On Friday I went to the Busan Cultural Center again with another friend to see four more choral groups perform. Tonight the groups were from Malaysia, China, Indonesia and USA. The group from Malaysia was AMAZING. Other than the Russian group the night before, they were my favorite by far (and the Russian group was my favorite because I am just partial to Russian music). However, the group from the USA was amazing too. They actually got a standing ovation! I mean they were really good but I was very surprised that they got one and no one else did...I think the group from Malaysia deserved one too. Anyway. While the sound of the group from the USA was probably the best, I don't think I would say that I enjoyed them the most, only because all of their songs were religious and churchy. Not that there is anything wrong with that - but they all had the same type of mood, whereas other groups kind of mixed up the types of songs which to me was a little more enjoyable. Overall though, it was a great night. I'm glad I went even though I was feeling sick :) Oh, on another note, I was wearing a really long skirt that night, and I was walking up the escalator and started to run a bit and tripped and fell...and tried to 'run it out' but it was totally clear that I had fallen on my face...and there were tons of people behind me and in front of me who saw...hahahaha. Oh man that was great.
I woke up Saturday morning and felt twice as badly as I had on Friday...really bad sore throat and today I was also congested whereas I wasn't the day before (I'm thinking this might have something to do with the big thing of mold that I found on my wall a few days ago...? I recall seeing a few flies swarming around that area of the wall when I moved my suitcase so I'm guessing it isn't super sanitary...), so I was not happy about that. But I had skipped practice Tuesday and Wednesday earlier in the week due to "work" (some of it was work and some of it was being tired and some of it was me acting like a 12 year old and not wanting to see a certain somebody - but at least I can say that I did do work for a bit of the time that I was not at practice) and I hadn't seen my coach in what seemed like a really long time and I didn't want to skip out. I thought, if nothing else, I will just ride my bike there and meet them and if I feel crappy then I will just ride back home. But when I got there I was feeling...decent...and it was a BEAUTIFUL day, and I had already told Coach that I was going to have to go slow today, so I went. We rode 70 km (I actually rode about 80km - about 50mi - because it is about 10km from my house to our meeting place) - the first 35 with the group (aka with my coach because I was staying back and chilling with him) was fine - but the last 35 was horrible. I actually felt faint on the bike towards the end. And I felt like I was going to cry at points because my body was so tired. I'm sure it had something to do with not fueling myself as properly as I should have but I couldn't get much food down anyhow, and the feeling in my throat had killed any desire to put anything down my esophagus. But it was still a fun ride. I just went really really slow. I felt sort of bad, but Coach knew I was sick and the others were aware too so it wasn't as bad as just randomly going like 12mph for the last 20 or more km - not lying... and I was using effort too - my heart rate wasn't high but my effort level was at its maximum. But I was riding a lot my myself or with my coach, and this was a new style of riding, because normally we are with at least one other person (or sometimes it was just me and S but there is a different mood there too because I can't completely relax when training with him - not for any reason but I just can't completely relax while riding my bike with most people, my coach is just an exception I guess), so I was able to relax and not feel pressured to go fast. And on the way back I was riding by myself at times, which I really liked, because I definitely didn't feel pressured. Although at about 25 km to go, one of the elder men (by elder I mean older than me, not old - I'm not sure how old this man is - I will call him W - but I know he has a son (I think son, maybe daughter?) that goes to college in NYC, so that gives you an idea of his age) came back to ride with me. And he made it really comfortable too because he did interval training while I struggled to make it back to base. He was working on cadence in his lowest gear, doing like minute or 2 minute intervals and then dropping back - so I could see he was doing something beneficial, but also he was making sure I didn't die. Haha. No but that was nice. I definitely wouldn't have minded going solo because I'm almost positive that I would have been able to find my way...haha...but I didn't feel tense riding with him which was good. W is a really really nice man, and speaks English quite well. He and one other elder (this elder is probably in his 30s - maybe late 20s, but probably 30s...I'm bad with age...) have started to ride with us on Saturdays, which is great. They are SO nice, and I need them pushing me. I don't know if I will ever be able to keep up with them without drafting, but that doesn't matter because I will get much faster just attempting. :)
After getting back, we went for some traditional Korean beef stew, which really hit the spot. It was really really delicious, but I will have to get it again sometime soon I think because I wasn't able to really enjoy it that day. Still though, it was great :) We then rode back to our meeting place, and Coach told me that I shouldn't swim today, and that I should go home and get some rest, which I completely agreed with. I had no business being in water at that point...ha. So I went home, and actually relaxed. It was amazing. Although now it is 5:30am on Sunday and I can't sleep again because of my throat. BAH. But today I will rest a lot as well and hopefully I will be feeling better by Monday. As for today, I will get to enjoy one of the probably last-remaining days of weather in the 60s in Busan for a while, with some sun to boot, on my bike, but I will be able to go really slow and not have it be a problem because today is riding with the younger kids, and I will just ride with the slowest group :) We might be riding at nearly the same energy level..haha. Naw, but biking makes me feel better afterwards, getting all of the things out of my system that clog up and prevent endorphine-release.I may opt out of swimming and/or running today, but we will see how that goes.
Damn mold. I blame that for feeling like this. But its all good.
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