IMWI Race Recon

BIKE: 42 miles in ~2.5 hours.

After yesterday's ride, I'm surprised I was looking forward to this one. But this one was special--an IMWI course preview ride! An opportunity to get ready for the long ride and see what it's really like. Mental preparation, visual cues, and a change to find good areas of the course to eat and/or rest. The only part of my body complaining about this ride was my butt. For the first time ever, my butt lodged a complaint about more hours in the saddle. It didn't complain long, only the first 20 mins or so. I think my body has learned that mind over matter is the way of things around here.

This was also my first ride in the 404 wheels and on the new bike fit. The seat and aerobars were raised up 6mm last Thursday in response to a feeling that my knees weren't fully extending. I was anxious to test both wheels and fit, there's not a lot of time left to be making changes like this.

We set off from the hotel parking lot--the race course goes right by it-- and within miles I was falling behind. I just couldn't keep up. My heart rate shot up fast and stayed there. How were the other riders from yesterday doing this?!? Aren't they tired too? Stubbornly, I struggled on, determined to see the ride to the finish. Something about quitting a ride on the IMWI course preview seemed like a bad way to start race-specific prep.

Then a headwind came up, and I struggled all the more. My mind started some severe negative talk. Really vile negativity. But the better part of me fought back this time, trying to specifically troubleshoot the problem. Dehydration? Low blood sugar? Chain problem? A dragging break? A bad derailler? Flat tire? Something else on the bike? The bike had a quick check before rolling out, so it couldn't be the bike. No bad sounds from the chain, the brakes were checked, and everything felt good but me. I was dripping with sweat and heaving for oxygen. The group had to wait for me a few times. No way was I going to quit, but part of me really really really wanted to. But this was IMWI, I couldn't quit now. What would I do on race day?

Well soon enough, I learned what to do on race day. Check the damned bike. Once again, another stop. At this point, to prove the problem was me I checked the bike again. Sure shit stinks, the front brake was dragging!!!!! GOD DAMN IT, I checked that before rolling out!!! Embarassed, pissed, and elated to solve the problem, we took off again. Amazingly enough, the ride got pretty easy at this point, and I was riding at the front of the pack. Heart rate came down, effort and output balanced. AAAAARRRGGGGG!!!!! While I didn't fully recover and fly up hills, I was feeling good with no pains or problems. I was amazed at how good I felt after yesterday!

The course is challenging. Easier than yesterday's hills, but still challenging. There are white-knuckler downhills and lung busting uphills. All of them were rewarding. Knowing where the course gets tough will be immensely helpful come race day, and it's also put into my mind the idea of replacing the 25 ring with a 27 ring to make the climbs just a little easier.

We also headed into downtown briefly to have lunch and see the finish line area. All good mental imagery to use in the next 4 weeks as I taper down to The Big Day.

NUMERICS: 19 hours this week!
SWIM: 6234y in 2.5hrs
BIKE: 210 miles in 13.5 hours
RUN: 19 miles in 3 hrs.

I purposefully cut back on running this week, since I did a 20 miler last Sunday and I had the long rides over the weekend. Next week it'll pick back up.