next time. Hope everyone has a good Easter. Praise God there's a reason to celebrate tomorrow.

5 comments:

Shannon said...

congratulations on staying with the lettuce and chicken...you always feel better afterwards :)

Good luck at you upcoming race.

Happy Easter!! Rejoice!!

JeffM said...

Good job on the food control.
Great brick, hopefully the wind will be gone for the race.
Happy Easter!

Paul said...

Hey,

Thanks for the post on my blog. 34 Degree's! That's hardcore. I don't even have gear to train in those kind of temps! Good on ya.

Paul

Crash said...

drop the hammer 'till you pop on the upcoming race.

ZBUCK said...

Matt, where did you find that tri in Scottsboro? Email me and let me know some more info, I am up for doing that race!