Weekly Workout Totals 07/23/2007-07/29/2007 and Dweeb Triathlete of the Week

First, the dweebage.

So I'm on my way to an organized ride to do 100 miles (yah, I know--shouldn't I be recovering??), and I always enjoy driving up on someone with bike on car, so I near this one, and I can't believe the shoes are clipped into the pedals! I tried taking a photo while driving, but couldn't get a good one, so since I knew the person was probably heading to the same place as I was, I just waited...

So we arrive, and it's a woman, and she parks and I park, and I let her go off to register while I snap this photo. This was AFTER I hear her talking to someone else about how she only takes the shoes off for races??? WTF??? Dweeb. I bet she leaves the numbers on her helmet and bike for days after a race, too...

So yeah, I rode 100 miles today and I did 60 yesterday. How'd that happen? I had only scheduled 2 hours of riding for the weekend, but I was out with a friend on Friday who told me of some ride starting in Crystal Lake and did I want to go? I thought, why not, let's just give it a shot, and since I was drinking (well, more than him), and I know I ride pretty well with a hangover (I am celebrating, he he), I show up Saturday morning, and there are some serious riders. I figure I'll be dropped faster than the disco ball in Times Square on New Year's Eve, but hey, may as well give it a try. So we take off, and while I thought there was a 50-mile group, turns out they are all doing 78, and I just don't think that's a good idea for me, but what the hell. So me and Harold ride with them for a bit, and there was a turn where some of us had to stop and then the rolling hills started and it was all over, after I think about 25 minutes. So at least we made it that far! Here I thought Harold was being nice and waiting for me, but this ride was over his current fitness, too. So we made up a ride, and we found some really nice roads and ended up at about 58.5 miles. I actually pulled most of the ride, and were it not for the lostness and navigational issues (thank God Harold had a GPS), we would have average about 18MPH, not bad for fairly hilly, hungover and recovering from an Ironman. When we were about halfway, there was a group of girls who passed us while I was stopped taking a piss, and then we got back going and there was this 3-mile hill, and we could see them up ahead, and I decided I wanted to catch them. It was a long grind up that hill, but at a corner, we lost them, and then I decided we needed to go right, and there they were at a gas station! So we closed well, and I saw a guy with an Ironman Lake Placid jersey so I flashed my new pink IMUSA water bottles at him and they were pretty incredulous that I was riding after just racing last Sunday. Oh well, that's me! We finished riding and ended up having a great time, having found some nice roads to ride on.

So I do that yesterday and figure, hey, I must be recovering pretty well, let's see how the rest of the day feels and maybe I'll ride Sunday. First, though, I swam to loosen up after the riding. The swim felt great, and I went back home and decided I'd check if there was an organized ride I could do, and sure enough, the Metro Metric was going, and I just figured I'd try and do 100 miles since I have that 300K ride in 2 weeks. If I felt badly, I would sag off the course.

So I go to ride this morning after the dweeb sighting, and I was riding pretty well considering. I was a little slow, taking 5:58 to ride 100 miles when I usually can go about 5:40 or even less depending on conditions. It was windy, and it got pretty hot, but I persevered, thinking that this will help set me up for the ride in 2 weeks. At the next to last rest stop, I was coming out and a group was going in and I heard someone yell, "Sheila? What are you doing out here?" And I thought it was this girl, MJ, and she was in the group, but it was actually Lori who shouted at me. I knew they'd catch me, seeing as how I was underpowered, and when they did, we had a great time talking. They congratulated me on my race, which was cool, as they had followed me online, and it's always nice to see them. MJ is doing IMFL, and Lori is doing IMKY. They then went ahead of me, and at the next rest stop when I pulled in, they were leaving and I yelled at them, "Hey, you FREAKS!" And they yelled back at me, "It takes one to know one."

I'm glad I did the 100 miles today and this sets me up nicely for a rather big week coming up. I feel pretty recovered, especially since I didn't run at all this week. Next week, I get back on that train. There's a little voice in my head that says since I'm recovering so well I must not have gone hard enough in the race, but then the other little voice tells me that it's just because I'm so fit and have done so many IM's that I am able to recover and I didn't do anything stupid in the race.

Here's my happy totals. I'd like to be sleeping more, and I will get back on my stretching.

Weekly Workout Totals 07/23/2007-07/29/2007
Swim: 10300 yards (5.85 miles) in 3.57 hours; 26% of weekly workout time; approx. 1249 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 165.38 miles in 9.45 hours; 70% of weekly workout time; approx. 4698 calories burned
Run: Approx. 0 miles in 0 hours; 0% of weekly workout time; approx. 0 calories burned
Strength: 0.5 hours; 4% of weekly workout time; approx. 125 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 171.23 miles in 13.52 hours; approx. 6072 calories burned
Sleep: 7.04 hours avg./night
Stretching: 0.5 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours