You know, that time I went long

An Ironman build phase is no joke. 3 weeks on, 1 week of recovery. This was the third week on.

Monday Wednesday and Thursday were "normal", with some hill work and bike strength work thrown in. Tuesday was a double brick day, with morning and evening bike/run workouts each with a purpose.  These were sufficiently hard to qualify as a tough week of normal training.  Friday was a glorious rest day.  Saturday was the Bikefest century ride.  normally a century ride would be a goal, not a normal long workout. But after that, sunday became an unplanned rest day, the first in this cycle.

Totals for the week are 4 miles of swimming, 190 miles on the bike, and 14 (YES 14) miles of actual running.  11 hours of biking took up the majority of 15.5 hours total on the week.

I was actually running!  I did four run workouts in 3 days and totally tore up my foot again.  Totally forgot about the "easing back into it" thing. So I bailed on Sunday's long run.  This week is a recovery week, so I'm only supposed to put in about 9.5 hours total including run time, and I'm going to skip the running again this week.  Maybe this time I'll be smarter about it. Maybe not.  I really miss running.

BikeFest Century ride - 101 miles in 5:51:30
I have enjoyed the Bikefest for a couple of years now, this was my third time out there.  The first time I shredded my rear derailleur doing the 62 mile option, and while training for IMFL 2011 I did the full century.  This beast runs in August in the deep south with 5000 ft of climbing and does not play games. I remembered it being tough but fun and manageable, what I got was a full anal probe from the sun.

I got there in a reasonable time Saturday morning, went to the packet pickup and found a port-a-let. Thought I was going to be ok after that, so I made my way back to the car to prep the bike and myself with plenty of sunscreen and gear.  By the time I made my way back to the starting line I had already missed it.  The good thing about these rides is that it's not like a triathlon or a race where everything is timed, you just start when you can. So I wasn't the last person to start, and I got to talk with some other people as I made my way back up to the pack of riders. The first few miles were really slow but it was a cool morning and I enjoyed it.

I was using the Garmin 310xt this time without the HR monitor yet. I did get the auto-lap set to lap every mile so I could see the lap time.  3 minutes is the goal, that's 20 mph.  The first 5 miles or so went by in about 21 mintues, so that was slower than goal pace for the most part.  I can happily report that the majority of the miles were between 2:45 and 3:15, right on target.  Some with screaming descents were under 2:30, and the miles with huge climbs were more like 5:15.  But the majority were on pace.

25 miles in I hit the first rest stop, and that was the first time I got to take a picture.

still smiling 25 miles in

oh, if only the rest of the ride had gone that smoothly. The rest stops came at 25, 43, 63, 83, and 92 miles.  After the first one, the 100 mile route split off from the 62 mile route and it is only the 100 mile route that has any real climbing.  so, let's climb some hills!

By 35 miles I was feeling about like this.  Those hills don't play games!  Where is that 43 mile rest stop?

There it is.  Smiling again after leaving the rest stop.  I knew that 25 - 43 mile stretch had the most hills, so I felt ok going into the rest of the ride.  I hit that mark at 2:23, so I knew double that would be 86 miles under 5 hours.  That became the new target.  Hold that speed and get to 86 under 5 hours.  Then around 50 miles this happened:

Apparently I turned into a wax statue and started to melt.  I got shiny from sweating so much.  The heat really came out.  I don't fare well in the intense heat, and do even worse when the climbs kick in.  This is evidenced by the picture I took of this incredible hill just before I had to climb it.

Well sonofabitch. All I could get was a pic of my aerobars. That's how mean that hill was.  And the heat was turned on full force.  The humidity was well over 90%. It felt like I was riding through soup. it was totally disgusting.

The mile 63 rest stop.  I was so glad to see those guys!  Get into the shade for a bit, and reload the sunscreen, and just get away from the hills for a few minutes.  These rest stops were loaded with fruit and cookies and sandwiches, some vegan fare, and plenty of water and Gatorade.  Seriously one of the best stocked rides I've ever done.  Not just bananas either; they had peaches, melon, pineapple, cantaloupe, you name it.  incredible stuff.

I was totally checked out by mile 70.  The heat index was up to 96*, you can see how many clouds there were and how much shade was on the road.  I found the one square foot of shade and pulled over to catch a quick pic and check the map to be sure I was still on the course.  Totally done with this heat and sun.  Where was the mile 83 rest stop?

There it is.  You can see how sweaty I am there.  totally dehydrated, heat exhaustion kicking in, I felt like burned crap.  The best part about that rest stop is that the next one was only 9 miles away. Every century ride should come with a mile 92 rest stop.

The best thing about this entire ride?  The ice cold Coke at the mile 92 rest stop. I stopped drinking the stuff in college, and it's the best thing I ever did. But every year I grab one at this aide station. Something about the sugar in there and the refreshing carbonation just does the body right.  now, I know there's only 8 miles left and it's time to get her done!  A century ride in 96* heat with 5000' of climbs?  no problem.  Let's wrap it up.

Mother nature had other plans.  At mile 95 I started hearing something tap me on the helmet repeatedly. By mile 96 it was turning into quite a downpour.  I saw some big redneck truck coming straight at me at one point and braced for the impact - I got a nice wall of water right in the face.  It was the most refreshing part of the day! A cool rain was falling, and it felt great.  By mile 97 it was done.  And after the storm front came through the temperature dropped about 15*, which was fantastic. All of a sudden I had energy again!  Maybe it was just a sugar rush from the coke, but I was ready to shred some pavement all of a sudden.  I came back into town, bypassed the ride HQ, and got back to the car.  snapped these to finish things off:

Glad to be done!

At the mile 63 aide station, I let the garmin run for about 4.5 minutes while I was praying for death so officially I'm calling this century ride 101 miles in 5:51:30.  For the record, I did hit the 86 mile mark at 5:06, so I missed my target pace split, but only by a few minutes.  And with that much heat in that part of the ride, I'll take it.

This is still a fantastic local century and really something great to challenge yourself with if you're up for such a ride.  And what's the best way to end the day of a century ride?

The bands of honor from the RoadID, gloves, garmin, and ride bracelet

FroYo with the fam. Got Kelley and the kids out for a nice dinner (I had shrimp & grits) followed by a nice frozen yogurt with all the toppings I could find.

Sunday Crosstraining
I said earlier that it was an unplanned rest day, but that's not entirely true.  I did want to go get an hour on the bike before church, but I was too dehydrated from the ride.  I overslept, woke up with a migraine and lots of new pains & sore spots, and a great desire to sit on the couch.  Didn't make it to the gym or church. But when 2 pm came around we had plans to take the kids out roller skating.

This is a really bad idea

Amazingly, my foot did not hurt at all during the bike ride. I knew I was going to skip the planned 14 mile long run, and all of my runs this week to let the foot heal.  But roller skating is some good cross training.

I love how everything at the roller skating rink is completely covered in carpet. All of the walls, tables, and places to sit are carpeted.  everything is soft and comfortable. I gave it one fall.  After I fell for the first time I would give it a big "screw this" and give up.

Funny thing was, I didn't fall.  it took me a few laps around the rink to get the feel of it again - hey I haven't been on skates since 1988. I'm allowed to be rusty.  But once I got my balance back it was a blast. I went flying around that rink, ended up showing off some dance moves to make the kids laugh a few times (at me or with me, their call), and we all had a lot of fun.

Kelley and the kids got out on the rink too

I taught Bigun how to go really fast, and she was scared and loving it at the same time.  Evil Genius stayed on the wall the whole time, except for a few laps where Kelley and I were each holding her hand and she thought we were flying. Don't have to worry about that one turning into a daredevil.

The kids taking laps

We got a pizza there too, and Bigun snugged up to me in the snack bar. That is the sweetest child!

So that was a solid week of training and a fantastic weekend. Bikefest is in the books. I'm really glad this week is a recovery week, I only have to work out once a day for around 9 hours total. it's going to be weird but I need the time to repair. Cool stuff coming soon!