Ultra week 2

Training for this endurance base is so fun!  It feels really good to just try and go long again, work on muscular endurance instead of strength/speed.  I'm trying to pull something together at the last minute for this half ironman I've got coming up in 12 days.  I think I'm going to get through it ok, but I'm not going in expecting a PR like I was last year.

Saturday's long ride took 50 miles on the bike.  I went out around Jordan Lake, it was somewhat hilly, the temps got hotter the longer I rode and it was overall a great ride.  75* at the start, 90* at the finish, but with 96% humidity the whole time. It was like riding through lukewarm soup that kept getting hotter.  And 50 miles is the longest I've ridden in a long time.  I really did not feel like running a half marathon when I was done with it, which I clearly will have to do in only 12 days.  But that's why we do this in practice so we'll be ready for game day.

The rest of the day saturday I got to watch a little bit of college football and we took the kids to a park.  Fun times all around  The kids wanted to go on a bike ride too, but the Evil Genius was scared to ride her bike down a hill, and Bigun couldn't push herself up the other side of those hills.  And it got really seriously hot out there too and I was pretty sore after my own bike ride.  Short trips to the park are a lot of fun.

Sunday I made it back to Umstead state park.  Saturday was the registration day for the Umstead 100 ultramarathon and it sold out in less than 2 hours.  Wow that was fast!  I wanted to get out to Umstead again for my long run and hit 15 miles this time along the Umstead 100 course. Yes the 100 course is just a 12.5 mile loop that the racers do 8 laps of, but I stretched some extra trail out there to hit my 15.  I like getting a 15 miler in before a half marathon just to prove to my legs that they can still cover the ground with some consistency.  And doing that the day after the 50 mile bike ride makes me feel much more confident going into the half ironman.  Umstead has legendary hills to climb, I found the course without any trouble and it felt great to get back out there.  15 miles done in 2:24 felt great.  I also tried out a new Nathan water bottle holder which worked out wonderfully. 

Ultra training plans don't really go any farther than a marathon training plan.  You just do more 20 milers than normal.  I did map a route that is 20.5 miles leaving from my house, does the main loop at Umstead, and comes back.  I will be making good use of this course once I'm back in the 20 mile range.

Also today was Rev3 Cedar Point and Ironman Wisconsin.  Lots of friends were out there racing and I was incredibly jealous.  I want to race IMMoo so freaking bad.  I have to keep telling myself not to hit the register now button this afternoon.  My plan is to do Beach 2 Battleship full next year and IM Moo in 2015.  Stay with the plan.

Also this morning is when I start the new job with IBM! So incredibly excited.  I can't wait to get in there and see what kind of work I get to do and who my new coworkers are.  So cool.