Four And A Quarter Stars

Remember that talent show Star Search? Today I award myself 4.25 stars (out of 5) for my training. My plan was to try and ride for 5 hours today...starting at 9am after a nice sleep-in and a good fuel-up breakfast. I managed to be on the roads for 4 1/2 hours (riding time was 15 minutes less because of one bathroom break, one water bottle refill, and some long stoplights) until I was so frozen that I couldn't ride anymore and I came home to regain some feeling in my numb feet!
Yesterday, it was SO windy that I joined a lot of my teammates in the basement to ride on the Computrainers instead of braving the dangerous conditions outside. The winds were a forewarning of the cold-front that came through COS last night. At least, I thought it came through last night...so I assumed that when I headed out at 9am, I would only be cold for an hour before it started warming up.
Oh Boy, I was wrong with that assumption! Instead of getting warmer as the day went on...it kept getting colder! The sun was trying to shine but big storm clouds were rolling in over the mountains. I was actually LOOKING for hills to climb to build some body heat and stay warm! ANYone who knows me knows that I will always choose flat-er or downhill instead of climbing...today was much different. First, I climbed up to Manitou Springs...then I climbed up to the Air Force Academy and rode around the hilly loop...then I climbed Woodmen...then I chose to turn right and climb Flying W...and finally, I threw in a loop at the Garden of the Gods to make sure that I was over 4 hours before I got back to the OTC.
It took a LONG time of soaking my feet in warm water to regain full control, movement, and feeling in my toes. I seriously have the WORST circulation...and it always haunts me on cold rides and when I'm snow-skiing. Fortunately, I made it down to the cafeteria for the last two minutes of brunch service so I ordered a custom omelet to gobble down before going into a two hour food-coma/complete-exhaustion nap.
Usually, when I wake up from long, mid-day naps, I do nothing but move to the couch for some more relaxing with the TV remote control...but today I woke up with a cleaning mission! Actually it was an organization mission...so I tackled some parts of my apartment that needed re-arranging. As I was spreading the contents of my shelves all around the living room floor, my temporary roommate and teammate, Justine, was packing her bike for an early morning departure. She is part of the Military World Championship team that is going to INDIA to compete in the World Champs! Timmy O'Donnell is also part of the team...he and Justine are the Military National Champs...Go USA!
Tomorrow will start my second week back in COS, back at altitude, and back into training. I'm still working on my injured foot and I'm really looking forward to testing it out on some light jogging later this week. Cliff, my coach, has given me some training sessions that combine walking and running on grass and told me to make the final decision each day about how the foot feels.
Speaking of Cliff...he is over in Hawaii for the Hawaii IronMan World Champs this Saturday. SAM McGLONE is racing her first IM and she is SOOO going to ROCK IT! This is the first Hawaii IM that I actually have some personal interest in a competitor (she's a great friend and training partner) so I will probably spend a lot of time in front of the computer on Saturday watching the live coverage on the Ironman website!!