Introducing Margarita

About three and a half weeks ago I made the decision to invest in a triathlon specific racing bike. I had some concerns regarding Bella on my long rides and on speedy descents, and with something as big as Ironman I wanted the appropriate gear. At one month out from race day, it was then or never. I drove up to Bike Authority, the Cleveland area triathlon bike specialty store, on a Thursday night and left a couple hours later with the 2011 model Felt B16. Even though I was keeping him there well past closing time, Doug took his time and made sure everything was fitted to my measurements and working properly before I left.

Even though the B16 is Felt's entry level carbon tri bike, it certainly isn't short on features. Quite the opposite! It's packed with upgrades from Bella, the Giant OCR1 road bike I have been riding since 2006.

A full carbon fiber frame, fork, and seatpost. Stiffer than the aluminum I've been riding, but more shock absorbing too for more comfort on the long rides.

Check out the slick hidden rear brake in the photo below! It's been moved down to the chain stays to hide it from the wind.

No need to run cyclometer wire. I've been riding with a Garmin Edge 705 for a while and it just mounts to the stem. Because it's a GPS unit it reads speed without the use of magnets on the spokes! Plus I get elevation data, heart rate and cadence if I want it, and a mapping of my route when I'm done.

Here is where I did some more investing: hydration. In addition to the Profile Aero Drink bottle that hangs from between the aero bars, I decided to move my other bottles to behind the seat instead of keeping them mounted on the down and seat tubes. Again, I went with carbon fiber since it was available. If I'm going to do it, why not do it right? It makes mounting a bag a little awkward, but I think this will work.

I changed out the stock Felt saddle with the more anatomically comfortable Adamo saddle I've been riding on. It may look funky, but it feels much better in the right places!

With this model year, the B16 comes equipped with Shimano Ultegra derailleurs, an upgrade from the Shimano 105's I've been riding on. They shift very nice!

Internal cable routing makes for a very clean look and gives the wind even less to grab on to.

Another view of my behind-the-saddle area. Two bottle cages on each side frame a mini pump mounted on the very back. I decided to switch from carrying CO2 to a pump just from a simplicity standpoint. A pump is easy to use and if you don't get it right the first time, you can do it again.

I've put about 200 miles on her already, including one half iron tri at The Great Buckeye Challenge. She's amazing to ride and now that I've had some fit tweaks performed, can only get better. I can now fly down hills that would have had Bella shaking to the point it was scary. Getting used to the bar end shifters took a little time, but now that I'm comfortable with their location I don't have to get off the bars as often, making me more aero.

Here's to hoping we make the bike cut-off Sunday by hours and not minutes!

Paula Deen Would be Proud of Me

I'll be taking plenty of "Butt'r" with me to Madison: Chamois Butt'r! I must first admit, I've never used it, but it's gotta' help. Right? Things were getting a little chafed on my last long ride and I'm hoping to prevent that from reoccurring. Plus the packets are small enough for me to stash in my special needs bags.

.

Hey, I'm 5 days out. I'm allowed to worry about the small things now!

T-6 Days

It's getting closer... 26 pages of information for the athlete. I took the bike in for a final tune-up on Saturday and began hearing about what happened at IM Louisville last weekend. 98 degrees and 90% humidity + people not wanting to drink the PowerBar brand fluid led to a water shortage at the 80 and 90 mile aid stations on the bike. From what I've read, that event now holds the record for the most DNF's in an Ironman event. Lots more things to think about now. I hope we'll be hot, but not THAT hot!

2010 Great Buckeye Challenge Half Ironman Triathlon

My first triathlon of the year was on August 15. I was hoping to participate in at least a couple others, but due to events happening this summer beyond my control, it made sense to not plan any races until late in the season. So no build up like last year. Just straight to a half IM distance event: the Great Buckeye Challenge at Buck Creek State Park in Springfield, OH.

I was hoping this race would be a good training race for IM and an indicator of my fitness to that point. As it was only 3 weeks out from race day, if I wasn't in shape there wasn't much I could do about it anyway. But I had some very long rides in already, as well as long swims, and hot runs. All my swims had been in the pool so the open water part would be new for the year, but it was just a training race.

Once set up in the transition area I wanted to get right into the water to warm-up for the swim and acclimate to the open water. Water temperature was decent, but there was a wind blowing across the reservoir creating just enough small chop to make swimming against the current tough. I'm mostly a left side breather and trying to breath swimming into the wind was hard. Hard to the point I didn't know if I'd be able to do it. The swim was two laps around the buoys set up in a long rectangle. We would start from the beach, swimming out to the first buoy and turning north. From there it was a long swim down to the end, where we would make two right turns before heading back, this time with the wind and current aiding us. After the first lap was done, we got to do it again! I left the water disgusted with the conditions and worried about making the swim cutoff, as seen in the photo below.

I tried to stay relaxed and waited my turn to start. There were also sprint and mini distance races being held that day and we went last. It took over half an hour before the half distance waves were called to the starting line. I was in the third wave. I started towards the back again so as not to get in the way of many other people. The start went well and I wasn't dropped nearly as quick as I thought I would be. Heading out the far side was as hard as I thought it would be, but luckily I was able to develop a rhythm to the waves and got my head up higher to breathe without inhaling a bunch of water.

I encountered one drawback to wearing a wetsuit while swimming that day: too much buoyancy. The way the waves were coming in, how small they were, was just enough to slam me back down into the water when taking a breath. It hurt and was very tiring mentally. I was getting beat up out there. My other big problem, which I can't attribute directly to the wetsuit, was a temporary overheating. At least it felt like I was overheating. It may have simply been stress induced near panic. At one point, about halfway down the far side of the course, I felt hot all over. Even the top of my head covered by the swim cap. I was fighting the urge to rip my cap off or even unzip my wetsuit to let the water cool me off. It was nearly maddening! Fortunately I had the presence of mind to realize it wasn't overheating and just a panic attack. I concentrated on relaxing and getting my breathing back under control. It passed as quickly as it began and I pressed on swimming.

My swim split was 1:05:22, over ten minutes slower than at Steelhead last year. Upon reaching shore I was surprised to learn I wasn't the last person out of the water. But I was close!

Once on dry land I was more in my element. I took my time in transition, making sure socks were on correctly and I had everything I needed for a long ride. Then I was off on my third ride of my new tri bike. (Long story for another post) I wasn't planning to hammer the ride, but I wanted to ride harder than I will at IM. The course proved to be hillier than I expected and the wind gave us serious headwind at a couple points. Road surface conditions on the two loop bike were very nice, with one stretch of freshly paved road possibly being the nicest road I've ever ridden on! My bike split was 3:21:04. Not great but not bad for me either.

I was looking forward to the run, as it's my strongest of the three sports. By the time I finished the bike the clouds departed and the sun was out in all her glory. I've been training in heat all summer so bring it on! In the photo below I'm heading out on the course with a little encouragement from Jr. P. The course was well stocked with aid, but I was smart to wear my Fuelbelt with my own fluids. It was a hot run and I needed as much electrolytes as I could get.

I felt great on the run! It was so nice to be able to run well after the rough swim. Just like at Steelhead, not a soul passed me. I made like a machine and just ran. I would offer constant encouragement to those I was passing whom both looked strong and looked pretty out of it. While I didn't suffer from any cramping, the heat slowed my pace considerably. With a 1:54 run split, I wasn't setting any half marathon PR's.

All in all a great training day. I got some open water experience before IM. I was able to get a serious ride in on the new Felt. And I had a strong run at the end. I like the half IM distance. It's a manageable distance. It doesn't feel like a second career training for one. I look forward to competing in more half distance races in the future. I'll let you know in a week if I plan on doing another full!

8 Hours at Pine Hollow

This is way late, I know, but getting caught up on my summer would be incomplete without writing about my experience volunteering at the Burning River 100. The weekend was bookended with me picking up and returning three HUGE electric generators, takes-two-people-to-lift-200-pound generators, sandwiching an evening and very early morning stint at the Pine Hollow Aid Station.

Pine Hollow actually had two aid stations. The first was at mile 70.9 when runners arrived from Happy Days. The second was after a short loop on the Salt Run trail at mile 74.2. From the time I arrived at 7:30 PM Saturday night, I joined an energetic group of workers greeting runners as they made the climb up to the aid station from the Sound of Music Hills. Since we had such a good number of workers, we were able to personally escort runners to the tent, get bottles re-filled for them, point out the food, obtain drop bags, answer questions, offer encouragement, and point them the right way for the Salt Run loop.

Of course at mile 70 the runners were coming in tired! But as the night wore on, it was shocking (and I've seen a lot) to see the condition of some of the runners. It really had me re-thinking my intentions to enter BR next year as my first trail 100. I saw people I knew coming in hurting. People I knew dropping. We had a lot of people drop at Pine Hollow, about 30 between the two aid stations.

Two gentlemen who dropped were running unsupported by crew or family. They couldn't go any further and had no one to pick them up. I was tired and was planning on going straight home after the aid station closed, which is the opposite direction of Cuyahoga Falls where the finish is. As it turned out, no one else at the aid station was planning on going to the finish either. Well, I wasn't that tired, I guess. I was able to give them a lift to the Falls and dropped them off around the corner from the finish and their hotel. Both guys were asleep by the time we got there and I felt bad having to wake them up.

Note to self: have support crew on-call for point-to-point 100 mile run. As I've since learned, some of the problems that day included: lack of appropriate training, under-nourishment, dehydration, going out way too fast because it was cooler than normal, and general inexperience running trails and/or ultras.

BR100 2011 registration opened yesterday. I haven't signed up. Yet. The early-bird price doesn't increase until December, by which time I will have registered for my first 100 mile trail run.

What Happened to August?

I mean, I remember seeing it on my calenders every day. And I know I was busy doing all kinds of things. I just don't seem to see any mention here of the month taking place save for the previous post with my mileage totals.

I think I burnt out, is what happened. July was a great training month and I had hopes of continuing that through August as well. I did OK, but not what I was hoping for. I lost interest in both training volume and in recording my efforts. I kept to my big training days on the weekend just fine, but the days in between I would find myself either unmotivated to get out the door, or just wanting to relax at home. I think I've done enough training to get me to the finish line. Unfortunately just getting to the finish line isn't what I had in mind a year ago when I registered for this thing.

I had some good training sessions last month including:

-5 Speedwork sessions
-Swims of 1.2, 1.25, 2.0, and 2.5 miles
-Long rides of 54, 88 and 116 miles (the 116 being a one-way ride to C-bus)
-Long runs of half marathon length
-Running in the heat
-Running while tired
-2 brick workouts
-1 half iron training triathlon (more on that in a separate post)
-and 4 rides on my new Felt tri bike (more on that in a separate post)

I hope they will be enough. I know I'm starting to self-doubt a bit now that race day is 10 days away, but I didn't stick with my training schedule very well.

The other day I came across a quote, possibly used by another blogger, and I don't recall to whom it is attributed, but whenever I start self-doubting my preparedness I try to think of it and it helps a little: "You go to war with the army you have, not the army you wished you had, or the army you might have had." (Or something like that) Now, I don't equate competing in a sporting event to be anything remotely similar to what our nation's soldiers are doing for us in our name, but it makes sense to me, right now, in my situation.

I'm ready for the swim. I won't be setting any speed records, but I am capable of beating the cut-off. Ditto for the bike. With the new ride I'm more confident, comfortable, and faster than before. Although I haven't been training the run as much as I would like, I'm hoping all the early season mileage and ultras will help me finish in decent shape.

August Numbers

Mileage for August:

Swim - 7.45 miles
Bike - 297.55 miles
Run - 64.2 miles

Not the kind of mileage I was hoping to log last month, which is partially causing my unease about going into this thing in 11 days. And I can't believe I didn't post at all during August! I've some catching up to do!

July Numbers

Numbers for July:

Swim - 8.1 miles
Bike - 375.14 miles
Run - 108.62 miles

Again my running mileage is taking a hit in order for me to spend more time in the saddle. I've missed a few long runs in order to get in some long rides. And time is pretty tight, of course, which makes getting everything done that I would like to very hard. I'm happy with the totals for the month. July and August are the big months with big workouts and it's showing.

I still need to jot down my thoughts about volunteering at Burning River last weekend, but I'm getting ready for the longest training ride on my schedule before Ironman this morning. I'm needing 110 miles today. I'm not worried about the distance, it's only 10 more miles than the ride I did a couple weeks ago. I'm more concerned with the course. I'll be riding a point to point, unsupported, solo ride from home to central Ohio. I have the route all mapped out so I hope it goes well!

Burning River 100

Many hearty runners will be making they're way from Willoughby Hills to Cuyahoga Falls this weekend in this year's edition of the Burning River 100 Mile Endurance Run. I will not be running. This year... Although I won't be competing myself, I know many of the people who will be, including some whom I just found out about yesterday! I will also be here and there doing what I can to help out this weekend. Start time is 5:00 AM tomorrow morning and finishes 30 hours later on Sunday morning. With a race of this length, many volunteers are needed to help things run smoothly and I hope to do what I can overnight and into the morning. Looks like my first job will be picking up and delivering some power generators this afternoon. I'll need to get the "good" plastic sheeting out so I don't mess up the interior of Mrs. P's CRV!

.

This will be an exciting event as it is also the 2010 USATF 100 Mile Trail National Championships! Anyone wanting to follow the action can go to the Burning River website for the webcast.

.

It looks like the weather will be slightly on the mild side, which will be great for the runners! Thankfully we won't be having a repeat of last weekend's weather! I have my own workout to squeeze in this weekend, as well as a birthday party to attend, so I will be heavy on activity and light on sleep. I should probably start thinking about switching to regular coffee for the next couple days!

.

Good luck Connie, Shannon, Roy, John, Mark, Vince, Bob, Suzanne, Ron, Mike, Wild Bill, Michael, and everyone else I missed!

46 Days and Counting

I haven't written as much as I thought I would regarding the lead-up to Ironman as others have or that I thought I would. I mean, this is a pretty big deal. In the words of Vice President Biden, "This is a big f***ing deal!"

It's pretty much all that's been occupying my mind lately, I just haven't found the need to go into detail about it here. I wonder why. Could it be I'm not intimidated by the distance? That because of what I've accomplished in training so far I know I can do it? Could it be that I hurt so much during that 24 hour run, and yet still kept pushing onward, that I'm not concerned about hurting in Wisconsin? Could it be that I am worried about what's ahead of me, I've just chosen not to write about it? Honestly, I'm not sure if it's any of those, all of those, or something else entirely.

So let's assess where I'm at in training. I'm not logging as many weekly miles on the bike as I would like, but I'm sticking to the long rides on the weekends. My weekly running mileage has been variable, but strong. My swimming mileage has dwindled somewhat due to the summer hours preventing me from swimming at lunchtime. And I'm not logging any open water time, which bothers me.

This past weekend was 7 weeks out from race day and I had the longest training brick scheduled: a 100 mile ride followed by 8 - 10 miles. I've only ever ridden that long many, MANY years ago, coming a few miles short of a full century. With my knee bothering me on the hills, I didn't know how it would go.

Well let me just say it went very well! I was able to get an early start on Saturday, which was good as Sunday morning turned out to be a windy wet mess, in the hopes I wouldn't be gone all day. I didn't get home until 5:30, but hey, it was a long workout.

Starting out of Buckeye Woods Park, I rode west first, doing a big 50+ mile loop of rolling to hilly roads. This route took me through three counties: Medina, Ashland, and Lorain. I passed three Amish buggies and one large wagon being pulled by two rather large horses. There were also a few Amish children out and about. I wonder what they were thinking when they saw me coming? Crazy! After re-fuelling at the car, I rode the south loop into Wayne County and back. The day was getting hotter and hotter with each passing hour. The only relief was the wind, which though cooling, provided added resistance and made the ride even tougher. There was a storm brewing as I was making my turn to head back and I knew there was nothing I could do to outrun it. I would just have to deal with whatever the weather dealt me. Which in the end was just wind. I was on the very western edge of the developing storm and only received a few drops of rain. The sun was back out just in time for my run.

Which was horribly hot! Possibly one of the hottest runs I've ever done. Right up there with the 2007 Caesar Creek Olympic Duathlon. But at least this time I had plenty of fluids to deal with it. Though unmercifully hot, humid, and buggy, I forced myself to run the 10 miles I had planned. They didn't feel too bad. I could have gone farther, especially if it had been a little cooler. Completing this workout left me with some huge confidence about doing a ride of that length and then running afterward. All the data for the ride and run can be found here (bike) and here (run).

In other Ironman news, after running with Brian from the club last Thursday night on the Hinckley trails, I decided to incorporate some changes. The first of which was to check for hotel rooms in downtown Madison, instead of staying 8 miles out of town. Someone must have been looking out for us because I found a very nice room only 5 blocks from the start and 3 to the finish! That should make everything at least a little easier on race weekend.

One more thing, last night was speedwork night at the track. I've been attending speedwork, but my speed has been something less than what it was last year. Last night felt really good though. The heat was tempered a bit, as well as the humidity. We ran 8 X 800 meter repeats with 400m recovery. My splits were: 3:13 / 3:15 / 3:08 / 3:06 / 3:05 / 2:57 / 3:01 / and 2:59. I felt very strong and am happy to be able to get down to the 3 minute mark and even dip below. I was told by JB to get slow for IM, and that's what I've been doing. But I'm still happy to know there's some speed in there somewhere!

P.S. I need to mention something about that heat on Saturday. It was HOT! By my estimation I drank somewhere in the neighborhood of 230 oz of fluid that day including Gatorade Endurance Formula with NUUN added, Powerbar Ironman Perform, a bottle of Coke, a bottle of cola NUUN, a half bottle of orange ginger NUUN, plus numerous bottles of plain water. It was a hot one!

Guess What I Found Today

Gatorade Endurance Formula ORANGE!!!

I Ain't Getting Out of the Car

That's what I told myself as I was idling in the Rt. 606 parking lot last night with the AC running, waiting to see who else was going to arrive for trail night. Well, no one else arrived. Which I was secretly grateful for, because I wouldn't have to get out of the car. It was the flies, you see. BIG flies. Fast flies. Crazy kamikaze flies! The moment I stopped the car in the shade of a few pine trees they began whacking into it. The windows. The doors. The hood, trunk, and roof! It was amazing to watch. And hear! Either they were all really pissed at someone or I had just stumbled upon the world's dumbest flies. There was NO WAY I was going to give them the chance to whack into me!

So when no one else had arrived by 6:00 I drove down to the Spillway to park. No crazy flies there! Getting my gear (and Off!) on, I set out for a long loop on the trails. I was quickly overtaken by another runner looking for someone to run with. It turned out to be a fellow by the name of Brian from the club. I told him what my plans were and he decided to join me.

We had some good conversation, when we could, about running and racing. I knew he had worked IM Wisconsin as a volunteer, but I found out last night that he had also competed in it too. I was able to get some good advice from him about the swim and bike legs. I may stick with my game plan for the swim, but may incorporate some of his ideas on the bike. We were out for 1:40 and ran just over 10 1/2 miles. Pretty good for a hot, muggy, buggy trail run.

Another Long Ride

This past Sunday I was out and about on the area rural roads on yet another long ride. I had a scheduled stand-alone 80 mile ride, and that's what I did. I wanted to ride some new roads, so I found a route that ventures south from Medina into Wayne County and back. After unsuccessfully trying to load the route into my Garmin 705, I jotted down turning directions onto two Post-It notes and went on my merry way.

Except for a few sections of freshly "stoned" roads, the ride went very well. The road surface didn't exactly turn from pavement into gravel, but there were enough loose stones to have me sweating. Economic problems or not, that wasn't a good show Medina County.

My knee was the other problem, although it held out until after 30 or 40 miles to really give me problems. I have no idea what's wrong with it. It starts out just fine, then the pain slowly builds, eventually giving me sharp shooting pain while climbing. Trying to climb hills is hard with only one leg.

The route was flat to rolling, which was exactly what I was looking for. I skirted a couple towns but I was mostly rolling through farm fields. After finishing this big southern loop I re-filled my bottles and headed out for my western out-and-back. I saw quite a few cyclists on the road, but they were all going the other direction. Just a nice moderately paced solo ride. In the heat.

It was another hot one Sunday. I hear we peaked at 5:00 in the afternoon, but I could certainly feel it heating up while I was out. Better cycling in it than running though! Complete ride data can be found here.

I've another big day planned for this weekend: a century ride followed by 8 to 10 miles of running. The heat's supposed to hang around and so are scattered storms. Maybe I'll have some rain to cool me off this week.

July 5th CVNP Trail Run: In Photos

A few posts ago I promised to post photos from my 22 mile trail run on the 5th of July. That was the HOT weekend where I rode 85 miles on Saturday and went for a long trail run on the following Monday. Well, here are the photos!

Breaking in my new Dirty Girl Gaiters. They worked fine!

On my way to Brandywine Falls.

As this is a trail I've only ever run once, and that was with a group, I was thankful for the directions.

This sign, however, gave me some short pause.

Yes, the trail was indeed under repair, but as it had been very dry recently, it wasn't slippery at all.

Water crossing looking one direction...

...and the other.
A very scenic run it turned out to be.

Almost there.

Getting really close.

They're just down the steps.

Brandywine Falls.

This sign, I took seriously. That looks like it would hurt!

Going back through the repair area.

Averill Pond.
Back onto the Towpath. And look! It's not covered with weekend cyclists!

Blue Hen Falls.

Heading downstream to find Buttermilk Falls.

Buttermilk Falls.

It was nice, cool, quiet, and isolated down here.

Buttermilk Falls.

Skinny trail advisory!

Going down?

Looking back up the steps.

Pine Lane.

Cooling my feet in the mighty Cuyahoga River afterward.

2010 Badwater Ultramarathon

(Photo by Luis Escobar)

.

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Medina's own Connie Gardner, fellow Medina County Road Runner, and frequent training partner, for not only surviving the Badwater Ultramarathon, but for finishing 2nd female and 9th overall!!! Badwater is 135 miles through Death Valley in temperatures up to 130 degrees, as well as crossing three mountain ranges climbing 13,000 feet.

.

The race started at 6:00 AM Pacific time and I was following online as best I could from the very beginning. It was hard at some points due to the lack of cell coverage in Death Valley causing updates to be delayed, as well as the server being overloaded with so many people logging in to see how the race was unfolding, but it was exciting none-the-less.

.

Connie ran very well right from the beginning and just didn't stop. The women's winner, Jamie Donaldson, cut about half an hour off the women's course record and finished a couple hours ahead of Connie, but she kept pushing, expanding her lead over 3rd place finisher Pam Reed.

.

Ultrarunning is totally addictive. If I had been asked whether or not I had any interest in running through Death Valley, I would have promptly responded NO WAY! But after following along with this event, I can now say... maybe. Would I ever be invited to run there? Not yet, I haven't done anything to meet the requirements. But I would like to go run out there sometime. Maybe in the winter when it's a little cooler. For the full results and many more images from start to finish, visit the Badwater website.

.

One final note. As I write this, there are still 5 runners left on the course. They began running Monday morning and it is now Wednesday afternoon. They need to finish within 60 hours. GOOD LUCK RUNNERS!

Speedwork 7/13/10

We gathered at the track last night for our weekly attempt to run real fast in an oval-like direction. We were successful! Thankfully, the heat relented a bit this week, although the humidity was still very high. We were running 800m repeats, but most of what we talked about was how Connie was doing at Badwater. I'll post more on her feat later, but she was still running, closing in on the finish, as we were running our half miles.

6 X 800 was the order of the day and I must say that I was surprised to pull some of the splits I was. I expected to be dragging my butt around the track even though I had taken a rest day on Monday. My splits ranged from a high of 3:08 to a low of 2:59. Quite a good grouping! Of course, I would like to get them faster again, but right now I'm not training to be fast. I'm training to go really, really long!

Recovery Trail Run

I felt like I needed to get out and away from civilization for a bit on Sunday, so I took my weary legs out onto the trails of Hinckley (read: more hills). I ran the bridle trails for the most part but also ventured onto some singletrack trails. It was nice and quiet for the most part. There were a few people riding horses and I tried to stay out of their way. The rest of the park was PACKED, so I was glad to slip into the woods and disappear. The water crossings have nearly dried up and I stayed clean and dry for my run. It was pretty tough and left me even more tired by the time I finished. All told: 13 miles of trails. Run data can be found here. I hope all this hill work will help me out in Wisconsin.

One Hilly Brick

This past weekend I had a 50/5 mile brick scheduled. After that 85 mile ride the other week I was ready to go a little shorter. But I wanted somewhere new to ride. I came up with the bright idea to park at Hinckley, ride down into the Cuyahoga Valley, and proceed north to the Brecksville Reservation of the Metroparks. Then come back. I didn't know exactly how far that would be, but if it was short I could add some loops around Hinckley. For some reason, I didn't anticipate the hills I would be riding.

They were tough. I began by riding a 3 mile loop around Hinckley Lake to warm up. Then I proceeded up the long climb that is Bellus Rd, turning onto Parker, and eventually turning onto Ledge/Everett Rd which I took all the way down to Riverview in the Valley. That was the easy part of the ride! The climb up Major Rd was tough as was a climb along Riverview north of the ski areas. The big climb up the Valley Parkway in Brecksville really hit me hard but I enjoyed coming back down from the other direction. The climb back up Everett and that huge hill on Ledge had me gasping and my eyes stinging from the sweat dripping into them. And on each and every climb, my right knee hurt. A lot! Like someone was driving a nail into the top of my kneecap every time I tried to really push with it. I was hoping that pain would go away. But it seems to not be doing that. Data for my ride can be found here.

Fortunately my knee is still fine on the run. ??? Your guess is as good as mine. I ran two loops of the all-purpose trail, one in each direction to keep things even. I felt pretty good, even on the uphills. My last mile and a half, though generally downhill, felt really good and I pushed myself to the end of the run as hard as I dared. Run data can be found here.

Now THAT was a Big Training Weekend

The big training began on Friday. We were able to leave at noon for the 4th of July holiday weekend and I headed straight for the pool. It was a little busy and I needed to share a lane for a little while, although it soon cleared out. My goal distance for the day was 2.5 miles. A hair longer than race distance but easier for me to calculate lap-wise. As I forgot my watch, I would be swimming blind as far as my time was concerned. Fortunately I was able to settle into a comfortable rhythm and I just maintained it. As my distance was wrapping up, I decided I felt good enough to swim another half mile. I didn't really need to be anywhere else, so why not? I ended up swimming 5,000 meters, or a 5K, or 3.1 miles, whichever distance you prefer! Time? About 2.5 hours as best I can guess. Slow, but it felt good.

Saturday brought me the longest bike ride I have done in a very long time. Probably since the late '80s or early '90s. I had an 85 mile ride planned and I was determined to do every mile. The only problem was I couldn't decide on the "where" part. Part of me was thinking about heading back to the Valley. Part of me was thinking Emerald Necklace ride. But a third part of me was thinking rural county roads. They would be the most similar to the roads I will be riding on race day. So that's the route I went.

Parking at Buckeye Woods park, I began by riding around the Chippewa Lake area, including both the paved trails. Then it was time to hit the road! I wanted to work my way west of town and had a basic idea of how I wanted to do it. Starting on the Twin Sizzler course I headed west, continuing onto new territory when the course makes it's turn north. That was a mistake. The series of roads I was riding eventually turned into a rough gravel road. Very hard to ride on! So turn around I did, picked up the course again, and tried a different approach. This time I was successful! I managed to find a paved, long, straight road with nothing but farms on it. And hills. I was in Amish country. I even passed a buggy! The ride was very tiring and left me sore, but I was glad to have completed it. For all the data, including a map, visit the link here.

I took Sunday July 4th off as a rest day and resumed my high mileage weekend yesterday with a long trail run around CVNP. It was going to be a hot and humid one and I got about a 2 hour late start. I parked at the Boston Store and would return there to refuel. Multiple loops were the order of the day. I didn't want to get too far from base camp. The first loop took me out on the Brandywine Falls trail. I could feel the heat increasing while out on this first section. For my second loop I was thinking Buckeye Trail possibly all the way up to the horse stables in Brecksville. I trashed that idea when I realized I couldn't carry enough water to make it all the way there. I was able to see both Blue Hen Falls and Buttermilk Falls but turned my run around at Jaite, coming back via the Towpath. My final loop was up Pine Lane. By this time I was very tired and the heat was really getting to me. I was able to complete the trail section in one piece and again returned via the Towpath. All told, 22 miles for the day. Full data can be found here.

So, a huge training weekend, week 10 out from race day, and I'm feeling not bad today. July is the BIG Ironman training month and I'm going to try to hit it hard. I took quite a few photos from yesterday's run and will post them soon. Speedwork at the track tonight is going to be miserable with 92 degrees and high humidity forecast. Thankfully, I can stay in the AC until then.

June Numbers

A really quick rundown of June's mileage:

Swim - 4.5 miles

Bike - 93.27 miles

Run - 69.41 miles

Finally, a month where I've ridden more miles than I've run! Not bad, but I need to keep in mind that I missed two weeks of training due to our emergency trip up north. Had we been able to take our vacation, I was prepared to maintain training out in Colorado. It's in the past now so there's no use dwelling on it. I'm 10 weeks out from race day this weekend and these next two months are the BIG training months. I need to focus on logging miles, miles, miles.