white butterflies on crap

I went out for a little adventure last weekend with Don - it was Don's idea, so we'll call it Don's totally cool mini-adventure.

The plan - run a 4 mile race, swim in Blue Marsh lake for a while, then do some mountain biking around the lake.

At 9:15, I arrived at the race site "Run4Sam" (I have a nephew named Sam to whom I will be giving the give-away race t-shirt. I didn't see Don around, but hit the rest room, registered and did my warm-up run. It looked to be a flat, gravelly course - and it was going to be hotter than I expected.

At the starting line I found Don at when the race started, Don was like a rabbit. Keep in mind, Don is more than 10 years older than I am, and I'm getting pretty old. Also keep in mind that Don is the XTerra Triathlon national champ for his age group. One other thing - I've never run or raced with Don before.

So the beginning part of the race is downhill, over a bridge, then a very sharp U-turn, then under the same bridge, then easy going for a mile or so.

Don is the third racer to the U-turn, a tactically smart thing to do. I'm there about 10 people in. I'm pushing pretty hard and Don is about 10 meters in front of me. At the top of the first hill, I sidestep another racer and head down the hill just in front of Don. At the bottom, I pick up the pace slightly and pass another racer.

After the third mile I get a good look at who is in front of me and who is behind me and I realize that I would have to go significantly faster of significantly slower to change my position, so I put it in cruise control and have a solid finish in 5th place - first masters across the line. Don is just 20 seconds back with only one runner between us. Pretty incredible for a guy 12 years older than me.

So then we head over to our swim - get lost on the ride over, but it was a beautiful day for a ride. Nothing really memorable about the swim, except that my goggles kept flooding, I finally took them off and, low-and-behold, I started swimming pretty well. Hmm.

Next was the mountain bike section. Don is pretty good on the old MTB. Took me up a ski slope - neither one of us made it up, but Don shared some secrets about Xterra racing - like don't even try to ride up if you think you will get stuck part way. I was able to manage some technical climbs, but had some trouble on the big technical downhill.

During some of the flat sections, I followed Don and noticed thousands of those little white generic butterflies swarming up from the ground as we passed. It was actually pretty cool, until I realized they were congregating on a pile of horse crap and each time we passed they would leave the mound so as not to be run over. Something odd to me about these lily white butterflies hanging out on a pile of horse crap.

Anyway, it was a good mini-adventure.

According to the Orthopedist

So I finally went in to have the Dr. take a look at my knee last Thursday morning. Xrays were good - yeah! He said to use ice - a lot.

So after my 100 mile bike I took an ice bath, but didn't use ice much the rest of the day.

My 10 mile run on Sunday was a bit painful in the knee, so I iced it - a lot. Seemed to have worked pretty well and most of my Monday run was pain free... and my Tuesday run was pain free too.

Of course he did send me to the PT on Tuesday (yesterday) to learn some strength training exercises and stretches. The PT was a bit stumped as she couldn't find any imbalances causing the pain, but gave me my stretches and exercises anyway. She also did a ultrasound massage deal.

Things seem to be getting better. I'll try to keep tabs on it.

Donating Blood

Last Thursday I donated blood.

I ran a 3 mile tempo on the treadmill on Thursday night - felt sluggish.

I rode 100 miles on Saturday - really tired.

I ran 10 miles on Sunday - dragging ass.

I ran 5 easy miles on Monday - harder than it should have been.

Did 8x800 yesterday - I couldn't believe how slow I was going.

So now I'm wondering how long it really takes to recover from a blood donation?

(I took today off - sort of - actually I'm on my way to lift weights)

100 miles never felt so hard

I haven't been putting in the big bike miles this year, but decided to do the Dog Daze Century yesterday... on my new bike (pictured left).

Initially I was going to get up at 5am, ride the second 50 mile loop and be back to the start at 8am, then ride the first 50 mile loop with a group from the WCCC club.

At 4:30am I got up and started to get ready, when I realized how dark it was going to be and I didn't want to carry a bike light all day long.

So at 5:15am I went back to sleep, got up a 7am ate a banana and a bagel with peanut butter and rode 5 miles to the start with a new goal of riding straight through - no rest stops.

At 8:10 we (a group of strong WCCC riders) finally got rolling and the pace was quicker than I would have liked for a 100 mile ride, particularly on the uphills. On the other hand, the downhills were slow - something that normally happens with a group ride.

Victor and I rode at the front in the beginning to keep things at a reasonable pace. Over the next few miles, Tim, Bob P., and others started to hammer like we were doing a 50 mile ride.

I wasn't really feeling it - my legs were tired - not a lot of energy, but I kept going.

About 15-20 miles into the ride the group needed to 're-group' at the top of a hill. I started to wait with them, but remembered my goal of no rest stops, so I forged ahead solo, passing small groups along the way.

My right arm was getting really sore and cramped, but I just kept stretching it out - I missed my aero bars. I was beginning to think I would quit after mile 50.

The strong 'peleton' that I started with caught up with me a couple of miles before a rest stop at mile 39. I drafted behind them which was so much easier (except on the uphills which they pushed pretty hard). When we got to the rest stop, they stopped, I kept going.

At mile 50 I had to sign-in, get a new cue sheet, and get some water. The peleton came in right behind me. They stopped for lunch, I kept going.

There was another solo rider just in front of me. My right knee has been sore lately and I'm just not climbing hills fast. So he slowly pulled away, but eventually I caught up with him - we rode together side-by-side for a short while - nice guy (Mike from New Jersey). He had never done this ride before and he reminded me of how beautiful it was. He said the first loop was too hilly and preferred the second loop since it was more wooded and less farmland. He stopped at the mile 68 rest stop, I kept going.

There was some seriously steep climbs soon after I left Mike - Bucktoe Road being one of them. I kept looking back to see if Mike was going to catch up - he never did.

The volunteer at the mile 81 rest stop was tempting me to stop - I think he was bored and I would have been his first customer. I kept going.

A mile or two later I sucked on my Camelback and it was empty. Crap! I kept going.

At mile 86 I stopped at a store and bought some water. It was getting warm and I was dehydrating. Getting off the bike felt great and allowed me to stretch my back and legs. I'm not sure how people do these rides without aero bars - it was painful.

As I crossed the road, I noticed lots of bikers apparently on the first 50 mile loop, or perhaps on the 27 mile loop. Anyway I figured I would take the 'blue' course and maybe shorten things a bit (I knew I was already doing an extra 10 miles by riding to and from the start and I really only wanted to do 100 total).

Soon after I saw another rest stop intended for the first loop and I asked the volunteer how many miles left - 14 miles he yells to me. So I didn't save many miles and, as it turns out I added a lot of hills. Oh well. I kept going.

I made it to the end and never saw New Jersey Mike or the Peleton. I even stopped for a quick snack, but I couldn't seem to get excited about solid food except watermellon and potato chips.

On my ride home, I rolled up to Frank heading the same direction. We had a nice chat on the way back. I slowly made it up Hillsdale and was happy for my ice bath. I watched Sena crush all of my Wii Fit scores, then I sat on the couch and watched the olympics the rest of the day.