What a fun week of running and riding. I got in fewer running miles than normal this past week - high 20s - but they were, for the most part, quality. The humidity knob was seemingly turned up to 10 every time I set off. On a couple of occasions that precipitated a new, tougher attitude as I pushed through the initial discomfort to knock out a 10 and 8.5 miler. On the final day of my running week (yesterday), however, the drippiness (not a word, I know) of the previous days caught up to me and kicked my ass. Three miles in and I was toast (albeit soggy, crumbling toast). My sometimes running buddy, Adrian, earlier had passed me going the other way, also in a sorry state. I had thrown out the usual encouraging platitudes- not realizing that I, like him, would shortly succumb to the elements.
What followed was a slow slog (as opposed to a fast slog) back to the trail head at a pace I don't care to share publicly. Still, to make a silver lining out of lemons (or lemonade from a cloud), we need bad runs every now and then in order to appreciate the good ones. So I'll take it. I'd rather be out on a bad run than sitting at home in front of the TV.
Biking was a different story. I popped back out to the trails after a run and put the Rock Hopper 29 through its paces. I didn't my Garmin with me, but I am relatively certain that I pulled one of the top 3-4 fastest loops I'd ever done. Everything flowed. The tires were at just the right pressure that there was very little slippage on turns or during uphill acceleration. I finished with a smile on my face and gas in the tank - as it were.
Finally, when I completed the 10 mile run last week, a guy in the parking lot handed me something called PowerIce. It is basically a frozen stick of sweet ice like kids eat. But PowerIce is billed to have electrolytes that one wants after/during a long run. The guy said he was an investor in the company. I was melting from the humidity. And the stick of Gatorade-ish flavored ice went down nicely. The product hasn't quite made it here yet, but look for it relatively soon. It would be a nice summer supplement to have on hand. Here's a link to PowerIce http://www.powerice.com/
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