Another weekend...Done!

I suppose I should write a post about this weekend’s training. This weekend was pretty much all about triathlon – my training and my sherpa duties at the Culpeper sprint.

Pedals
Friday I went to Revolution to get a replacement pedal. Long story short, I wound up buying Look Keo pedals instead of replacement Speedplays.

I was never really happy with the speedplays (aka lollipops). When I had SPD pedals, I was able to clip out at any position in the pedal stroke. For whatever reason, I could only clip out at the bottom with the lollipops. [So, in order for me to stop with speedplays, I needed to get my left foot to 6 o’clock, clip out, then get my right foot to 6 o’clock so I could step down. An unnecessary extra step that I didn’t have to do with the SPDs.] I also never really liked the ease of clipping in/out.

So since the shop wasn’t able to help me with replacement parts, nor were they able to sell me one pedal, I figured I might as well buy a different pedal. Why not add a little excitement to the longest ride of my life by completely changing one aspect of my bike?

To wrap up this pedal story, I will just say I am thrilled that I made the switch. I feel way more comfortable with the Keo’s. Clipping in, once I get the pedal flipped over and my foot in the right position (which is taking some practice), is nice and easy. Once I get out of the habit of clipping out at the bottom, clipping out will be a lot smoother, too.

While there was a fair amount of struggling with the pedals, I know I will get used to them pretty quickly. It was a good call to switch pedals and while I could have done without spending the extra $100+ on more bike stuff, I think this was money well spent.

The 70-mile Ride
I received no responses to the requests I sent to the team for a ride partner for the 70-mile ride. So I was on my own. It was kind of nice.

As a matter of background, my last long rides haven’t been as good as you would hope. Remember the 60-miler in the cold, nasty rain? In case you’re wondering, yes, my hands are STILL numb. They’ve improved considerably, but I still have little feeling in my finger tips. It is probably time to seek additional medical care…I know. It has been 3 months.

That was the last and only 60-miler. Then there was the 50-miler a couple of weeks later where I took a bad fall.

After that I did a 40-miler in the rain at Rehoboth. That went pretty well, considering the headwind.

Oh, there was the 55-miler I did (it was supposed to be 50, but – oh yeah, I got lost). That was okay.

The 56-miles of the half Ironman actually went pretty well, but that was a race.

My plan for this past Saturday was simple. Head out west on the W&OD. Turn around when I hit 35 miles. For nutrition I brought 2 bottles of pre-mixed infinit, with a bunch of goodies (gels, peanut butter pretzels, 2 strawberry oreos, fig newmans), and a bag of infinit powder to mix up a third bottle.

If I’d written this sooner I’d have lots of thrilling details to share. Now, 2 days later, I will just say that the ride went great. Yes, great! Hooray!

The highlights: I was only about 10-15 miles out when I saw someone who looked familiar running towards me. What do you know, it was my good friend, Jenn, looking strong. Such a nice surprise. I would have liked to stop and chat but we were both on a mission.

Just a few minutes later I heard my name and it was my wonderful teammate Maggie (who is solely responsible for the existence of strawberry oreos in my house and hence my bento) calling out my name. What a nice surprise!

Not even 2 minutes later I spotted my friend Patty running along. I definitely surprised her when I said hello.

The thing that was so crazy was that none of theses three friends know each other. They weren’t out together. It was just such a coincidence. It made me smile for a while and realize that I have a lot of fit friends!

Before I knew it, I was at the 35 mile marker. It was much, much faster than I anticipated. And I felt so good. So I turned around and headed back on my merry way.

It was not long before I realized that I would be so far ahead of schedule that I would be able to make the team’s nutrition clinic. Yay!

Anyhow, before I get to the nutrition clinic, I am happy to report that I finished up the ride tired, but injury free. No major issues to report. Tired legs. Sweaty and exhausted. But fine. No real saddle issues. Nothing hurt. It was awesome! Just what I needed heading into 3 very tough training months.

Although I missed having company, as I have said before, it is really nice going at my own pace and not worrying about keeping up or slowing down for anyone. I guess this is why I enjoyed solo marathon training so much. I am excited that I have some good momentum heading into next week’s 80-mile ride.

Nutrition Clinic
I was only a little late to the clinic. I heard Becky Mohring (sp?) give her presentation once before when I was just a little baby triathlete. Like, last year. In any case, I took a lot more away this time.

For starters, I need to be drinking a bit more (24-36 oz per hour), and I need to be taking in a ton more electrolytes/sodium than I do when I run. She recommends about 400 mg per hour. I thought I was getting plenty of electrolytes in my Gu’s. I checked when I got home and then only have around 40 mg each. That tip was the highlight for me.

The 14-mile run
Fast forward to 2 pm Sunday. It is hard enough for me to get up and run on a weekend morning. But it was even harder for me to get going for an afternoon run, especially when the temps were so much higher than the early morning. I considering skipping the run, but I knew I’d be really pissed at myself if I did that.

I was heading into this run with tired legs, and just overall tiredness. But I got myself together and headed out, planning to run 7 miles up the Capital Crescent trail towards Bethesda and then back the way I came.

Due my desire to keep running instead of waiting for the light to change, I wound up crossing the key bridge on the opposite side of where I usually cross. When I got over the bridge, I was not on the side where I needed to be to get over to the trail, so I just kept running.

Eventually, I saw an access path to the trail, but at this point I decided I would be more fun to continue running up Foxhall. It was extremely hilly (how come I never noticed this in the car?!). I focused on keeping my heart rate in zone 2 and on taking in the right nutrition (one gel every 30 minutes, a full bottle of water per hour, and an s-cap [electrolytes] on the 45-minute mark of each hour).

I had a fabulous run. With the hills, the way out was pretty slow and involved a lot of walk breaks to keep the HR down. No worries, though. I was doing what I needed to do.

The way back was a different story. I took a detour to run down Wisconsin and through Georgetown. I was *flying* down the hills. FAST. At times I felt like I needed to sprint to get my HR up in the right zone. It was pretty fun.

By the time I made it back to my building, I had another mile left [how’d that happen?]. So I ran around some more. I got back to my building at 13.97 miles. Of course, I ran around the corner so I could see the Garmin register a clean 14. I’m just telling you this so you can laugh at my compulsive nature. I am fully aware of how type-A that is, and I choose to embrace my idiosyncrasies. I hope you still love me.

I finished the 14, zone 2 miles in 2:40, with 3 water stops and a lot of pedestrian traffic in G-town. I am happy with this.

And that was the weekend…. I am thrilled with how my training went. Tiring, yes. But successful. I say, bring on IMFL. I am READY!