TRI-ing to Run DC: Weekend Recap: Labor Day Edition

Hello Hello! Happy Tuesday! I hope every had a wonderful long weekend.

My weekend started off with getting out of work early on Friday. Yay for early dismissal! I had great plans of heading home, and then going for my 14 mile run. That didn't happen. As soon as I got home, I realized that I didn't have any GU, Honey Stinger chews, etc.. I originally was planning on going to City Sports during lunch, but that didn't happen either. Something came up at work, and I ended up eating at my desk, and not walking to City Sports. Long story short- I ran errands instead of running 14 miles. I did, however, come back with some pretty exciting stuff! I picked up my first container of NUUN- which I tried as soon as I got home. :) I also picked up some new GU flavors, and the Honey Stinger waffles. I was super excited to try them out on my long ride and run. Friday night, I also received a package from a high school friend who sells NUTRILITE Sports Nutrition products. Kate was nice enough to send me a box of sports nutrition goodies to try out. Thanks Kate! Product review on the NUTRILITE goodies to come later. :)

I finally bought nuun. So many people rave about it, so I thought I would give it a try.

Yummy! They might become my favorite workout snack.

They will have this on the IM course, so I wanted to make sure it wouldn't upset my stomach..

New GU flavors. Strawberry Banana, Mint Chocolate and Lemon Sublime

And here comes the drama- Saturday morning I was supposed to do a 94 mile ride with Team Z in Davidsonville, MD. I was pretty excited about this ride. 94 miles would have been a distance PR, and I had a bunch of new snacks to try try out. Plus last week was a little stressful, so I was looking forward to a long sweat session with my awesome teammates. Unfortunately, I was not able to finish the ride. Earlier last week, I changed saddles. I switched from a $20 Nashbar saddle to the Adamo Road saddle. UPGRADE! :) Everyone seems to love their Adamo, so I thought I would too. Regardless of how awesome this saddle was supposed to be, I knew I didn't want Saturday's ride to be my first ride with the new saddle. So this past week, I did my 2 bike workouts with it, and I didn't have any issues with it. Woohoo! I thought Saturday's ride was going to be great. I could not have been more wrong. After about 15 miles, I started having shooting pain in my lower back. I could not get comfortable in the saddle, and as a result, I could not get comfortable in my aerobars. For fear that I was going to seriously hurt myself, I decided to stop after the first loop. :( Riding 43 miles did not give me a new distance PR, and left me feeling very frustrated and disappointed. Even though I loved the Honey Stinger waffles, the ride still sucked overall.

After my ride from hell, I headed to West Virginia to see my family. I love my family! They always know how to make me feel better. I got to spend time with my sister, who just moved back from Seattle, my grandparents, my cousin, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my niece! Saturday was filled with lots of catching up, relaxing, and eating. I think I probably ate my weight in food this weekend.

Sunday morning, Fuzzy agreed to ride his bike with me while I did my long run. 14 miles is much easier when you have your personal SAG crew. The run went all right. It definitely was not my greatest run to date, but I survived. I managed to run 14 miles in 2:08- which is a little slower than 9 minute/mile pace. Not too shabby. The best part of the run was my mint chocolate GU- it was so good! Getting a chocolate milkshake after the run was my second favorite thing. If you were to ask Fuzzy what his favorite part of the run was, he would probably say watching me jump up and down like a crazy person when I almost stepped on a black snake. :)

Fuzzy before my run. Doesn't he look happy to be up so early on a Sunday??

Milkshake = BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS!

Ater my run, I was able to get a nice little nap in before the family came over. Sunday afternoon was very similar to Saturday- lots of talking, relaxing, eating, hanging out with my super cute niece, and watching the Mountaineers beat the Thundering Herd. Lazy Sundays are my favorite!

Duke was clearly exhausted from his morning run too.

Before heading back to my place on Monday, I took Jordan (my niece) to get her nails and toes done. SUPER FUN! Jordan and I both had a blast. I could not have picked a better way to spend my morning.