80 and Beyond

Today was a first. I biked 76 miles and then ran 4.5. It was a great day and I felt amazing!

I was up at 5:40 so I could hit the road by my standard 7am. This allows me to make it to Del Mar by 8am to meet the San Diego Triathlon Club. They have a group ride that starts at the local Starbucks. You can choose several distances. I usually just stay the coast and do my own thing, but I like to start with the club because every week I meet someone new.

Last week I was fortunate enough to meet a nice couple, Kebby and Reggie. They also just moved to San Diego a little over a month ago. They're from the Atlanta area and are training for Ironman Arizona. How much better could things get? I gabbed with Kebby for about an hour which is where my turn-around point was last week. She and Reggie continued on making their way up the coast. We had a wonderful time when we were together and talked about getting training together some too.

This week, I was hoping to see them again, but no such luck. Oh well. Instead I biked with 4 others up into Carlsbad (about 15 ish miles N. of Del Mar). There, I bid them farewell and continued my trek north and into Camp Pendelton. At last, I hit the halfway point and I turned around flying down the final hill I just climbed. I love the downhills and am learning to embrace the ups too. They build character and make you stronger; I guess that's what it's all about.

As I was nearing the halfway point, the winds started to pick up. This made the ride back challenging at times. Along the coast there are cars parked. These cars provide a little bit of a wind break, but between every car, the wind pushes you. So as you are whizzing along, the cross wind comes and goes and adds an interesting element to cycling. I was happy to finish my coastal miles and head back inland without kissing the pavement as I thought I might.

The final miles from the coast are uphill as I mentioned in my previous post. Each time I ride though the hills get a little easier and I am less frustrated. This in itself is an accomplishment. This week was the first week that I have been well fueled. The other day I stopped in and bought a container of Sustained Energy. It rocks! I use about 5 scoops per water bottle. I sip on the bottle every 15 minutes, and one bottle lasts about 2.5 hours. For Ironman, I'll take 3 bottles. Today, I took only 2. I also consumed almost 3 other bottles of just water.

By the end of my ride, I still felt really good. I could feel my legs were tired, but there was no time to stop. I got off my bike, put it in the garage, changed shoes, took off one layer and was off and running. I ran about 4.5 miles and felt great. I could have kept running, but I wanted to save some energy for Sunday's scheduled 10 mile run. Now that today is Sunday, 10 miles seems like a long way on the hills around here when I'm feeling as tired as I am, but hopefully by the afternoon I'll be feeling a little better and will pound a few out.

So all in all, I'm feeling pretty good about my race. Should I? Most people think I'm crazy to even consider doing this race with my lack of preparation, but I feel strong and fit and have a few more weeks to iron out any kinks for race day. I wasn't ready for my half-iron either and I thought the race went very well. We'll hope things go really well for this one too. Then, I'm going to take a little time off and not worry about training. I'll probably do a couple of races this summer and call it done for the season; we'll see. I would like to get to the track and do some track work-outs with the tri-club. I need lots of work on my running. I still think that's my biggest weakness and this year, I'm going to change that!

Today I went farther than I have ever gone before on the bike. When you add my running, it's still the farthest I've gone in a single day by 10 miles. Next week I will go farther...farther on the bike, and a few extra on the run.

On my lucky day, race day, I will swim farther than I've ever swam, I will bike farther than I've ever biked and run as far as I've ever run. It promises to be a day to remember and I can't wait!