What was I thinking?

With the Ironman Approaching, I have this sense of impending doom. Although the race is after my goal race, it's only a week later. Training for an ITU Olympic is a lot different from training for an Ironman. Amanda was visiting her dad in Arizona, so I figured more training would occupy my time. After a hard ride with mediocre results and a couple hard runs on Thursday and Friday, Saturday finally brought about a good result in a 1500m swim. Since I wasn't doing much more than a brisk training swim, I was surprised to drop below 21:30. Maybe a sub 20:00 is possible for me this year, but not before Armed Forces Nationals. A strong swim will alleviate the pressure I normally have on the run, which is usually about going so hard that I qualify for worlds or blow up trying.

I had been considering doing the Lilac Century ride on Saturday, a much enjoyed day off work. I wasn't sold on the idea of my longest ride since 1999, so I went to bed early and decided that if I woke up in time to make the ride, I'd decide then. Unexpectedly, I woke at 6:29 and decided to give it a try. There's a big difference between speed and endurance, but I ignored that discouraging detail as I rushed to get myself going. I didn't have a plan, nothing was packed, my bike wasn't ready and would still have to register and get ready to ride after the drive to Spokane. There was no time for breakfast, so I grabbed a handful of Power Gels and Shot Blocks and headed to the store. I ordered a couple breakfast biscuits and ran down the aisle for a couple energy drinks ... whatever I found first, which ended up being PowerAde.

I made it on the road at 7:01. My back hatch was open because I didn't want to waste any time removing the wheel and putting it back on (I had allen skewers instead of quick release and no time to change them). To my surprise, I made it to SFCC before everyone left, ran with my cash to register and get my number. As if I thought I'd actually run when done, I put my shoes and hat in the transition area and ran back to my car. This whole process was like a race to avoid being left behind. It didn't work. The ride was started as I stood by my car getting ready to ride. About 3 to 5 minutes from shoes to goos, I was loaded up and on my way.

It was a cold morning, but I knew it would warm up. This meant I'd have to do a little suffering early on. My fingers were frozen, but other than that I was doing fine. My only real goal is the same as always, which is that I have to ride over 20 MPH. It was easy at first, so I kept it under control and thought about what I had gotten myself into as I began to pass part of the large field of riders. After working my way through the first 10 to 20 miles, we came upon a hill I think is called Big Sandy. There weren't too many riders in sight up to that point, but when I came around the corner, it seemed like the whole field was right there struggling up the beast. I dropped into my lowest gear only to find that I had one lower that my bike didn't want to go into. I took a very consistent approach to the hill and cruised to the top. It was tough, but not as bad as I feared. The real question was how much I'd pay at the end of the ride.

The Scates express pace line went flying by for the second time a little while later. It was tempting to jump on, but at the end of the day, I needed to know that I could do this on my own. On occasion I'd be asked to do a pace line, but I was only willing to pull. When they were rested up enough or tired of my pace, they'd roll by and I would have to drop back. I have no idea what body of water we passed, but shortly after that we went through some volcanic looking landscape. It was great scenery. We also had another good hill to tackle, so I worked my way past some more riders. Around 33 miles in, I remember thinking I was an idiot. It was already a long ride for me and I was only 1/3 of the way through. My legs were feeling the previous days and the effects of today's efforts, but I pressed on.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't a 20-mile hill, but it seemed like that on my way into Reardon. I'd catch a rider every several miles, which left me out there riding aero and enjoying the whir of my disc cutting the silence. Speaking of my disc, in my rush this morning, I put it on slightly off center, so it rubbed on the break pad when I was cranking up the hills. That was fun. My ride is also very creaky from the changes in lowering the front end. I made it into Reardon just after the lead pack. As my clock ran and the average dropped, I made a quick restroom break, downed a few cookies and guzzled a bottle of water and I was off in chase of the lead pack again. They were going way under 20 MPH, so I had to move ahead.

I made it to mile 75 before they caught me again. My legs were shot. Other than the cookies and water, I'd only downed about 16 oz. during the ride along with one gel and one pack of Shot Blocks. I held on as well as I could, but at mile 90, there just wasn't much left. I was still holding over 20, but wanted to little more than throw my bike in the river and curl up in a warm bed. I gutted it out though and finally made my way to the finish. After a couple wrong turns, I finished with 102.0 miles at 4:59:09 (including my stop time). That's really good for me, a lot of fun and I'm glad I did it. With a better plan for eating and hydrating and excluding a stop, I think I could have gone 105 miles in under 5 hours. Coulda, woulda, shoulda, but I didn't do that.

Afterwards, I went for the 5K run. My goal was 6:40 pace, but the first mile was so hard to get my legs moving that I almost walked back. It took another tough mile for me to settle in and I was running well, but was only able to get my average down to 6:41. The incredible difficulty on the run and the amount of miles makes me want to rethink my Ironman run goal, but for me to do that would be surrender. It's one thing to adjust during a race, but before it is something I just don't do.