May #s:
Swim: 25,150 yds or 14.3 miles
Bike: 480.5 miles or 27:30
Run: 92.8 miles or 13:05
Cumulative
Swim: 134,325 yds or 76.3 miles
Bike: 1878 miles or 105 hrs 50 minutes
Run: 390.9 miles or 58 hrs 30 minutes
Weight: dropped 4.8 lbs in May, 21.8 total
----------------------
June 11-12 MS 150
Rode my bike 150 miles from Proctor (near Duluth) to White Bear Lake over 2 days for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. The first day, Tim and I used it as a training day and rode hard-ish. It was a fairly flat ride so we pushed hard until the lunch break stop around mile 45. Stopped and had a sub sandwich about 10:00 for "lunch" and then pressed on for the final 30ish miles. Caught up to another pair of riders and we "pelotoned" with them for 10ish or so miles, each taking a turn and then falling to the back. It was a fun way to ride and kept the speed up as a group vs trying to individually. We were clipping along around 23-24 mph in our 4-some until we dropped them and finished up on together. Tim and I averaged 20.7 mph over that first day and came in as the 3rd and 4th bikers overall. Not as impressive as it may sound, but we walked around with puffed chests. Maybe, if you're lucky, I'll expound on that in a further post.
Sunday found it to be a much more casual ride with the full team of 7. We stopped for lunch about mile 39, then again around 65 and finally at the finish. It was a great weekend for a ride - made a few more friends, solidified others and got some good mileage in on the saddle. Just have to make sure I don't get a false sense of security because it was sooo flat, Madison will be nothing like it!
Just wanted to get that down on "paper". Gotta get up early for swimming, but will hopefully write more tomorrow night about my first tri of the season (PRed the Olympic distance, there's your teaser!).
Monday, June 20, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Team Chubby!
Memorial Weekend in Madtown went rather well, if I do say so myself! Tim and I left town early Friday afternoon and had a good trip all-around. The drive down went quick and not without a chuckle or two and a story that become the theme for the weekend.
We had to stop for gas about an hour or so from Madison. As I'm pulling into the gas station, we notice a single female parked by a pump not dressed too outrageously, but she just had "that look" about her that said stripper. Tim mentioned something along those lines and we didn't think anything of it and pulled in a row over to fill up. As I was standing there at the pump, Tim went inside to buy a snack, followed quickly by 'the girl' running into the store (not because Tim went it). She came running back out, moved her car to the other side of the pump I was using and then ran back into the store. Kinda strange I thought, but who am I to ask why so it was just a fleeting thought. I finished filling up, she came running back out, Tim came out (not because she came running out, but was done with his purchases) and I went in to empty my tank. After a couple of minutes I came back out, got in the car and we started driving away.
Tim starts out the conversation at that point with, "Yup, she was a stripper.", or something along those lines. I look over and said, "Really?". He then proceeds to say how she was having trouble with the pump (first time filling up with gas?) and couldn't figure it out. She was calling Tim for assistance, but he tried to ignore her, but to no avail. He said she started out with "Sir? Sir? Oh wait, Man? Can you help me?" Who calls out "Man"?! Maybe she realized Tim didn't look old enough to call him Sir. Anyway, he finally stops ignoring her, gets out to assist her and he hears her reading what the pump is scrolling across the screen. Yup, definitely must be her first time. She gets the pump to finally pump and then asks Tim where he's from.
Her: Are you from around here?
Tim: No, we're from Mpls.
Her: Are you going to Chubby's?
Tim: No, we're going to Madison
Her: Oh, okay.
Tim went on to tell me that while he was inside and she came running in apparently she was having trouble with the other pump and using her credit card and the pump told her to "see the cashier". She then had to switch pumps, run back inside to use the ATM and pay cash. She kept saying how late she was for work.
Being ditsy, dressed provocatively, going to work on a Friday evening, and then asking if we were going to a place called "Chubby's" (in a way that implied that she was working there) can only mean that, yes, she is a stripper, or works at a such an establishment. From that point on, chubby was the word of the weekend. It probably didn't help that we were camping that weekend and thus, had to "pitch our tents" when we got there.
Now, on to the training and the real reason for the trip. We happened to pick the same weekend that Madison was holding their marathon on Sunday. We originally were going to bike the main part of the course on Saturday and then run on Sunday, but since the marathon interrupted our course we had to switch our days around. No big deal. We rode from the IM start out to where the loop begins in Verona and back, about a 34 mile round trip, and got familiar with that section. It's a manageable section that felt, for the most part, uphill on the way out which hopefully means it'll feel downhill on the way back. Could've just been the wind that day though. There is 1 nasty hill on the way back though that'll be interesting on race day. That'll come about mile 105.
Off the bikes, took about a 15-20 minute transition and off to the run. On Race Day it'll be the same running loop 2x. This particular weekend we were just going to do it once though. Before the weekend, I made a laminated copy of the course just to have to familiarize myself with. Glad we had it! There are a few turns and neither one of us had done the whole thing in the past. We were each familiar with some of the same sections, and some sections only 1 of us knew. We were able to figure it out and got a nice 12 mile run in. 34 mile ride, 12 mile run, not a bad BRick!
Saturday night saw gorgeous temps, clear skies and s'mores by the campfire.
Sunday saw a late start and rain.
Our intent was to break down camp, pack up and drive out to the bike loop in Verona and be riding by 9:00. Karl and his girlfriend, Jen, also come down for a training weekend (Karl did the IM last year and is doing it again this year) and camped with us. We were bouncing questions off him all weekend and it was nice to have him there for course familiarity. The only issue with training groups getting bigger is that there are more people that you end up needing to wait for.
We broke camp and drove to Verona, but we didn't end up starting to ride until almost 10:30. Once on our bikes, it only took about 3 minutes before it started raining and didn't stop the whole first loop (42 miles). It didn't rain as hard as my training weekend in Rochester, but this was a much more difficult course and the wetness just added to it. Within a couple of miles of finishing the loop we saw/heard lightening and thunder so once back to our cars we opted to wait out the storm. It turned into a 45 minute wait so we had time to eat and drink, but also time to get cold, especially from already being wet. Karl opted to call it a day and started packing up.
Tim and I didn't really say anything to each other about riding a 2nd loop other than say let's see what the weather does here pretty soon (Tim had his iphone w/ him so we were able to track the storm. It turned out to be a bigger storm we were actually riding in than what we thought at the time!). After the clouds finally stopped dripping, we decided to head out for our 2nd loop. We drove all that way, we wanted to make it worth it and get the miles in! We both admitted about 1/2 way through that 2nd loop that if the other would've said let's call it a day and not head out again, the other probably would've agreed without a second thought. Now that it's over, I'm glad neither one of us spoke up!
It turned out to be a pretty good educational loop for me in that I knew what was coming up because we had just finished riding that first time so I was able to apply that knowledge right away this second time around. It was also eye opening in that the hills seemed hillier because I was more energy depleted. Something I'll have to train for and keep in mind for race day.
Thankfully, the 2nd loop stayed dry from above (just wet from road spray), we finished in about the same amount of time as the 1st and we called it a day. Cleaned up as best we could, found a local pizza joint and devoured a meat lovers and hit the road to come home that same night so we could have Monday off to recoup.
All in all, a good, eye-opening, course educational weekend. I have a better sense of what the bike portion will need from me, what I can put into it and some time splits to give to the family and any of my spectators.
The biggest thing I came out of there with though is that I'm getting more confident that I'll be able to do this sucker! After riding 119 total miles over the weekend, covering the whole course in 2 separate bits and experiencing the run course I thought that if the race was just a week way, I'd be able to finish it! It may not be pretty at the end, but I would be able to finish! 3 more months of training and hopefully I'll be able to work on getting it to a somewhat respectable and "pretty" finish.
Team Chubby tamed the beast this weekend!
We had to stop for gas about an hour or so from Madison. As I'm pulling into the gas station, we notice a single female parked by a pump not dressed too outrageously, but she just had "that look" about her that said stripper. Tim mentioned something along those lines and we didn't think anything of it and pulled in a row over to fill up. As I was standing there at the pump, Tim went inside to buy a snack, followed quickly by 'the girl' running into the store (not because Tim went it). She came running back out, moved her car to the other side of the pump I was using and then ran back into the store. Kinda strange I thought, but who am I to ask why so it was just a fleeting thought. I finished filling up, she came running back out, Tim came out (not because she came running out, but was done with his purchases) and I went in to empty my tank. After a couple of minutes I came back out, got in the car and we started driving away.
Tim starts out the conversation at that point with, "Yup, she was a stripper.", or something along those lines. I look over and said, "Really?". He then proceeds to say how she was having trouble with the pump (first time filling up with gas?) and couldn't figure it out. She was calling Tim for assistance, but he tried to ignore her, but to no avail. He said she started out with "Sir? Sir? Oh wait, Man? Can you help me?" Who calls out "Man"?! Maybe she realized Tim didn't look old enough to call him Sir. Anyway, he finally stops ignoring her, gets out to assist her and he hears her reading what the pump is scrolling across the screen. Yup, definitely must be her first time. She gets the pump to finally pump and then asks Tim where he's from.
Her: Are you from around here?
Tim: No, we're from Mpls.
Her: Are you going to Chubby's?
Tim: No, we're going to Madison
Her: Oh, okay.
Tim went on to tell me that while he was inside and she came running in apparently she was having trouble with the other pump and using her credit card and the pump told her to "see the cashier". She then had to switch pumps, run back inside to use the ATM and pay cash. She kept saying how late she was for work.
Being ditsy, dressed provocatively, going to work on a Friday evening, and then asking if we were going to a place called "Chubby's" (in a way that implied that she was working there) can only mean that, yes, she is a stripper, or works at a such an establishment. From that point on, chubby was the word of the weekend. It probably didn't help that we were camping that weekend and thus, had to "pitch our tents" when we got there.
Now, on to the training and the real reason for the trip. We happened to pick the same weekend that Madison was holding their marathon on Sunday. We originally were going to bike the main part of the course on Saturday and then run on Sunday, but since the marathon interrupted our course we had to switch our days around. No big deal. We rode from the IM start out to where the loop begins in Verona and back, about a 34 mile round trip, and got familiar with that section. It's a manageable section that felt, for the most part, uphill on the way out which hopefully means it'll feel downhill on the way back. Could've just been the wind that day though. There is 1 nasty hill on the way back though that'll be interesting on race day. That'll come about mile 105.
Off the bikes, took about a 15-20 minute transition and off to the run. On Race Day it'll be the same running loop 2x. This particular weekend we were just going to do it once though. Before the weekend, I made a laminated copy of the course just to have to familiarize myself with. Glad we had it! There are a few turns and neither one of us had done the whole thing in the past. We were each familiar with some of the same sections, and some sections only 1 of us knew. We were able to figure it out and got a nice 12 mile run in. 34 mile ride, 12 mile run, not a bad BRick!
Saturday night saw gorgeous temps, clear skies and s'mores by the campfire.
Sunday saw a late start and rain.
Our intent was to break down camp, pack up and drive out to the bike loop in Verona and be riding by 9:00. Karl and his girlfriend, Jen, also come down for a training weekend (Karl did the IM last year and is doing it again this year) and camped with us. We were bouncing questions off him all weekend and it was nice to have him there for course familiarity. The only issue with training groups getting bigger is that there are more people that you end up needing to wait for.
We broke camp and drove to Verona, but we didn't end up starting to ride until almost 10:30. Once on our bikes, it only took about 3 minutes before it started raining and didn't stop the whole first loop (42 miles). It didn't rain as hard as my training weekend in Rochester, but this was a much more difficult course and the wetness just added to it. Within a couple of miles of finishing the loop we saw/heard lightening and thunder so once back to our cars we opted to wait out the storm. It turned into a 45 minute wait so we had time to eat and drink, but also time to get cold, especially from already being wet. Karl opted to call it a day and started packing up.
Tim and I didn't really say anything to each other about riding a 2nd loop other than say let's see what the weather does here pretty soon (Tim had his iphone w/ him so we were able to track the storm. It turned out to be a bigger storm we were actually riding in than what we thought at the time!). After the clouds finally stopped dripping, we decided to head out for our 2nd loop. We drove all that way, we wanted to make it worth it and get the miles in! We both admitted about 1/2 way through that 2nd loop that if the other would've said let's call it a day and not head out again, the other probably would've agreed without a second thought. Now that it's over, I'm glad neither one of us spoke up!
It turned out to be a pretty good educational loop for me in that I knew what was coming up because we had just finished riding that first time so I was able to apply that knowledge right away this second time around. It was also eye opening in that the hills seemed hillier because I was more energy depleted. Something I'll have to train for and keep in mind for race day.
Thankfully, the 2nd loop stayed dry from above (just wet from road spray), we finished in about the same amount of time as the 1st and we called it a day. Cleaned up as best we could, found a local pizza joint and devoured a meat lovers and hit the road to come home that same night so we could have Monday off to recoup.
All in all, a good, eye-opening, course educational weekend. I have a better sense of what the bike portion will need from me, what I can put into it and some time splits to give to the family and any of my spectators.
The biggest thing I came out of there with though is that I'm getting more confident that I'll be able to do this sucker! After riding 119 total miles over the weekend, covering the whole course in 2 separate bits and experiencing the run course I thought that if the race was just a week way, I'd be able to finish it! It may not be pretty at the end, but I would be able to finish! 3 more months of training and hopefully I'll be able to work on getting it to a somewhat respectable and "pretty" finish.
Team Chubby tamed the beast this weekend!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)