Saturday morning I woke up at 4:40am to head to Culpeper for a 90 mile bike ride.Unfortunately, I had major insomnia issues Friday night & didn't fall asleep until after midnight. Part of it was because I was pretty worried about this ride. Culpeper is one of the hilliest rides Team Z does and people kept talking about how challenging it is. I made it to the ride at around 6:45 and was greeted with this scenic setting (makes the rides worth it) and several other team z members:
This is just a small bit of the beauty that we saw throughout the day. After a bunch of nervous small talk, the group took off just after 7am. I didn't have anyone I was definitely riding with, which is not a good way to spend 90 miles. After a few miles, I came up on Mary, someone who I have ridden with before and who knows how to pace herself throughout these rides so I settled in behind her for the start. She was with this other woman, Linda, and we had several other people around us. After Mary chased down another biker who took a wrong turn, Linda and I waited for her and we became a cohesive riding group for the day. Thank goodness! It made the day a lot more fun and Mary gave me some great advice. Linda also has done Wisconsin previously and was able to give me a lot of insight into the race and give me confidence in my ability. Here are pics of Linda and I in front of Old Rag:
I will admit, I was suffering the last 20 miles or so, mainly because I was bonking slightly and needed more salty, less sweet food items (next ride I will have salt tablets to use to help replace salt which I think will be important). However, I felt MUCH better than I did at the end of the 80 mile ride, which was much more humid and much hillier (at least in my mind). There was never a point where I didn't think I could go on, or where I wanted to cry at the sight of another hill (oh yes, it's happened before). At the end (after ~6 1/2 hours of riding in 7 hours), everyone was saying that if we could do this ride, we could do Wisconsin. That is a HUGE boost to my confidence.
One thing it has made me realize is that I really wish I had known more about nutrition when I was on Bike and Build. My nutrition strategy has done a 180 and I truly understand the importance of electrolytes (salt, gels, gatorades). I was sick a lot of the last part of the trip, primarily driven by the heat. I often wonder what would the trip have been like had I known how to fuel for the rides. I am a MUCH stronger biker now, and a huge part of that is just knowledge.
Anyways, I drove immediately from the ride to my friend Robyn's because we were throwing a surprise bridal tea for my friend Reetika's engagement. Initially when we made the plans, I thought we would be riding on Sunday. Luckily, Robyn is quite the gracious host so she allowed me to shower at her place. It was weird going from spandex to a dress so quickly but that seems to be my life these days. It was good hanging out with the girls, and happily Reetika's fiance ended up joining us so we could get to know him better. Poor guy! He handled the tea well.
This morning I woke up at 6am on my own (no sleep this weekend!) and went for a run at 7:30am. It was HORRIBLE. The humidity enveloped me within the first 5 minutes and I struggled tremendously. My 13-14 miler turned into an 11 miler. However, this has not shaken my confidence too much because I trained for Marine Corps last summer and despite similar struggles in the humidity, I pulled together a good race.
After that, I went to the Millbrook Quarry in Gainesville for a practice open water swim. The place was beautfiul and the water was awesome! They had set up a 650m loop and I managed to do 3 loops (~a half-ironman distance swim of 1.2 miles) with a wetsuit, only resting about 2 minutes between each. Each loop was about 14 minutes, which puts me on pace for a 90 minute swim. I could have done more, but I had to head to the animal shelter afterwards (to cuddle with puppies since I had no energy to walk them). I have not done an open water swim since November 2010 and the swim has been freaking me out a lot lately, especially not being able to swim in London. After this experience, I am so much more confident that I will be fine in the swim as long as I keep practicing and don't let up. I forgot my camera, so here is a pic from the Team Z facebook swim of the quarry:
All in all, this weekend really boosted my confidence. I will be prepared for this Ironman, and I have it in me. The race is now less than 3 months away (~12 weeks!) and I am looking forward to it rather than fearing it at this point. The rest of the summer will be incredibly busy. I have a 100k bike ride with 8,000ft of climbing June 23rd (eeek!), am heading to Wisconsin the end of the month to preview the course, and have a half-ironman in upstate new york July 14th. I am looking forward to making some more great memories and new friends! Now it's time to head to bed (before 9) to catch up on some much needed sleep. Thank goodness this week is a recovery week...
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