Progress, and thankfulness

 I will start off by sending a big KUDOS to everyone that raced in the Melting Mann this past Saturday. Temps were in the 30's with a steady dose of rain and snow falling all morning. The pics from just the parking lot were terrible. Pics from the course were not any better. So, good job to all of you that raced, volunteered, or cheered for this event. I was home....in a warm bed. I am very thankful that I didn't sign up for 60 plus miles of slop in this event. Bullet....dodged.

In my last post I mentioned a ride in the rain. But that was on pavement. Gravel is a whole different animal in the rain. No thanks. That being said, it was raining again (as I mentioned above) this past Saturday. I opted to ride indoors. Training called for a 2 hour ride. I looked thru Zwift and found the Eastern Eight. A nice 32 mile ride thru the dessert and forest. Not a terrible route with a long flat run into the Titans. Then a solid climb up Titans Grove KOM. You then loop around and have some other flats before riding back up Titans Grove KOM in the opposite direction. Then a long run into town where the loop is finished. At least that is what the route was supposed to be. 

My legs just didn't feel like it. I actually skipped the second time up the Titan KOM and headed towards town early. Ending up with 25 miles instead of the 32. Not terrible, but just not in the right head space to muster the distance. 

Sunday I finally got my hitch installed on my Equinox. It was finally a decent day to get it done. Once I wrapped that up I was driving home to grab some food and head out for a long road ride. The gravel was still destroyed from the rain all day Saturday. I had my route planned and was in the right frame of mind for it...when I started to see sprinkles on my windshield. By the time I got home is was raining....ugh.

So, I fired up Zwift again. I need some longer rides to get my endurance up, so 2 hours was the plan. I once again clicked on the Eastern Eight loop, this time with the mindset that I would finish that route. Started well enough, and I got to the top of the Titans Grove KOM with a PR. barely, but still....Zwift popped the confetti and I had a new PR, so that was good. I was off to a good start. 

The funny thing is....the summit is only about 8 miles into the route. lol. So after an achievement I still had a long ways to go! You can see the route below. 

I was rewarded with a long descent. I just kept plugging away, but a lot of this route is flat. So its just spinning the cranks for long periods of time. On the trainer that gets rough. Around 1:15 I started to crack. Being heavier, its hard to just sit and mash the pedals for long periods of time. My...taint...needs a break now and then. I just stood and stretched and moved around a bit then got back at it. This is how I would do it on the road, so I didn't ever technically stop...just got super slow a few times.

I pressed on, and then I reached that second trip up the KOM. This isn't a huge climb, so I was able to steadily reach the top. Then, it was almost downhill to the finish. My ride was planned for 2 hours. My final time was 2:00:24....right on schedule. Not fast, but not terrible either considering how I started to feel on the bike.

Another solid week back in training. Feeling pretty good overall, and I have dropped a lot of weight this year. As I said before my girlfriend and I are doing Whole30 and I am following it how I should. My body is learning how to function again without all the garbage. No, I won't eat perfect forever....but at this point I am going to keep rolling and pushing on towards my goal weight. Creating new habits along the way. Big test coming up with a trip to Myrtle Beach. But I am taking my road bike with me to get some solid miles in while there.

My season officially begins in less than 2 weeks. 

Season is here....

 Tomorrow is Melting Mann. I won't be there, as I never actually planned to be there. I am thankful, because in typical fashion....its going to rain and temps are dropping. Seems like this event is very cool, but the weather just tries to make it bad. Over the years I have seen a very mixed bag of conditions. Kinda like Iceman. lol. Never know until race day what its going to be.  At any rate, Good luck friends!

My first event is 2 weeks from tomorrow. Before I get into that I will touch on my week. Last week I didn't feel the greatest on the bike. I had that week off in Germany and caught a little bug when I got back. The fitness I had dropped back a few weeks and it was a struggle to ride for an hour. That is slowly getting better. This past week I rode 3 days in a row OUTSIDE. Yes, finally balled up and headed out.

Tuesday wasn't terrible. Close to 50 degrees with a little wind. I did a solid loop that I used to ride a lot in previous years. Tried to stay away from gravel due to the rain/snow drama we had over the weekend. 

Wednesday I geared up again with temps in the high 40's. I got all geared up and ready to roll when I noticed some sprinkles on the car. More of a mist really. ugh. Not supposed to rain for a few hours and the mist won't kill me. But the mist was a bit heavier than I thought it would be. 5 miles in I was feeling the water thru my tights. ugh. But I just pressed on. I was already out there and had at least 5 miles to get back home. I slogged along and eventually made it home. Short ride, but better than the trainer.

Thursday was a bit cooler with temps hovering in low to mid 40's. But the wind was bit stiffer. After the previous 2 days my legs were kind of not the best the first few miles. They eventually felt better and I was trying to push a bit to keep my speed up. I would go from 18 down to 13 when the wind would blow. Terrible...lol. Another solid ride.

But....my mind tanked after I was done. I know I have a 50 miler two weeks from tomorrow. While I know I can ride that distance, the duration is my bigger concern. I have only done 1 long ride this year and it was on the trainer. I will likely have a long trainer ride tomorrow and can hopefully get outside for a longer road ride on Sunday. Then a few days with a mixed bag of weather might mean back on the trainer. You might say "yeah but you have that whole next week too"....and here is another wrench. We are taking a family spring break down to Myrtle Beach. I am waffling between taking the road bike, cross bike, or the fat bike to do some beach riding. Yeah, warmer temps look great for riding....but there is a decent chance of rain almost every day that week. I understand its still a week out, but I can't go another full week without riding right before a race. Taper yes. Stop no. Decisions decisions. 

So two weeks from tomorrow is the Dirty 30. I am signed up for the Filthy 50 and I think I will be ok to finish, might just take me a minute. Like the banners might be coming down before I finish. lol. The bigger concern is the Barry Roubaix the following weekend. Not 36 miles of hills, but 62 miles of hills with 26 miles of a course I have no clue what to expect. The Dirty 30 doesn't make me nervous, but the Longer Barry definitely does. I will have to see how the Dirty 30 goes before I make a final decision on distance for Barry. Signed up for 62, but if I struggle with 50 I might have to drop down. The 62 has roughly 4500 feet of climbing too....so that is another factor. Actually has less feet of climbing per mile than the 36....but....you know. lol. 

Here is a breakdown (numbers are averages pulled from strava courses:

Dirty 30 (Filthy 50) is 50 miles. 46.1 feet of climbing per mile.

Barry Roubaix (Thriller) is 36 miles. 74.9 feet of climbing per mile. 

Barry Roubaix (Killer) is 62 miles. 72.5 feet of climbing per mile.

In the grand scheme of my racing, its about finishing. I just don't want to finish in the dark ;)

Welcome back!

 February was going strong, and then it ended poorly. Well, training ended poorly lets say. 

I was picked by my employer to head to Germany for a week to investigate a new opportunity. What that is I cannot say, but work related none the less. This meant a lot of scrambling on my end to get my passport and get everything lined up for the trip. My training took a hit.

Mid February I was ahead of schedule for the month and gaining on my daily goals. That fell off, and then I was gone for a week. Sheesh. Now I am way behind on my daily goal. This can be overcome. I did put a lot of steps in while in Germany because we had a lot of things to see and we were even able to get a few visits to castles in the area. Lots....of...steps. But, there was lots of food too. lol. Thankful for the steps and thankful for the trip. When I got back I stepped on the scale.....down 1 pound. WIN.

With the jet lag and fatigue I didn't ride Sunday or Monday. I threw my leg over the bike last night and felt really good the entire time. It was good to be back on the bike and back at. The season is here, and I have work to do....on and off the bike.

I finished February with just over 240 miles. Not terrible considering the number of days I missed. I am very far behind for March, but seeing the warmer weather I am ready to get those longer rides churning and build that strong base for my races. 

I also started Whole30 with Chris. This will be a different plan than I have ever used before and I think it will work good. It will do a few things. It will stop my sugar and it will help me develop positive habits. Also, with an accountability partner it makes it easier. When we have dinner together and we are eating the same things life is just easier. The kids will eat most of it....and then we supplement their dinners with something extra that we can't eat....like biscuits, rice, fried foods, ice cream, snack cakes, cheese, any dairy product.....I forgot where I was going. lol.

Anyway.....back at it because my first race is coming quick. Its not short and its not flat, so hauling this big body around is a lot of work. I need to make those hills just a little easier in this next month. Dirty 30 is the first race and it is exactly a month a way. Should be able to drop some mass and keep building muscle in this time. Keep moving forward.