This weekend was a whirlwind of triathlon activities...
On Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30am to head over to Vanderbilt for the Middle Tennessee Youth Triathlon. It was a complete success and I think everyone involved was very happy! We finished up around 10:30am and I went home for a shower, lunch, and a quick nap before I had to go run 16 miles at 4:00pm. It was about 95+ degrees outside with no clouds in the sky so it made for a pretty miserable run. We didn't need to run hills but Julie and I decided that a flat run in the sun would be worse than a shaded, yet hilly, run in Percy Warner Park. We ran the 11.2 in the park and then ran Belle Meade Blvd to get the rest of our mileage in.
On Sunday morning I woke up at 4:15am and got myself ready for my first 112 mile bike ride. Rolf, Julie, and I started at 6:45am and did a two loop course that I had mapped out earlier in the week. We spread out from each other because we were riding different paces so we all did the ride basically by ourselves which is good mental training but it makes for a tough day. You kind of start getting a little loopy after not talking to someone for a couple hours...sometime I talk to myself which helps a little. The first loop was ok...yes it was hot and hilly but it was bearable. That all went out the window when I got to the start of the second loop where I could turn left to go to the cars or turn right for another 60 miles on my own in the heat, sun, hills, ect. To the right I went and by then it was about 10am and it was getting hotter and hotter by the minute. I was roasting out there. If there ever was a day to test my mental toughness this was it. At some points I was only going about 4 mph which I'm not sure if that even qualifies as moving forward but the heat was just sucking the life out of me. I have never been so happy to see the old guys hanging out at Fly. The men in there thought we were crazy and I think at that point I fully agreed. Rolf was there as well refueling so we rode into Puckett's together. After a fuel stop there we headed back to the cars....those beatiful beautiful cars. Rolf went to pick up Julie who was at a BBQ joint about 12 miles down the road. She called it day after about 95 miles.
On the way home I was going to stop by the YMCA pool to just sit and cool off but I couldn't even muster the energy required to do that. I did stop at Sonic and got my Hot Fudge Peanut Butter Milkshake which really just rocks my world after a hard workout. I can't tell you how good that tasted after the day that I had just survived. I got home around 4pm and stood in a cold shower.
My skin is sunburned, my legs are sore, my body is just all over tired. I really feel that if I can survive a day like yesterday, I can survive a day in Lake Placid. The key is to not give in to the misery...don't let the heat win...don't let the pain win...it will all be over at some point and you'll be stronger because of it. Bring it on Lake Placid...I'm ready for you!
On Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30am to head over to Vanderbilt for the Middle Tennessee Youth Triathlon. It was a complete success and I think everyone involved was very happy! We finished up around 10:30am and I went home for a shower, lunch, and a quick nap before I had to go run 16 miles at 4:00pm. It was about 95+ degrees outside with no clouds in the sky so it made for a pretty miserable run. We didn't need to run hills but Julie and I decided that a flat run in the sun would be worse than a shaded, yet hilly, run in Percy Warner Park. We ran the 11.2 in the park and then ran Belle Meade Blvd to get the rest of our mileage in.
On Sunday morning I woke up at 4:15am and got myself ready for my first 112 mile bike ride. Rolf, Julie, and I started at 6:45am and did a two loop course that I had mapped out earlier in the week. We spread out from each other because we were riding different paces so we all did the ride basically by ourselves which is good mental training but it makes for a tough day. You kind of start getting a little loopy after not talking to someone for a couple hours...sometime I talk to myself which helps a little. The first loop was ok...yes it was hot and hilly but it was bearable. That all went out the window when I got to the start of the second loop where I could turn left to go to the cars or turn right for another 60 miles on my own in the heat, sun, hills, ect. To the right I went and by then it was about 10am and it was getting hotter and hotter by the minute. I was roasting out there. If there ever was a day to test my mental toughness this was it. At some points I was only going about 4 mph which I'm not sure if that even qualifies as moving forward but the heat was just sucking the life out of me. I have never been so happy to see the old guys hanging out at Fly. The men in there thought we were crazy and I think at that point I fully agreed. Rolf was there as well refueling so we rode into Puckett's together. After a fuel stop there we headed back to the cars....those beatiful beautiful cars. Rolf went to pick up Julie who was at a BBQ joint about 12 miles down the road. She called it day after about 95 miles.
On the way home I was going to stop by the YMCA pool to just sit and cool off but I couldn't even muster the energy required to do that. I did stop at Sonic and got my Hot Fudge Peanut Butter Milkshake which really just rocks my world after a hard workout. I can't tell you how good that tasted after the day that I had just survived. I got home around 4pm and stood in a cold shower.
My skin is sunburned, my legs are sore, my body is just all over tired. I really feel that if I can survive a day like yesterday, I can survive a day in Lake Placid. The key is to not give in to the misery...don't let the heat win...don't let the pain win...it will all be over at some point and you'll be stronger because of it. Bring it on Lake Placid...I'm ready for you!
My sunburned forhead...yes those are stripes...from the airvents in my helmet.
A good look huh?
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