This never gets old! Another year, another lake.

Kneading Conference

This was a very difficult week for me to relive.

A year ago, Brad and I traveled to Maine where I taught an artisan doughnut class at the Kneading Conference hosted by the Maine Grain Alliance. I was rounding the corner in my training for IronMan Lake Placid with the race less than two months away. I brought my bike to Maine. I didn’t miss a day of training during the trip. I felt strong and capable.

When I wasn’t training or teaching, I got to bake alongside of the greatest lady bakers in the country from sun up to sun down and then some. I loaded my first pizza into a wood fired oven while standing barefoot by the lake. My friend Stephanie documented it, posting pictures of our adventures along the way.

The two weeks after I returned from Maine were filled with Summer Baking Camp at Montclair Bread Co which left me longing to go back to the simple solitude. After my accident, I couldn’t get past all the pictures from Maine, the pictures of me in top physical shape, standing on two legs, confident and smiling alongside my favorite people. As the weeks after my accident seemed to drone on forever, I wondered if I would ever be that person again.

This year, Brad stayed at home in Montclair and I drove up the coast with Josie, Keegan, Mac and a carload of tools and ingredients for my classes. I taught Artisan Doughnuts and this year, I was also given the opportunity to teach a class about Grain Salads, a simple alternative to incorporate local heirloom grains into the bakery menu that doesn’t require milling them and baking them into loaves.

I didn’t realize how emotional this journey north would be for me. As I drove down the roads I biked on and the hills I ran down last year, I couldn’t shake the eerie feelings, the feelings of dread…what’s going to come next? I felt the same uneasiness as I did the first time (there’s only been two) I drove past the scene of my accident. Last year I left Maine on a high so high I didn’t think I’d ever come down and then boy did I ever come down.

I’m not sure why this week and this trip hit me so hard but I’m still recovering from the emotional havoc wreaked on my mind. The closer I get to my one year anniversary, the more I’m struggling to wrap my head around the sequence of events over the last 11 months.

Weekly Training Log

“Recovery” Week - if this is recovery, I can’t wait for “peak”

Monday:

OFF

Tuesday:

RUN: 6x800

SWIM: 2000 yds

Wednesday:

BIKE: 1:00 Tempo - got it in at 4:30am before we hit the road for Maine

Thursday:

RUN: 1, 2, 3, 4 minutes on, minutes off X2

Friday:

SWIM: Couldn’t quite manage to get this one in with all the events of the week

Saturday:

BIKE: 45:00 tempo

Sunday:

RUN: 30 minutes warm up, 20 minutes HM pace, 10 minutes easy, 25 minutes 10K pace, 20 minutes easy

Shockingly, this was not as hard as I thought it was going to be, especially on super tired legs. Brad met me during the 10 minute easy gap and helped me through the 25 minutes at 10K.

Day 3 at the Kneading Conference, the boys reached their limits.

Found in our cabin. We must be in the right place.

Week 49

Week 50

Week 48