4 weeks to Arizona!

It is Sunday night and my lack of blogging is due to another very big week of training. It has been a tough weather week again with non stop wind! Todays challenge blew the rest of the week away. I had a 5.30 hour ride scheduled for Sat, yet it was raining all day Sat which made it impossible to ride the distance. I got my 2 hours on the trainer, unsure of what I was going to do Sun as NJ had severe weather advisory due to high winds and below freezing temps. Everyone I talked to was bagging the road riding. I got an offer to do a long run, an indoor bike class or friends invited me to go join them on their trainers for a 3 hour indoor session....all great offers but it was not a 5.30 bike. I had just read Jonathon's report on how he got his long ride in with tough windy conditions...and how he felt it would help him on race day. I knew I had to get it in...so I waited until around 12.30 when it was feeling a little warmer(around 22 degrees) and I said my goodbyes to my family. My son said he felt bad for me and he hoped I was putting on an extra strong helmut encase I got blown off my bike. I told him that was a possibility and if it happened I would be back soon. The wind was blowing 27-30 mph with gusts up to 40mph.
The sun was out though so I used that as my justification for the insanity of the ride. I headed out from my house up along the ocean to the Hook which is a strip of land inbetween a bay and the ocean. Here the wind was very mean....I then eventually gave up on that and turned and headed to the Highlands to climb some hills. This always makes the time go by fast....I did a couple loops hitting all my favorite hills 3 times and making sure I had spent enough time in there to get me past the 5 hour mark. I stopped to refuel and grabbed a quick cup of hot chocolate. I called home to let everyone know I wouldn't be home for 2 more hours. My husband insisted I was insane...I agreed! Relieved to get the ride in I ran in my house changed and asked my son to come ride his bike while I ran. His 2 friends came with. We headed straight out into the wind and they were all feeling it. So I had to do a little bribery....a stop for icecream after if they rode the whole 40 minutes with me. At one point my son stopped and said but i just can't do it...its too hard! I assured him that soon the wind would be at our back and he'd be just fine! Then yelled now LETS GO I have to run fast now!
It always feels good to get those kind of tough workouts in....in some strange way!
My running was solid this week and swimming is definitely coming around. I leave for the HTFU camp in New mexico on Thursday. Just heard Paulo will make it from Portugal...what a commited coach! It should be a fun time with lots of good quality training!