I was supposed to meet my boyfriend after his flights on Sunday in Dulles, VA at around 9:30 pm, but elected to take an early flight as I just don't trust his airline in Ottawa when there's rain or storms in the forecast (this was a good decision -- another runway excursion happened with my would-be flight that evening). I was thrilled that the Hyatt Dulles had a nice pool and gym and planned to take a much-needed nap and then go for a run/lifting session, but as I was flying in, I thought, "This would be a cool area to explore on foot". I texted one of my boyfriend's coworkers who is a serious runner and asked about decent running routes in the area. He told me about a paved trail that goes down an old railway line. When I asked how to get to it from the Hyatt, he said that he and a buddy were going to bike it today (it goes all the way into DC and out to Leesburg) and said I was welcome to join in. I jumped at the chance of training with people who were fitter than me as I knew it was their "easy" day (which is my hard day) and it was only a 20 mile out-and-back. It also gave me the chance to do some cross-training, which I've been yearning for. The other guy was training for a triathlon, so we planned a 4 mile run after the bike.
Biking actually felt awesome and I'm sad I haven't done more of it this summer. I was able to keep up the entire time (save for the last stretch which was all uphill in high humidity... my Canadian lungs gave up) and knew I'd had a kickass workout. After rehydrating and refueling with 2 bottles of water and some GU gel, we hit the same trail for the run. The run was shortened to two miles as it was just way too hot to go any further and I think we all had pushed it a little too much. My first mile was at a 9:30 pace, which shocked me after doing 20 miles on a bike and running in very high heat and humidity. The last mile was easy walk/jogged back.
All in all, it was a solid workout and gave me the confidence that I can go for multidisciplinary sessions at the gym. Tonight I'm aiming for a 20 min elliptical and 30 min sprint/speed session, with an upper body weights session in. Food today has been sluggish. I lacked protein all morning and kept eating high carb foods (bagel, muffin - though homemade and low fat, baked potato). I'm currently munching on some low fat flaxseed chicken which is my first decent protein fill of the day, and I plan to get some rotisserie chicken and salad tonight for dinner.
Was supposed to go to EFL tonight and play hockey afterwards, but training was cancelled and so was hockey, so... I'm on my own! No worries. This weekend really helped me prove to myself that I can keep up with the best of them and I'm not as out of shape as I feel I am. I don't feel like I have to bullshit when I talk about my paces or what I can do. I'm proud of myself.
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