Volunteering and the ride from hell.

After the tri last weekend, my body was pretty trashed during the first part of the week. Getting up to do my workouts required a lot of mental strength. But I got through them and by friday I was feeling pretty good.

Until I went on my 1:20 run. I had not run that long in forever, so it was actually nice. Even though it was humid and very sticky, I managed to keep a nice pace while keeping my HR in Z2 as Coach wanted me to do. There were some times where I'd have to walk to keep HR down, and that made me a bit mad.  This HR training is definitely not easy for me, because I like going fast; but I have already noticed improvement in my running ability so I will suck it up and keep doing it.

Yesterday I volunteered at a local tri. My duties included body marking and then being in the run course, at a turn (more as a one person cheering squad than a course "marker").

Body marking was interesting, I got to see up close a whole bunch of different people: men, women, young, old, first timers, elites. I managed to make some of them laugh, was scared of some others. There was one particular gal that I remember quite vividly. I marked her number and then asked what race category she was racing in, she replied Athena. I had to do a double take... "Athena? you don't look like an Athena"-- "Thank you, I had gastric Bypass surgery and the skin is what makes me be over 150 lbs"--- "Well, you look great"-- "Thank you". Talk about turning your life around 180 degrees. Impressed, to say the least. I was also pleasantly surprised at people thanking me for volunteering and for being there. Always nice and something that i will definitely do when I race.. Now that I have been on the other side, I know how good it feels to be recognized for the good things you do. What goes around comes around, right?

After body marking for about an hour, they took us out on the run course. They put me in a spot where the road split in 2, to make sure that people took the correct path... even though there was a sign with an arrow. I saw the elites go by, riding their disc wheels... (love the sound). This was a sprint, so within the hour those first runners where going past me. I did not cheer for the elite people... I found that they do not like it very much... as if it breaks their concentration or something. A short while after the elites came by, everybody else started showing up as well. Let me say, I need a new set of hands and a brad new set of vocal cords. Towards the end, when the runners were coming every few minutes, I would run out to them; and join them for a few yards giving them words of encouragement, or simply talking if they wanted to. I am embarrassed to say that this felt good for 2 reasons: being able to help them keep going; and moving my legs!!!! After standing up for so long it felt great to actually run/jog some.

The last guy came by, and it turns out that with about 7 miles to go on the bike; his bike broke. So he got off it and ran with it, barefoot, to transition (7 mi) put on his running shoes and did the 5k. And finished, last but he crossed the finish line. Human willpower at its best.

After the race was over I went to do my 2:30 ride that coach had put on my schedule. I loaded my water bottles with accelerade, got my food on the bento box and off I went. It was 11 am.

I was too keep HR in Z2 for most of the ride and then let it go to zone 3 when climbing or riding into the wind. Well, as I have said before, Charlotte is like a constant hill. Needless to say, I had a tough time keeping my HR low. I also struggled with going slow. I do not like it. 

About 1:30 hours into the ride; I was ready to get off my bike. My lady parts hurt quite a bit, my legs were complaining (I would too if I had been forced to sustain the body weight for 5.5 hrs straight) and I had miserably failed the task at hand of keeping my HR in check. Oh, yeah... I had also fallen of the bike in the most stupid way possible, so my left leg and but cheek have some nice bruises that make me tough. With about 45 mins to go I finally talked myself into letting go of the speed. Get aero, keep cadence and just HTFU. The last part of the ride was better. I kept my effort constant, and made my legs shut up. 

I did pretty well with my nutrition, or so I thought until I got off the bike... That's when my stomach dropped. Coach thinks it's because maybe my stomach can't handle the whey protein in accelerade, and suggested I tried other sports drinks. 

I wanted to ask you guys, what has worked for you?