Pie!

So I totally did not follow my coach's schedule for this weekend... but that's okay, I had fun doing what I did! Brick workout on Saturday with a friend and then I had lunch with his wife and their baby daughter. Nasty swim workout late in afternoon where I actually managed to swim 100 yards in 1:25. That's a first. And then some 100s in sub-1:30. Today I rode what ended up being 80 miles with above friend and two other coworkers, one of whom I rode the century with last week. The route we did included part of the Auburn Triathlon bike course... it's going to be a bitch I can say already. Probably more a test of will and leg strength the race will be instead of a ... race. We stopped to get food at a country market type place on the ride back to town and I got some pie. Maybe it was the pie, maybe it was the good company, maybe it was the super weather, but I rode back to the area where I live and added on 10 miles because for the first time since maybe last year, I felt like I could ride forever. It's a great feeling and gives me hope that I will be able to survive the last 3 months (exactly in fact!) of Ironman training.

I feel April was the turning point for me here. March was the bottom where I just felt like crap. But being more proactive in work and in finding people to train with has helped a lot in righting my mood and view of life. I think I was stuck in the belief that I had to find people within 10 years of my age (like in Austin) to train with. But I realized that even though we may be of all ages, having similiar experiences and life views is what is more important in finding friends. Sure I could hang around with the alums of the program I am in at work who are just a bit older than me, but I feel nothing in common with them. I would rather spend a few hours biking or running with interesting people then just forcing myself to hang out with people who in my opinion are boring. I would say maybe I realized this last year since many of the people I was friends with at the gym were significantly older than me, but we all shared the same interest in going to workout in the early morning. Something triathlon training has taught me is that time is precious, don't waste it.

WOW

26 hours and 31 minutes of training. Not kidding! And most of it was good! I finished the week off with a 20 mile run on the Auburn Tri course. Ran 13 miles of it with a guy from work who had done the race before. It was hot and the course is mostly unshaded. Race day should be interesting. That and the bike course part that I've been on is ridiculous. Granny gear anyone?

I've concluded after this weekend that I can totally do a flat Ironman. The problem is that Lake Placid is NOT FLAT. Ugh.

Bike Around the Buttes Century

I did my first organized century today, actually only my second 100+ mile ride ever. Ironically it was similiar to my first century in that it was almost completely flat even though I am not in the cornfields. I rode the entire time with a coworker who is my parents' age. It was a good time. California is just entering a mini-heat wave for this time of year so luckily today was just the first day and warm enough when I started to just wear a jersey and arm warmers but did not get super warm that I was dying. Except I got a lovely sunburn. I felt pretty strong for the entire ride, but I think currently my strength is on flats since that's what I was biking August-November and then on a trainer.

I was using this ride to gauge whether I think I can survive the Davis Double Century in just under a month. I'm going to hunt for an elevation map, but I think I may be able to do it in one piece. We'll see.

The one thing I really need to work on is eating while riding. I think I took in less than 1200 calories on the ride today which totalled 105 miles and 6 hours and 16 minutes in the saddle. That's not going to get me through a marathon.

Myself Again

So people who knew me in Austin and the tri club members at school never had to ask, why are you doing an Ironman? The Amy in those places was always on the go, ready for anything, with lots of energy. But somehow in the move across country to a place where I didn't know anyone or anything about, that Amy got lost. The new Amy was/is unconfident, lazy, unenergetic, unmotivated, and whiny. People here ask me why I'm doing an Ironman and I stumble over my response. I never had to explain it before. But FINALLY I think the old Amy is starting to come back. Solid 80 mostly hilly miles on the bike yesterday and there was no time during the ride that I wanted to get off and throw my bike down. And then I had a good swim. And today I ran 17.5 miles at a sub 9 minute pace despite feeling dehydrated/out of fuel for the last 4 miles. And I even went out and biked 20 more miles! Like unscheduled, easy ride. Now THIS is the Amy I remember. The Amy I liked. Only downside now might be that there is no Pat or Chris here to scold me for doing too much and not resting. Though I hope that this Amy does stick around for awhile. I hate feeling lethargic.

Next week I am thinking about doing a relatively flat century somewhere about 1 hour-ish northwest-ish of here. It would be my first organized century and my first flat-ish long ride. Even though Saturday was the first ride in awhile in which I didn't hate the hills, it'd be nice for a change in terrain.

FINALLY

So after crap ride after crap ride after crap ride... (this could go on for awhile) I finally had a very pleasant, decently strong-feeling ride. It reminded me of riding with Jason back at school. No egos, no hammering, just good riding. I even had an insightful conversation about work. YAY. I feel good for once.

Only downside is falling off and jamming/bruising my right index finger. In the past 7 hours I've discovered how awkward it is to have a stiff right index finger. But then again it was my fault since I was trying to be a smartass and take shortcuts. Lesson learned!

Dirt

I wasn't going to blog about this ride. But I've had some people ask me about it... so why not - a short recap since I do like to go back and remember what I did previously. Went back to Santa Rosa to do my 5 hour long ride. I think the first 30 or so miles were great... lots of climbing but at the top we could look down and see the Pacific Ocean. It was so blue! And then rode along Highway 1 along the coast... fantastic view. But then... came the dirt/gravel/pine needle/pine cone/etc road. Or what used to be a road and was now covered with all that junk making it difficult to ride on on a ROAD BIKE. So then 5 or 6 miles of torture. Fell off twice - once when I stopped paying attention and once at the very end of the dirt when I couldn't unclip. Third fall was when my chain got stuck in an intersection and fourth fall was when I couldn't unclip. Or clip in, I forget. It was like I had to relearn how to ride a bike. And once on the not-asphalt road, the only way out was to get to the end. Mental pain mostly, aside from my scrapes. And then of course I ate it while running also. I had a great view of the asphalt/concrete yesterday.

All in all, last week was a total of 24 hours and 18 minutes of training. I really don't understand how it adds up. Since most of my training is based on time I don't get why it's so much. I guess I did like swimming last week though - 17.6k yards.

Humbled

72 miles of mental and/or physical pain. Gravity was not nice to me today. I couldn't go up hills and I couldn't stay upright on my road bike. I couldn't even stay upright while running. At least 4 falls off the bike and 1 fall while running. I haven't felt like this since my first marathon. The mix of emotions that yes I finished, but did I give it my all and am I proud of how it went? I can't find my head this year... it's getting disturbing.

Impatient

So Sarah had the most timely blog post ever earlier this week. When I read it I all of a sudden started to feel a lot better. So it takes time. I guess part of me knew that, but part of me was hoping I'd luck out like I had before and find good people almost immediately. But as of my friend in Austin points out, they are just cool people down there. I have no patience... I think I need to work on that. I think that may be affecting my ability ride long by myself this year. I'm always on edge and jittery, seemingly looking for the next thing. I need to sit back and chill. I noticed this today when all of a sudden my weekend training plans may have been turned over suddenly and that made me really anxious. Luckily I think they are fixed now...

So far this week has been good. I had tough run/bike/swim workouts on Tues/Weds/Thurs respectively, and in my opinion, I think I nailed them. I don't think I had ever run that fast in training before on Tuesday with averages of 7:24 and 7:30 for the two sets of two miles. Like some of you may laugh because that is relatively slow for a lot of you, but considering I've spent the last 4 years in "cruise mode," I consider that an accomplishment. On Wednesday, despite the windiness, I averaged 18.2 mph over 20 miles. My bike really does work well in aero position. And then on Thursday, I completed my 21x100 (well 20x100 but I did an extra just for fun) on the given interval with plenty of energy to spare. I'm nervous about this weekend though... finally surpassing last year in terms of bike mileage. I did long bikes the year before last, but it mostly involved a lot of circles in the cornfields. Alone though.

And in between the training I have to do a lot of driving. Down to Pleasanton tomorrow evening for dinner/staying over at my aunt/uncle's house, then up to Santa Rosa in the morning to ride, and probably back down to Richmond for dinner with friends. Funny thing when I put "richmond, ca" in Google Maps it gave me directions to go to Canada.

I am at 15 hours already for training this week... I have at least 7 hours this weekend. Good thing I don't have a social life... ha.