Not a nice day for a ride

Sunday: Swim 2,500 yards, yoga

Monday: Bike 17 miles, run 2.5 miles

The nine-day extravaganza of work and stress and pain that was Week 5 is FINALLY over, and it ended with an utterly miserable bike ride in the freezing, howling wind. It was blowing so hard that I was afraid to ride on my normal roads for fear that I'd get blown into traffic and run over by a truck. So in addition to miserable weather, it was also a miserable (but safe) route: a loop around my neighborhood, a couple miles down a nice wide bike path, a loop around a different neighborhood, and back. Lots of times.

Never again. I have been a wuss about setting up the trainer and trying it out, but the next riding day that's like that, I will have to. (I have never ridden on a trainer before, ever, but I've always known the time is coming. This is Montana.)

The run afterward was actually really nice. The wind was still howling (plus it started raining on me), but it was all much easier to deal with on foot, and running just felt good. I am starting to realize that running on a treadmill is only loosely related to running outside, and if you want to get better at running outside, then you have to actually go run there. Obvious, maybe. But it feels like a breakthrough to me, and it seems like I'm improving now that I've ventured outside a few times.

Probably the physical therapy is helping, too. Everything we do there is torture, but it's nice not to have hip pain.