The EPIC training weekend…

Wow, first I have to say I survived! And it was awesome. I had a really, really good training weekend. On the schedule was –
Saturday: 2-ish mile open water swim followed by a 15 mile run – then a team BBQ
Sunday: 116 mile bike ride – then another team BBQ

Friday I had decided I could assist one of our Team Z Challenged Athletes, Doug-who is vision impaired. We spoke Friday and coordinated a plan for Saturday, where I would be his swim and run guide. I’ve never been a guide before, but my pace was OK for his, so I wanted to help out.

Saturday morning I got up early and headed out to pick up Doug for 6:15 to be at Gunston Manor for 7:00-ish for the 7:30 open water swim sessions. There were to be two sessions and Doug and I were going to do them both. The course was an approximate 800 meter rectangle-ish one. One of the coordinators told us swimmers to ‘just ignore’ the hydrilla. [Hydrilla verticillata: Submersed perennial herb. Rooted, with long stems that branch at the surface where growth becomes horizontal and dense mats form. Small, pointed leaves are arranged in whorls of 4 to 8. Leaves have serrated margins and one or more sharp teeth under the midrib (see Godfrey and Wooten 1979). Development of these features may vary with location, age, and water quality (Kay 1992).] Um, TEETH? Is that what I felt? Is THAT what I spit out at the end? LOL Anyway, we got our wetsuits on – the air and water temp was 72 degrees and I debated on wearing a wetsuit… Getting in the water wasn’t too bad. We waded out to the starting ‘line’ and talked about how I would sight and help Doug remain on course. Off we went. I stayed to Doug’s left and at his hip. To let him know we were ‘off course’ I tapped him on the hip and we’d stop and regroup and go. On our first lap one of the coordinators cut it short due to some boat traffic. We felt a bit of hydrilla; it was not too bad. We did two more full loops during the first session, and each loop seemed to get better and better as far as the sighting and guiding went. There were parts of each loop that seemed to be more ‘swimmer friendly’, too. We stopped a bit before the second session started. During the second session we did two more full loops. As we did each loop we did not always go ‘around’ the buoys, but did go to them. I must have been sighting and guiding OK, because Doug hit one of the buoys head on! However, each time we swam a loop the hydrilla seemed to be multiplying. What actually happened was the tide was going out and that stuff was just that much closer to the surface wrapping around your legs and arms as you went along. Lovely! After our 5th lap we decided we’d had enough hydrilla! (I am SO glad I had my wetsuit on!) Total swim was approximately 2.3 miles.

On to the run…I had all my stuff at the car so I went up to change and promised Doug I’d be back to get him for the run. Doug needed to run 10 and I needed to run 20. The plan was to run a 10 mile loop with Doug and do the additional myself. I finally was ready and was getting ready to prep my Camelback and realized I was missing the spigot for it! Major bummer…I had to resort to carrying a water bottle. This meant I would not be able to do a 10 mile loop as I can only go about 5-6 miles on one bottle. We decided to do 2 laps of 5 miles. There was a light drizzle / rain coming down and it was kind of nice, temperature wise. I had Doug attached to my right wrist by a string and held the cue sheet with my right hand and my water bottle in my left. We were off! There was some road traffic where we had to be careful since we were running side by side. But all in all, the run – both laps – went well. I did a water bottle change out at the end of the first loop and got a fresh cue sheet. It did start to rain harder at one point and we heard some not so distant thunder, but there were no mishaps. Neither Doug or I ended up in a ditch – I’d call that a success! Unfortunately I was really hungry on the run…I only wanted real food. So I stopped at 10 miles and had food. We hung out for a bit then headed home. I got home and was STILL hungry. I ate some more then eventually went out and ran another 5 miles. I got home from that and was ready for dinner! Total run was 15 miles.

On to Sunday and the bike ride, which would be (of course) my longest to date! The IM peeps had a 7AM start time so I had to be there by about 6:30 to allow time for all the usual pre-ride stuff. I did get a tad turned around with directions as I got close to the location but was successful in getting there timely and being ready to go on time. I won’t write too much about the ride, but I will say it was (for me) the most perfect ride! It was broken up in two segments; the first was about 74, the second about 42…however at the end of it all my Garmin showed 118.5, so I am going to take it! I had my nutrition nailed for the entire ride and was very pleased with that. I had no problems to speak of! My heart rate averaged zone 2 for the ride as well. Yay!

Sadly, one of the riders in my group (Mary) during the first segment took a spill while crossing some railroad tracks. She was ok and was able to get on her bike and finish the segment. But she had some problems braking and shifting and opted to do the second segment on a trainer in the parking lot. She rocked…but unfortunately an x–ray later that evening showed a fractured elbow. Her orthopedist says she should be OK for IM USA though. (fingers crossed!) The funny thing about the ride… When we had about 8 miles left we came to an intersection with a bunch of saggers and support peeps there. Our coach, Ed, was saying "slow down, stop!" I did, not knowing why…and he said "here, have some of this chicken and turkey. It is really salty and will taste so good right now." Well, I was not too sure but decided to give it a go. OMG – it was SO good. I kept eating and eating. Anyway, finally time to pull away…off for the last 8 and then rolled into the parking lot. Then it was BBQ TIME! I regrouped with my riding buddies here and we talked about our perfect ride day… Riding buddies are the best.

Last night I went out for my scheduled 50 minute run. It took a bit to loosen up but I made it through the entire 50 minutes. This morning was the third week of the Tuesday long (90 minute) swim practices to get the extra distance in. This was my FIRST long swim as the last two I was (1) out of town and (2) ultra tired. I was a bit nervous about it but I made it through! I swam about 2.32 miles! Of course, when I was done I was…STARVING! Tonight is a ‘easy’ zone 2 bike ride. I’ll bet I’ll be starving after that, too.