Monday night ladies ride

Greetings! Before I left Camas on Sunday I went for a run near Lacamas Lake. It was a nice trail that had small inclines right on the shore of the lake. I didn't have my Garmin with me, so I'm not sure how far I ran, but I was able to log about 45 minutes.

Yesterday, I awoke to a sore left knee...boo. I don't know if it was from the run or the fact that I sat in a car for 4.5 hours, part of which I was in traffic, contantly having to push in the clutch. I HOPE it is just sore from shifting on a new clutch (I was driving my boyfriend's car) because no injuries are welcome here!

I hopped in the pool after work yesterday and did the swim workout on my tri training schedule: 10 x 60 yards. I also added 200 kick, 100 swim and 200 pull. A lovely 1100 yard swim that felt SO EASY! Part of the swim however, I felt as though I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. I would inhale and get it as much air as possible, but it still felt my body wanted more. Weird!

After the swim I ran home, grabbed my bike and headed to meet a new Monday night ladies ride that was starting up. I didn't know what to expect as this was the first meeting of the group and no pace/mileage was determined, so I didn't set any expectations. Either I was going to get a gnarly workout or just have a nice cruise. The latter was the case.

I was the youngest of 6 women that showed up by probably 20 years and I immediately took the lead with my natual 15-16mph pace. I realized I was going too fast and wanted to be respectful to the group, so I slowed to around 13-14mph.

A mile or two into it, me and another rider broke away from the group and started chatting. She gave me a lot of advice when riding in a group and said I'd be better suited for the Tuesday night ride (same routes, but faster). We took a different route than the rest of the group that added 3 more miles and ended up complete 17 miles in 1:10. Yes, this is slow for me, but I didn't care. It felt good to just ride, spin my legs out and not care about speed. If it weren't for the group, I probably wouldn't have even got on my bike yesterday because it was raining a tad.

I DO want to try the Tuesday night ride, but I think that'll wait until next week. I have a run planned tonight and don't want to get too pooped. Plus, my left knee is still a little sore.

Do you ride in groups often? Is it even beneficial for triathlon training? Isn't drafting not allowed in most triathlons?