When Being Young at Heart Just Isn't Enough

For my marathon training, I'm trying to stick close to the AM plan that has a weekly speed / tempo run, a long run, 1 - 2 recovery runs (before the long and after the speed run), and a run which is mostly to make up the weekly mileage. Today was my "getting the mileage in" run day, which means that it's the perfect day for me to substitute a bike ride. For the first time in a couple of years, we did "the Redhook loop." It's about 20 miles from our home to the Redhook brewery in Woodenville, where they not only brew beer, but have a lovely pub with great food. It's a great, mostly flat ride there, we have lunch and a pitcher of Redhook's finest, and then bike home. The same loop reversed is actually a Redhook sponsored annual ride, except they stop in Freemont rather than our house. The original Redhook brewery was in Freemont, less than a mile from home, so it was a Redhook to Redhook out and back.

We've done this loop several times in past years, and I don't remember ever feeling quite this bad. My legs were tired from the get-go, probably because of a harder than usual tempo run on Tuesday, and a short run and bike ride (up the hill) yesterday. And then those pints and big lunch were not happy in my stomach for the ride home. Perhaps I didn't eat quite so much last time, or we didn't ride as fast, or I rode my hybrid and the upright position didn't cramp my stomach as much, or I just forgot that I felt this bad on previous trips. I have a feeling that it's the last reason, so this note is a reminder to myself and to anyone else who mistakenly thinks that she has a stomach of steel.