Cranking forCrones!

Dead Last..........that is what place I came in on Sunday for the Cranking for Crones Metric Century Charity Ride. Are there places for a charity ride? Still though, last place.......this has never happened to me.

I was actually using the ride as a change up to my training and to help a good cause. The ride started only five miles from the house.

So I am up by 0700 on Sunday and out the door for a 13 mile warm up before the ride. I get to the race site, check in and then chat with Gregg for a while. There is about 30 people doing the ride and some people looked very serious. I had thought about wearing my new helmet but was afraid to be ridiculed by skinny guys with shaved legs bragging about their power output so I left it at home. I did show up to the race on my tri bike though. The course was an out and back and my goal was 17 MPH but truthfully my legs were pretty sore, I was not going to work hard and I just wanted to get miles in.

At the start a few groups formed and I made a conscious decision not to stick with any group. I wanted to ride my own ride and not try to keep up with people and put undo stress on the hammy. I hit the first rest stop at 30K and kept cruising..... I was feeling great and we had a tail wind for the out section of the course. I was cruising at over 19MPH without any great effort. About 5K from the turn around point I realized the SAG truck was right behind me and I wasn't sure why. I stopped to get water at the turn around point and the guy told me I was the last one...........I was confused and then realized about 1/2 the folks doing the ride were Sally's and turned around at the first aid station....how weak is that!

Since I knew I was 6 minutes behind the closest group and they were pace lining..... I knew it would be a long, lonely ride back. I think that 35-55 were the worst miles..... the wind was gusting over 30MPH .......as we got close the terrain closed up a bit and the trees afforded some protection from the wind..... I was barely able to maintain 15MPH (not sure if I did) but I pushed on and as we got closer I got stronger..... the 3:00-4:00 on the bike was a tough time for me. I kept telling myself 80 would be good for the day........maybe 75...man some crazy things can go through your head on that bike!

I pulled into the park (76 miles total so far) mentally drained and telling myself I would make a beeline for home.....but seeing the other athletes there stuffing their faces motivated me so I helped myself to some goodies..... put my SAG bag in my vest pocket, said good bye to Gregg and gritted out 16 more. The last two were in my neighborhood but the end result was a 90 Mile ride in 5:24.......Ave MPH isn't impressive but I feel good today (hammy sore) and am proud of my accomplishment......... a huge confidence booster just getting the miles in and as a bonus my stomach felt fine as a I had no issues with nutrition.


Sat: Huge day in the pool (for me). I decided not to go to the lake to save time so off to Healthplex where I completed 3000 yards (2743 meters) in the pool in around 1:20. At 2600-3000 all I could muster were 100s but I am happy with the swim.

Bike: 20 miles.......easy with the new helmet on. I used the visor to check it out. I am going to take it off and use sun glasses this week to see which I like better.

Totals last week:

Swim: 4743 2 workouts
Bike: 137 3 workouts
Run: 4.5 1 workout
Aqua run: 30 Min
Yoga: X2
Core/ Weights X2 45 min

There was frost on the ground this morning so I think my lake days are over. Sad but I will gain over an hour to my day.