More training on our own this week

So, this week I swam on my own on Thursday, and Matt and I swam together on Friday. I am definitely feeling much stronger - the muscles in my back and shoulders are just popping out - it's so crazy. I could lift weights for weeks and not have the definition I already have from swimming!

And yesterday we did a bike ride together. We would have gone to the run clinic, but we think we've sat through enough run clinics to last a lifetime. And, since we ran the 5- and 10-miler today, we didn't want to do running yesterday, anyway.

We biked the Salt Creek Bicycle Trail from Bemis Woods on Ogden to the Brookfield Zoo north parking lot and back. In total, it was 12.58 miles.

The first half of the trip it just poured on us! We did see a deer about halfway through - it was just standing next to the bike trail! We were completely filthy by the time we got to BZ. Matt had gone on ahead (I was apparently going too slow around the curves for him, but hey - I get nervous!) On the way back, I decided to take it easy. After all, we had a race the next day. On the way back, I saw three more deer. One was grazing in a field, the second one stepped onto the trail about 20 yards in front of me, and the third one was grazing in the woods.

Since I was taking it slow, I knew Matt was probably about one half to one mile ahead of me. He'd been within sight until shortly before LaGrange Road, and I got stuck at the stoplight there. Then I got stuck at 31st Street for almost five minutes trying to cross (no light at 31st.)

So, when I got back, I expected to see Matt waiting at the car. But no, he wasn't there, and I realized - he must have forgotten that the trail splits at Wolf Road - you can either go left to Bemis Woods or continue west. I realized he must have forgotten, so I started back down the trail going very fast - I knew I'd have to try to catch up to him! How was I going to do that? But, when I was almost back to Wolf Road, here he came down the trail. I was SO relieved I wasn't going to have to try to catch up to him!

By the time we got back to the car we were both completely soaked and splattered with mud and various trail debris. I think I'm going to have to start keeping towels in the car, because this has been happening way too often since the winter! My poor car seats!

Anyway, the entire trip took us 63 minutes.