Century!

I honestly do not know where time has gone. It has been over a week since I posted my last little update and so much has happened ever since. Here are some little snippets:

- I improved my OWS time for the one mile by 3 minutes
- That same weekend I went on a riding adventure and ended up getting lost; taking longer than expected and loving my iphone and its map application
- I participated in another 10 mile TT with my bike; and not only did I cut almost a minute of my previous time; I also came in second AG (not a lot of people in my AG; but it still counts J )
- I realized that of all 3 sports, I LOVE riding my bike; and think that during the winter I need to do a better job of working on my bike fitness
- I have become totally addicted to the TDF; and suffered withdrawal symptoms on both of their rest days
- I realized that I only have 3 months left until Ironman (holy cow!)
- I went on my first century ride and I am still able to walk! Ha!

I thought I’d expand on the last one since it was quite the occasion. Last year I did this organized ride called “Lake Norman Excursion” if you look at my posts from last year; you will see that I had done the 65 mile option and was considering doing the 100 mile this year. Since I knew that long rides were coming; I ran the idea by coach. I mostly wanted to do my first century on a “supported” environment. What does that mean? With potties along the way; with water stops and with the peace of mind on the back of my head: should I need someone to pick me up; there would be vehicles doing exactly that. I didn’t exactly take advantage of all the stuff they had at the rest stops; after all I was experimenting with new ideas for my IM nutrition; but it was nice to not have to carry a gazillion bottles of water.

I got there early; mostly because I thought the ride started an hour earlier than it actually did; I got set up and started socializing with different people. I saw some old “friends”, some new ones, and just hung out until it was time to roll out. The first couple of miles were slow. You can imagine, about 600 people all starting at the same time; it is not exactly a recipe for fast, fast, fast. I was riding with a group of 3 other people and we were just keeping a conversational pace with some bursts of speed here and there to pass people that were going a little bit too slow. One thing that made me laugh early on: we had been riding for all of 15 minutes and we passed a couple, just as we were passing them the lady said: The first stop is at what 12 miles??. I thought to myself… there is someone who is really not enjoying herself on this ride; and who is having a hard time already. I did not want to be in her position.

We rolled past the first rest stop; we had plenty of water and food so we could skip it. We were keeping a nice pace; and I was focusing on my nutrition and hydration. I decided to try a combination of Carbo Pro 1200 and EFS liquid shot. Even though the Carbo Pro tastes like cough syrup; I found it quite enjoyable (I am one of those freaks that likes the taste of cough syrup) and the EFS liquid shot tasted like vanilla and was going down nicely. One of the things that I struggle with the most when fueling/hydrating during long workouts; is the taste that remains in my mouth after drinking sports drink. I can only drink so much of it; after a while it makes me gag. So I decided to get my calories from “food” and my salt from salt tabs, and stick with water as my main hydration source. This worked quite well for me. When we got to the second rest stop I already needed to use the potty (good sign of hydration spot on). So we took about 5 minutes to refill water bottles, stand in line and use the “facilities”. Then we rolled on.

At about mile 30 the routes split; and the group I was riding with chose the shorter distance. Here started my solo riding. I will say that it was not as mentally hard as I expected it to be. I was able to always keep people in sight and I think that helped. I would catch up to a group, ride with them for a few minutes and promptly get dropped on a climb. My strategy was to spin up the hills to try to keep my HR as steady as possible. With this being my first century I did not want to take the chance of pushing too hard too soon; and then be left with no energy to finish. Coach’s instructions were: I do not care how long it takes you, just FINISH the ride. And I was going to follow that to the T.

My nutrition was working great. I was getting a bit dehydrated perhaps; so I upped my water and salt intake. Within 30 minutes I was back on track. Around the fifth hour; my EFS liquid shot had ran out; so I reached for the first gel I could find. It happened to be a Chocolate power gel. I ate it; and within 15 minutes I could tell that it had messed up my stomach. It just felt like a rock; sitting there. I forced more water down; and made sure to keep eating and drinking as close to schedule as possible. The heavy feeling never went away; but it also did not get any worse. And I was able to get through that.

The route was H-I-L-L-Y; and I would be lying if I said that my hear did not sink a couple of times when after turning a corner I looked up and saw yet ANOTHER climb. But I put my head down, spun up and got through them. One thing that I noticed is that my cycling fitness has tremendously improved since last year. The 65 and the 100 mile options of this ride share a good part of the route; and I was able to realize that some of the climbs that last year “killed” me; this year were barely leaving me winded. Score!

The hours ticked by and then, I was done. I rolled back into the campus we had departed from; located my car; dismounted my bike and, even though I was tired, I noticed I could run. I got my running gear on and set on to my 10 minute run. My legs felt strangely ok. Sore? Yes. Painful? No. I could do this! Then, I noticed they were putting away the post ride food; so I chose to stop running to go eat. I wanted to eat something other than a gel. Man, a muffin never tasted so good. And ice cold water. Ahhhhh!

What did I take away from this experience? I think 2 things: I CAN ride the 112 miles in IM; and perhaps I need to revise my goals for the race. I was not as fast as I would have wanted to be; and I am not sure I can quite get there by race day in November; so it is time to take a good look at myself, my fitness and my progress; search deep in the heart and come up with goals that challenge me yet are attainable. Am I giving up on my “top secret” goal? Heck no! I just think that fixating myself on THAT particular goal; is just a recipe for disaster at this time. It might not be this year; but I WILL get there.