You know it's the off-season when your coach tries to mix it up a bit. Instead of the usual Saturday morning 30-40 mile group ride with the Bike Depot Waxhaw, she scheduled an easy one-hour trail ride on the trail I usually use for running. Most Charlotte mountain bike trails are pretty technical and rooty and I don't have what the kids are calling "good bike handling skills" (part and parcel of being an adult-onset athlete). The last thing I want to do is hit a tree in a super-technical piece of single-track and wipe out injuring myself again. So she figured that a one hour ride on an easy trail would be a good way to raise the heart rate and get a useful but easy workout on Saturday to save my legs for the long run on Sunday.
haven't taken this bike out for over a year
I had thought that it hardly seemed worth it to take out my mountain bike again for a ride on a wide trail but I was so wrong. I had a blast riding my mountain bike, with its big knobby tires, over the boardwalks and curvy paved and dirt trails. It was also kind of fun to ride the whole 12 miles out and back of the greenway paths. I only see the full 12 miles on my long runs and as I had no long course triathlons or running races this year, it had been a long time since I've seen that whole trail system.
Rady to hit the broad, friendly trails of the Greenway.
I never noticed this built-in bike pump and repair stand before when I was running these trails.
I started yoga in the off-season last year after my half Ironman and, much to my surprise, I really liked it. It was the perfect mix of stretching, recovery and strength building that I needed and I kept up with it all year. I often have trouble staying present in the here and now and the message in class this morning was perfect: listen to your body and be aware of what it's telling you. I love starting weekend mornings with yoga, especially since my friend Erika often joins me and we get to catch up over coffee afterwards.
Erika tidying up after Saturday morning slow flow at Be Yoga.