Nothin' but a Good Time

"Don't need nothin' but a good time.

How can I resist?

Ain't lookin' for nothin' but a good time

And it don't get better than this"

Thank you Poison for creating a song I can rock out to and relate to!  Despite the gorgeous weather today I was on the trainer listening to my Pandora mix and this song came on.  I started singing out loud (thank goodness no one was home) and I realized that life is good.  Here I am riding my fabulous Roo, watching the city spring madness from the 26th floor of our apartment, listening to great tunes, and looking forward to running right after the bike.  What a good life!!  This song will now be on my official IM playlist.

Today I had my first official brick even though yesterday felt like a brick to me!  I biked for 1:15 on the trainer then ran 5.5 miles in Central Park.  The park was packed with people and that's the reason why I chose to stay indoors for he ride.  It's too dangerous with tourists and not a long enough bike session to head over the GWB.  I could have woken up at 7am to bike in the park, but I was up late after an afternoon/night of my second bachelorette in 2 weeks.

I think running in heels trying to catch a train after a 3 hour ride should count as a brick workout... or at least a strength cause my calves were killing me!  My day started off at 7am where I had to say goodbye to Si.  He was flying down to Orlando to meet his brother and they were gonna do some classic touristy American things like Universal and Epcot.  After he left I got my bike gear together and it was time for my solo 3 hour ride.

I biked up and over the GWB and decided to bike on River Road to get in some hills.  It runs parallel to 9W and right next to the Hudson River.  The great (or terrible) part about it is at the end there is a 1.5 killer climb that links you to 9W.  This was the first time ever that I got up that hill without wanting to die.  I mean, I was still slow, but I wasn't huffing and puffing like I used to on this hill.  After a quick water bottle refill (and more compliments on my bike from a group of biker dudes) I hopped onto 9W and continued north.  I decided to just stay along 9w and not turn off towards Piermont and Nyack.  I biked about 24 miles then turned back from home.  The ride home is always much faster cause even though you have some hills you're losing elevation.

I made it home in 3 hours on the nose and realized I had to catch a train in under 2 hours - EEK.  I made some food, let myself sit on the couch for 20 minutes then I only had 30 minutes to shower and get gussied up for a bachelorette party!  I made the train, we rocked the small town of Cold Spring, NY and I left the party around 9 to catch a train home.  This was the hard part. Everyone else was staying over in a hotel and I showed some restraint by leaving.  I most certainly could have stayed and partied some more but I knew I had a brick workout today.  If I stayed I knew I would talk myself out of training, or suffer through the 2 hour brick.  So it's 2-0 for Jill vs. Bachelorette Parties!  Woop!

Oh the other part about today was that when I went to put my bike on the trainer the back wheel was flat.  I was actually happy cause I really need some flat tire changing practice.  I got the wheel off no problem and easily got the flat tube out.  I put a little air into the tube and heard the dreading hissing noise.  It was coming from a seam close to the valve.  I checked my tire for any debris and sure enough there was a sharp, tiny, little piece of metal poking through my tire.  I had to get it out with tweezers cause it was so tiny.  I put a new tube in, got the tire back on and inflated her up using a CO2 cartridge for practice.  The hardest part was getting the wheel back on the bike.  It's set up a little differently than my road and for some reason I couldn't figure out how to get the chain back on without smashing something else around.  Once I did get it on the brake was rubbing so I had to fix that and by that time I was sweating.  Like really sweaty as if I had just finished my brick!

Overall it was a successful week and weekend of training!

Only 98 days til Lake Placid!!!