heat training and almost going the distance

It has been a couple good weeks of training. After healing and recovering for a week post-Victoria, I got back into things with meeting with Cheryl a week ago Friday. We went over my next (and final!) month of planned workouts. I made my first run club appearance in a while and managed 3 tough laps to get back into training. It was great to see everyone!

Then it was on to a 85 mile bike ride last Sunday. Although I had planned that we would head out to Eastern Washington to train, that wasn’t necessary as the temperature hit an incredible 91 degrees here in Western Washington last weekend. I rode out to Marymoor Park from home to meet up with Alden who had done a track workout. We then went out on a loop from Marymoor. Suffice to say that it was a bad, bad workout. I filed it away and moved on to another week of training…

My plan said that I should run 18 miles on Wednesday. I somehow had it in my head that I’d run 18 once before Victoria and I foolishly didn’t check my past workouts to make sure. I ran that route and took the 1-minute walk breaks every 10 minutes to simulate the aid stations out on the race course. That all worked out well so I’ll definitely keep that up on my long runs. I got home and was interested to compare my time to last time which is when I realized that I’d only gone 17 miles last time (and so this time as well)- oops! I now have already figured out where the turn-around is for my 20-miler in 10 days so I don’t repeat that mistake.

My shorter stuff felt pretty good during the week (spinning, lifting and running). I also did some pedicure-like work on my feet. It is good to mention here as I think it’s helping me to avoid irritating that repeated blister I’ve been having on-and-off on the ball of my left foot. That’s all good to have taken care of as I ramp up these last few weeks of training.

I also made a trip to the doctor’s office to get back on medication to help manage my exercise-induced asthma that has been acting up lately. Definitely something I don’t want to be a factor come August 2nd.

After consulting the weather forecast, Alden and I made a call to head out to Eastern Washington for some hot weather training. I mapped out the route of the Apple Century and reserved a hotel room in Wenatchee. We originally thought Alden would be able to mountain bike with some buddies and I’d ride solo, but he joined in my workouts when those plans fell through later in the week.

I took the holiday day off on Friday as an opportunity to work on some other things- I emailed Emily about during race and long training nutrition and generally got organized around the house. I ordered some new anti-chaffing stuff and nutrition. Training long on weekends has meant I haven’t had much downtime at home so it was a nice break. The day finished up with a trip out to Marymoor to watch Alden race. Renate made it out to spectate and he got some upgrade points- all in all a great night!

We got up on Saturday and headed over to Wenatchee. We decided on a pursuit model. After reliving some middle school math: “If two trains leave the station, one going 15 mph and the other going 19 mph…” we figured out how much later Alden should take off. We hoped that we’d hook up when the route got tricky and hilly. We planned well and crossed the Columbia and made the turns together around Lake Chelan.

I had several goals for this ride, the overarching one being to rid the demons from last Sunday’s ride. To that end, I used my brand spakin’ new inhaler and drank a ton more water/electrolytes. I focused on staying loose and in my aerobars as much as possible with a cadence between 90 and 100. I wanted to finish feeling long and strong.

We saw some fun stuff out there including a mariachi band playing a celebration at a park shelter with folks dressed to the nines despite the heat, dead snakes galore on the road and lots of people staying cool out on the water.

Alden stuck with me for the rest of the ride- generally being a fabulous domestique. He ferried water and gave me good emotional support. He has definitely earned the right to wear my Eagleman visor around!

All my plans seemed to work well and we finished the ride strong. Unfortunately, we’d misinterpreted a piece of the description of the route and ended at 89 miles instead of the expected 100. I am seriously, seriously salty after these workouts. Like rims on a margarita glass kind of salty. Yuck. And so, so tired of eating Clif bars and gels. Alden brought some snow peas from his parents’ garden in the cooler that we consumed after the ride- real food tasted extra yummy!

We checked into the hotel for quick showers and then went out in search of dinner. I introduced Alden to the joys of the Mongolian BBQ for a recovery meal and we settled into the hotel to watch the first stage of the Tour de France and Olympic Swimming Trials. Good stuff on the TV! We topped off the evening with a Dairy Queen run before heading to bed early in preparation for a run this morning. I felt like molasses, but managed to get in the miles. Then it was back across the mountains to stretch and recover at home.

For this week, I’m looking forward to dialing in my nutrition some more (talking to Emily and getting some on-the-course stuff to integrate in). I’ve made two tries at the century mark, and have fallen just short both times so it will be great to finally get my first official 100+ miler in with STP on Saturday. Jen, Meg and I will be at the starting line around 4:45 a.m.- look for us there!