What Friends Are For

I really wanted to get in a bike ride today, queasy or not. I needed to see how much fitness I've lost and if that race in 6 weeks is remotely feasible. Until now I've just been taking it on faith I could handle a sprint distance bike ride without violating the pregnancy HR limitations as long as I deliberately went slow. But I just couldn't find my own motivation today, and around 4:00 I curled up in a ball on the couch, resigned to defeat and contemplating a nap.

Not 5 minutes later the phone rang - it was the Best Friend asking me to go for a bike ride.

I dragged my ass off the couch, geared up and went.

In deference to my condition and the last 7 hideously sick weeks we took it very easy (9 miles in a hour), with lots of chit-chatting and checking the HR monitor. It beeped incessantly, you see, because my HR was so darn low. I maxed it out on the few inclines, but it was never more than a couple beats outside the limit (140) for more than a couple seconds before I slowed down or stopped and got it back under control. Definitely taught me I can manage the race, which is a nice flat course with maybe one or two tiny inclines.

I thought I'd go for 15 minutes and then see if we should shoot for 30. At 45 we were cruising along and I didn't want to stop, but I get that pushing it is not on the menu right now. Got home with a nice round hour under our belts.

Thanks to Bek today was not only a safe and successful workout, it improved my confidence for the race and gave me the emotional boost I needed to bike on my own in the weeks to come.