5 Weeks to go....

Weekend Report: 8/8 and 8/9

I had a chicken salad for lunch on Friday and it made me so sick I had to go home early from work Friday. I was sick all night with major stomach pains. Had some chicken soup and ravioli for dinner and tried to hydrate for the 100M ride Saturday with the girls.

Saturday morning my stomach was feeling better and I went to VQ at 5am ready for a long ride with the girls. We were going to drive to Mendota together to do the ride… but the weather was terrible. T-storms were being called for all morning. Got to VQ and the girls all decided not to go. So I stared the drive to Mendota on my own. About 45min into the drive it started POURING rain. And my stomach was bothering me again.

I decided driving 2 hours by myself to ride for 5:30hrs in the pouring rain (and lightning) was not worth it. So I turned around and went back home. Got went back to bed and got up… still raining in Chicago. Ended up having a nice day with E. (Got some credits for Sunday, not such a good day for E.)

Ran 17 miles on Saturday night, starting about 4… one of the worst runs of my life. It was SOOOO HOT. I stopped at every water fountain, had a hydration belt with me and was walk/running. But it was miserable. E left me about ½ way through, so I ran home by myself. Ended up with major chafing on my back from the hydration belt.

Drove to Schaumburg post B&M’s engagement party, it’s amazing how much things have changed in 5 yrs. E. drove and I slept (God bless him) we got there late and got everything ready for the race Sunday morning.

Up at 4 for the Bangs Lake Olympic Distance Sunday. Weather.com was calling for 100 degrees and ridiculous humidity. Awesome.

Got all set up in transition and was feeling really good. Told everyone around me that I knew, a bunch of VQ tasters – so fun! That this was just a whatever race… I just want to have a good one before IM. No puking or flat tires or terrible runs. That was really the only goal.

The swim start was really fun. Saw a bunch of folks I know and haven’t seen in a long time, had some laughs and tried to figure out what buoy we were supposed to swim around. The swim start was a beach start so I did some of the dolphin dives Charlie taught us. Kinda fun. And got some of the girls out of my way.

The swim was great. I was crusin’ just watching the other girls kind of right behind me so I didn’t swim out to sea. Went around the buoy and apparently there had been a wind at our back. Now it was right in my left ear. Every time I tried to breathe left I got a big shot of water in the mouth – not awesome. Then some chick kept trying to swim up on me. I just couldn’t shake her. And she was going sideways. So I finally spotted where we were getting out and kicked it up a notch. Dph from Taste (she’s awesome) passed me handedly so I tried to follow her head for a while.

There was a ½ mile run from the swim in to the transition area… random, but let me get my head on straight. It was already hot. Transition was short and out on the course. Picked up speed right away. Eric had told me, “You’re the 25th woman out.” Which didn’t really mean anything on the bike course b/c there were duathlaon folks out there. So I stopped counting how many I passed. Two women passed me handedly and one or two guys, but I kept to myself and tried to focus on turnover. It was WINDY!!!

Second ½ of the bike I picked it up b/c I was feeling really good. Drank a bottle of water, ¾ a bottle of Infitit and ½ a bottle of Gatorade. Started to get a bit of a cramp so I slowed down on the fluids.

Came in fast off the bike and hit the run. Thank God I bought the hand held bottle and filled it with GT Endurance, it was SO handy to have… the run was SOOOOO HOT. Cramps for mile 1 and 2, as usual. Mile 2 to 3 was BRUTAL. Uphill on blacktop in the beating sun with no end in sight. Rachel caught me and asked where the turn was… Not too much further I said. Then she went screaming past me not long after!

Saw a bunch of folks I know out there and tried to cheer them on. The way back was WAY easier than the way out. And I was really surprised by how good I felt. I picked up the pace – couldn’t catch Rachel, but it was fast for me with the heat. I was actually singing and talking to people, cheering them on all the way back. So fun!

Came in feeling really strong. I had been hungry the whole race (E. threw out my PBJ b/c he thought it was days old). So I got some chow and hung around for awards. 2nd place Athena and a PR! Not so bad with the wind and heat. Feeling really good about it. 3:00 flat. Solid time.

Had to do a 4 hr ride post race and figuring out a time was agony. E.’s parents were in town and we were at my parent’s house so we didn’t want to offend either. It was WAY too hot out to ride outside without support so I decided to do 4 hrs at VQ – Indoors. Not awesome, but the best choice really. Had lunch with my folks then headed back to the city. E drove and I slept again (he’s so great).

He dropped me off right at VQ and I did 2 hrs while watching Hair the movie and another 2hrs watching Basic Instinct. Right at 3:55 E texts me that he and his folks are getting fro-yo at Anthony’s so I grabbed the bike and met them.

It was funny seeing their faces as I pull up on my tri bike all geeked out. They had never seen me like that – funny really. We had icecream and then I finally got to go home! Yippee!

Overall, a great weekend. Kinda crazy with all the changing of workouts, but Coach Rob is awesome. I’m such a pain in his as* right now, but he’s so good about it. He’s fantastic.

Echo made the Inc. 500 list today. A very exciting day for Echo and my career really. Time for a 50 minute run and some more work tonight. Ironman bound, baby!!!