Weekly Workout Totals 04/27/2009-05/02/2009 and Big Bike Week Report

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

Wheels Haven't Come Off Yet!

Wednesday's workouts went well. Like this:

• 5:45AM 15 chinups, 60 pushups, 135 crunches and 6' of jump rope
• 6:20AM Swim 3100 yards
• 8:12 AM Run .6 miles (to/from neighbor's for compression stocking duty)
• 12:15PM Run 1:10 including strides, about 8 miles
• 5:30PM Lift for :20
• 6:45PM Run .6 miles to/from neighbor's again

Needless to say, I hadn't originally planned on getting in 9+ miles of running, or doing all the other things all in one day, but it had to be done, and so I did it. Was I tired after it was all done? Hell fucking yeah. The running wasn't particularly fast, but it was fun running up the hill from my house 3 times in one day (it's .3 miles up), wearing 3 different outfits!

While I slept deeply Wednesday night, when I awoke yesterday I felt, well, fucking tired. I'd had an inkling to do a 1500 yard swim in the morning, but opted to sleep in since I'd gone to sleep late. The combination of a big day at work, all the training and being on a pretty tight schedule meant I still needed my "me" time when it was all over, which is usually reading a book in bed. And I also needed more food!

I didn't swim yesterday morning, but I did get lucky in that I had a 9:30AM meeting during which I was able to finish up my lifting for the week! See now that is one of the advantages of working at home in the same room with your weights! I had to finish up legs and a few upper body things and abs, and it felt good to do it.

In retrospect, I should have probably had a protein shake after that short little workout since there's no way I'd restocked my glycogen stores over the 2 prior days. I got on the trainer (it's been raining for days now) at 12:15PM for a 1:30 ride, and since I was a little tired, I decided to drink a can of Coke while riding. Usually that would be more than enough calories for a standalone ride like that, and I didn't even think about it. The ride went well, despite my legs feeling like I'd done a ton of squats (funny, I had), and I kicked out good power.

It only took me maybe 3 minutes to throw on a singlet, hat and running shoes and head out the door. It had stopped raining, and I didn't have time to drive to the Y to run anyway, and it was fairly warm. I felt the humidity in my house while on the trainer, and as soon as I got outside, it was like I was in a sauna! The wind had picked up, but not so bad that it would impact my run speed much at all.

As I ran up the hill (I hadn't run up it earlier in the day since it was raining really hard so I walked to my neighbor's in the morning), I noted that my legs didn't feel all that bad, but what do I know maybe I am just used to sucking? I made it out one mile just under 9 minutes, and that told me that I was pretty tired, but that's OK, I've been putting the hurt to myself.

When I got out 20 minutes to turn around, guess what? It started raining. Not hard, but just misting enough to make me a little chilled, but too bad. I saw another person running in it, and we just smiled at one another. I only had about 2.5 miles to go.

I kept about a 9mpm pace, got home, tore off my disgusting clothes and started sucking down Endurox R4. As it turns out, I think I was bonking pretty much the entire time I was running. My legs didn't feel that bad--they just didn't have much oomph, and while 140 calories in 1.5 hours on the bike would be fine if that was all I did, running afterwards not so much! Still, the caffeine prevented me from totally bonking and besides, I'm pretty familiar with running while bonking, so I can push through it even it it means slowly. Not like I needed to run a marathon!

After I finished working, I made the .6 mile run one more time for the day, and that was after stretching and having a beer, and I was laughing the entire time because I'm wearing an outfit that is pretty stylish and "jogging!" I know everyone up and down the street knows who I am from seeing me running all the time, but usually it's not with "regular" clothes on.

I slept really well and long last night, and today is just a swim and a short (that I really don't need to do) run. So of course, I'll kick it off with some jump rope and other stuff.

The weekend looks like no rain, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to just swim, bike and run a little on Saturday, fix myself an awesome focaccia sandwich, and drive to Dodgeville, WI so I can start riding by 7:30AM on Sunday for 100 hilly miles. That will cap off my big week of biking with a bang! I am sure I will be well shelled by the time I am back home Sunday night, but I hope to sleep like a baby because next week is my big running week! Not like I haven't been doing a great deal of running anyway, but next week's goal is about 45 miles!

There is nothing else I'd rather be doing, and I'm enjoying the challenges I've been giving myself.

Life is FUCKING GOOD!

Good Ride--Just Not as Far as I Hoped

I'm on my 2nd beer post-ride. Turns out I wasn't sufficiently recovered from IMLP to go the distance. Still, I did this:

Duration: 7:17:56 (7:51:55)
Work: 3740 kJ
TSS: 461.2 (intensity factor 0.795)
Norm Power: 171
VI: 1.2
Distance: 106.449 mi
Elevation Gain: 8786 ft

That is still a very solid ride, I don't care who you are. In case you are wondering, I set my FTP for LGL to 215 (it's about 180 on Bitchie). I'm sure my coach will claim it's even higher, but when I've done interval rides on LGL, that's the number I use and am able to hit for the FT intervals.

So if you know anything about riding with power (as compared to some idiots I've seen post on their blogs as if they know what they are talking about--they are really just using a fancy bike computer), you will observe that I rode pretty "hot." I can ride near 80% of FTP for a LONG time if I'm not running off the bike, as I know all too well (coach doesn't believe me, but it's true). If the rest of the ride had been flat, I could have continued on, but my legs were just not into climbing any more, and I was having trouble unclipping from my pedals, so I decided to bag it.

The ride started out rather cool and overcast. At about 40 miles in, we got rained on for a long time. It's not that much fun riding screaming descents when you can barely see in front of you let alone the road let alone gravel let alone the curves. After it quit raining, then the sun came out in blazes (about 87 degrees) and the winds picked up to about 15MPH or more.

When I took a shower post-ride, I was even happier that I stopped, because my ass was chafed! That's what you get sitting on essentially a wet diaper. I shudder to think what I would have ended up with after 180 miles!

So, no there were no tears today. In fact, I'm quite good with what I did, just 3 weeks after an Ironman. I am looking forward to being able to run next week, and also bike, and also swim! I still put in 17 hours of training this week, and that's nothing to complain about (I will probably swim about an hour tomorrow, too, just to get over this, and I think I can run, too--so I am a lying mofo--it will be about 18.5 hours).

I'm about to head out to the Land's End store here in Dodgeville, then buy some more beer, because I've got a few guys who will be finishing 300K today that will be showering back at my ranch, and I think they'll appreciate a beer. I offered to have a three-way with them...one is married, but the other guy is single, so we'll just have to see how that works out :)

The Time Draws Near

I was hoping to "sleep in" until 4:15AM today, but got out of bed at 3:15, so I've got a bit of time on my hands. No worries--this will give me more time to process the calories I'm dumping in before I ride today.

Weather forecast looks relatively good if it's correct. No matter how you slice it, it's going to be fucking hot riding all day. YEAH!!!

I am at least starting the ride, and then depending on how it goes, hanging with, Dino, a guy I met at Ironman Brazil last year. He listed "Bikini Model" as his occupation on registration, and I had listed "Butt Model." So we refer to each other by those names. Dino's bib at Brazil got messed up, and instead of printing his real name, it said "Bikini Model." Dino's a good sport, so he just went with it. I'm not sure how many Ironman races Dino has done--maybe as many as me? Anyway, he's a great guy, part of the Headhunters triathlon club in Wisconsin. Last fall when I was volunteering for IMWI, I stayed at Dino's house, and he gave me honorary Headhunter status. I have a sticker on my car, a hat and some awesome water bottles. I think next I need to score the cycling kit, because it would look totally awesome on either LGL or Bitchie.

You can see what I did to the wrist band that I'll be wearing today. I'll be gazing at it once I'm 133 miles in, as that will be the start of my longest single ride ever. I'll be looking at it the second time I'm climbing Shop Hill, which is the meanest, baddest mother fucker of a hill I've ever been on.

Time for my Gag Juice and then I need to suit up!

Getting Psyched for Dairyland Dare

I've arrived in Dodgeville for the Dairyland Dare 300K ride that takes place tomorrow. I've already begun compiling pics here.

Weather forecast calls for a high of 85 with light winds, day beginning with high humidity tapering off. PERFECT!!!

The crap I rode in last Sunday was worse, although there really weren't hills involved--just WIND!

I met a woman who's attempting the 300K as well. I don't think she has any idea of what she's in for. Furthest she's ridden is 100 miles, but hey, if she gets it done, great! I know one thing--I won't be riding with her for very long, unless I see she's a player. But it's nice to know there are other women attempting this.

Now I need to do some calculations to determine which rest stops I want my extra bottles dropped off at. They will be HOT no matter what--I'm not sure why I chilled them--but maybe, just maybe, they will put them into a cooler??? I'll ask anyway.

I'm picking up my crap in about 1/2 hour and then heading to Pizza Hut for dinner. I ate a bunch of pizza before Horribly Hilly, so I'm going to stick with what works. I will stuff myself, and then I'll be in the whirlpool...