Time for a little bit of an update. My last post was back in February, so basically an entire season has gone and past. Such is life for the last few years. Here we go!
March
Kept on trucking with the running. In fact I was hitting double digit runs with no issues. Feeling great! Cycling was getting a kick too as I was signed up for a 90 mile bike ride in June in the Appalachian Mountains called Blood, Sweat, and Gears. Everything was really humming at this point.
April
Full stop. Why? No injuries but I got the cold twice with a case of the pink eye in between. Got in a couple decent mileage runs and rides but each time would wipe me out. We also started our home renovations in earnest and that ended up becoming a massive headache.
May
Picked things back up after a week long work trip to Boston but the weekends were busy and so never found the time to get my riding volume back up.
The biggest change of May was GETTING A NEW PUPPY!!! Introducing Rieger (yes, he's named after local whiskey)
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| He doesn't always just sleep. |
June
Another setback. I ended up falling down some stairs that ended up turning my ankle pretty bad. I thought for a while that I had broken or torn something back after a day I could actually walk on it. Everything reset though. The morning of the day I hurt my ankle I rode 45 miles. I did a 3 mile ride a week later and the next weekend was my 90 mile bike ride in the mountains. I ended up dialing down to the 50 mile route because of lack of training and in case my ankle couldn't handle it. I was suppose to do the KC Corporate Challenge triathlon but since my ankle looked like a grapefruit, I declined to participate.
Blood, Sweat, and Gears (Mini-race report)
This is a supported group ride that I had been planning to do for quite a few years. My in-laws had asked me to do it when I really started getting into cycling, but a late June 90 mile ride never fell into a good spot of my training plans. This year was different since I didn't really have any plans. Riding was the one thing I could do that didn't bother my hip/ankle, so game on!
Then I jacked up my ankle... and lost quite a bit of fitness in April and May. So having the 50 mile option was a good backup.
We left Wednesday mid-afternoon and drove part way. Made it to Valle Crucis in the afternoon on Thursday. This gave me time to do a trial ride on Friday and pickup my packet for the ride on Saturday. I needed a good trial ride because I had just gotten new front chain ring (literally the day we left) and after rain on the way down I needed to make sure it was all in good shape. Luckily no issues.
Saturday morning we left to the race start, which was a couple miles from Mike and Susan's home, but they directed us to park about a mile away from the start. So we just pulled off to the side of the road and I unloaded my bike and got all ready for the ride. Then I followed them in my car back to the race start where Susan and TKB got out and waited with me for the start.
The 90 milers took off first and a few minutes later the 50 milers took off. I was pretty intrigued by this as I had never done a mass bike start before. Kinda felt like the start of Le Tour that I've watched so many times before.
Seeing that this report is about 4 months old, I may miss a few details but what I do remember:
Mile 10 - After we finished our first ascent, we started heading down and my back wheel felt "loose". So when I found a good pull over point, I checked and my back tube was leaking. UGH! Not that I was doing this for time but going through 50% of your tube/CO2 cartridges in the first 20% of the ride is not a favorable rate. Luckily, the first SAG stop at mile 12 had a bike shop component and I was able to replenish my supplies.
I generally stayed with people or had them in my sights the entire time. Because of my delays, I lost the peloton of people I was with. The next 30 miles brought a few more ascents, another SAG stop and about 10 miles of rain. I was feeling pretty good and I generally passed tons of people on the ascents, which made me happy. I just kept my power around 220watts and just kept trucking.
On the last major descent I heard one of those noises that no cyclist wants to hear, especially mid-race. pop-pssssssssssssst. Another puncture! This time I was cruising downhill and was luckily able to stop without incident. I was stopped at one of the switch backs and saw people absolutely FLYING around the corner. I found myself being so timid going downhill than I thought I would. Mostly because I was concerned about my back tire flatting.
This time I did something about it. Why did my tire keep popping on the descents? I remembered that when I had my chainring worked on, the bike shop replaced my rear brake pads. I checked it out and the calipers were rather high up on my wheel. So I figured that it was causing a lot of heat and "burning" a hole in my tires, causing the junctions. Whether that was true or not, I never got another puncture.
Around mile 40 I was definitely on my way back. The course looped back and I now passed the first SAG stop but it took a slightly different route back. I noticed something odd though. I was passing a guy with a 90 mile course bib. Didn't think too much of it as it sounded like he cut over to the 50 mile course. But then I saw more 90 milers passing me and then more. I realized I never saw signs where the 90 mile and 50 mile course broke off. Uhhhh.... did I accidentally turn onto the 90 mile route?!?? After another 4 miles or so, I pulled off and looked at the map. As long as I the next turn was this specific street, I was ok. Sure enough, it was.
I finished in just over 4 hours. It was an absolutely enjoyable experience. I felt super strong on the way up the mountains (but super scared on the descent). I hope to go back and do the 90.
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| Picture from my team car (from where we were told to park) |
July
Basically restarted my training. I had hoped to run the KC Marathon based on my progress in March but April and May ended that plan. I had plenty of time to get ready for the half and throw in some speed work. My other plan was to participate in the Jeremy Katzenberger Triathlon, which I had participated in the previous couple years.
August
Got back into something I hadn't done in MONTHS. Hit the pool. OK, I only did it once in August but still. Tricia and I went to Tahoe, NV with Joe and Lauren. Tricia and Joe had a work conference. I actually brought everything necessary for me rent a bike and do some riding out there while they were at the conference but never did. Kinda regret it but not too much. I got in a couple runs though. Sadly, my ankle was still causing me issues from my fall in June.
September
Definitely more swimming, more miles running, and maintaining on the bike. Jeremy Katzenberger Triathlon was September 10th. My first year participating I won my age group in the long course, last year I did a team and got 3rd with Oren doing the 5k. This year I signed up for the short course and managed 3rd overall male!
On September 24 I ran 12 miles, which was the longest run in 2.5 years!
October
I have been doing some quality work (speed intervals, hills, threshold runs) the last few weeks and am happy with those results. Although my first hill workout left me sore for 5 or 6 days!
For the first time in a very very long time, I'm in an official taper! KC Half Marathon is this weekend. I have no goals for it but I'm not going to just trot those 13.1 miles. Looking forward to it all!
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