So far behind on recaps. I'll just hit the training highlights of the past several weekends.
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| Headed to those mountains |
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| Cool photos my friend Jerome took in the Gaps a few weeks ago. Lots of these photos courtesy of Jerome. Hope ya don't mind! |
First, the Death Ride, as I have since termed it. I had the hardest ride of my life the week
before the Chattanooga Oly. Hardest meaning the closest I've been ( or the hardest I've tried) to bail mid-ride. Lately, I have been paring down on running to really
try to concentrate on improving my bike. I definitely have found the point
where less is less, but more on that later. Anyways, through this process, I
have become a big fan of riding my bike! Honestly, I love riding long rides especially,
the harder and hotter the better, and I love all the great centuries we have
locally near Atlanta.
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| This is actually mile 83.... over the hump! At this point I am resigned to my fate.. limping it in the rest of the way. The inability to get up is real... |
So I really, really wanted to do the Cartersville century…. Even
though I had done the Brevet 100 two weeks prior and a hard Gaps ride the week
before... (and a HIM the weekend before that, and an IM a few weeks before that, and another HIM a few weeks before That!) Also, the C'ville century was a week prior to the Chattanooga oly, but I
convinced myself it would be okay. I actually Planned on it being a very fast easy century and thought I could recover just fine. Famous. Last. Words.
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| The century crew Lauren, me, Jerome, and Ted... notice everyone looks to be feeling pretty normal but me |
Also, it was a record hot day.. 108 degrees and
I felt like crap before I even started. I have never been so close to getting sagged
in my life. In fact, I talked to the SAG guy… not near the end.. I was ready to bail at mile 48.. especially after we got lost and added several miles right near the beginning! There was some definite
sweat and tears but I was convinced forced to finish by my friends. The
last several miles I was freezing cold and I had full blown heat exhaustion. It was pretty amazing, really!
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| Contemplating how I'm going to get home |
Fast forward a few days to Peachtree Road Race. I was soo excited
because John and I, along with several other friends, actually decided not to
run Peachtree hard and we wore costumes instead. Lots of fun and laughs.. I don’t
think I’ll ever run Peachtree hard again!
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| John and I's awesome paint before it all sweated off. Turns out even jogging the Ptree was strenuous, especially after we got lost getting back to Steve's house and had to take a taxi. |
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| John, Jason, Steve, and I |
I don’t have much to say about Chattanooga. Basically, I had
an amazing swim (for me), then proceeded to ride my half ironman watts, and ran at a
pace..a lot.. slower than my last two half ironmans. All the fun of the past several weekends catching up with me. As always, though, Chattanooga is
really fun and we had a blast with friends. Someday, I am going to come and
crush this race!
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| On the yog at Chattanooga |
Finally, some big news. This just in, I found out that I’ll
never be Michael Phelps. I’m sure that comes as a massive shock to those of you
who have seen my unique take on the freestyle stroke. Basically, my spine is
slightly crooked which goes a long way towards explaining lots of form issues
and pain that I have had cycling and swimming since day 1. It’s actually a
relief because I’m sure it’s a lot of pressure being a gazillion time medalist
and all J
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