Pushing the Long Rides

First day of school- going to 1st grade:)

My mom gave me this picture for my birthday, and it has nothing to do with the post. I just wanted everyone to know that apparently I knew compression socks were cool way before I did this whole triathlon thing.

I normally don't post tons of training details/stats on the blog because I figure training is so individual, and what is fast to one person is slow to another so it really doesn't matter what pace we do, as long as we are all working to improve. :)

But, I am going to break code a little bit today and tell you that I just had my butt kicked in a 116 mile bike ride- my longest ride ever, and it was great. The ride started off like normal....a super slow, small chain ring warm up through the city for about 45 min to meet the group (I rock a slow warm up!), and then about 2 hours of riding with Los Locos and company with some easy, moderate, and time trial riding. I normally just let the group do their thing and I do my IM pace, but today I just hung with the group and had some fun. It has been a pretty tough 3 week block, but my riding legs were still hanging around.

Then everyone split and left me for the wolves with Mark Newman. My mind felt a little bi-polar..."cool, riding with Mark will be great. Long rides are better with company" and "now I am going to die." You would think it would be easier to go from a group ride to a 2 person ride, but not with Newman (said in Seinfeld voice) as your partner.

I think I only ride with Mark on average one time per year. Last time I remember chasing him around I actually fell on a hill. I am not kidding. I just fell over trying to keep up.

So, 60 more miles with Mark Newman and no help. Awesome. Mark is this amazing athlete and fantastic person. Aside from his athletic accomplishments, he is just a good guy and someone you like to have as a friend. He wouldn't ever tell you this because he is crazy humble, but I will tell you. He is a 3 x Olympic marathon trials qualifier with a 2:19 marathon PR. (that is like a 5:18 pace for a marathon!). And that was when he "was" a runner. Now he is an amazing triathlete....goes to Kona and places top-10 in his AG in his first ironman ever (and I think his first year to ride a bike) with run-stopping cramps at mile 18. He is just a machine. There is no way I can really describe someone with his ability to hurt and suffer. By my definition, he is an elite athlete no doubt.

And hurt and suffer (in a non-elite way) is what I did for the next 60 miles. I just held on to his wheel for as long as possible. At mile 90, I was paying for all of the fun and games at mile 30 when I was chasing the guys up the hills. Mark was still zone 2 and I think I was out of zones. There was one nice 3 mile stretch where I let his wheel go and dropped to my real zone 2 and it felt soooo good- and then Mark made me get back on his wheel. Not that I am complaining, as he did pull me through all of this wind.

I went barely under 5 hours for 100 miles for the first time ever, and that was including my warm up and other playing around and piddling throughout the morning. Mark was handing me my butt. At mile 110, my ride was supposed to be over, but I was nowhere near home. I briefly thought about crying for a minute. My brain could not conceive of any ride over 112, and only on race day. At mile 116 I was finally able to stop at Dave's work and ask for a ride home. Whoo hoo! I made it! Mark had more to ride, and he is probably still out there riding 25 mph at zone 2.

So, the biggest and hugest thanks to Mark for babysitting me this morning, and helping me ride hard. It is days like today that bring breakthroughs. (I channeled my inner Michelle Simmons today, who rides hard and has encouraged me to do the same). A passive-aggressive thanks to my teammates for leaving me alone with Newman's torture. :)

Best of luck to my friends and teammates racing Rebel Man tomorrow. Great race! Congrats to my Wattie Ink teammates for their Oceanside 70.3 races. Way to rock it!