King of the Mountain

Friday was a rest day. I was pleased that after the long run on Thursday night nothing was hurt, sore or damaged. I had no aches or pains. Sure the legs were a little tired but nothing much.

There were a couple of groups of riders meeting early Saturday morning. I hooked up with Lance, JD, Keith and the gang first. We did the Cain Brake loop and then headed to Epley Road. Lance wanted to do a ‘King of the Mountain’ type race. I was looking for a tempo ride –but we headed out. This was a full, all out, draft legal race. The Epley out and back is a very rolling hills total 10.5 mile out and back. The out is much faster than the back. Keith took off with a long hard pull with Lance and Raland on his wheel. I was sizing up the situation – I had a long day planned and did not want to crack early on racing with these guys. However, being 20 yards behind the group was not the place to be. I did a hard acceleration and pulled up their wheel – why not grab the draft if it is available. Lance tried a hard pull to form a breakaway but Keith only grabbed his wheel. When Lance was expecting a hard pull from Keith, to create a gap, it did not come. The rest of the group eased back up on Keith’s wheel. At the turn around point everyone had cracked except for me and Keith. I had not done a single pull up to this point. So that we would not have to worry about the others Keith and I did a series of hard pulls. The gap was now insurmountable – no one could catch us. We eased off of the pace just a little bit and were jockeying for position. There was a lot of posturing. I tried to only pull on the up hills to limit the draft advantage that Keith would have on me. I’m still not sure how it happened but at the last hill I managed to out kick Keith to the finish (He must have given it to me – but he said he was done).

This was the first of the hilly Epley Road loops for the day. I soon met up with Jim and we added a lot more miles. I felt really strong on this day. On the second Epley loop, about 20 miles later, I time trialed it by myself and finished only about 90 seconds off of the group pace. Another 20 miles later and I did the loop at my projected ironman pace – another 90 seconds off of the pace. I went from averaging 23 to 20 to 18 on the back half of the loop. This allowed me to put my pacing in order for the ironman. 18 seems like it will be about accurate for the bike in Louisville.

Jim wanted to do a brick after riding the 90 miles. I was not planning on running but it seemed like a good idea. Jim said just an easy 3 miles. I challenged him to a 5 mile run / walk. Although the run was not easy it was very manageable and Jim and I walked away with a confidence inspiring 6 miles (no walking) at 8:36 pace. We had a good day. I was especially satisfied with the different exertion levels during the bike. I was able to recover and still log the miles. During the group ‘King of the Mountain’ my heart rate maxed out during the last sprint – 188 beats per minute – this is way above my LT for biking (and running for that matter).

Sunday would be an easier day – I ran 3 miles with Jodie and hit the jungle gym equipment at Jackson Station. The heat was oppressive but I did about 40 pull-ups / chin-ups and quite a few push-ups and sit ups. I felt heavy and weak – that is what a lack of strength training will do for you.

Later, I left the house to meet up with the group ride at 1PM. I took my running shoes to grab an easy brick after the ride. On the way to the ride my left pedal spring dislodged or something – this has happened once before. My foot would become disengaged easily if I was not careful. Not a big deal because I would not be riding hard. However, this ride would be much more challenging than I anticipated. Michael, an ultra runner that I have not seen before, pulled the group out the 15 miles at a break neck speed. The group got split up several ways and it was a pretty hard ride. I was riding out of the draft for most of the way.

At the turn around I was riding with Jim and talking. Not really paying attention we got dropped. I knew that I could probably catch the group if I wanted so I just let them ride away. I waited too long – I think that guy Michael was pulling them back. So the return trip turned into a pretty good tempo ride – not the recovery ride I was wanting. I met back up with Ben after the ride and we did an easy 3 mile brick. I picked his brain for more ironman tips.

After the exercise we headed over to Kily’s house for a pinebeltpacer meeting. There was so much good food and drink – not to mention the pool. I had a great time hanging out with everyone but especially Charles and Jim and Eric – we were rocking the pool with cannon balls and preacher seats.

My goals for the rest of the month are to stay injury free and fresh - both mentally and physically.