Mind over Matter?

This weekend's training schedule called for a 110 mile bike ride from Boyce, VA. I was rather stoked about the prospects of completing a 110-mile bike ride in training. During training for Ironman two years ago, I failed to complete our 110-miler (actually 112), on the Lake Placid Ironman course. I was suffering from some serious knee pain and had to bail at about the 85 mile point. As I've been (knock on wood) healthy this go-around, I foresaw no problems being able to finish the ride.

The ride was actually two-55 mile loops. The first loop was rather scenic, biking through towns such as Stephens City, Middletown, and White Post, all quaint towns with antique shops and the like. In between the small towns, we passed apple blossom orchards. The terrain was not too challenging. My first loop went really well.

I did manage to do one dumbass error. I am such a klutz. On one of my many bathroom breaks off to the side of the road, I crossed and slipped through a cattle grate. My right leg fell all the way through, witnessed by Carol. I have a lovely scrape and bruise on my leg as a result.

Anyway, we returned to the cars for our second loop. I replenished my supplies, and was ready to hit the road. The next loop crossed into West Virginia. I was feeling pretty good, but the heat and humidity was building up fast. The sun was beating down on my head through my helmet. The ice in my Accelerade melted rapidly and began to get warm. Warm Accelerade tastes nasty. So, I found myself primarily drinking water. I developed a headache, first signs of dehydration. Not good.

I came upon Holly and Kerri, who were out there sagging, at about mile 80. They helped to cool me down by icing my fluids and putting ice down my back and sports bra. It helped cool me down. I knew I had about 5 miles to go to the next rest stop, so I'd press on until there and re-evaluate my status.

I slowed down a lot and made it to the rest stop, but I was not feeling too well. I went inside the Shell Station and the air conditioning seemingly shocked my body and I began to feel faint. Carol took one look at me and instructed me to stop my ride. I was bummed at the prospect of failing to once again complete my 110-miler, but I was not exactly keen on having heat stress either. That would be a real problem.

I had also heard that a supercell thunderstorm was rapidly heading our way. That sealed my decision to hop into Roy and Linda's car (the ultimate sag vehicle) and head back to the Team Z tent.

As we drove to the tent, the storm hit. I found a few Team Z people huddled

under the tent, holding onto the supports, trying to prevent the tent from blowing away. (Ok, holding onto a metal support structure during a thunderstorm- probably not the best plan.) I saw Chris Wren getting pummeled with rain runoff from the two tents. My body temperature began to drop rapidly though. I began to shiver and was advised to warm up inside the Team Z trailer.

After the storm passed, and the remaining cyclists returned, I heard varying stories. Some biked through it! A number of them huddled into a vacant barn. A local saw Carol and invited her to hide in his shed. Siri, Alex, Andrea, and Bruce hid under a bush! (Ok that was a little crazy too.)

I had planned to camp that night in Luray, where we were slated to swim and run the next morning. Another thunderstorm was coming and the prospect of getting wet once again was not appealing to me. Carol and Carrie invited me to crash in a hotel room with them and I gladly accepted.

Hotel rooms were hard to come by, however. After a few phone calls, Carrie found this place called the Best Value Inn. Sounds good to me. Frank also requested a room there.

I drove Carrie's car (since I have a good sense of direction) through the thunderstorm to Luray. We discovered that the place was actually called the Cardinal Inn. I declared that their motto could be "Commit Cardinal Sin at the Cardinal Inn". Actually, the place wasn't as seedy as I am making it out to be. It was out of the weather, so already it was a better alternative to camping. On wet ground. With more potential thunderstorms.

We got cleaned up and elected to go to dinner at the same restaurant we visited during our last trip to Luray. We talked about seeing a movie as well, but it was getting late quickly and we were all beat. So, just dinner it was. Then time to go to sleep.

Sunday was an open water swim followed by a 12 mile run.

The water was about 78 degrees, a bit too warm to wear a wetsuit. Many people did though, but I think I would have sweltered had I worn a wetsuit. Besides, not bringing one was one less thing to cart around. I swam about 1-1/2 miles and definitely noted how much slower I was sans wetsuit. Part of that was certainly the "lack" of race mentality as well. It was fun to get in the water.

Afterwards was time to run. I decided from the get-go to only do 2 hours, which would be about 10 or 11 miles. I ran largely alone, getting passed here and there by teammates, or seeing each other do out/back runs. I ran from Lake Arrowhead park to downtown Luray, enabling me a chance to run on the greenway in town. More importantly, the greenway runs parallel to Hawksbill Creek. The creek was highly inviting. I dunked my head in it and rinsed off my arms and legs. It felt good to cool off.

I ran back toward the lake, but largely ran-walked back. It seemed to be an elevation net gain on the return. It felt warmer than the 74 degrees shown on the thermometer (probably because the sun was beating down) and my legs were just beat. It had been a long weekend.

The next week is the largest volume of training, then it's taper time. I'm looking forward to it.

Some final notes:

1. Best wishes for a quick recovery to Jana. She crashed at about mile 10 of the bike ride and I came upon her, face down, in the middle of the road. She went over her handlebars. She suffered a fractured cheekbone and some tissue damage in her shoulder. She is at home resting. Sore, but fundamentally all right.

2. I need something to protect my head from sun while on the bike and means to keep Accelerade colder. I bought some Polar bottles, insulated bike bottles, which will help.