So I took a rest day last Monday. And then in the next 3 days I racked up about 3 hours of training per day. On Friday morning, I swam and did some core stuff and jump rope, and I was thinking about running for an hour, but I felt, well, exhausted. So I didn't do any more training that day, and instead, began watching the weekend weather forecast to see whether I'd drive to Galena on Saturday to ride like 65 miles or go up to Dodgeville, WI on Saturday night to ride 100 on Sunday.
Since both Saturday and Sunday looked good, I decided on Dodgeville, although the prospect of 9,000 feet of climbing in 100 miles this early in the year was a little unnerving. But I figured it would take me about 7 hours and so I wouldn't need to ride on Saturday at all. And a friend of mine said he was going, too, so now I was on the hook for it, but looking forward to it, too.
Saturday morning I woke after a long sleep and thought at first that I felt pretty good, and I was thinking about swimming maybe :45, biking (easy) 1:15 and running (easy) 1:00. That wouldn't kill me the day before a hard 100-mile ride. But as I began moving around, a few things began happening. My nose was running like a faucet and I felt exhausted. I thought, whoops, maybe I am finally cracking! I took some allergy meds, aspirin (I had a pretty good broadband headache, but not sinus), and began drinking a lot of things--soup, Endurox, Gatorade, water, and got back in bed for a few hours. I didn't fall asleep, but I clearly needed some more rest, and after a few hours, I got back up, drank a Coke and headed out into my yard.
It was a beautiful, sunny day, and it hadn't rained in 2 days (we broke the record for rainfall in April), so it was nice to get dirty in the yard. I got my front pretty much cleaned up and even made a dent in the back. And I started feeling human again! I think I needed rest, fresh air, and stimulus other than boatloads of training for once.
Got on the road for Dodgeville a little before 6PM and I was finally feeling like I wasn't truly sick and was going to be just fine for the ride. I had made one of my (to me, anyway) famous Italian focaccia sandwiches and we had part of it right after crossing the border into Wisconsin, and then more on the road and also some Perugina chocolate. Since my appetite had returned, I knew I was in good shape.
To the hotel in Dodgeville where I'd stayed once before for Dairyland Dare (a beast of a ride), check in, unload, settle in, get some sleep and wake up and try and decide what to wear to ride. It was only in the low 40's to start, but the ride email said they would collect clothes you wanted to shed at the first rest station and take them back to the start! How nice! We started out conservatively, I guess, although when I am doing all that climbing, I don't even bother looking at the power meter because it is what it is. I just try and remain seated so I don't spike the power too much.
The first loop didn't seem too bad, but there were some tough climbs right away. But it was a bright, sunshiny day, and we were happy to be riding even though we knew it would hurt at some point.
At the second aid station, they also took clothes, which was a pleasant surprise, so off came the tights, under top layer, helmet beanie and arm warmers.
And then the wind picked up. I like hills, I like wind, but I don't really care for them together! Oh well, I felt like I was riding OK, and would finish in a decent amount of time. When we got to the place where you can decide whether to do 85 or 100 miles, a second guy who had joined us for awhile looked like he was flagging, and he said he was bailing on the 100. I had one of those split-second evil brain thoughts of just doing 85 myself, but then my bike magically turned onto the extra loop for the 100-mile, which had black markers, much like a tough ski hill usually is "black diamond."
The black loop started out innocently enough with some almost flat areas, but then (and I don't remember which road it was on), there was a climb that seemed to last for 2 miles or so. It was either Cty Y, YZ or Z. Anyway, when I finished it, I said to my friend, "That was SICK." We got to enjoy headwind AND climbing.
At the next aid station, which I thought was the last one, I let my friend go on and hammer home (that's what friends do), although truth be told, I think the reason he was able to do that was because I had been riding a good pace to set him up for it ;) Whatever, I took my time and enjoyed some alone time. I'm not really much of a talker on rides--but if I'm with someone, I let them jabber at me as much as they want--just don't expect me to say much, except for when I get some silly thought in my mind, then I get asked what is so funny, and it's probably only funny to me. It was interesting that I wasn't cursing aloud so much on this ride, but in my head I sure was. I remember being on a ridge, climbing, and saw a sign for a tree farm, and in my head I was thinking, "Big fucking deal. Stupid fucking tree farm." Exactly that! I guess I wasn't so amused anymore.
It turned out there was one more aid station, and it was well placed. I was playing a mental game with myself to not check mileage until I was at 6:15 of ride time. Had to find something to keep me motivated! There were about 10 riders hanging out there, and I peed (huge congratulations to me for peeing in actual porta-potties or restrooms throughout the ride! I think that was a first!), grabbed a little more water and got on my way.
I sort of was riding near a group of 2 girls and one guy, and they were all way younger than me, and looked to be good riders, but I was going to ride my own pace now. On some of the climbs, I would get ahead of them and then I would rest a bit and they'd catch up (or should I say, the girls would catch up because clearly the guy was much stronger). The girls chatted me up a bit, which I wasn't really into, which is why I would rather ride alone or with a guy who isn't going to get all girly on me. Anyway, they were nice people and one of the girls commented to me towards the end that I am a strong rider. I was like WHAT? I wasn't feeling that strong towards the end, but hey, I HAD caught them and they were only riding 85 miles, so good on me for that.
I have no idea how many women even completed all 100 miles. It ended up being only 7,800 feet of climbing (yes, I got gypped out of 1200 feet!), and again this ride came through because they had showers for us to clean up which is especially nice if you are driving 3 hours home! They also had good food out.
My total ride time was 6:55, only because I decided I had to walk up one really short hill on Otter Road--but it turned out to be a good move because my legs were totally good after that, even though I did stop halfway through a 2-step climb where it flattened out, and the girls went by me like "why did you stop?" But I got right back on after about 10 seconds and climbed right past them!
The drive back was relaxing in a traffic-y sort of way, I got dropped off and sort of put a few things away, cracked a beer, fixed myself a sandwich, downloaded the power data and then got in bed and read a little before passing out.
I actually set my alarm for 6:30 but woke at 5:10 feeling pretty good, so I did get in a swim this morning. Only 1800 yards, but the cool water felt good, even though I was swimming really, really slow. This week is big running week, so I need to kick that off with a 1-hour run here soon, and then repeat swim and run for the next 4 days--no biking until Saturday--although I am already stalking the weather forecast for the weekend since I want to get in some good riding.
That ride yesterday was fucking awesome. Beautiful countryside, great company, I survived 2 stings already, I felt pretty strong riding, and it was awesome preparation for Triple T, which is now just 3 weeks away!!!! Oh yeah--we saw a bald eagle, too!
I didn't do as much swim or run training as planned last week, but I did accomplish the week's goal, which was a lot of riding, so I will consider it a success! And I guess it counts as a "rest week" since this week I should hit 19-20 hours. So all good, and even as tired as I am, I'm looking forward to running, as long as it's warm and sunny, so I can get rid of the stripes on my arms and legs from yesterday! And I'll be fine with putting LGL away for the week, but hope the weekend brings good weather for riding. There are no organized rides locally this weekend, so maybe I'll haul myself back up to Wisconsin for some more hill fun.
Here's what I did last week:
| Weekly Workout Totals | 04/27/2009-05/03/2009 This week's totals are sponsored by HILLS! |
| Swim: | 8100 yards (4.6 miles) in 2.93 hours; 17% of weekly workout time; approx. 1027 calories burned Canadian: 7406.64 meters |
| Bike: | Approx. 162.8 miles in 10.42 hours; 61% of weekly workout time; approx. 5840 calories burned; Total TSS=755 Canadian: 262 kilometers |
| Run: | Approx. 17.74 miles in 2.63 hours; 15% of weekly workout time; approx. 1183 calories burned Canadian: 28.55 kilometers |
| Strength: | 1.13 hours; 7% of weekly workout time; approx. 283 calories burned |
| All Sports: | Approx. 185.14 miles in 17.11 hours; approx. 8333 calories burned Canadian: 297.95 kilometers |
| Sleep: | 7.82 hours avg./night |
| Stretching: | 2 hours. Massage: 1 hours |
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