A quake and a workout

I just sat through my very first earthquake about forty five minutes ago! It was a bit bizarre, really, and I didn't realize until it was over that it was actually a quake. A 4.7, too....not too shabby for my first. Hubby and I are still laughing about the cat. He's the only one that took action-- he was frozen in the doorway while we were just sitting at our computers wondering what the heck was going on!

I'm whooped right now, though. 7am practice with the Olympians was definitely a challenge! I had never done more than 16 miles on my bike at any one time (I'm a sprinter-- what's the point?!), so this 20 miles of hills was a bit of a step up. I ended up doing 5 sets of hill repeats in about an hour and twenty minutes, and I felt like that gave me a pretty good cardiovascular workout. I'm still at the point where my cardiovascular fitness gives out before my lactic acid threshhold. Coach says this is good because it'll help prevent injury, but it certainly stinks for me. I chased the two hotshot Olympians up the hills for 3 sets of repeats, and on the 4th, one of the girls waited behind for me and said she felt like pushing me a little. (Lucky me! I was only close because I go fast on the downhill and she is a little mediocre....but she can climb with the best of them) OMG, it was the most painful 8 minutes of my life. She pushed, pushed, pushed....and I pushed myself to go past more pain than I though I could endure. In fact, after that hill with her, every gear I tried seemed easy! For her, it was a total mercy ride, but I needed that kick in the pants. (Coach was yelling at her not to injure me, but I'm pretty tough)

My run was okay, I suppose. I kept pace with the Oly girls for the first 1/2 mile, then I hit my pre-planned walk time and watched them take off. I told them I was no better than a 10-minute mile, but apparently I'm really a 9-minute miler when I don't walk. Alas, I need my one minute of walk every five minutes or else I can't go my 3 miles!

So, total workout time was 1 hour and 53 minutes. I was drenched in sweat, and had goosebumps all over because it was already 90 degrees by the time we finished up at 9am. Yowzah! According to my workout journal, that burned about 1300 calories. Before we get too impressed here, I did consume a bizarre concoction of Mountain Blast Powerade and lemon lime Cytomax that probably added 400 calories during my ride....but I definitely needed the electrolyte and fluid replacement. Can't say I can get into the salt tab thing, but I may experiment with it as my training progresses. 2 hour workouts aren't my norm, that's for sure. I'm a Sprinter, after all!

It was decided that my bike needs a name. I've considered this before, but reading other Triathlon blogs makes me feel like I need something more creative....with names out there like "the Dyke Bike," "Bitchie," and "Buttah," surely my flaming orange creature should have something equally fitting. It's definitely a male bike. And it can't have anything flashy, because it's an entry level bike and it's real crap at shifting. So I have a few things floating in my head: The Cheeto, The Orange Dodo (nobody likes this, but the bike reminds me of a goose or weird bird)..... OK, I like The Cheeto. Any objections?

Off to catch a movie. Hopefully that's the end of earthquakes for today. (And workouts) I'm done with both!