BIKE 4:20 and 76.4 miles
RUN 29 mins and 3.1 miles
The good and the bad!
In the first few miles another rider called Frea "gorgeous". I saw a fox, multiple deer, pheasant, a hummingbird, turtles, another Club member (sticker on a car), a few other riders, storm clouds, cooling rain, and roads I haven't seen in two years.
But I also had bad stomach pains, got a late start, didn't eat enough, ... that's all the bad! That's not too bad, is it! :)
I woke up with more tummy pains, the same that started Thursday and continued through Friday. I'm still not sure what's causing this! I waited as long as I could for things to...pass...they only kinda did so I gave up and left.
I really had some doubts about being able to do this ride. In the first 9 miles of the MCT I faced a headwind, which put my head a little negative and I was turning over the options: ride out 20 miles, turn around, repeat for 80 miles? Ride out 10 miles, then go back and forth. Ugh, boring but safe. The pain would come and go, so I had moments of happiness. With that in mind, I took off on the off-trail. And to my total surprise, the mental distractions of the pains left as soon as I hit the road. Was the trail too boring, not enough stimulation? Either way, I was getting happier.
I once again struggled to plan my ride nutrition, but here's what I packed and planned for: 500 calories of InfinIT in a 5-serving marked concentrate bottle, 3 gels, and a powerbar: 500+330+250=1080. Or 225ish calories per hour. I had extra gels and bars, thinking that wasn't enough. And instead of putting the InfinIT in the aerobottle, I left it on the diamond cage, putting water instead to the aerobottle.
But with my pains I wasn't interested in food. I was interested in the powerbar, but that was about it. I had a big brekkie, so the first hour. About 80 mins in, I stopped to eat and set a plan of 1 serving of InfinIT and either half a bar or a gel per hour, alternating them. I didn't stick to this plan well at all.
I loved the ride! There were times I was happy to be alone, I was realizing the stress of minding other riders -- whether they were on course, so I need to speed up or slow down, who is riding too close to me -- this was surprisingly nice. I didn't get too bored either, at one point I was even singing my Roar song. Outloud, of course :) I also did some investigative work, looking at other sections of the MCT and thinking about extensions and potential shortcuts because someday I think this would make for a great multidistance group ride.
Other concerns I had about this ride was my feet and/or my butt hurting. These are things I have troubles with early in the season as I get used to things. My feet tend to hurt when pushing into a headwind too, and I've been doing that for a good number of miles now. The next concern was the incoming storms. When I reached Edwardsville, the darkening sky couldn't be ignored. By now I was back on the MCT which I knew were safer, shielded from the wind, and had places for shelter if needed. The radar map made it look threatening, but the sky didn't. I decided to keep riding, I was only 25 miles out, I figured I could get to 20 or 15 before getting wet. I did get 5 or so miles closer when it started, and only then did it cross my mind that hail could be on the front! There wasn't, luckily. And it never rained that hard! Instead it was like a jungle rain, quiet, wet, whisper of rain. It cleared up soon enough and I was done!
Now for the brick run. The plan was 3 miles, but with my stomach pains I didn't think I could do it. The last 20 or so miles of the ride The Blerch starting talking about skipping the run. But The Bee said to just go for 5 mins out...I ran last week at Innsbrook...I ran with JZ in Columbia...I CAN DO THIS!!!! The Bee won! I took off not feeling great, but no stomach problems. I ran 1 mile, walked 1 minute, repeated. I did it, and doing a better pace than expected!
The run suffered from poor nutrition though. In the end I only consumed the powerbar and two servings of InfinIT on the ride! I felt mostly OK except I didn't have the motivation to run. That will NOT fly on race day. This HAS TO IMPROVE.
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