SRS: Saturday Ride Stats

Hey there Sportsfans! Hope that your weekend is treating you well. Me – all I can say is that NOW, I am one happy camper. Happy and TIRED camper. And it only took a 6.5-hour workout to arrive at this exact point. A mere 5:50 bike, followed by a :30 run… now for many of you, I realize this isn’t that big of a deal. But for yours truly, well… this was the longest time I have EVER sat on my bike. And boy – all I can say is that I LOVE my saddle.

For the first time, I can actually imagine myself completing an Ironman. And it only took 111.75 miles to arrive at that realization. (Yeah, so I fell .25 miles short of the 112-mile mark… but my seat was about to kill me, and I really didn’t want to backtrack for .13 miles only to return to my car. Besides, with Coach Jen, I’m sure that I’ll have another ride or two like this on my agenda before Arizona. And I can’t wait!)

So in light of my usual quips, I’m going to write about today’s observations. Believe me – you have a lot of time to think when you spend 5:50 on your bike. Some of it good, some of it bad. But through and through – you just keep going. And going. And going.

My Stats for Saturday February 9, 2008.

-Number of times my alarm went off: 2. (5:30 for breakfast #1 and 6:45 for breakfast #2)

-Total Miles Biked and Run: 115.85

-Total Time spent biking and running: 6:20:14

-Amount of calories consumed before leaving the door: 800 (give or take)

-Cups of coffee: 1 (surely some sort of record for me)

-Number of water bottles carried on my bike: 3

-Number of water bottles carried on my person: 2 or 3 (depending on the time)

-Number of times stopped during the ride: 1 (at the 3:06 mark)

-Number of bathroom breaks during the ride: 1 (see above)

-Number of times going to the bathroom during the ride: 3 (new, previously unknown talent. Amazing at what we’ll do in order to simply keep going)

-Number of times “The Bike Group” passed me: 2

-Number of times I passed “The Bike Group”: 3 (hooray!)

-Number of times in the past that I have ever blown apart a Bike Group while throwing in a surge on the bike: 0

-Number of times today: 1 (I was told to throw in a few 5-minute pieces in zone 3. During one of these intervals, while biking into a strong headwind, people dropped off my wheel. This was the first time EVER I have managed to make a group fall apart. Bwahahahaha!)

-Number of gels consumed: too many

-Number of Gatorades consumed: to few

-Calories in general: About 80 per hour too few

-The exact moment when I realized that I didn’t get enough calories: 20 minutes into the run.

-Reaction that made me realize this: I wanted the biggest piece of steak ever. Even my 18.2-pound cat would be a tasty treat. GIVE ME MEAT! AND FOOD!

-Number of photos taken during the ride: 1 (see above)

-Why? Duh – because we were riding…

-What the man who took the photo did after he snapped the shot: grabbed my ½ consumed Gatorade bottle and downed the rest for himself.

-Why this man was prompted to do this: Because he had just eaten a GIGANTIC Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cup.

-What I wanted to do when this man was eating this Reese’s Pieces RIGHT in front of me: Grab it, devour it, and bike off as fast as I could (but I didn’t).

-Number of ponies that we saw galloping next to us at one point: 12

-Athlete that I thought about when seeing these wonderful creatures: Courtenay.

-The exact moment when I decided I hated my bike shorts: 2:38 (hours into the ride)

-How long it took me to get over this sentiment: 5 minutes (what the HECK was I supposed to do?)

-Number of Peanut Farms passed out in the country: 2

-Number of times thought about Peanut Butter, Peanut M&Ms, and Peanut Butter Cups: too many to count

-Number of “Stars & Bars” Flags Viewed: 14 (on houses and pickup trucks)

-Number of American Flags Viewed: 12

-Number of Bags of Cliff Blocks Consumed: 1

-Number of Margarita Cliff Blocks Consumed: 0

-Bags of Margarita Cliff Blocks purchased at Truly Spokin’ after the ride: 5 (the rest of the stock… sorry Victor – but you got me started on these things! They’re delicious)

-Number of times I thought this ride was the coolest thing in the entire world: countless

-Feet in elevation gained: Dude – we live in Florida. If you want hills, you’re in the wrong state.

-MPH average wind speed today: 17 (kind of like hills…)

-Number of states visited during the ride: 1 (only Florida – didn’t get lost like last time)

-Number of close range gunfire shots heard in VERY close proximity: 3

-How many beats my heart jumped after hearing these shots: 8

-Number of deer seen/heard galloping through the woods: 3 (you GET those hunters. Attack attack attack!!!)

-Number of hunters seen while riding: 0 (but I know they were there)

-Number of hunters seen at the store: 1

-Number of times I shed tears today: 3 (before the ride, when I hit the 100-mile mark, and afterwards while eating my favorite sandwich in the entire world. Whole wheat bread with 4 eggs (1 egg + 3 egg whites) + 8 pieces of ham + 2 slices of cheese… YUM!)

-Number of empty gel wrappers stuffed in my bra: 11 (NO littering allowed! Take out your trash…!)

-Number of minutes my bike aero bars remained unsticky: 30 minutes.

-Number of weird tan lines: 4 (legs AND the oddest looking lines on my hands. I was wearing arm warmers and in spite of the liberal amount of sunscreen applied; the tan lines look pretty funky…)

-Number of times stung by a bee: 1 (during a 5 minute zone 3 piece).

-Location of sting: Helmet vent, right side

-Previous bee stings on bike rides: 1 (right knee)

-Total bee stings on rides: 2

-Reaction to bee sting: Ripped off helmet, batted bee away (it was later discovered…), but…KEPT GOING WITH THE PIECE (Coach Jen will be proud…)

-Bee location during our pit stop: my ponytail.

-Bee finder: Ludi, my savior.

-Number of times I told myself to “HTFU”: Countless!

-Number of times I wondered HOW THE HECK do some people race in ONLY a bathing suit for 112 miles: 9

-Number of snakes seen: 2

-Number of hissing, ALIVE snakes seen: 2

-Number of poisonous snakes seen…: Going too fast to tell (thankfully!)

-Number of minutes it took to transition from the bike to the run: 9.5

-Amount of time it took to actually feel like I was running: 8 minutes or so

-What I was doing for those first 8 minutes: stumbling, making some weird attempt at running. Like Darth Vader with running shoes. Yeah. Not so good.

-How many minutes I felt GREAT on the run: 10

-How many minutes I wanted to eat anything and everything in site: Final 10

-How long it took me to rip open a Cliff Protein Bar (Peanut Butter!) and start eating AFTER I stopped running: a mere 22 seconds (another record!)

-How long it took me to devour that bar, and the next 2 bars: 3 minutes (you do the math, my jaw hurts from chewing)

-How many times would I do this workout again – in order to be the best athlete that I can: YOU CAN’T PUT A NUMBER ON THAT. JUST GO!

So yeah – awesome ride. I learned a few things about myself nutrition wise: what works, and more importantly, what doesn’t work. For the most part, things went really well today.

I wish I could be more creative, more introspective… but let’s face it. I’m tired.

And I just downed my first beer in about 3 months, 10 minutes ago. It was the most delicious post-bike beverage I have ever tasted. Gatorade, water, gels, coke, whatever aside. Copper Reid (as in “HTFU Australia!”) would be proud.

Give me a Fosters, Chips and Salsa, a long day in the saddle, comfy (seamless!!!) pjs, warm slippers, and some great Irish Music (Fiona Ritchie on NPR) and I’m as happy as a clam.

Throw in some cookies and milk, and I’ll be your new best friend.

Peanut Butter and I’m yours for all eternity.

Can’t wait to do it all over again…