Century & Columbia Weekend

Wow. About two months away from the Ironman. This weekend was going to be very telling. A reality check. On the training schedule included a 100-mile bike ride (a century) and the Columbia olympic distance triathlon (1 mi swim, 40K bike, 10K run). Sure, I've done 100 miles on a bike before. Twice in fact. But neither time was exactly easy. At least I had several friends to ride along with, and the weather was perfect. An added bonus was the scenery. We rode on unfamiliar territory, and the ride was deemed as "relatively flat", but had some surprise climbs. At least the scenery (including the views along the Chesapeake Bay) and companionship was fantastic. The ride had two loops: a 60-miler, then a 40-miler. It was a little tough going out for that second loop, but with thoughts of the end goal, I pressed on. I did just fine, experimenting with Slimfast shake consumption for the added calories: one before the ride and one at the mid-ride break. Otherwise, it was gels, a Clif Bar, and those wonderful Clif Bloks (sort of endurance gummy bears- whoever came up with those is a genius).... and lots of Gatorade. At the 80 mile rest stop, I shopped around at the convenience store looking for something a little different to eat. I had a taste for Chex Mix, but alas none. I wound up getting some trail mix. Big mistake. My stomach began to give me serious grief at about the 85 mile point. With all the riding miles, my legs were demanding a lot from my body and hence, my stomach was having trouble with digestion. I was riding with Betsy and Talia at this point. They knew I was having some difficulties, but tried to keep quiet since the ride was not exactly easy for them either. I slowed down a bit, wanted to throw up (and tried to), and had tears running down my cheeks. My stomach truly hurt and was compounded by some knee pain. We reached the 90 mile point. "Only" 10 more miles to go. I told Talia that I wasn't sure I'd make it. I secretly hoped Coach Ed would pass by in the sag wagon. However, at the same time, I knew I'd kick myself if I didn't finish the ride. Luckily, at about the 95 mile point, the stomach pain began to subside. And finally, we reached the cars. Much thanks to Betsy and Talia for helping me through a tough day. And that was only Saturday. Another day of training faced me. A race no less. Shortly after the ride, Holly and I headed to race check-in (getting seriously lost along the way). We eventually made it, took care of business, and then it was time to head home to pack for the race, submit a report for the Navy, eat dinner, and get a good night's sleep. Race morning started earlier than usual. Although I crashed quickly Saturday night at 9pm, I was wide awake at about 2:30. My legs were a little tight, I had some pre-race anxiety, and was just plain old hungry. (I guess after burning 4179 calories during the bike ride and unable to consume much for dinner was telling me something.) So, got up, took a bath, tidied around the house a bit, and ate banana pancakes. Dozed off for a bit and realized it was time to head out to Centennial Park in Columbia, MD. I had no particular goal in mind, just to have fun. A training day. I watched the masters racers finish the swim (darn, missed the pros) and headed toward our Team Z tent to veg prior to my start. Nerves began to kick in as they called my wave. Nerves? A bit of a queasy stomach, a little pre-race apprehension. As soon as I jumped into the water, I should have known it wasn't my day. My right foot hit a rock, causing a little gash on the bottom. Ouch. Ok, time to swim. The water was a little murky but smelled (and tasted) clean. Swim, calm down, have fun. You know, every Tuesday and Thursday I swim more than a mile, but today, the mile swim was a little tough. I was glad to hear that others felt the same. I was glad to get out the water. Transition was fast, and soon I was on the bike. Quickly after my bike start, my knee problems from yesterday came back to haunt me. I thought, take it easy, relax, don't worry about people passing (after all, how many of them biked 100 miles the day before?) And then knowing this bike course, and how hilly it can be, I thought that the knee injury is no big thing now, but I do not want it to escalate into a major issue, forcing me to forgo Placid. About the same time, I saw my teammate Adam on the side of the road. I pulled over and asked him if he was all right. He was highly discouraged, contemplating not finishing and waiting for the SAG wagon. What? Why? Here, Adam was so very excited about this race, his first olympic distance triathlon. Turns out, during a flat tire change, he lost his skewer (the thing that holds the wheel to the frame) in the grass. I helped search for it briefly and told him to take the skewer from my bike. After all, it would be best if I just dropped out anyway. He was thankful, took my skewer, my spare tire tube, and a CO2 cartridge (maybe he had a premonition that he'd flat again.... which he did.... a total of 5 flat tires during the race). I waited for the SAG wagon along with another racer, who wound up stripping his pedal from his crank. Eventually, SAG arrived, making our group to a total of 6, each of us with our own stories of woe. I mean, it somewhat sucked to not finish. But overall, I feel great that I had the opportunity to help another teammate out. After all, what are teammates for? Besides, it forced me to be smart. After all, what is my end goal?

Yes, yes, yes, overdue for a post

Ok. Well, been terribly busy between the day job, the Navy job, and training itself that unfortunately my blogging has been neglected. But now that I'm into the peak of my training, it's only appropriate to drop a little line. Training has been going well, although April suffered a little as I was gone for over 2 weeks on my annual military training. I was able to stay a bit in shape throughout, running and biking on the stationary bike. However, those and not swimming showed. I'm back in action, but this coming weekend's workouts will really be telling. This Saturday I have a 100-mile bike ride followed by the Columbia Triathlon (1 mile swim, 40K bike, 10K run) on Sunday. All along it felt like the Ironman was eons away and now I cannot believe it's just over two months away. Wow. Columbia will be my first triathlon of the season. I rode the course yesterday. (It's about an hour away from here, in Maryland.) It has a few challenging hills, nothing too bad, although I may come to hate it after knocking out the 100-mile ride the day before. I'll let you know how it goes. Cheer for me from afar. Until then...