90 miles. Check.

Woah! What a weekend. All triathlon...all the time.

Yesterday morning, my buddy and teammate Ryan kindly picked me up for our 90 mile ride out of Easton, Maryland. I warned him that it would take me much longer to do the ride, and hence he'd have to wait around a while for me to finish, but he said he didn't mind. So nice! Thanks, Ryan.

The plan for the day was to get in the miles, stay in [my new] zone 2, and see what it is like to ride on truly flat terrain.

It was GREAT!

I guess I had really gotten used to those hills because riding the flats was such a pleasure.

I've heard many people discuss the disadvantage to the flat rides being the need to constantly pedal. Though it did get a little tiresome at the end it was more than worth it. I had a great ride!

Working in zone 2, my true zone 2, was awesome. I didn't feel like I was busting my @ss the whole time. I still felt like I was working, but I was doing so at a sustainable pace. I think I averaged about 15 mph overall (slightly slower if you count the stops for traffic lights/water breaks, etc.).

Sweetie Pie Janet stayed with me the first 70 miles. That was a treat. Sometimes we chatted, but mostly we just rode along. It was really great having the company.

The ride was beautiful. We even rode through St. Michaels, MD. It was so quaint. I would love to go spend a weekend there and explore all of the little shops and restaurants.

At 5'2", I look like a giant next to Janet. :)`

The last 20 miles were on my own. It was perfectly fine. I was so elated to be on my way to completing my first 90-miler.

By the end I was pretty tired but I felt good. My nutrition and hydration for the ride were just as planned. Over the 6.5 hour period, I think I had roughly 7 bottles of fluid – 3 of which were infinit. I also had a clif bar, a gu, 2 oreos, a package of peanut butter cheese crackers, and one of my breakfast bar thingies. Also, during the hours I didn’t drink infinit, I took S-caps (sodium caplets).

Now that I write that, maybe I could have eaten more. It is tough, though. I didn’t feel like eating and forced myself to consume what I did. If I could figure out how to carry ice cream....that would be a different story :)

So, I finished the 90 miles (in less than 6.5 hours) and am so pleased with myself. I totally could have gone for a run afterwards, though I am pretty glad I didn’t have to. I feel more and more ready for Florida every day.

When I finally arrived back at the parking lot, where Ryan’s car (with him napping inside with the AC running) was the only one there. The rest of the IMFL BOPers had decided to participate in the Reston century ride, since it was much less of a drive. I chose not to spend the $50 and just go to Easton to ride the flats instead of those hills. A good decision in hindsight.

I finally arrived home around 6 pm (after departing at 6:30 am) and that was about all there was of the day. I took in as many calories as I could handle over the next two hours before getting to bed super early. Stouffers Mac and Cheese, anyone? Hey, it works for me.

This week is another build week, leading up to this weekend’s IMFL training camp on the Eastern Shore. Next weekend we’ll ride 100 miles, swim in the ocean, and run just 8 little miles. And when we’re not training that we going to have some team Z fun! I might even get to spend time relaxing on the beach for a few minutes. Wouldn't that be something? It is almost Labor Day and I have not visited my building's pool once.

Good sleep and good nutrition are on this week’s agenda. Other priority items are packing for the weekend and trying to maintain order and organization in my condo. Doesn’t sound that tough, but these days it is a challenge to do anything other than, as my friend Lindsay put it, “sleep, workout, eat, repeat.”