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Chronicles of a fish: the days of surf and turf
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50 Mile 80.47 Kilometer Bike Ride
(Sounds so much better in kilometers!)
Okay......gorgeous, gorgeous, GORGEOUS day!!! OMG....it was comfortable and sunny and clear and no humidity...bit of a breeze at times though. But you could not have ordered up a better day to venture out for a 50 mile ride with 300 other folks (there were three routes - 100 miles, 50 miles, 25 miles). I will not bore you with a mile by mile narrative of the ride, but I will share some of the highlights with you....
- It was an absolutley gorgeous day!
- Maps and verbal instructions of the route(s) were available to all the riders, plus the roads were well marked.
- Everyone was SO nice!!
- Everyone was SO nice that when I fell at the very first intersection because I forgot I was clipped in
the crowd of cyclists around me made sure I was okay. Of course I was laughing so hard that they realized pretty quickly that I was just fine.
- Most of the 50 miles were on country roads with beautiful scenery and horses and carriages plodding up and down the roads (I even passed one horse and carriage - didn't want to scare the horse so I did not say "passing left"
), so that was lovely. The city miles (beginning and ending of the course) were a bit unnerving at times, and a few of the intersections were slightly dangerous (had to cross lanes of highway), especially for someone learning the art of clipping in and out.
- The food before, during and after the ride was phenomenal!! Before the ride they served bananas, bagles and cream cheese, coffee, and water - plus they gave us packets of trail mix to take on the ride. At just over halfway they served us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bananas, orange slices, three kinds of HOME MADE WHOOPIE PIES, Oreo's, M&Ms, peanuts, pretzles, chips, water, Gatorade, and gummis. After the ride they served us fresh made paninis, chips, watermelon, assorted fruits, home made cookies, and drinks.
- There were plenty of hills on this ride (3,369 ft. elevation gain), which was great experience for me. Clipping in makes a HUGE difference when climbing. Wow. Huge difference. There was one hill, however, about 3/4 of the way through the ride that seemed to be a monster....in fact I was struggling with it to the point that I actually thought about getting off the bike and walking up it, but because I was clipped in I knew there was no way I could clip out and get off the bike without falling so I pedaled on....and then I realized I was still in my big ring up front. Duh!! Popped it down into the small ring and that saved the day. Easy going up the hill...just kept it relaxed and steady.
- My girlfriend who was riding with me became pretty fatigued during the last half of the ride, so I did quite a bit of stopping to wait for her. The hills in particular were killing her. In an attempt to stay together and give her a break, I tried to have her draft off me some - and in places I just plum slowed down to stay with her. No biggie, this was a ride and not a race and it was fun to do this with a friend.
- The cost to do this ride was only $14, and for an additional $4 you got a commemorative pair of socks. There was no t-shirt, but I feel this event was a bargain especially considering I probably ate $14 worth of food!
Here's my Garmin data in case anyone is interested. The speed was slow, but it was stop and go and easy paced and I only turned my Garmin off at the halfway food break. I also forgot to turn it on at the start, so it's about a mile short of the actual ride.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220871993
I thoroughly enjoyed today, thoroughly. Sometimes we all get bogged down in intense training with time and distance goals and targets, but we all really need to do things like I did today just for the pleasure of it. I will be doing more rides like this...in fact, there's one coming up after the marathon I already have my eye on.
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Thanks for the advice on the hikes. Next time I'm on the East coast, hopefully I will tag on a few days and get some hikes in. I'll let you know if I can organise something.
Congrats on the bike ride, knew you'd love them and now you know why I was raving 0 -
banner_phoenix wrote: »Thanks for the advice on the hikes. Next time I'm on the East coast, hopefully I will tag on a few days and get some hikes in. I'll let you know if I can organise something.
Congrats on the bike ride, knew you'd love them and now you know why I was raving
I sound like a broken record, but you've always a place to stay.......:)
And yes, loved the ride. And loved how much easier the hills were with clipless pedals. (I think that's what they are called.) You knew what you were talking about!!!!0 -
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Just received an email notifiying me that I'm Boston bound next April! Woo hoo!! I've been accepted to run in the 117th Boston Marathon.
Woo Hoo!!!!!!:D:D:D:D:D
That is fantastic news and with those beautiful hills in your area to train on you'll be saying "heartbreak schmeartbreak hill":)0 -
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Proper Tempo Run
Okay, enough basking in the Boston glow.....back to reality - I had 8 miles at MP to run tonight!! It's been way too long since I've actually done a tempo run that I had to control its pace (the treadmill controls it for me) so I really wanted to do this on a proper surface (not in my grassy field) in proper fashion (outdoors) to see where I am.
Directly after work I headed to the Greenway to hobnob with the locals in town. Gorgeous evening and very comfortable outside weather-wise for this run. I'm not going to bore you with the minutiae of this run, but suffice it to say that I immediately fell into my old bad habit of going out way too fast....then I had trouble slowing down. I knew after 3 miles that I could not sustain the crazy pace I was running for I would explode if I had to run 5 more miles at that speed, but I couldn't slow myself down either. I was dying but the legs kept turning, so at the 3.5 mile mark I stopped just for a minute or two to re-group. My target pace was 8 min/mile, so I told myself I needed to get it a little closer to that pace. Mile 5 was pretty close, but my cool down mile was closer.
Oh well. I will say my cool down mile felt very lovely.
8 miles in 1:00:03 for an average pace of 7:30 min/mile
Splits as follows:
7:16, 7:18, 7:14, 7:35, 7:49, 7:30, 7:23, 7:55 (cool down)
Need to work on my pace. This was good learning run for me.
Swim
1,000 yard easy swim to loosen the body post-tempo run.0 -
Kurt Godel wrote: »Fear goin'up Heartbreak 'ill jaded?Kurt Godel wrote: »Ah, ye're no fun. Probably too giddy from the entry letter;)
Oh crap, what am I missing??? But I'm pretty good with vowels. 0 -
+1
Need to work on my pace. This was good learning run for me.
Key to your tempo's is pace- stopping is a big no-no, but you were doing them massively quicker at that stage. Obviously your planned 8min/miles is way too slow. Running 8 miles in under an hour though... that's always a great barrier to hit. You're in great shape for this marathon.Oh crap, what am I missing??? But I'm pretty good with vowels.
Ah, just a bit of meaningless wordplay nonsense, that started one post back. Thought you'd pick up the ball and run with it, but you've more sense than that. Although I see from what you quoted that I'm giving out clues subconsiously;)0 -
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Kurt Godel wrote: »Ah, just a bit of meaningless wordplay nonsense, that started one post back. Thought you'd pick up the ball and run with it, but you've more sense than that. Although I see from what you quoted that I'm giving out clues subconsiously;)
Should've thought simple theories 'stead them sexually tempting shenigans that swirled tempestuously.Ha nice quick pace - slightly quicker than my effort earlier in the week :mad:
Certainly your tempo pace should be quicker though than 8 min miles though, most of mine are set for 4.45 km pace
The plan called for 8 miles at MP.....and I'm hoping to average 8 min/miles (or less would be grand) in the marathon....so....
Truth is, I need to re-learn what running at 7:45 to 8 min/mile feels like. I went out way too fast.0 -
Its just an unusual pace for a tempo run, some of the better runners might correct me but i thought you would be doing these tempo runs at sub race pace for a marathon
I would have said your 1st three were too fast but the ones after it would be about right - perhaps try and keep to a 7.40 pace!
All good though, plenty of speed there, would have been worse if you had to stop to regroup at 8:00 pace.
Which leads me to my next lecture, slowing down during that triathlon 5k because you saw 6.50 for the 1st mile. For a sprint race I would advise not bringing the garmin at all - its balls out for the duration!0 -
Its just an unusual pace for a tempo run, some of the better runners might correct me but i thought you would be doing these tempo runs at sub race pace for a marathon
I would have said your 1st three were too fast but the ones after it would be about right - perhaps try and keep to a 7.40 pace!
All good though, plenty of speed there, would have been worse if you had to stop to regroup at 8:00 pace.
Which leads me to my next lecture, slowing down during that triathlon 5k because you saw 6.50 for the 1st mile. For a sprint race I would advise not bringing the garmin at all - its balls out for the duration!
Gosh....I'll double check the plan (that you gave me) about the pace for last night, but I'm 99% sure it said MP. 8 min/mile durning my cool down definitely felt slow (yet lovely), and I think you're right - 7:40 would've been a better target perhaps. The only reason I stopped is because I just couldn't slow down even though I was dying....so I stopped to restart at a more reasonable pace. One thing I have trouble with is the fear of not making my targets...and I think that is in part why I start too fast - to bank time, which I know is the absolute wrong thing to do in most situations.
Regarding the triathlon 5k pace shocker that struck the fear of god in me....you've been hanging around Interested too long, but you (both) are correct in that regard. I didn't have my Garmin, I asked the random gal I was running with what our pace was - only did that because I felt like I was moving in slow motion. Thanks for the lecture. 0 -
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"I asked the random gal I was running with what our pace was"
:eek:
its called 'sprint' distance for a reason - she must have been concerned when you rocked up beside her and started 'chatting'. Not totally unexpected from you but hilarious none the less.
'Balls out' Catweazle ? As opposed to 'a*se' out during your adventures at Swinford if your race reports are true ... 0
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