Manda's Century: Now Turkey Fueled

First, let's just have a moment to check out my little life helper - Charlie.

What are you doing? Why doesn't it involve me?

Ok, he's no help.

I have been dealing with some stress, so, it was a nice reminder to pay attention to my body and cortisol levels. Low levels are no fun. Adrenal Fatigue is no fun.

I can report that the pain/twitching in my feet is almost completely gone. I seem to be able to move, stretch or step in certain ways that cause pain or spasms, but, I think the vitamin regime has made a difference. I try to stretch my feet, but, I'm out of other things to do with them. I also changed to my running sneakers which are a size larger maybe than my Sketcher sneakers I normally ride with. I think maybe my feet could have been smooshed.

Monday
First ride of the week was an experiment in interval training. I wanted to do 6 cycles of riding as fast as I could for 60 seconds, then resting for 75 per this informative info-graphic I found called the Complete Guide to Interval Training.

Zoom-ish

It took me a little while to find the perfect stretch of ground and I couldn't really get a stopwatch thing to work on my phone with ease in the dark. I ended up speeding around and having to stop to go around a turn or when I came to a car-filled intersection. I ended up doing about 6 cycles of going as fast as I could for about 20-30 seconds and then resting while I rode back to the same spot to start over again.

However, I do like the interval thing. I felt pretty good, pretty jazzed and it only took, well, about 20 minutes.

I think I found a good spot to ride. I also toyed with the idea of running, but, my feet-pain issues have been holding me back from trying - even if I can run in a field and not on the street.

Thursday

I crawled out of bed on Thursday - because I could just sleep all day. Normally, this wouldn't have been a big deal if it was a normal day off, but, it was Thanksgiving and I had to be at the Estate House (that's what I call my parent's house) at around 10:30am or so.

I like to arrive early to help. .and get my pre-eating on without competition.

Turkey ride!

This ride ended at about the time I felt my eye lids close. Yep, low cortisol means that right in the middle of whatever you are doing your eyes close. And sometimes you dry heave. Both are signs for me to head back home. However, it was a lovely day to be out with all the other pre-feasting walkers/runners. I even spyed a family getting pumped for a football game in the park.

Saturday
I got together with my bike buddy for a Saturday ride around our area - not the bike trail we normally do. I wasn't feeling too strong when we planned this and I didn't want to be too far from home.

I will say, I was going to lock Charlie out of my bedroom because he had been meowing and loving on me at all hours of the night and not letting me sleep. I, actually, told him about this and he didn't even come into my room between 10pm Friday and 7am Saturday. I slept like the dead and felt much better about life.

Building up

My bike-buddy and I had our first crash-ish. There was some type of fun-run 5k going on our local trail with the runners turning around at some random point on the trail. I was riding in front and stopped short without warning when I saw a mother-daughter about to cross right in front of me as they turned to head back with the other runners. My bike-buddy crashed into the back of me (I have a bruise where her handle went) and she strained her ankle when trying to yank her feel from her clips.

We rode a bit, checked ourselves and reviewed how it wasn't the best situation  then took to the rode. It was a beautiful day and I was happy we almost did 10 miles.

Keep in mind, I ate about two Thanksgiving meals between actual Thanksgiving and all the food I carted to my friend's house where we played Mystery Case Files: Escape From Ravenhearst for 8 hours straight until we beat it.

Winning!!

This is a tradition we have and this is the 8th installment of the Mystery Case Files series. Love it. Only 364 days until the next one.

Sunday
When I bike-buddy and I finished up on Saturday, we both got a text from my bike-buddy's cousin and my friend from high school about going for a ride. We decided we could all go out on Sunday. I had my thoughts about a back-to-back ride, but. . .what the hey-who! Honey badger don't care.

Getting there

We brought another friend along, Melissa, who hadn't been out for a while which was fun! Of course, at about the 11th mile, I started having trouble breathing and I felt my eyes getting heavy. The fatigue was winning. I told everyone I needed to turn around and everyone came back with me. Even Melissa thought it was a good idea.

It was still a great ride and one the final warmish days.

Two out of three bikers have horseface!

Lessons Learned
From my little accident on Saturday, I know I have to work on being more vocal and probably better on reaction time for things.

I need to glue my helmet mirror on - it's tapped on now - because I keep having to adjust every time I drop my helmet or it falls. It's annoying

Charlie is a great napping companion.

He likes a cuddle

Manda's Century
You can follow my biking adventures by checking out my Manda's Century Ride page. It lists (in convenient bullet form) the lessons I have learned and has links to each of my biking related posts.

Be Part of the Adventure
Do you have a suggestion or want to see me attempt something? Drop me an email at AdventuringAmanda@gmail.com with your suggestion.