Prince William Forest Park

Happy Tues everyone. I ended up having not only a great race, but an overall great weekend while visiting my friend in VA Beach.

While I am still super excited about my race time - I'm going to skip over writing a race report today and talk about Ms and I lovely bike ride on Sunday.

We had brought our bikes with us to the beach and our original plan was to meet up with a local bike shop and go for a ride. However it still seemed super cold in the morning, so we decided it would just be smarter to go later in the day. Stopping at Prince William Forest Park off 95 on our way home made perfect sense and we got there around 11ish. Perfect! Plus the park is only about 35 minutes outside of DC.

I have only rode here once and it was a big fail last yr. I had to walk my bike uphill. ha. I was scared the same thing was going to happen to me this year, because well I suck at hills and I haven't rode on any really since the fall. But nope. Didn't have to walk at all this time.

What is nice about the PWF Park is it's about a 11.5 mile loop that basically no cars drive on. I liked looped courses early season because it's nice to know you are always close to your car if your feet happen to freeze off. Plus there is a visitors center with a restroom you can use which is a big plus for me.

The loop has about 912 feet of climbing - and most of the hills seem to be in one section so your legs are really working. And by working I mean I was going 4mph up hill. Slow Slow Slow. And the down hills - fun but scary. Going 36mph weeee.

Overall it was a good ride and we just did two loops for 24 miles with 1,824 ft of climbing. I will def. be coming back here because it's a great area to ride plus I need hills, hills, hills this year and these ones are nice and close.

Have a great Tues :)

Winter Cycling

Last year I wouldn't, I mean I didn't, even think of riding outside this time of year. It was the trainer without question every time I had cycling on my schedule.

This year I am changing my tune a bit and went out and bought winter cycling gear and have been riding outside on some of the days. Sure it's cold out there, but I loaf the trainer! I know you can and do get good workouts in on your trainer but... it's just so boring to me! I can't watch tv as it doesn't motivate me so it's just me, my bike, and pandora. I actually dread the time on my trainer even though it's never too bad once I get started.

Anyhow, I have been trying to get out there and ride if the weather is at least 35/40 degrees and the wind isn't something ridiculous. Yesterday I headed out after work at about 3:50pm to get in an 1:45 worth of riding. It was about 40 out when I left and I don't think it got any warmer while I was trying to out ride the sun set. My feet for me have been a big issue while riding in the cold so I have made some changes to keep them warmer. Instead of just toe covers I went out and bought full shoe covers. This made a big difference. I also have been using Heat Max foot warmers. These are kind of neat and just stick on the bottom of your socks and help keep your feet warm. As for my cycling jacket I went with a little bit of a warmer jacket (that has fleece on the inside) & has wind stopping material on the outside - the Castelli Viziata jacket. I love it and it keeps me warm, but sometimes I get a little too toasty in it. Strangely my hands don't get too cold while riding in aero and I use middle thickness cycling gloves. Now my commute is a different story - my hands are always cold on my commute to work and I'm currently on the search for warmer gloves. Lastly, I always have to keep my ears covered and just put on any hat that I have handy.

But even with all this stuff on I think my max ride time in the cold is about 2 hours. Yesterday for whatever reason my feet were still cold and turning into ice blocks. I thought about calling it quits an hour in but stuck it out. A warm shower never felt so good once I made it home and I just melted into the couch the rest of the night.

So winter cycling - Do you stay on your trainer or do you brave the cold?

I think for me I will continue to do some of my rides on the trainer and some outside.

Happy Wednesday All :)

Upcoming Race ~ VA is for Lovers 14k

So this weekend is my second race of the year, the Virginia is for Lovers 14k down in VA Beach. Actually M and I signed up for the couples challenge where they combine our times for ranking. Fun right :)

I ran this race last year with my good friend Jill - as it was her very first race! She has came a long way in a year and will be running this race again this year as a marathoner and a newly wed! Jill just got married at the end of Jan and her and her new hubby will also be running in the couples challenge.  

 

What is nice about the couple challenge though is that you actually don't have to run together. I know this sounds horrible since it's a Valentines Day theme race and no offence to my one and only but I want to try to see if I can go somewhat fast for me.

 

My last few races have well not gone well. I ran slow, gave up in the middle, then went home and pouted about my race times. Now, I'm not expecting a miracle here at this race but I have been putting in track workouts and tempos into my running. I guess what I hope to accomplish this weekend is not giving up 4 miles into the race because my legs aren't working or my head hurts or something. I want to give this a 100% effort. What that means is I would like to try for a 7:45 - 7:55 minute miles. Can I do this? I should be able to. I guess the real challenge for me will be to keep a positive mind set while running and not to think this is a stupid race and it doesn't really matter when I finish. I mostly say this because I always care about my time after I finish.

 

Anyhow, it should be a fun weekend and I am looking forward to visiting Jill and racing :)

 

Happy Tues All :)