Training weekend at Lake San Antonio was this past weekend. This year it was sad for me because June wasn't there to experience it/organize me/and be my tentmate. I did, however, have an awesome new tentmate, Stacy. I am so grateful to her for asking me to share a tent and for researching the REI tent rental, insisting on a 6 person tent and suggesting inflatable mattresses. Now THAT is the way to go. That inflatabe mattress eliminated the one thing I hate about camping...sleeping on the ground. heh. Unfortunately, Stacy and I had to travel separately as neither of us has a bike rack. That's ok, I like driving long distances alone and singing at the top of my lungs to all the metal hits.
Stacy
Our mac daddy tentI got up on Friday, got packed, hit Sports Basement one last time and headed out. I made a quick stop at Target to pick up some camping chairs and almost had a heartattack. When I came out of the store I was all, where is my car? I finally found it and walked to the hatchback and when I looked in it was empty! It took me about 3 seconds too long to figure out that it wasn't my car but the shock of a possibly stolen bike totally freaked me out and my legs were so shaky that I could barely work my clutch! The rest of the ride was uneventful and it was a beautiful day.
The weekend's events were as follows:
Friday - set up tent, get situated, eat dinner with mentor group, team briefing of weekend, partying
Saturday - 40 minute swim, 56 mile bike ride, lounging, team dinner with speakers and entertainment, partying
Sunday - 13.1 mile run, dying shortly thereafter, going home
I was all nervous.
I felt ok about the swimming part. The pros were doing 20 minutes out and back and this would be the first pro workout that I would be participating in all season. What was I thinking? I don’t think I got very far. I just wasn't really feeling it and am getting tired of my wetsuit riding up my back while simultaneously choking me in the front. I was also getting really dizzy as I breathe on my right and the sun was right in my face with every breath and going from sun to water, sun to water made me woozy. I would do some swimming and then would pop up and doggy paddle a bit. One thing I did notice was, when I was doing actual strokes, I was kicking ass. I had an unofficial partner in a purple cap who I was pacing myself against and I was getting way ahead of her and then she would catch up when I was "resting." I just kept thinking that the way back would be much more awesome (as it was last year) because I could look at the land and have the sun out of my face, but then after the turn I quickly realized that it was gonna be tougher than I remembered because for some reason there was an *effing* current…in the LAKE. How does a lake have a current? I was swimming my little heart out and not even moving. Made it to shore. Stumbled out and got ready for the bike.
Hez getting ready for the bike rideI had a great bike ride until mile 43.5. The ride is 56 miles long through some really great rolling hills, which are absolutely my favorite to ride. It was a pretty enjoyable ride, difficult at times, but beautiful as you ride through hills, fields, vineyards and cows grazing...and good company. I rode the whole way with the fabulous Laura, who kept me entertained with stories and "would you rathers" and helped me by letting me draft (even tho it's illegal....shhhhh) and then "pulling" me up the hills. At mile 40 starts Nasty Grade which is really all you can say about it. It IS just nasty. It starts out at around 3-4% grade and then suddenly it's about an 8% grade...oh, and it's 4 miles long. At my mile 43.5, I just could not go on.
Wildflower bike course: yes I rode that whole way
Bike course elevaton chart
Usually I talk myself in and out of the difficult parts of the swimming, biking and running with the obvious result being that the last word I have with myself is that I am going to continue and not stop. On Saturday, in the middle of Nasty Grade, I was all, "shut up and get off the bike" and I was definitely not arguing back. Even though I feel like a complete failure for doing so, I had to stop the bike just a mere 50 yards from the false summit and water stop. Not because of heavy breathing and accelerated heart rate, but because my legs could not do one.more.revolution. Once I clipped out I could barely even get my leg to the ground in time to support my own weight. I was so spent. It was so hot. And my legs were just burning. I walked a little way, got back on and made it to the stop. But it was not over because I still had to reach the summit and then deal with an additional gruelling 12 miles. On the descent from Nasty Grade I clocked 41.5 mph! I probably could have gone a bit faster but as I was whizzing down the hill and capably handling the soft turns, Iron Mo's voice popped in my head and she was saying, "last year during training weekend my friend broke her pelvis on the bike ride"....annnnd then I panicked and hit the brakes. (rolling eyes) The total ride for me was about 4 hours and 19 minutes. I lolly-gagged at water stops because I could. I was taking it slow to have energy for Nasty Grade, beacuse I could...but on race day I'll have to pick it up a bit.
Robin and Hez on Saturday (FYI -- that's a recovery beer)I was SO NERVOUS about the 13.1 mile run on Sunday. Partly because I hadn’t run over 6 miles this whole season and partly because I just hate being in the back of the group and that’s where I am because of my slow minutes per mile average. Luckily I had a running partner, Kathy. We discovered 2 weeks ago that we run the same speed and are both doing the long course. The run, you know…it was hard. But before we knew it, it was half way over and then we had 3 miles and then we were running in. I saw a jack rabbit, a snake and a lizard. Heh. And this is a PR on 13.1 for me. At the SF Half Marathon, last year, I ran it in 2:50 and my time for Sunday was 2:47. I was so stoked because the Wildfower course is much more difficult than the half I ran last year. Hi? Rockstar. Still, I was like 8th from last coming in. Sigh. My body just isn't designed for fast running. I believe it's desinged for lounging and drinking cocktails, by the way.
After the run I hit the shower (best shower I ever had), hopped in the car and drove as fast as I could to Denny's. I knew all the cool kids were going to In-n-Out in Salinas, but I really wanted french toast. It was a little difficult running almost 3 hours and then driving 3.5 hours to get home. I was totally zonked but made it safely despite some funny business on the highway from some people who thought it was the set of The Fast and the Furious. Do people really need to drive faster than 80 in stop and go traffic? No.
