Beards, Bikes and Bugs

Today I really felt I should retry my long ride since it's so important and I missed it on Saturday, even though I'm not supposed to make up workouts. I was supposed to do a long swim today, and I felt like a long ride was more needed.

In order to do this long ride, I got on the trainer at 9:30, then rode inside for almost 2 hours. Ethan and Elle watched a movie and played, then I even got Ethan to put all the DVDs back into their cases (They have the tendency to just leave them out, I wonder why they're all scratched). He did such a great job! I was amazed that he was able to stay on task for probably half an hour! He even lined all the movies up on the shelf very nicely (after I had to get off my bike to explain to him how to do it).

It was an ok 1:45 on the trainer. I kept myself pretty occupied watching the kids, but I also didn't get my heart-rate up past 130. It's kind of hard to work too hard when you have to keep helping little girls or barbies get their clothes on, or make sure your little boy puts the movies away right. OCD.

I got off the bike, hurried and made some sandwiches for the kids, hooked the bike trailer up, cleaned Elle up after an accident, and headed to the school to drop Ethan off. As soon as I had those kids in the trailer, my heat-rate went right up. It was above 150 pretty much the whole ride from here on out, though it was much easier once I dropped Ethan off.

Elle went to sleep pretty quick, and I headed out to the Legacy Parkway Trail where I rode on Saturday. It's a really nice bike trail, and there aren't too many hills to worry about when pulling the trailer. Elle only slept for about half an hour, and I was so worried she would get fussy, but she really didn't. She did ask if we were going to see the ducks, and I told her we might see ducks, and to keep an eye out for some. We didn't see any, but she didn't seem to care. We did get to see some horses, and other kinds of birds, and some tractors, and go through a really long tunnel. I think the tunnel was the highlight of the trip! I rode for about 1:20 then turned around. I think Elle was sleeping a little off and on because she kept laying down and she was so quiet! I couldn't believe how good she was!

I saw several other people out riding there bikes today. Much more than on Saturday for some reason. . . (Maybe it's that they're not crazy?) What is it with cyclist guys with big bushy beards? I saw at least 3 of them today, maybe 5 if the last 2 weren't the same ones coming back, and I see it all the time. I think they must be overcompensating for wearing the tight little shorts. They have to have something to show that they really are manly men. I don't know. Just an observation of mine.

You know what else I noticed a lot today? It was something that I couldn't really see, but I sure felt. Bugs. There were so many little bugs out! I'm sure I ate a few of them. I tried to keep my mouth shut, but that's kind of hard to do when you're pushing so hard. Yuck. If it's not one thing, it's always something else right? I shouldn't complain, I need protein on my long rides.

We got to the school about 10 minutes before Ethan got out, which put me at about 2:20. I thought about riding for the last 10 minutes, but I felt bad that Elle had been cooped up in the bike trailer for so long even though she was being good so she played on the park and I stretched while we waited. She was just the cutest, happiest little girl, and I was the happiest mom for having such a great little girl that will happily ride in the bike trailer for almost 2 and a half hours! I hope she isn't scarred for life because of this.

So, with the trainer and trailer rides combined (There was only about a 15 minute break in-between), I did a total of 4:05. That's not quite what my long ride was supposed to be (4:20), and I didn't do the half an hour run afterwards, but I figure it's better than nothing.

My legs are really tired tonight. I'm really tired tonight. It's only 9, do you think I can get to bed early tonight? I doubt it, but I'm going to really try. Or at least think about it. Elle's still up, she must have been sleeping more than I thought during the ride.