Fucking Awesome Last Long Ride before IMLP!

But first I must back up.

After Friday's debacle, I still managed to fix bottles of Endurox for the remaining time before I leave for IMLP, plus carb loading bottles and Infinit bottles for riding Saturday and Sunday (assuming I did both). I always get a bit teary-eyed as I do these things for the last time before an Ironman, because it means that it is definitely coming! Here are my bottles ready to go into the fridge:
I was optimistic about working out on Saturday, so I went to sleep early and set the alarm for 5:00AM. I awoke after 8.5 hours of sleep, got out of bed, and my legs were sore. Not fatigued--actually sore. Whenever I experience this, it's a strong signal that I need R-E-S-T. So even though I shit canned my workout on Friday, I decided that first I would go back to bed and see how I felt in a few more hours.

1.5 hours later, no dice, legs are still sore, and I feel like I could sleep all day! So I shit canned Saturday's workouts--I was going to swim 3500 and bike maybe 2.5 hours. OK, so what will I do? When was the last time I wasn't sick and had a rest day? Like NEVER! I did have a rest day at the end of May, but that was after Triple T, and I was still sick as a dog, and even though I still felt rather tired, I thought of various things I could get done that wouldn't tax me too much physically. Oh and I think I spent a lot of the day eating--I knew I was undernourished from all the hard training I'd been doing, so every 2 hours or so I would eat maybe 300-400 calories.

I got the lawn mowed, I finally hooked up the converter box to the TV (not that I will be watching it much, but it's nice to know I can if I want to), restocked some home office supplies that I'd been meaning to do for several months now (including a rainbow set of dry erase markers for my giant mirror in my bedroom!), gased up my car, and grilled out. This was before I left to go see No Doubt in concert.

No Doubt rocked! I was SO glad I went, even though I almost bailed on it. The set was amazing, and the band was amazing! I really like their mix of ska, rock, reggae or whatever you call it. I left a little early, though, because a) I was still tired and b) I wanted to see if I could do a 100-mile ride today.

Did I mention that I was STUNG under each eye this past week? Not just bit by mosquitoes--but actually fucking STUNG. I had to dig stingers out from under each eye. Luckily they didn't happen on the same day, but I'm like what the fuck, why are stinging insects so attracted to me???

Anyway, when I got home from No Doubt, I ate 2 crab cakes and drank a beer and got to sleep a little before midnight, which is WAY past my usual bedtime of 8:30 or 9:00PM lately. I set my alarm for 5:15 but figured I'd know when it went off or maybe sooner if I could make that.

Sometime during the night, I decided I needed to let myself sleep, and since the plan was to drive to Fermilab to ride 100 miles and run off the bike, what the fuck else was I doing today, so it didn't matter when I started.

I slept until 6:30AM, and felt like I could get up and get going, and so I did. I wanted to leave home by 8:00AM, but was like 10 minutes off that, but no worries. It was a beautiful day, and I'd decided on a tri swimsuit bottom to ride in and also no sunscreen, as I'm already pretty tan, and all sunscreen products clog up my pores and make me crazy because I can't sweat properly. I also took the aerohelmet with me, as I figured I'd wear it for some of the ride at least.

I got to Fermilab and got my primo parking spot in the shade at the East Gate, and got ready to ride. I donned the aerohelmet, and when I'm in there, I wear the iPod, since there is very little traffic to be concerned with. I have a regular 16-mile loop around the place, but at some point during the first lap I decided I didn't want to do 6+ laps, so when I was about 8 miles in, I decided to make some interior loops around Pine Road (which is awesome asphalt and straight as hell which makes it great for time trialing), and when I got back to my car (after seeing the coyote couple crossing a road--I was so happy to see them!), I'd done 23 miles. I forgot to mention that I got the speed display working on the Ergomo today--I guess the damn sensor is pretty picky, and I moved it just a bit today and all of a sudden I had miles! I was happy, because I really wanted to get the 100 solid, you know?

Out for my second loop, I decided I'd fucked up on the first loop, since it should have been 25 miles, so now I'd need to do 27 to get to 50 after 2 laps. I added on which took me into an area of very large power items (there are some extremely large items in Fermilab--one of these days I will photograph all them, but will need to put something in front for perspective), and after 2 laps, I was at about 51.5 miles. Awesome!

The wind picked up or else I suck since I slowed down a bit. But I was still feeling good, no worries. On lap 3, I had done all my "adding on" when I saw a peloton of about 15 riders, mostly or all guys, heading for the Small Ring. So I thought they must have a special access pass, since it's not generally open to the public, so I hammered to catch up to them (I was at about 73 miles by now), only to see they had been kicked off by Security. I thought some of them would follow me, since God forbid a chic is riding faster than they are, but they didn't. I don't know where they went.

I kept on, and when I got to my car, I was at 79 miles after 3 laps. Awesome! After refilling my water bottle, a security guard pulled his car up next to me and we began chatting. He commented how he'd seen me riding in there for like hours (yep!), and asked if I was training for anything, so I told him, and I also told him that I bet most of the Security has seen me in there since I'm there a lot, and that I'd be back in about 3 weeks to start up training for Revenge of the PirateMan (although I didn't tell him the name), and that I'd be doing a full 112 mile ride in there. We exchanged names, and I politely asked him if he'd give me a free pass to ride on the Big Ring, and he said sure! I was so pumped, because this meant I could do maybe 4 or 5 laps (it's about 4 miles around) in there to finish up my ride! He also told me he had kicked the group of guys off of the Small Ring.

Dude sends me on my way, and I am 1.5 laps of the Big Ring in when I see him in there. He tells me the same bunch of dudes tried to ride on the Big Ring and he kicked them out! He said they would be really jealous of me, but I had told him I fully understand they don't want big packs of people in there, and only go in by myself and once in awhile. But he told me I could use his name anytime when I want to ride the Big Ring and I should be fine!

Now see, this is an example of when you act polite and respectful and also look like you know what you are doing AND having fun at it, that people just treat you well. I was so tickled over this that I must have been smiling hugely the entire time I was on the Big Ring! Plus, as I got closer to my 100 miles, I felt great that I had done this all by myself, and that I should be able to HTFU for ROTPM when it's Ironman day!

When I finished, I wanted a couple of pics of me with the bike, so here they are:
I really like this picture, even though I'm not moving. Man, I was happy that I'd just polished off 101 miles at a good pace all by myself!

I had hoped this would be a little closer in, but still, you get the idea. I rode like this all fucking day, hardly ever stood up since it's so fucking flat in Fermilab, and besides, whenever I wear the aerohelmet, it's really stupid not to be in the position, right?

And then I suited up to run. I wondered how this would feel, because like, didn't I do this shit just a week ago? I sometimes forget how much training I pile on myself, and I kept thinking when was I in Wisconsin? LAST FUCKING WEEKEND, THAT'S WHEN!

As soon as I got going, I noticed how humid it was, either that or I was just piggy from being on the bike so long. I ran OK, maybe 9:20 pace is what I'm guessing, and while it sucked, as do most runs after 100-mile rides, I thought I might just do OK running 26.2 in 2 weeks.

And here I am after all that, looking suitably sweaty:



And here I am all smiley and goofing because I'm glad to be done! I wore my HTFU bracelet all day, as you can see it on my right wrist:

After all that, I didn't even want McDonald's for the drive home. I did drink my Endurox, and I still haven't eaten a full meal--I'm just not that hungry--but know that I should probably dig into some pasta tonight so I am somewhat recovered for tomorrow.

It's now OFFICIALLY taper time, and while I had to take a rest day yesterday, I still nailed my last key workout before the big day (although I've got one more 3-mile swim this week), all my training "money" is in the bank, and there's nothing more I can do that will help me on race day.

I had a lot of emotions running through my head today--much like happens in an Ironman, and I felt good that I was out there by myself where I could have just quit at any time but kept going and worked hard. And while I won't say I am feeling particularly happy (more like neutral), I was absolutely thrilled that someone was so nice to me today and gave me such an awesome gift!