Itchy McItcherson

Guess what today is? REST DAY! And so far it's been going very well...

But first, I did my long bike ride yesterday after work on the nearby trail - 40 miles, DONE!

OCN
40.25mi
2:48:59
Avg pace: 14.3mph
Avg hr: 141bpm

The ride was OK. I definitely am getting hints of what to expect for my upcoming 65 mile bike ride. Besides the expected discomfort you-know-where, I started feeling more soreness/achiness in my arms and my back so I played around with different hand positions during my ride. I also noticed that I might be developing some tiny callouses on the inside of my thumbs - nothing major though. (I wear gloves so it's not that bad.)

The ride was kind of boring because I had biked there before and I had to bike some portions multiple times to get to 40 miles as the trail itself is about 15 miles long. I was pretty tired by the halfway point so I wasn't thrilled that I faced a lot of headwind on the way back - that definitely added some challenge to the ride. At least there weren't any hills as well.

The really annoying part was that I got a bunch of bug bites during the ride! There were definitely a lot of bugs swarming around me for parts of the ride and I think a butterfly smacked me right in the face as well. But I thought they were just a nuisance and that was all. But on my way home, I realized that I had a bunch of itchy spots - argh... Also, I now have a slight tan line on my thighs from my bike shorts even though I wore lots of sunblock before I left. I guess I have to reapply during the ride? Today I got a new sunblock with insect repellent so I'll make sure to wear that if I'm out there again... it doesn't appear to be sweatproof as well although I don't think I sweat as much biking compared to running so I should be OK.

Here's a pic I took on my iPhone of my ride (while stopped of course). I don't think the pic actually does the scenery justice, but I still kinda like it.



So today is starting out to be a nice day. If you follow my other blog, you know that I am a Twilight FREAK. But I'm too old and lazy to attend any of the midnight release parties, so I went to Target first thing this morning to get the DVD. I don't know what I was worried about - there was no chaos, they had tons everywhere, no line, etc. I saw a twitpic last night of someone that was waiting in line at Walmart with about 100 other people to get their copy. NONSENSE, I tell ya!

Since I was up early, I did something that I love but hardly get to do - get McDonald's breakfast:



OK, the eggs look kinda scary but I don't care - I love me some Mickey D breakfast platters :) I barely ate half of this so I'll probably be picking at this for the rest of the day.

Also on the agenda for today is packet pick-up for my Mermaid 10K tomorrow. I could get my bib tomorrow but the packet pick-up is being held at my beloved Sports Basement with a 20% off discount for all runners, so I want to pick up some new stuff while I'm there. I definitely need some new bike jerseys so hopefully I find some cute ones today.