Lake Country Du/Discovery Run - Week 3 & 4

Week 3 (September 7th - September 13th)

Monday:

Question: What do you do when you want to knock off another section of the Ice Age Trail, but your training plan calls for a run?  

Answer: Find a short section and go for a trail run!  

Mr. R&R and I did an out and back on the Waterville Segment (hiking blog update coming soon).  We ran from the trailhead where it intersected the Glacial Drumlin trail and about half a mile later we were spat out onto a country road full of big rolling hills for just over a mile.  Not really trail, but the road section is a temporary connector.  We ran the flats and downhills and walked the most of the big hills.  Finally, we reconnected with the actual Ice Age Trail.  The trail run made the road section worth it.  There were only a few monster hills, I only tripped 3 or 4 times (caught myself and didn't fall), and the handful of prairie sections were short and scenic.  It was the best 6 miles of trail I've ever run and I look forward to doing it again - soon!

Trail Running Perfection

Tuesday:

After a relaxing week off, it was back to the salt mines. Fortunately it was pouring down rain all day, so being stuck inside all day was a little traumatic.  Since I'd put over 50 miles on my body in the last 3 days, it was a rest day.  I used the down time to:

- Grocery Shop - so we won't starve or go out to dinner this week

- Iron A Few Things - so I don't have to go to work nekkid or in running clothes

- Blog - because I was 2 weeks behind and I still need to work on the hiking blog

Wednesday:

What is it about work and sucking all the motivation out of a person?  I had every intention of parking my butt on the trainer for an hour, but only managed to put in 30 minutes before my growling stomach demanded that I go upstairs and eat - NOW!  Fortunately it was a good 30 minutes.

Thursday:
Neither Mr. R&R nor I wanted to do a damn thing tonight, so we compromised with a 3 mile walk while catching up on each other's day.

Friday:

I took the night off to have dinner with a friend I haven't seen since her oldest child was 3 months old - and she's going to be 4 in a few months!  I guess time really does fly, but if you would have heard the two of us chatting, you'd think we'd just hung out last week.  I definitely missed hanging out with her and will NOT let 4 more years go by again.

Saturday:
Q: What happens when Yada Yada gets a tri bike and his road bike spends an entire season hanging in the garage?

A: He and Texas convince Mr. R&R to test ride it as a possible upgrade.

We headed up to Yada Yada and Texas' house early Saturday morning to fetch the bike before they left for a century ride a few hours further north - and ended up having the most delicious diner breakfast I've ever had.  As a bonus, I kept expecting Sam and Dean Winchester to walk through the door!

Waiting for a demon to show up an cause lots of trouble.

Once we got the bike home, we got Mr. R&R roughly fitted to it and went for a ride.  We worked our way slowly along the pothole riddled roads to my mom's house to check out her latest home improvements and then continued on to the New Berlin Trail.  That was just plain fun.  Mr. R&R took off like a bat out of hell and I used the long stretch of straight pavement to practice riding (and drinking) in aero.  The ride back was even more fun since it's a slight downhill, so free speed is the name of the game.  At one point I was flying down the trail at almost 23mph, fully in aero, and having a blast!  The ride home was at a pretty pedestrian pace due to lots of busy roads and then of course, the thing I absolutely loathe happened...the dead standstill tip over.  We were riding on the sidewalk up one of the busiest roads in the city and when I unclipped my left foot to stop, I didn't lean far enough to my left to put my foot down, so I tipped over onto my right side.  I fell about a foot off a curb into a parking lot with lots of rocks and gravel.  Ouch!  When I finally managed to unclip my right foot and lift my bike off me, the bike was fine and I was missing a bunch of skin on my right elbow and right knee.  Damn.  That's the same side that took all the abuse/damage a few years ago when I crashed at the Shoreline Duathlon.  I really need to figure out how to spread the pain better!

Sunday:
I was pretty sore after my fall, so working out wasn't happening.  I went to work for a couple of hours  and then Mr. R&R and I headed to Madison to watch the run leg of Ironman Wisconsin.  Remember a few years ago when I went out there to watch the Iron Cheerleader finish IM #4 and he swore it was the last one?  He lied. He was going for IM #5 and another one of my tri friends was going after his first and I didn't want to miss it!  We parked at the Alliant Energy Center and watched a few bikes come down the hill (lots of pretty bikes to look at) before catching a shuttle that dropped us off about a block from the finish line.  We started walking along the run course and found an opening around Mile 12.  A quick check of Ironman.com showed that both my teammate and the Iron Cheerleader should be passing by our post within the next 20 minutes - they were within minutes of each other at the last checkpoint.

We passed the time cheering for the athletes as they ran by and checking out the various signs people were waving.

First came my teammate (sorry - no pictures) and a few minutes later, the Iron Cheerleader appeared. I shouted his name and he paused for a quick hug and hello before continuing on to the halfway point and his special needs bag.

Mr. R&R and I trotted a few miles down the road and waited for them to come by again.

The Iron Cheerleader came by looking much happier after retrieving a can of Pringles from his special needs bag.  We figured we had at least an hour and a half before either of the guys finished, so dinner was our next order of business.   We spotted an Indian restaurant with a 2nd story balcony overlooking the run course - perfect!

Another quick check of Ironman.com after dinner showed that it was time to start heading for the finish line.  Both of them had some how picked up speed and were flying!  As we hustled back up State Street, I had to stop and take a picture - this is what the athletes see as they're headed for home.

Pretty cool, huh?

We opted to stand about half a mile from the end rather than fighting the four-deep crowds at the finish and it was a good choice.  I watched my teammate fly by on his way to a 12 hour, 43 minute finish and the Iron Cheerleader thundered by on his way to a 12 hour, 58 minute finish (16 minutes faster than he did in 2013).

Mr. R&R and I worked our way to the finish line and somehow managed to find the Iron Cheerleader in the crowd to congratulate him.  He swore, once again, that this was it.  No more Ironman for him.  Somehow I have a hard time believing him, but only time will tell.

The Home Stretch

(Insert Your Name Here), You. Are. An. Ironman!

Watching Ironman never fails to inspire me. I hope that someday I can be half the athlete that these men and women are.


Week 4 (September 14th-20th)

Monday:
It was a loooonnnngggg day at the office after getting home late from Madison.  I really wanted to crawl onto the couch and take a nap, but I somehow talked myself into going for a run.  Ugh.  Total mess of a run, but I guess three crappy miles are better than no miles.

Tuesday:
I was going to ride my bike in the basement, but Mr. R&R beat me to the trainer (we need a second one) so I decided to try to redeem myself in the running department.  It was much cooler and less humid out - and the run went so much better.

Wednesday:
Mr. R&R spent his evening at Emery's getting his new bike custom-fitted and I spent those hours glued to my desk chair.  It was super late and I didn't have enough in the tank to do anything major when I got home, so I joined Mr. R&R for a quick mile just to shake out the legs before dinner.  I also put my bike in the trainer to test whether or not my skinned elbow had healed enough to allow me to ride in aero.  It wasn't the most comfortable experience of my life (elbow is still pretty bruised), but it was manageable.  Phew!  I really didn't want to have to race my old bike this weekend.

Thursday:
I thought I got home late yesterday.  Hah!  I didn't get home until almost 7:30pm tonight.  The only things I was capable of doing was eating a bowl of macaroni and cheese, petting bunnies, and going to bed.  On a more fun note, I put up a few Halloween decorations in my office so I don't have to feel like I'm totally missing out on one of my favorite holidays.

Friday:
Crazy day at work - so crazy that I ate a banana in the morning and then completely forgot about food until about 5pm.  Not the way I want to lead up to a race.  I came home, scarfed a Clif Bar and hustled off to see some friends at the bar.  It was fun and I managed to limit myself to one beer - and enough water to fill a swimming pool.  That was followed by lights out at 10pm.

Saturday:
It's amazing what 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep can do for your state of mind.  Mr. R&R and I walked a couple of miles for coffee and breakfast and then came home and changed into our bike clothes.

If you've been reading here for a while, you probably just heard the metaphorical record scratch and are now saying something like, "What?  She went for a ride the day before a race?"  Yes, I did.  Mr. R&R was telling me that Brent Emery gave him a new pre-race strategy to try out, so  I figured I'd try it too.

We hit the New Berlin Trail for about 14 miles at a reasonable, but not killing it, pace.  I was pretty pissed off when less than a quarter of a mile in I had a mechanical issue.  My chain dropped - and Mr. R&R was too far ahead of me to hear me shout that something wasn't right (he's ridiculously fast to begin with and even faster on his new wheels), so I got to work figuring out how to fix it.  My hands ended up covered in grease and gunk, but I finally got the damn thing back on, wiped my hands off on the grass and then on my jersey, and got on with the business of riding.  The whole debacle only cost me about 10 minutes, but it was a loooonnnng ride staring at my filthy hands on the aero bars in front of me.  Oh well.  Better today than on race day.  I stayed aero as much as I could, only sitting up at road crossings and a couple of times when the wind was so strong that I felt like my bike was going to fly out from under me.  I met up with Mr. R&R at the turnaround and we rode back together. The overall pace was fairly respectable and I had a couple of seriously kick ass miles in there!  Maybe Brent is on to something?

After our ride, we set up shop in the back yard to clean, degrease, and re-lube our chains.  I wasn't really planning on doing this, but after getting up close and personal with my chain, it was a necessity because that thing was foul.

Next up was a quick run to Endurance House about 30 minutes away for packet pick up and then we decided to drive out to the race site since it's totally new to us.  Once there, we attempted to drive the bike course based on a rather crummy map.  We drove at least half of it, noting where the turns are, significant hills, rail crossings, and one spot that seemed to have quite a bit of broken glass that will need to be avoided.  Good things to know.

Finally, it was time for all the usual pre-race rituals: high carb dinner, gather the race gear, hydrate, and try to get some sleep because the alarm is going to go off at Stupid O'Clock.

Sunday:
Lake Country Duathlon!  Check back tomorrow or early next week for a race recap!

Let's Du This (Lake Country Du/Discovery Run - Weeks 1 & 2)

If I want to return to multi sport racing and distance running, I need to train.  I'm usually the queen of setting myself up with a training plan that looks fantastic on paper, but is damn near impossible to execute unless all the stars align - which they rarely seem to do.  So for these 2 races I'm going to try something a little different.  If I miss a workout, it's gone. No going back. No making it up.  Just keep moving forward.  Hopefully this mindset will help with the constant feelings of anxiety I get from missing a workout - and maybe, just maybe, fend off the mid-training cycle meltdown(s)!

Week 1 (August 24th - 29th)
Monday:
I started this training cycle with a really awesome 4 mile run. The weather was a key factor because for the first time in what feels like forever, it was in the low 60's, overcast, and breezy instead of the hot, humid, sweatbox we've been in for quite a while.  Since Mr. R&R was with me, I deviated from my usual high-traffic road route and was able to take previously unknown to me loop around a large retention pond.  I normally would stay off this loop because it's hidden among lots of tall grass and I wouldn't feel safe venturing off the road alone.  It was relatively flat for awhile and then slowly began gaining elevation as it meandered back toward the road.  If I thought that little hill was tough, there was a long, steep, beast awaiting me.  My pace skyrocketed going up that sucker, but fortunately what goes up, must come down and I was able to do a decent job of fixing my pace on the downhill.  I felt like I was flying.  I ended up finishing about 37 seconds slower than my PR at that distance, so it was a pretty damn good time!

Distance: 4.0 miles
Time: 38:46
Avg. Pace: 9:41/mile

Tuesday was another really good cool weather run.  For as much as I bitch about Wisconsin winters (and they are truly miserable) I really love fall and spring here and I think I'm ready for fall.

Distance: 3.0 miles
Time: 28:33
Avg. Pace: 9:30/mile

Wednesday should have been an easy run, but between work (trying to get ready to be out of the office for a week) and some issues I've been having with my left foot, it was a couch day.

Thursday:
Nothing says fun like an 11 hour day at the office followed by a Groundhog Day workout.  I have a love/hate relationship with running repeats.  They're really f-ing hard, but I feel like they do a lot to make me faster and these repeats weren't the standard 400 meter type.  The training plan called for 4x800.  Oh yeah...800 meters (about a half a mile) of running really fast, followed by a 2 minutes of recovery time.  It was almost completely dark out by the time I finished my warm up, so I ended up doing my intervals by running back and forth down the main drag of a nearby, well-lit, and heavily patrolled office park.  I may have looked ridiculous to the security guys, but I'm pleased to say that I nailed my goal paces for the workout.

Warm Up: .5 miles @ 10:14 pace
Interval 1: .5 miles @ 8:38 pace
Interval 2: .5 miles @ 8:48 pace
Interval 3: .5 miles @ 8:44 pace
Interval 4: .5 miles @ 8:42 pace
Cool Down: .17 miles @ 10:02 pace

Now I need to work on doing the rest periods at a slower run, not a pokey walk!

Friday: 10 hour work day + last minute errands = No Workout

Saturday: It would have been nice to take my new ride out on the road, but the all day mist interspersed with downpours made that impossible.  Mr. R&R and I started our day out with a damp walk through The Zoo for a special behind-the-scenes tour event.  The "special" tours were pretty unimpressive with the exception of the fish/reptile tour.  There's a 55,000 gallon fish tank known as Lake Wisconsin, containing examples of native fish species, in that building and we got to see it from above, which was really crazy looking.  Apparently there's 55,000 gallons of water in the main tank and another 55,000 gallons of Lake Michigan water being tempered for circulation below it - and they get water deliveries daily!  Additionally, some of the fish in that tank would be considered record-sized if they were caught in the wild.

Lake Wisconsin From Above

As unimpressed as we were by most of the tours, there were plenty of other animals willing to ham it up for our amusement; including these bongos who posed for their best impression of American Gothic.

After a few hours of schlepping around in the drizzle, we headed home and Mr. R&R hit The Cave while I hit the couch for a short nap!  Once he finished his workout and headed off to his monthly massage appointment, it was my turn.  I figured out how to get the new bike into the trainer, set myself up with something to watch, and spun in place for the next 45 minutes.  Holy sweatfest.
I rode for 45 minutes and covered about 12.5 miles at a pretty decent speed - the best I've done on the new wheels so far.

I was dripping sweat after the first mile and was pretty sure that I was going to keel over when I climbed off, but I scurried up the stairs and into the rain for a 1 mile transition run. 9:23 average...not bad right off the bike!

Sunday: Gone Camping

Week 1 Totals:
Bike: 12.58 miles
Run: 11.15 miles
Total Miles: 23.73 miles
Total Time: 2:34:10

Week 2 (August 30th - September 6th)
Monday:
I may have been gone camping, but that doesn't mean that I sat on my ass with a book and a beer the whole time - just most of it. Mr. R&R and I hiked about 5 miles of the Ice Age trail in blistering sun and swarms of mosquitos.  Activity always makes me feel better about my beer consumption!

Tuesday was all about packing up, heading home, and doing the mountain of laundry that results from camping!

Wednesday:
I was on vacation all week, so I laced up my shoes and went for a nice 4 mile run around 8:30am.  It was already pretty hot out and I'm happy I got it over with early.  It also did't hurt that it meant not having to ruin my hair right after The Mane Wrangler finished covering up the grays and making it all shiny, straight, and pretty!

I also made a pitstop at Emery's today to pick up an aero bottle which will allow me to drink on the bike without having to come to a complete stop and wiggle a water bottle out of the cage inside my tiny bike frame.  After some installation issues, I hopped on and gave it a try.  I think some fine tuning is going to be required.

Thursday:
I spent 90 minutes auditioning yet another massage therapist.  Ever since my massage guru left the industry at the end of May, I've been working my way through other therapists in the practice trying to find a match.  The first one was a resounding 'No' (The guy left me in pain for 3 days after).  The next two were good, but not as awesome as the therapist I was used to.  I think my search may finally be over - and not a moment too soon.

When Mr. R&R got home for work, we both wanted to ride, but night was fast approaching so we decided to do a quick local loop.  Well...it was a local loop, but it was anything but quick due to too many intersections and a multi-use trail that had us riding the brakes the whole way. 35 minutes to ride just under 7 miles?  Grrrrr.  Additionally, my new aero bottle kept getting out of whack every time I hit a bump - and there were a lot of bumps.  More fine tuning will be required before this thing sees the light of day again.

Friday:
I swear it was so hot outside you could have fried an egg on my driveway.  I had the urge to do something, but the thought of going outside was just unbearable, so I filled up my aero bottle, plopped myself on the trainer in front of a movie,  blasted a fan in my face, and rode for an hour.  I was up and down from aero about every 5 minutes, but it's getting better.  I seem to be able to stay in aero a little longer every time.  After the ride, I had a text waiting from Maverick telling me to hightail it to the bar because everyone (her, Mr. R&R, Yada Yada, WhoHa, and some other people) was there.  I dove into the shower and was presentable and on my way out the door in 25 minutes!

Saturday:
Mr. R&R and I caught the hiking bug again while we were camping so we set out to finish off the Lapham Peak Segment of the Ice Age Trail.  It was hot, but fun - and hopefully I'll be updating our hiking blog in the relatively near future.

After a 4.5 mile hike in the heat, we headed home so I could clean up and meet my little sister and her friends to go bridesmaid dress shopping.  Yep...Little Sis is getting married next spring!  Mr. R&R and I also spent quality time hacking together a tool to fix my aero bottle problems that night.

And let's not forget the most important part of Saturday...Walter's 6th Birthday!!!!!

Birthday Bunny!!!!

Sunday:
On Friday night, Yada Yada invited us to join him and Texas on a long, slow ride from their house to a little town about 20 miles away for lunch.  We loaded up and headed North to ride "All The Hills".  I'm happy to say that I think I'm finally getting comfortable on the new bike, which we were all jokingly calling 'The High Maintenance Bitch'.  We stopped in the town of Cedarburg for lunch (mmm...salty fries) and to refill our water bottles before reversing our route back to Yada Yada  and Texas' house.

Pretty bikes all in a row on the restaurant patio

When we were done, I had officially logged the longest ride I've ever done: 38.55 miles - and my aero bottle stayed put!

Week 2 Totals:
Bike: 64.27 miles
Run: 4.16 miles
Hiking: 9.49 miles
Total Miles: 77.92 miles
Total Time: 9:05:45

What's the longest bike ride you've ever been on?  Done any hiking lately?

I Needed A Reason...Or Two.

It's been a weird summer.  I haven't really had the motivation to workout because I had absolutely nothing on my calendar to train for.  In some ways, I think I'm still recovering from the burnout I was suffering at the end of last year and in others, I think I've just been kind of lazy.  Don't get me wrong, I've still been running here and there and I've spent a lot of time on my bike, but it was all 'just for fun'.  I needed a goal.  A Reason.  So I found two.

That all changed about two weeks ago when I accompanied Mr. R&R to Emery's in search of new pedals and bike shoes.  While he was deep in the process of figuring out what kind of shoes/pedals he wanted, I wandered around the store looking at bikes.  Well...some women are susceptible to shoe sales.  Apparently I am susceptible to bike sales.  I wasn't really planning on upgrading to a triathlon bike (at least not any time soon, but I've slowly been stashing money away thinking it was a possibility), but there just so happened to be a few bikes that caught my eye, so I hunted down the owner, Brent, and asked him about them.  The next thing I knew a brand new, shiny Quintana Roo Kilo was locked in a trainer and I was perched on top of it, pedaling in flip flops.  While this was going on, Brent was telling me about a used bike, a 2014 Trek Speed Concept 7.0, that would be available after the weekend (it was being rented out for USAT Nationals) that I might be interested in as well.  I'm pretty sure I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.  A brand new Speed Concept 7.0 was way out of my price range, but the used one was about the same price as the QR Kilo.  I promptly made an appointment to come in and test ride both bikes the following week.

I arrived at Emery's on the appointed day, which just so happened to be the day and time of Mr. R&R's pedal and cleat fitting, and Brent set about getting both bikes 'rough fitted' to me and then handed me my helmet and instructed me to take the QR outside for a test ride.  GULP.  Mr. R&R accompanied me for a painfully slow loop around the neighborhood while I figured out how to ride in the aero position (nearly laying down on the aero bars).  It was definitely a really cool, and really nerve-wracking experience.  As soon as we returned to the shop, Brent handed me the Speed Concept and I repeated the process. I was still slower than molasses in January, but I felt much more stable on the Speed Concept - enough to take a corner almost completely in aero.  It felt like I was trying to ride a bike for the first time since the shifting, braking, steering, and riding position are all completely different from what I'm used to.

After a little discussion of my likes/dislikes about both bikes, I took the plunge.  I bought the Trek Speed Concept and set up another appointment to come in for a more detailed fitting.  That fitting involved a lot of precision measurements and adjustments, pedaling my ass off for almost 2 hours, a different saddle, and some serious anxiety when I was sent outside alone to try the bike out one more time, but by the end of the night, my new bike came home with me and I was dying to try it out.

I got my chance to do just that bright and early on Saturday morning.  Mr. R&R and I loaded up our bikes and drove out to Yada Yada's house about 45 minutes away.  Yada Yada rides a similar style of bike and had generously agreed to provide some coaching.  Another friend of Mr. R&R and Yada Yada's, EuroGuy, also came along for the ride.  I was a little apprehensive about riding with all those guys, especially since I knew there was no way in hell I was going to be riding my usual speed while I figured out my new ride, but they were all totally cool about my turtle pace.  It's a good thing too, because Yada Yada took us on a route that had all the hills and corn fields.  I definitely figured out how to ride aero while climbing and on the few flats that existed.

Photo Credit: EuroGuy

 In total, we rode about 22 miles, with a stop for breakfast at the half way point.  After bidding Yada Yada and EuroGuy goodbye, Mr. R&R and I drove over to the little lake Yada Yada had shown us last summer and jumped in for a short, cool down swim.  I'm happy to say that I didn't wear my wetsuit and I didn't have a panic attack!

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I'm kind of missing the multi-sport life, but hopefully I won't be missing it much longer.  If I can get in a few more solid outdoor rides (and back up to a decent rate of speed) I'd like to sign up for the Lake Country Duathlon - a 2 mile run/17 mile ride/ 2 mile run.  It sounds like it might be a good place for my new ride to make its racing debut.

Next up is running.  Obviously I need to step up my running game if I'm going to do the duathlon, but I haven't done any real distance training since Rock 'n Sole and fall usually provides my favorite kind of running weather, so I decided to register for the Discovery Run 15k on October 31st.  Yes...the day after then end of Hell Month.  I figure it's as good a reason as any not to go out and pound martinis after work that Friday night!   I've never raced this distance before, so it's an automatic PR, but I'd like to do a little better than that, so I have a training plan...let's see what happens!

I'm also looking forward to the Discovery Run because it always has a theme and this year's theme is Rocky Horror Picture Show.  A bunch of my tri friends are planning to be there and the race director (who you all know as the Iron Cheerleader) has promised that he will be dressing up as Dr. Frankfurter.  This should be fabulous...as long as he doesn't expect me to do the Time Warp at the finish line! Oh who am I kidding?  I should probably add "dance rehearsal" to my training plan.

Shoreline Duathlon Race Recap

I have to say, I was a little unsure about this race when Mr. R&R and I drove up to Concordia University yesterday afternoon to pick up our race packets.  There was a ton of construction going on all around what would eventually be the transition area and I was really worried about what effect construction debris would have on my bike tires and if there'd be a lot of dust in the air because of it.  I shouldn't have worried.  The race director was there and mentioned that he was planning to go out and sweep the transition area after the construction crew knocked off for the day!

On Friday night, we got our bikes ready to go, water bottles filled and cooling in the refrigerator, and laid out all our gear.

Multi-Sport events sure do require a lot of stuff!

In the wee hours of this morning, I went through the usual motions of showering and pulling on my race clothes and then there was an extra step - I had to take this little guy outside.  We babysat for my sister's puppy, Mason, last night!

After getting Mason settled in his crate, we loaded our bikes onto the back of the car and made the drive to the race site. 

Once we arrived at Concordia, we racked our bikes, set up our transition areas, strapped our timing chips to our ankles, and met up with our friends, Miss Placed, Yada Yada, and Texas.  After a little chit chat, it was race time!  Usually race waves are done by age group or predicted finish time, but this time they were divided by last name, which put Mr. R&R and I in Wave 4. When the gun went off, I started running and immediately realized that I seemed to be in a wave full of speed demons!  My pace for the first 1/4 mile was in the 7:30's.  It didn't feel bad, but I knew there was no way I could keep that up for 2 miles - especially on a cross country course.  I slowed to a more reasonable pace as we turned onto a wooded path.  I had been a little nervous about the cross country portion of the race, but as soon as we entered the woods, I loved it!  The trail wound through the woods and into an open field.  Somewhere just past Mile 1 I felt Yada Yada tap me on the shoulder as he sped by.   As I ran through the field, I saw some of the crazy fast racers from Wave 1 as they sped by on the bike. Another turn took us back into the woods, and then onto concrete and into T1.

Run 1:
Distance: 2.11 Miles
Time: 19:59
Avg. Pace: 9:29

I swapped my bike shoes for my running shoes, made sure my water bottle was in the 'open' position, jammed my helmet on, and hustled out to the mount line.

T1 Time: 2:13 (Gotta work on a faster transition.)

The first few miles of the bike course were really great.  It was flat, the weather was good, I settled into a good cadence/speed, and even managed to pass a handful of people.  After the first turn, that great feeling disappeared.  The pavement got really rough, the course turned into a series of rolling hills, and my legs started to feel kind of heavy.  Eventually the pavement improved, but the rolling hills continued.  It was the strangest feeling. At some points, my legs felt so dead and I could barely turn the pedals. At others, my legs were like pistons and I felt fantastic.  This pattern of highs and lows went on for the entire bike leg.  Around Mile 19, I ate a GU, hoping it would kick in as I started the final run leg.  Around Mile 20, Texas caught up to me and passed me.  I was about 10 seconds behind her coming into T2 and I decided then and there that there was no way I was letting her beat me on the run.

Bike:
Distance: 21.31 Miles
Time: 1:19:54
Avg. Speed: 16.0 mph
Avg. Cadence: 78 rpm

I jogged (on spaghetti legs) my bike back to the rack, yanked off my helmet, and changed back to my running shoes. My cycling gloves were yanked off with my teeth and stuffed into the back pocket of my jersey as I ran out of transition.

T2 Time:  1:38

I gulped down a little Gatorade at the aid station and headed out on the final run course.  I actually felt pretty good at the beginning of the run.  My legs were turning over pretty fast and they didn't seize up quite as bad as they did in my first duathlon.  I ran up a hill and then out along the top of a bluff and I remember thinking that the view of Lake Michigan was really gorgeous.  The second run course involved running down that bluff and then back up a series of switchbacks. The run down the hill was beautiful.  The sun was sparkling on crystal clear water, there was a light breeze, and I felt pretty good.  Then I hit the switchbacks.  Each switchback wasn't terribly steep, but my legs hated them - a lot.  I would run about half way along each one and then walk until the next one.  It killed my pace, but it was better than walking the whole thing.

(source)

At long last, I reached the top of the bluff and knew it wasn't far to the finish line.  It was ass haulin' time.  I picked up the pace, ran down a small hill, took a hard left, and there it was!

Run 2:
Distance: 1.65 Miles
Time: 16:50
Avg. Pace: 10:12

Official Time: 2:00:45

The first person I saw after crossing the line was Walter & Spot's vet (aka Dr. Beast).  She gave me a hug, told me that I looked really good coming in.  She really does rock! (She was 29th overall, 4th place female, and she won her age group and the women's masters division).

I made my way through the post-race snack line (bagel pieces, pretzels, cookies) before locating Mr. R&R, Miss Placed and Yada Yada.  About 5 minutes after I finished, Texas (Yada Yada's wife) crossed the finish line. We hung out through the awards ceremony (Miss Placed came in 4th in her age group) and took a few pictures before heading back to transition to collect our bikes, helmets, and other miscellaneous stuff.  There was some talk of going out to brunch, but we all decided that we smelled too bad to subject anyone to sitting anywhere near us!

The Du Crew

Overall, it was a great event.  The race director did a great job working around and compensating for the construction. The volunteers were great (and plentiful). The course was beautiful.  This event is definitely on my short list of possibilities for the 2013 season.

At Last!

After 3 1/2 months of bike ownership, I finally took my bike for a long (for me) ride outside!

It Still Needs A Name!

 The Husband and I rode 20 miles on a (previously unknown to us) paved trail this morning, and I'm pleased to say I felt pretty good afterward!  I definitely need to work on a few things, namely getting my feet into my toe clips without almost falling over and increasing my cadence and speed.  I also think that my seat may be just a tiny bit to high, which could be leading to the almost falling over. I'll probably discuss this possibility with the guys at Emery's when I take my bike in to see how it's breaking in. As for cadence and speed...well...I'm going to focus on not falling over first!

Today's ride also gave me a chance to test out the jersey I'll be wearing in next week's race.  Verdict: I loved it! I never felt hot, it never rode up, and as a bonus, it made me look like I actually had a clue what I was doing!

Even the most awesome jersey ever failed to remind me to put sunscreen on my arms!

All in all, it's been a good weekend.  I'm almost starting to believe that I can do the duathlon next weekend!

On the Photo A Day front, here are my snaps from yesterday and today.

June 2: Empty

Raspberry Chocolate Swirl Fro-yo w/ Fresh Fruit

Yes, I scarfed it down in record time!

June 3: On Your Plate

I really need to take pictures of something other than food!

May Wrap Up

How is tomorrow June 1st already?  I mean, wasn't it just May 1st last week? No?  Oh well.  

Looking back at my Garmin data for the month I definitely started with a bang and ended with something slightly louder than a whimper, but all in all, it was a solid month of training.  Back at the end of April I had set up 3 goals for May, and I've succeeded at two of them - and barely missed on the 3rd.

My first goal was to beat my April mileage total of 97.27 total miles(between running, cycling and hiking).  I really wanted to see if I could put 100 miles on my legs this month and it turns out...I could. My May mileage total was 101.50!

I decided to subdivide that 100 miles into 2 sub-goals: 50 miles of running and 50 miles on the bike.  The Madison half put me over the top of the 50 mile goal, and I tacked on another (fast for me) mile during my mini-brick workout last night, bringing my total running mileage for May to 56.26 miles.  I didn't quite make my 50 mile cycling goal.  I could have done it if I would have either A) not cut last night's ride short because I was freezing or B) dragged my sorry butt onto the trainer tonight instead of going out for a few drinks.  I'll live with 45.24 miles instead.

I'm feeling pretty much recovered from my adventures in Madison last weekend, so I'm ready to face the next challenges on my racing calendar.  Next Sunday is the South Shore Rock 'n Ride Duathlon.  This will be my first real attempt at a multisport event and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little freaked out by the whole thing.  I've never done this before, so I'm going in completely clueless how it works. How do you rack a bike? What if I blow a tube? What if I accidentally find myself drafting off another cyclist and get penalized?  What if I hit a massive pothole and am launched over my handlebars?  I'm sure I'll figure it out. I mean...you gotta learn somewhere...right?

What I can't get over is the run course.  I was talking to Walter & Spot's veterinarian of all people (turns out she'll be racing that day too) and she warned me that the run course is a tough one.

(source)

See that cute little red arrow I added? Yeah...that's apparently a run up a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan - on the second mile of both run legs.  If you've been reading here for any length of time, you know how I feel about hills!  This is definitely going to be interesting - and possibly a bit painful.  Here's hoping my downhill splits make up for my uphill splits!

If the Duathlon on Sunday and the required packet pick up on Saturday weren't enough, my little sister is graduating from high school on Saturday afternoon and her party is on Sunday afternoon.  I'm really hoping that I don't have to go to the ceremony with body-marking sticking out of my dress and that I can stay awake for her party!  I'm pretty sure she'll kill me if I embarrass her with body-marking or by falling asleep!

Dramatic Brick

Last night I did my first true brick workout (moving from one sport to the next with no break) - and I think I understand why it's called a brick. By the time I was done, I felt like my legs were made out of bricks!

I decided to make my workout exactly half the distance of my upcoming duathlon (which will be a 2 mile run, 10 mile ride, 2 mile run).  I set off on the first run leg and was feeling pretty good and my watch proved it

Cold, rainy weather and darkness dictated that the bike portion of my workout be done on the trainer in my basement.  As soon as I burst through the back door, I ran downstairs, pulled on my cycling shorts, and jumped on the bike for 5 miles. Almost immediately I could feel the effects of having run a fairly fast mile before hand.  My legs felt heavy and it took quite a while to settle into a comfortable cadence/speed/gear combination and then maintain it.  Overall though, I was pretty pleased.

I switched back to my running shorts, grabbed my jacket, and ran up the stairs and out the door for my final leg.  At first, it felt like I was running on air. My legs were pretty numb from riding, so it felt pretty easy.  That didn't last long.  Within 3-4 minutes, my legs felt like, well, bricks. My pace slowed down and I had to argue with myself for the last half a mile to keep running. 

Overall Time: 36:19


I hit 'Stop' on my watch and reached for the zipper on the pocket containing my key and discovered that it was partially open and my house key was nowhere to be found!  I searched all of my pockets, hoping that I had stashed the key in a different pocket than normal.  Nope.  There I was; a tired, sweaty mess. The Husband wasn't home and I didn't have my phone.  I was NOT happy.  Fortunately, The Husband was enjoying an after work drink with some friends at the bar up the street from our house.  I dragged my sorry self up there, feeling like a total moron, and praying that they hadn't decided to go somewhere else since the next option for getting into my house was a 2 1/2 mile run to my mom's house!  Fortunately, The Husband was there and the other guys were kind enough not to laugh at me too much for being an idiot.  We got home, looked for and located the missing key, and I collapsed onto the couch for the remainder of the night.

Hopefully my next brick won't have such a drama-filled ending!