Saturday, Century Ride! 7/20/13

I stayed in Friday night, despite having a ticket to Bjork and Pitchfork and an opportunity to hang out with friends in Wrigleyville for Pearl Jam in favor of some more rest and sleep.  It was truly a difficult decision and it weighed on me a lot since I really wanted to spend a summer night at a concert.  Concerts have been my "thing" for a few years now and I miss them with this Ironman training.

Anyway, I opted to stay home without Internet access (still waiting on Comcast to fix it for my neighbor), I decided to take the time to start to reorganize and clean out my closets and drawers.  If you know me, you know this is one both my favorite things to do!  My tax attorney/accountant is always surprised at how many donations I make each year- which I guess is also representative of how many useless purchases I've made (?)- but it was a good time to do it.

I also decided to bake some cookies- if only to eat some dough!  The baking was secondary and I have a stack of cookies in my kitchen now that I'm not even that interested in eating (need to bring those into work on Tuesday!)

I hit the hay early-ish, probably just when it started to storm around 10pm and set the alarm for 4:15am.

I got up and prepared both my ride nutrition and on-the-road breakfast.  I wish I would have had another envelope of "UCan" since I think that has become my long workout secret weapon, but I had some Gatorade power so I doubled it, boiled 3 eggs and made a PB&J for the 2-1/2 hour ride to Princeton, IL.

This SAG ride was called the "Z tour" and it was put on by a local group in that area.  Princeton is west of Starved Rock and on the way, seemingly pretty close to, Rock Island, IL.  I drove from downtown to LSD to 55S and then I80 all the way past Midway and Joliet.  It was an easy drive at 5am.

When I arrived, I met up with my coach, Mary and Courtney.  We rode the first 7-8 miles together and then they just blew me away.  The remaining 92 miles I rode solo.  Believe me, the 20 miles after they left me, I cursed them.  Big time.  But the first 50 miles weren't too bad.  The Z tour had its first rest stop around mile 25.  I didn't feel I needed a stop, but I did stop, refilled my water bottles, ate some snacks and then went out for another 20ish.  The next rest stop was appreciated and required for more food and more water fill up.  That put me around mile 45 (I think) and I was feeling pretty good.

There was what seemed to be a very old train along the ride

The first half of the ride had two pretty decent hills that I recall.  One, from afar, looked completed vertical, I mean, straight up!!  -Especially for a Midwestern gal!  :)  This rivaled Madison's hills if not beat them.  I took some momentum starting this hill and then quickly shifted down to my small chain ring.  The women I was near at the time got OFF their bikes at about 75% of the way to the top. This is very hard to see and keep riding (for me).  I wanted to give up, but I forced myself to keep spinning, yoga breathing and stay in the saddle.  They cheered me on from below when I passed them and I was SO RELIEVED to be done with that one- I can't lie!!

The second half of the ride was more challenging for me.  I'm not sure I like hills, but they do keep things more interesting.  There were rollers, but a lot of it was flat and my bike shorts, by this point in time- between 3-4 hours in, were giving me a LOT of grief.  I could feel the seams ripping at my flesh in some of the most delicate areas of one's body!!  Eik!  I had brought lube with me and stopped and reapplied at the rest stops and even coated the right side of my bike seat, but it did no good.  You know you're in a bad way when the lube BURNS on your butt... that means BAD saddle sores.  I wanted to cry and likely often squealed in pain since I was riding solo anyway!!

Around hour 3.5, I listened to a couple Endurance Nation podcasts on triathlon tips while my iPhone 5 was stuffed upside down into my top so I could hear it while I rode up and down the hills.  I don't ever wear headphones for safety's sake and I was just so bored.   I also listened to "This American Life"'s 500th episode which took about 45 minutes and distracted me for that long too.

At about hour 6 (?), I had gone through the penultimate SAG stop and one of the roaming cars passed me.  I waved them down for some more water-- the sun was hot now (around 3pm?) and just baking me.  They gave me two bottles and while I was stopped at the side of the road, along came Mary!!  She and Courtney had done an extra 13 miles (insane!) because Courtney's Ironman plan called for it.  Michelle (my coach) had not done it- she was ahead of them- and Courtney was behind.  We all rolled into the last SAG stop together.  I wanted to eat more and they wanted to finish up, so I told them I'd see them at the finish.  Courtney had a 75 minute run anyway so I knew they'd be there when I rolled in.

Land of the Wind Farms

I felt so happy to get to the parking lot where we started, but was SO ANNOYED that my odometer only read 97 miles!  I rode around the parking lot and back out for 1.5 miles and then back in to hit 100.  That was a really mind screw, but I fought through it and did it.  Not to mention, a very small, yippy AND FAST! dog came out of nowhere and was barking and chasing me like it was going to attack me.  I finally yelled and unclipped by left foot and kicked towards its way and it backed up.  I mean, this dog was IN THE MIDDLE of this country road.  All I could think was that it was going to get run over if it didn't leave me alone!  Then, of course, I was super nervous to turn around to ride back to the finish again!!  I'm sure my heart rate shot up around those miles!

When I got off my bike, I had some food (again!), washed out my Speedfill (water system), put my bike in my car and then changed into my running shoes for my 30 minute run.  It was SO FLIPPING HOT at this point, I don't know how I did it.  I ran 15 minutes around the park and then back, giving myself a "walk" in every spot of shade!  I thought I wimped out when I finished in 22 minutes, but then happily re-read my plan which said it was supposed to be only a 20 minute run.  Yeah me!

After my run, I grabbed a Coke and a water for the road and hit the highway for a 2.5 hour drive home.  One word:  BRUTAL!  I was so happy I didn't think I was Superwoman and planned anything for Saturday night.  By the time I got home, it was 7:30pm and I had to unpack the car, clean up a bit and make some dinner.  I set my alarm for Sunday morning for 6:45am and passed out around 9:30-10pm.

It was a very long day, not even as long as Ironman race day will be, but I was happy to be home with my Bag Balm and have completed 100 miles.