It's My Birthday and I'm Gonna Workout Like It's My Birthday!

I awoke this morning to my alarm buzzing at 4:00 a.m., and realized that I am now 29 years young. And what better way to start this new year of my life then to go for a 52-mile bike ride? I threw on my Louis Garneau tri shorts, put in my contacts, and brushed my teeth. While still mostly asleep, my beautiful bride Hilary serenaded me with a charming rendition of "Happy Birthday" and then to make the morning even more entertaining, she went into the Applebee's version as well. I finished getting ready and headed downstairs to grab a bite and pay some bills on the computer before the ride. Here is where I was met with: a wonderful Jib Jab of me break dancing sent from my Grandma-in-Law.

The sun came out later today then on previous rides, with sunrise at 5:33 a.m. I couldn't leave at the scheduled 5:00 a.m. to go meet The Firefighter, but by 5:07 it was close enough that I figured any traffic could see me safely. I was wearing my birthday presents (that I received a little early): CEP compression sleeves and a Garmin 310 XT Forerunner mounted on it's quick release kit and combined with Garmin Bike Sensor.  The morning was hot, and it was 92 degrees before the sun had even come up. The Firefighter and I made small talk as we rode a continual climb for the first half and even enjoyed a little cloud-cover when the sun first came up. I got a little frustrated when my Garmin had issues with satellite coverage and was not able to hold a consistent signal or read a consistent speed, but I'll deal with that later. This is my birthday, and I wasn't going to let a little malfunction ruin my mood. This particular ride was intended to accompany The Firefighter on his way to work. We hit speeds reaching as high as 36 mph (a personal best for this ride for us) and then we went our separate ways, him at work and me approximately forty more minutes away from my house. A ride that was difficult two months ago was truly more casual today, and even finishing with heat close to 100 degrees, it was one of the faster rides I've ever done.

I walked into the house to find birthday signs taped to the walls, my computer, the fridge and the doors. My wife and I had a nice birthday breakfast of Wheaties FUEL cereal (I really did eat it even before the sponsorship thing), and I made a recovery drink in my Magic Bullet. So far this year I have tried to raise the bar in my training and my goals, so what better way to start my 29th year on this planet then with a workout? My gifts were mostly in the interest of helping to improve my training and raise the quality of life I have while biking, running, and swimming. I did also receive the Blu-Ray extended edition of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy as a surprise to top things off.

Though the day mostly consisted of lots of food, several desserts, going to see the movie Horrible Bosses, and a private viewing of The Fellowship of the Ring (extended version, of course) at our house, the way the day started is the way I want the year to go. Since I have made training a priority and started setting aside time to accomplish it, I feel better at 29 then I have at any other time in my life. It was a great day from the 4:00 a.m. wake-up all the way through publishing this blog right before getting some shut eye.