Day 3: Combined training

 28 May, 2022

Richmond and back

I finally had my bike all prepped for a ride. So I planned a 55km tour with 1000m elevation gain. Option B was to stay flat and go to Richmond. I asked my coach what he thought about my plan and he got back to me saying flat was preferable. I honestly thought he was right - at that time, barely having arrived, it would have been too much to take on.

Out to Richmond

It was so windy that it sometimes almost blew me off my bike. I could not believe it. I could barely use the aerobars. Yet, I really enjoyed being out there, did a few circles in Richmond to round it up to two hours by the time I got back. The wind in Richmond was also a badass, I was either barely moving or flying at high speed rates I would normally never get to. Making me questions why I wanted to do a race in the Bay area. Nice to bike here, huh?! Looking forward to seeing my worst performance on the bike. Best, I mean, the best - gotta stay positive. Shit. 

Getting ready to go: First ride

Garmin - freeway
I planned my journey via Garmin and it made a sudden left turn on the way back. I turned and arrived to a road where I could see two directions with the same sign "Freeway entrance." "Oh-oh, not good. Not doing this." So I went back the way I came and eventually made a sooner turn towards Addison heading up towards the uni campus to add some elevation in my ride before I headed home. 

Run
I was dealing with some foot injuries before I came so it was my first combined training this year. It went well and had no pain in my left foot luckily. I was also flying - finally something giving me a good feeling about the race. 

 

Switched to run so fast, I left my biking gloves on

Csongor came to meet me after my bike ride and he took some photos while I ran.

Lunch and drinks
Eventually we went out for lunch to House of Curries on College Avenue and started to catch up? Not really. Because we realized that we had been introduced only virtually before but never actually meet during the time I lived here. Tough period of my life where I was less open meet new people.
It was nice to get to know him and hear him speak from a different angle about American life. He thought it was the place where creativity thrived and that he would never go back to Hungary. Never even considered it.

No ID - no drinks
He suggested going to a bar, called Tiki bar for drinks. We went there but I had no ID on me and they would not serve me a drink. Can't imagine the same happening at home. We went back to get it from my accomodation and ended up going to Doña, a Mexican restaurant with good coctails. 

 I liked the way he talked the bartender. He gave an idea of what we were interested in, as I particularly liked gin and then found out that they had French 75, not on the menu but that they could make.
We had a drink and he told me some stories about being a bartender since that was one of his first jobs when he came to the US even working for such popular places like Top of the Mark.