Birthday Workouts

I celebrated my birthday in style this weekend - I recruited some of my amazing friends for a day of what we affectionately call "no-fun fun".  No-fun fun usually involves some sort of suffering at some level during training, wondering why we do what we're doing and think that it's fun.  Actually, most of the day was pure fun.

We started off with a 4200 meter swim.  I have to admit that there was a bit of an evil glint in Amanda's eye (our masters coach) when I told her what I wanted last week... and she did not disappoint.  Well, she may have disappointed some of the other swimmers who didn't want such a long workout!  My awesome friends Tim, Catherine, Corinne, and of course Jason were all in for the swim, and the trio met us at the pool to join our masters group for the Saturday morning swim.

Partway through our main set (an 1800 m pyramid - and yes Tim you are the best friend because you had to do it pretty much straight with no rest to keep up with Corinne's pace in that lane...) a group of about 20 kids and accompanying adults arrived and announced they had booked 12 lanes of the pool to do a modern pentathlon!  And yes - we spied horse trailers in the parking lot so they weren't making it up.  Amanda was trying to figure out how they booked 12 lanes when our pool is only 10, but she was generous and gave them half the pool, while we had to scramble and reorganize lanes.  That just added to the drama of doing a long swim!  We capped it off by a few laps of the lazy river.  Next year I think I'll celebrate by simply doing 43 lazy river laps.  Much less tiring.

After shoving some peanut butter bagels in our mouths, Catherine, Corinne, Jason and I headed out for a 42 km ride.  I planned a route through some quiet back roads, rolling hills, and turned out MapMyRide didn't mention we'd be riding through a fun fair... we got a few funny looks as we wound through tents and festivities.  It was heating up so Corinne suggested we stop for popsicles - brilliant! 

Not long after our popsicle stop, my shifter decided to explode internally and Jason had to do some roadside repairs.  Since the shifter broke, the rear derailleur decided to stay in my 11 and Jason had to manually pick a different cog for me to ride as I'd never get home in that one!  We still had a few hills to ride, including the one up to our house which is at the top of a hill.  So he picked a 20-something, and I had the option of either big-ring or small-ring and that gear for the rest of the ride.  Turned into a bit of a high cadence workout on the flats!  But we made it home and changed for our final birthday workout of the day, a 4.2 km run.  In case you haven't figured it, I'm turning 42.

Jason turning my bike into a dual-speed
for the rest of the ride.  Gotta keep it interesting!

My friend Candace joined us on her bike for the run, and Humu was glad to have Candace's dog Shadow along for company.  I promised a nice shady trail for our quick run, which of course was spent talking and laughing the whole way.

I'm not totally sure what they're doing in this picture...

We had to cut through a school yard, where
apparently they don't allow runnin'.

What birthday run isn't complete without some playground time?

The rest of the day was spent in the sun on the deck - with more friends, pizza, wine, cake... perfect!  Some of us headed to a local pub for music trivia, and the day closed with us taking the victory (and the $20 prize!).

Great birthday, because I have great friends.  Can't wait until next year!