Scratched the Tri

I could have done the triathlon on Saturday and then done a long ride Sunday, but I really didn’t want to spend half of my Sunday on the bike. I used to ALWAYS use Sunday as a rest day. These days, I haven’t been taking rest days once a week- more like every 14 days or something like that so I usually do workout on Sundays…. but I don’t want to workout for 4-5 hours. I want to relax, drink an extra cup of coffee, crawl around on the floor with Marsh and not worry about getting started early. 

SO- I rode 70 miles yesterday instead of doing the triathlon. Would the triathlon have been good for me? Do I need to work on my swim more? Especially in the open water? Do I need to work on transitioning better? Yes, yes, yes, yes. BUT, that bike ride is the majority of the race and I missed a long ride the past two weekends. (more than 40 miles) I told myself I’d be happy with 60 yesterday, but when I started riding yesterday, I had it in my head I wanted to hit 70. 

Thankfully, our friend Jake, who Glenn is coaching and is also doing Muncie was riding in 24 hours of Booty (a 24 hour charity bike ride- relay style on Butler’s campus… 2 miles from our house). They were looking for someone to pick up a leg and I was happy to do so, as that would make for a much better ride than riding all alone all day. He told me I could count on two hours.

I rode up the monon and got 16 miles in before heading over to them. It was really the perfect warm up.  The monon is my second home, but on Saturday mornings, it seems to be everyone’s second home. I saw at least 10-15 people I knew out there and I just love that. When the monon is crazy packed on a Saturday morning, I just want t say “good job Indianapolis”. I was enjoying warming up at a comfortable pace and saying hi to everyone here and there. 

When I got down to the Booty ride- Jake told me I would probably get 10-12 laps in. (around 3.7 mi each). It was nice because the roads were all blocked off as it was an organized race and you had a nice little hill to ride up each loop, along with a nice little downhill and a back stretch that allowed you to pick up the pace and push a bit. Plus, you got to ride by the main area every lap, where there was music and a little extra energy to get the next lap started with.

I found myself breaking up my loops like I break up my laps in the pool. I always think of things in sets of 5. So I could focus on getting my first set of 5 done. At lap 9, Jake jumped in to take over, but I decided to just keep riding with him – if I was going to get to 70 miles, I might as well enjoy the company and keep on booty looping. I said I’d make it to 12 laps with him, but when I got to 12, decided to complete that third set of 5 laps and that would put me at 67 miles. Much better than finishing at 56 and still having to ride 14 on my own. I finished lap 15, chatted with Jake’s fiance, Meghan a bit and rode home- adding a little extra to get the full 3 I had left to get to 70.

Overall- this was a really great ride for me that I really needed.  I know I can finish the 56 a Muncie no matter what, but I’m really want to ride comfortably hard and really dominate and feel in control during the race. I’m not sure what my average pace was yesterday, but I tried to keep it at least 17. (aside from the short uphill part). Based on how I felt, it made me realize how much faster I could  have rode that 10 at the Eagle Creek sprint on the bike I’m borrowing from Stacie now. 

I went to the bike shop on Friday and they eyeballed Stacie’s bike for me– we heightened the seat a little more and it was tilted in a weird direction so he fixed that as well. The seat tilt made a huge difference- on Tuesday when I rode 20 miles with Jake, my lower back was hurting. It didn’t bother me a bit during the 70 miles after the seat adjustment. I am so glad we took care of that before Muncie! My shoulders and neck were a little sore toward the end (and they are today), but that’s to be expected.

And let me just say, those guys at T3 have been so darn nice to me. I am really glad I won the bike fitting at the BoMF silent auction. When I went in to get my fitting, the owner, Vern was very straight forward about my bike and questioning if I should ride it for Muncie. He wasn’t trying to sell me a new, expensive bike, he was just being realistic with me about everything. After talking to him, I made it my mission to find a bike to borrow or rent. THANK YOU so much to my friend Stacie for letting me borrow her very nice, light bike. 

I also asked Tim at T3 to teach me how to change a tire. Glenn was going to teach me, but I figured this would be faster and more efficient since he’s probably changed a lot more flat tires than Glenn. Plus I could see Glenn teaching me turning into a nightmare of me getting frustrated…. (who me? no way!)

This is something I’ve needed to learn for several years now. I stupidly always rely on whoever I’m riding with in case of a blow out. I know how  to do it now, but am still nervous for it to actually happen and to have to do it by myself, especially in a race. It’s kind of hard! I know what will be key if it ever happens is to just slow down and try not to get flustered… one step at a time. 

So back to my bike. Tim at T3 also told us that it’s pretty much pointless to do the work my bike requires because it’s not worth the money. He did some basic tune ups so I can keep riding around the monon on it and what not. But he basically said it’s not safe to go for real rides on it and the brakes are pretty shot. Good thing I did that CIBA ride on crazy hills in Morgan County. No wonder those monster hills were so terrifying. Sooner or later the Hein’s are going to invest in a new bike for me, but in the meantime, I’m really grateful to Stacie for letting me borrow her’s for this race. 

My plan is to get one more longish ride in before Muncie- (45-50 miles… maybe 4th of July?).  I’m going into a taper this week, but still planning to work hard and stay confident for Muncie. I just have to remind myself to do my race. No one else’s. 

Oh and then last night we got a babysitter (scored her from the kids club at LA Fitness) and went to dinner and the Matt & Kim concert. It was fun, we were home by 10 and Glenn was still complaining this AM that I had him up too late. Babysitter or not the night before, there’s not sleeping in past 6:30 around here. 

And right now, Glenn is out getting 14 miles in and I’m on deck for 10. Marshall is sleeping and we have lot’s of coaching to catch up on this afternoon, including a skype session with Belle, who I am excited to talk to!