113 MILES.....

Last Saturday my traveling buddy Mary and I headed out yet again for a LONG bike ride in Princeton, IL. I have never been to Princeton, it was about a 2 hour drive in Mary's trusty van....man I'm gonna miss that thing when this is all over......Anyway, Princeton is a cute little old town. We found our other friends & made our multiple bathroom trips before starting on the ride. Coach Jen had 115 miles in my plan & Mary was gonna do them all with me. This supported ride had about 4,000 feet of elevation so I knew we were in for some hills....somewhere. As we started out we got to see a helicopter crop dusting the fields, pretty cool to have it so close. Then we had our 1st big hill, so much for zone 1-2 for the 1st hour. Our friend Michelle is quite the cyclist so off she went. I wanted so bad to keep up but that meant really getting the HR up so I pulled back a bit & stayed in zone 2.  Many of the country roads were recently tarred & chipped which got all over everyones tires due to it melting in the hot sun. the only downside to this route, otherwise it was beautiful & reminded me of Michigan. This route was marked as 102 miles so Mary & I decided to add on our 13 extra miles after about 30 miles in so we could not wimp out after 102. Really good thinking because I might have done that. Especially after about 50 miles on I was not feeling so good. My tummy was hurting, I had gas & it was getting hot. I felt like my cadence was slow, my heart rate was high & I was now struggling to keep up with Mary. We usually ride about the same which is awesome to have the company but she was ahead of me & I was alone with my thoughts, aches & pains. I kept wondering what was causing this because other than a new electrolyte my nutrition was the same as it was for muncie, just more of it. then it finally dawned on me....i ate garlic the night before with my chicken & sweet potato. note to self....NO GARLIC BEFORE WORKOUTS! I did catch back up with Mary & our other friend Shannon who seemed to be feeling the same way I was, maybe she had garlic too :-(. We were about 15 miles or so from the finish of the ride & I just needed to keep moving. There were some pretty good climbs towards the end of the ride, thank goodness for the extra adrenaline rush I had to finish. Unfortunately my GPS said I only traveled 113 miles, not 115!!!! Ugh, so close, but I was not going out for 2 more. I was happy to be off the bike.

I had a 75 min transition run to do so I took off the jersey, put on the running shoes & fuel belt & started to run. Mary was gonna keep me company for the 1st mile then head back. I lasted exactly 5 minutes till I was reminded again of the garlic I consumed the night before. I literally stopped running handed Mary my fuel belt & ran into the soy bean field to do what had to be done.....needless to say the run was over. At that point I was thinking a marathon....HA!!!!

I got myself changed, cleaned up, fed, & I was feeling good in no time. Come to find put I was not the only one that was having GI issues that day. O the joys of endurance sports. We headed home, me with a doggie bag of food they were giving away, score! Once we got home Mary let me know her tire completely ripped open from the tar. luckily that didn't happen to mine but the next day i spent some time cleaning the tar off my tires too. Hope I don't need new tires too. After a great night of sleep I woke up not feeling too bad so I did my long run at peak heat of the day. After 16 miles I was back to not feeling good again. Coach Jen said it was too much & I should have just ran the missed 75 minutes from yesterday.....so much for trying to switch days, but good to know there was a reason I was feeling so crappy! I will not make that mistake again! Follow the plan!!!!!

As of today July 26th....I have 29 days till the big dance!

IMLOU.....;-)