4 Weeks and Counting

Sunday marked exactly 4 weeks until race day! It was an interesting and stressful week/weekend for me. As mentioned, my bike broke last weekend in The Boulder Peak and we scrambled all week to get the part to me before the weekend so I could get in my long ride. It was overnighted on Thursday and delivered Friday, however I wasn't told that I had to be home to receive the package for overnight delivery and missed the mailman. I was so angry. So much for OVERNIGHT! I called the post office and they said that I couldn't come and get it until Saturday at 10am!!! What?

I usually ride long on Saturday but instead decided to cross my fingers that if I got the part to the shop by 10-11 am Saturday they would get it done, risky on Saturday in a bike shop, but it was worth a shot. I had planned to get up and run early but when the alarm went off at 6am I was still exhausted and had no love to run. I slept til 9:15 on the couch, went to get the part, drop it at the shop, and head home to run before it got any hotter, if that was possible.

The run was good. I got in 3 hours and 15 minutes. Aerobically I felt great, structurally I lasted longer than my 3 hour run a few weeks ago and only my knees were a bit achy at the end. I was also running faster which was positive! I got home and just wanted to lay around but instead hurried down to the bike shop to pick up my bike. It was done, yipee! However, it wasn't only the derailleur hanger I broke, I ruined (somehow) the derailleur and $200 later I was on my way home with a working bike! Arg!

Sunday was a fantastic day on the bike! We met at 7:30am in North Boulder to ride toward Fort Collins and Horsetooth Reservoir. It should be about 12o miles round trip. The first 45-60 minutes my legs & knees were tight and I was definitely feeling yesterdays run. They finally opened up and I was feeling great. There was 3 of us riding so it was a good group but I didn't want to suck wheels the whole time and draft, since I won't have a wheel to suck at Iron Man. I held back and did my own work. It was relatively flat until we got to Carter Lake and Horsetooth and we had some pretty wicked climbs but it was a good change of pace from the flat stuff and I felt strong. We stopped for fuel (food and hydration) and headed home. I thought for sure around mile 80 I would hit a wall and just feel smoked but I felt great, was hanging on up front, and feeling more confident about my fitness with each mile. We hit S. Boulder in 5:30 hours with 102 miles on the odometer. I had hoped to get in about 120 (IM is 112 so I wanted to go that and then some). I peeled off from the guys and rode for another hour on my own.

Off the bike I threw on the running shoes, even though I was hungry and ready to lay around in the AC. I thought "OK, just do 10 minutes and you can go eat and rest". But I felt great! My legs didn't feel too tired, my knees didn't ache, and I had good rhythm. 30 minutes later, drenched in sweat, I was home! All in all it was a great weekend of training (minus the broken bike headache). It gave me the little extra boost of confidence about my fitness level leading into IM. I have a 2 more weeks of solid training until I back it off and I feel like I'm right on target for a good race. It's good to know all the long hours of training are paying off.

So, Kevin was looking back at the last few years to see what the slowest time to qualify for Kona in the Women's 25-29 age group was and the results are interesting:
2003: 10:58
2004: 13:57
2005: 11:50
2006: 10:39
2007: 10:56

Qualifying for Kona is certainly not my goal this year but I am so curious to see how I will stack up against the competition. Stay tuned...