JFR

I'm tired from the last week of "training" and so I decided to postpone a 3800-yard swim workout. Why? Because my regular pool is closed for 2 weeks and I decided it would be better to sleep in this morning than to wake up at 5 to drive extra, knowing I'd still be fatigued.

Why am I tired? Been training a lot. A LOT. Trying to get in 1,000 miles of biking this month is doing it. I don't know how grand tour riders can ride so much. I just don't know how they do it. I know that I would sure want some "enhancement" if I was going to try that.

I must be getting stronger on the bike. Yesterday I rode 102 miles by myself (well, except for when I let 2 different groups of sorry-ass triathletes suck my wheel for about 5 miles at a time and then summarily dropped them), and averaged 18.3 MPH, where the last 40 miles of that were into a headwind. Needless to say, that is a little faster than what I would average on an Ironman ride, but still, that's a good clip for that distance. On very little sleep. A friend (whom I met at Ironman Brazil) was in town from Miami for the weekend, and we had a few cocktails Saturday night, and then I just couldn't get to sleep. Tequila tends to do that to me!

Just 4 weeks ago I rode at an average speed of 18.3 for 100 miles with 2 others in mostly drafting formation, so it was good to know I could hold that pace on my own yesterday. I don't know how I did it--my legs were dead on Saturday, and I mean DEAD--I wanted to ride a bit so my legs would be prepped for Sunday, so I decided on 2 hours. I threw in some intervals, but just did not have the power I was looking for, and tried to run off the bike, but felt so wiped that I bagged it. So I rested more or less the remainder of the day, and then went out for cocktails around 8:30 (I only had one Margarita, a big one, though), then couldn't get to sleep, decided to sleep in (until 6AM), since I was unsure of when I actually fell asleep (I'm sure it was after midnight, maybe more like 1AM), and figured I had some play in my plans.

Originally I had wanted to begin my ride yesterday at 7AM, but since I didn't wake up until 6:15, that was not in the cards. Still, I sucked down some coffee, ate a Power Bar Triple Threat, guzzled 400 calories of Glycoload (same thing as Ultrafuel, basically), pumped my tires and was on the road by 7:05. It was maybe a 35-minute drive to the ride start, and of course I had to pee when I got there, but there were too many people around in the bank parking lot to do a "metal tree pee" (my term for squatting next to an open car door--not too discreet--but remember I will pee just about anywhere), so I got my bike ready to go, rode to the start and there were porta-potties, did my thing, paid the money, declined the T-shirt (all they had were XXL), took the water bottle, and away I went.

I was riding by 7:50AM, and since I wanted to go to this bike race later in the day that started at 3PM, I figured I needed to keep about an 18MPH average, including my rest stop time, to finish in time to run 20-30 minutes, drive home, eat, shower and walk 1/2 mile to the bike race. We started out with a bit of a tailwind heading south (and I knew that meant headwind on the way back), and we were heading roughly towards the Illinois River, so that meant on a slight downward slope. I was hammering away blissfully by myself, and even though I typically take about 1 hour to warm up, I just started going. All thoughts of lack of sleep, the tiredness that had been in my legs the day before, the fact that I had shuffled my workouts this week and that I was only scheduled for a 4-hour ride this weekend, but had decided that if I felt recovered enough I would do 100 miles, were out the window. At the first aid station, in a split-second decision, I even had a doughnut! They had Dunkin' Donuts, and the custard-filled, chocolate-coated (my absolute favorite) called out to me. I joked that I hoped they had cheeseburgers at the next aid station! That doughnut was just what the doctor ordered--more sugar--and apparently I also needed a good dose of fat.

I focused back on why I was out here--because I wanted to put in a lot of bike miles this month. I think because I carbed up while cocktailing that I must have had enough in the tank, and man, it was just the most beautiful day ever--got me motivated to push the pace. I knew that because of the ride logistics that I could bail and only do 75 miles, and for the first 2 hours I was thinking about doing that, especially after eating a doughnut! I mean, what am I trying to prove? Well, I am not trying to prove anything--I am just trying to get stronger on the bike, and strength comes from toughness, both mental and physical, so this was a perfect opportunity for me to show myself what I got.

There weren't very many riders out on this ride, which was odd, but then again, there were bike races going on, the Chicago Air and Water Show was on, and I'm sure a lot of folks were just getting in their last blast of summer fun in other ways. I just like riding my bike!

Since I started late for a 100-mile rider, I figured I wouldn't see too many other 100-mile riders out there, but right about at 40 miles in, I started catching up to and passing people riding 100 miles (in retrospect the doughnut was just what the doctor ordered). First there was this group of 3 triathletes. For a bit, they acted all "faster than me" and such, but then I thought hey, I had caught up to them, so let's see what they got? I let them pull me for maybe 1 mile, and then since I wasn't sure of their paceline strategy, figured they were taking turns every .5 mile or so, and so I figured it was time for me to go up front. Which I gladly did. And I'm riding and riding, and I'm seeing 2...3...4 miles ticking off and nobody is coming up front. Finally I turn around and they are GONE. We were into a headwind, but that usually makes me push harder, and the peer pressure, you know. But they were gone. One of the girls in the group seemed pretty fast, and I had commented on her yellow bike, joking, "Yellow bikes are faster than others," and she seemed to want to prove it to me, but I guess she couldn't hold pace with MY yellow bike.

But then shortly after that I come up on another group of triathletes, 4 of them (3 girls and 1 guy), and have the usual banter "what are you training for?" and they were all training for IMFL. I hang with them (they were riding 2 abreast) for about .5 mile, and I'm looking at my power, and it's on the down low, if you know what I mean, and I'm getting a bit bored, thinking these folks should pick it up a bit (and let's face it, I DID catch up to them). So I go up front, thinking they will get a clue and we can take turns pulling to get in a decent workout, and I pull for like 5 miles and they all just sit back there! For a bit, I was thinking you lazy asses, but then I thought, what the heck, I am getting a great workout let's go! (Ironically, much later in the ride with about 15 miles to go I actually SAW an ass--er--a donkey, and had to yell at the little guy, "Hey, you ASS!") Then I just kept riding and get ahead of them, and take a little break myself and one of the girls comes up to my pace and goes past me, and I'm thinking she must be sick of their shit, too, so she motivates me to pick it up again, but then she slows down and "waits" for her group, and I can see they are all flagging, but I do get past them for a bit.

As we ride along the Illinois River it's totally beautiful and shady and curvy and really nice, and we all pull into the next aid station close together, and I hear one of the group asking about a gas station and I know why--they need some caffeine. So we sort of head out of there together, we get into a town (Seneca, I think), and there's the gas station, and we are saying our good byes (who knows maybe they will catch me back--NOT), and I say to them, "Cokes, huh?" And they say, "Yep." See I knew it. Maybe they were cocktailing more than me. Maybe they are training more than me, or maybe they do the stupid long-run-on-Saturday-long-ride-on-Sunday training which is guaranteed to fry your legs (like my legs weren't fried from all the biking I've been doing???). I'm not saying they were slow or slackers, but considering they were riding in a group, I thought they would be going faster. The girls in the group didn't seem too friendly to me--I really don't know why--I am pretty light and cordial, after all we are all just out trying to do our things--but whatever, when they stopped at that gas station, I knew 2 things for certain: 1) they are already toast (and we were only about 55 miles into the ride) and 2) I would not be seeing them for the next 45 miles if I could help it.

Right after that we started heading back north, and I knew this meant 2 things: 1) headwind and 2) climbing out of a river valley. Oh joy! Uphill into a headwind! No problems, I knew my average speed might start to go down here (I think I was close to 19MPH through 65 miles), and I wondered if I could hold effort and still make my goal time. There was one fairly long and sort of steep climb that I remember doing 4 or 5 years ago on some ride. Oh well, just keep turning over the pedals. Every few miles, especially after turns, I would look behind me to see if I saw any riders approaching, but nope!

It continued to be a gorgeous day--temps in the mid-70's, clear blue sky with puffy cumulous clouds, lots of really tall corn and soybeans, very little traffic, and my legs felt fine. At about 72 miles in, I stopped briefly and lo and behold another Griffen! Of course we both gushed about how much we love our bikes, and I said when I get a new road bike that's what I want. One more stop, and I'm done.

In a way, I still wasn't sure that I should be riding 100 miles, but then again, sometimes you don't know what you are capable of until you try it, and what's the worst that could happen? I become tired. Let's just say that when I got off the bike to run, it was not a pretty sight. I had to "run" up this rather large hill, and then another one, and I was getting all demoralized, but then I realized going back would be downhill and I made myself RUN. All I could think is that I have been going at things pretty hard lately, and that it was amazing that I was still moving!

I cut my run short to only :25, got in the car, drove home while drinking my Endurox and eating a pack of cheese/peanut butter crackers and guzzling a small bottle of Gatorade, unpacked my car in a hurry, put something in the microwave to eat, got in the shower (best shower ever--although crotch not too happy), wolfed down most of a Lean Cuisine, dumped a beer into a plastic cup, grabbed a bottle of water, made a baggie of chips in case I got hungry, and left to walk down to the bike races, which I made it to by 3:30. It was probably good for my legs to do some walking, although I'm guessing I looked like a war survivor, as I couldn't walk very fast. I watched bikes whooshing by for about 1:15, and realized I was so tired that I better go home and fix dinner before I passed out.

In case you were wondering, here's what I did last week:

Weekly Totals 08/14/2006-08/20/2006
Swim: 9100 yards (5.16 miles) in 3.08 hours; 17% of weekly workout time; approx. 1080 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 168 miles in 9.42 hours; 53% of weekly workout time; approx. 4518 calories burned
Run: Approx. 25.51 miles in 3.85 hours; 22% of weekly workout time; approx. 1898 calories burned
Strength: 1.3 hours; 7% of weekly workout time; approx. 325 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 198.67 miles in 17.65 hours; approx. 7821 calories burned
Sleep: 8.64 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.52 hours

Doesn't look like a lot on paper, does it? But my intensity has been right up there for weeks on end now, either racing with no taper or riding 9 hours straight or running freaking 5K races weekly, so that's plenty. Oh, and I crossed over the 700 training hours for the season this week!

OK, so maybe I won't make up that swim I missed today, or maybe I might. Now I am just focused on next weekend--and the plan is to do about 75 miles on Saturday and 125 on Sunday. That will be a first for me. So until then I am going to be watchful on my recovery and leg fatigue, with the goal of going into Saturday with relatively fresh legs. Ha ha, I will need to, as I'm doing the trifecta of 3 days straight of hard running again.

For the month of August, so far 591 miles on the bike. After I add it up, I don't think I'll hit 1,000 miles (more like 850), but it will still be a solid month of biking. And then a little non-race, and then I will switch modes into *actual* 1/2 Ironman training, OMG!!!

Ride on!