As I continue to get back into race shape, I am starting to get more intensity in my training from Lindsay at Carmichael Training Systems. In comparison to getting going again after having Juniper, I feel like I have gotten fitter much faster this time. Although I’m not as fit as I have been at other times in my racing career, I’m hoping I’ll get there at some point soon despite a few weeks of less training due to moving.
While out training on Friday and Saturday I found new training partners in unexpected places. During some endurance miles on the road bike with both kids in the Chariot on the bike path, I got passed by two guys on singlespeeds. I pushed the pace a little to jump in behind them which was good since I think I had been lolly-gagging a little. After a few minutes, I realized another man I had passed also dropped in to draft off the Chariot. When the singlespeeders turned off, I was concerned that I was either going to have to let this man (on a mountain bike and not super fit looking) pass me (not easy on my ego), ride ridiculously hard to stay ahead of him (it’s always a race isn’t it?) or chat it up (my mom always told me not to talk to strangers). We ended up chatting for the next eight or so miles while also pushing each other a little harder than we had been riding. It turns out this guy had been laid off with the economic downturn and started riding his bike a few hours each day about five days a week. He had already lost twenty pounds in less than a month and a half and made the second half of my ride go by quickly.
The following morning I was excited to get out on a trail run by myself after a week with Ian away and training with the kids everyday. My solitude lasted about the ten minutes it takes me to get from the new house to Red Hill where a young dog decided to join me on the remainder of the training session. After trying to convince the little guy (no collar) to ‘go home’ and to ‘get you mommy’, I gave up and hoped we’d find his owner on the trail. I asked each person I passed if they had seen the dog with someone earlier on the trail but no one recognized him. Despite wanting nothing to think or worry about on the run, I found this guy to be a great running partner. He stayed right with me and listened well – hard to believe no one was out looking for him. We ran into some friends and finished up with them reassuring me that I should run him back to the house and call animal control. Sometimes things fall into place as I found a leash at the trailhead that someone must have lost which got us down the road to the house. Although this little guy was a great running partner, he had some serious separation anxiety and barked whenever I was more than a few feet away. Animal control was shockingly super friendly and caring and brought the lost dog to the shelter. Although no one had called the shelter at that point looking for him, I have hopes that the owners found him.
Despite not ever training with these partners again, I feel like they got me jumpstarted again. I think I have one more week of hectic training sessions, parenting, work and unpacking and then I can concentrate again on getting back to top form.
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