Greensboro Training Camp

Last weekend I went to Greensboro to spend the weekend training w/ my friend & bad-ass triathlete Jordan:

Yeah, she's pretty ripped & pretty fast!

It was so much fun to be back in Greensboro and spend time catching up during 12 hours of workouts in 3 days.  Jordan had a 10,000 yd swim planned for Friday and there was no way I wanted any part of that.  So I left a little later on Friday morning and got there around noon after she crushed one hundred 100's.  We hopped on the bikes and headed out towards Caraway mountain.  I was worried that I was going to be dying on the hills, but surprisingly my legs felt pretty good spinning up them.  I also felt pretty comfortable getting up some real speed going down those big hills.  We rode for 90 minutes then did a 4-mile negative-split transition run.  Again, my legs felt surprisingly spry given the terrain.  That evening we relaxed by getting bright pink pedicures and fueled up for the next day with some delicious veggie fajitas!

Saturday morning I slept in and then went to Starbucks while Jordan went to the pool and cruised through another 4,000 yds!!!  After that, it was all about the bikes.  It's kinda funny that we both used to have blue Cervelo P2's and now she has a new matte black Specialized Shiv & I've got my new matte black Felt IA - I feel like we've both upgraded and graduated, haha.  Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate so we had to start our 5-hour ride on the trainer.  Every hour we checked to see if had stopped raining, but it kept coming.  Finally, 3 hours later the rain stopped.  It was still wet outside, but we were pretty much done with the trainer so we headed outside and rode my old usual loop to round out 5 hours total in the saddle.  It was really fun and I felt like a giddy kid while riding that old familiar route :)  By the end of that ride, my legs were filled with fatigue.  That night we ate at my all time favorite restaurant (Boba House - omg soooo good), sipped a little of Shannon's homemade apple pie moonshine, and fell straight asleep.

Sunday we woke up early and got running.  We did a 2-hour loop starting on the insanely hilly Greenway that used to be the staple of my weekend long run.  It was glorious.  So many great memories of hard workouts and what a great change of scenery and terrain from flat-as-a-pancake Wilmington!!!  We got in almost 14 miles before making a quick transition back onto the bikes.  Jordan had a gnarly set of trainer intervals prescribed, but I really wanted to take advantage of riding outside in Greensboro while I was there so I decided to do my entire 3-hour ride outside.  I rode another one of my favorite loops and enjoyed the hell out of it!  I hit up every hill I could find and omg at about 2 hours into it I was exhausted.  I stopped at a country gas station (the kind where the locals all meet up for breakfast and a cigarette) for some nourishment.  "What the hell," I thought.  "I'm going to get a Moon Pie for old time's sake."  Moon Pies used to be one of my favorite things to eat on long rides.  The double decker ones have 300 calories and 55 grams of carbs - perfect for when you are about to bonk or already have.  I was sitting in the rocking chair outside the gas station eating a moon pie and drinking a Gatorade and thinking about how tired I was.  I started to wonder how on Earth I'll ever be ready for Chattanooga in only 28 weeks, doubting whether or not I'll be able to do it.  For some reason, even though I had already eaten the entire moon pie, I decided to look at the ingredients list to see if they were still vegan (aside from the gelatin) and lo and behold I saw this:  !!!!

Talk about receiving a sign at the perfect time!  There is no way anyone can convince me that this was a coincidence!!  I keep getting signs and so far all signs point to Chattanooga!  I got back on my bike and finished the final hour of the ride.  It was really windy but I felt nice 'n comfortable in my aero position.  On one of the final flat straight-aways I had a massive tailwind and I felt like pushing it for the first time on this bike.  I got up to 35 mph which was pretty exhilarating!  I can't wait for more long rides on my bike!!!  I think I've said this before, but I know I haven't even scratched the surface of what this bike can do and that thought is very exciting.  At the very least, it gives me a reason to plan another training trip to Greensboro (yeah, like I need a reason).

It was a great weekend with a great friend & I can't wait to go back.  In the meantime, if there's anyone in Wilmington who is not doing Quintiles and wants to ride 5 hours on Sunday LMK!