What day is it?
The past week has been pretty crazy with lots of traveling and different schedules, including swimming in 5 different pools in 3 different cities. Hopefully things will get back to normal now. Last Saturday I rode the Spectrum group ride for the first time. I’ve been out here for nearly 8 years and it was my first time on the ride, and I’ll definitely have to go again sometime soon. There were 100+ people at one point and a lot of the top cyclists in the area do the ride weekly. The out and back distance was around 50 miles. Going out ranged from really fast to really, really, really fast. Five miles in I wasn’t sure if I was going to hang on, but there was just enough rest on some of the downhill sections that I was able to hang on. I led the group on Canada Rd. going about 35mph for about 15 seconds before getting swallowed up and just tried to stay near the front before getting destroyed at the sprint finish.
On Sunday my grandpa died due to complications after a surgery to fix an aneurysm. So, I got a plane ticket at the last minute and flew out to Kansas City where my sister picked me up to drive to Junction City, KS. I was going to be gone Tuesday late morning until Saturday afternoon and wasn’t bringing my bike, so I did a 3:10 ride on the trainer Monday evening. Then I got up for 5:20am swim practice, got out at 6:40am due to the Olympic Team being there for their pre-Olympic training camp, and then did some strength training before driving to the airport to catch a 10:30am flight. On Wednesday, there was the graveside service at the Veterans cemetery in Wakeeny, KS (my grandpa served in WWII, Vietnam, and Korea) where they played Taps and did a flag folding ceremony. They also would have done a 21 gun salute, but the group was at another service at the time. They buried him on top of my grandma who died in December after everyone had left.
After that, I went swimming at the Junction City public swimming pool for a workout. Swimming at a public pool can be pretty interesting sometimes. First there was the inconspicuous laughing at the guy wearing the speedo. Then they wanted to know what the flippers for my hands were (hand paddles). Then there was the group of kids that kept trying to race me every lap. They wanted to know why I could swim so fast and look like I was going so slow. They also wanted to know if the swimsuit made me swim fast. I told them swimming trunks are like running with a parachute tied to your back. So, a few of them proceeded to tuck the end of their trunks into the lining of their shorts. It was pretty funny, and then they all thought they were faster. There were also the two girls who kept getting in my way - they later told me it was fun trying to dodge me as I swam. haha great.
On Thursday there was a memorial service at the church where I think 100-200 people showed up. My grandpa was pretty involved in the community and knew a lot of people. One lighter moment happened after the service when the attendees were greeting the family members. This one older couple got all excited when they realized who I was - “Oh, you were the one on the Wheel!” (Wheel of Fortune) haha yes, I was.
On Friday my mom drove me back to the Kansas City area (Overland Park) where we stayed the night with my now only living grandparent - my grandma. I went swimming at a public pool in Overland Park in the afternoon. After my workout, I went down the huge slides they have there similar to what they have at water parks. There was one curvy slide and one with a straight drop down - both were pretty fast. My mom about freaked out watching one time, though. I catapulted down the straight drop slide and at the bottom I just hydroplaned across the top of the water. Luckily, my one leg caught the water at the last second to create enough drag to turn me upright literally 6 inches from the edge. Otherwise, my feet would have crashed into the wall at a pretty high rate of speed.
My mom and I (and our dog, Ginger, who went along for the trip) got up at 5am on Saturday to go to the airport. I caught a 7am flight and made it back to San Francisco around 1pm. From there I went swimming at the small 5 lane 25y pool at Stanford (the large pool was closed for rec swimming over the weekend). It was way too crowded, and I was swimming about 45s/100y faster than the next fastest person. So, today I paid the $5 to swim at the public pool in Palo Alto and had a full lane to myself which was nice.
I had meant to ride my bike yesterday and/or today, but my body was all out of whack with the traveling. I’m planning on getting back on track with training tomorrow and will also finally be getting an MRI on my foot. I was originally going to get one last Tuesday, but with the plane flight, I had to reschedule. Hopefully, I’ll figure out what’s wrong with it soon.
Filed under: Training
