You always remember your first Culpeper ride

I have been blogging more about my races and events lately than the training for IMMT itself.  That's in part because the training has been going pretty well and there hasn't really been anything particularly out of the ordinary.  I swim, I bike, I run, I shower, I eat, I work, I work out again, I eat some more, I sleep, I get up and do it all again.  This time around, I have been far less worried about getting every single workout, better at listening to my body and taking a break when I've needed it or when something more interesting is in the offering.  But I've hit almost all the major workouts and felt fairly good during them.

Except for track.  I've always struggled with track since the whole reason I do endurance events is that I don't like to go fast and hurt.  But for periods of time, I've been good at going to track and running shorter, faster distances and seeing myself improve over time.  This time around, I've been reasonably consistent, building on about a year and a half of track workouts through a couple of half marathons and Marine Corps Marathon last year.  It's still a challenge for me to enjoy it or be motivated to run fast for ever longer intervals.

So it's probably no surprise that this year's Ironman meltdown came at track.  I think the one thing I can point at that was good about it is how late in the game it's come.  And as meltdowns go, it wasn't even all that dramatic.  Not even any tears.  Just a lot of pouting and feeling very sorry for myself.  I feel as though my running has suffered because of the Month o'Triumphs in nearly every sport except running, unless your count the half Ironman.

Last weekend I persuaded a friend to accompany me on a 16 miler in an attempt to play catch up on the run.  While I was extremely happy to have gotten it done, it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience (except for the company).  Rain, humidity, hills.

So this weekend, I was not really looking forward to the 18 miles on tap.  Or the route, along the W&OD.  But I figured I'd have my training mate, Rich, with me and we'd take it slowly and start back on the run 15/walk 1 pattern that's worked so well for me in the past.

So, you can imagine my disappointment when I learned that Rich couldn't make it and I'd be alone after Marcia left me at mile 6.  (Despite last weekend's 16, she's not really supposed to be running longer than what's on her schedule right now.)  3 hours is a long time with your own thoughts.  So I abandoned the 15/1 plan and ran straight with a couple of teammates who are a bit faster than me.  I figured I'd stick with them as long as I could (still being smart about it though -  not putting myself in the hole for later) and then switch to 15/1 for the second half or when I finally lost sight of them over the trail horizon.

Well, blow me down, if I wasn't able to stick with them the whole way (thanks to a couple of Olympic podium winning speedy potty breaks) AND run the WHOLE WAY, only stopping at lights to avoid being run over.  I've been training for standalone marathons and Ironman marathons for over five years now.  And I have NEVER run a whole 18 (vs run/walk).  Plus it was super speedy (for me).  I was stoked, to say the least.  It felt like a nice 180 degree flip from how I'd been feeling earlier in the week at track.

Three kinds of ice-cream, three toppings, plus a cherry.
That's one scoop of ice-cream for every 43.16 miles
I exercised this weekend.

I went into Sunday's 110 mile bike ride with a mix of healthy fear for the hills, excitement for the sake of the cycling, happiness that my bike husband would be joining me, and anticipation of the banana split reward at Moo Thru on the way home.

Culpeper is a ride that carries a lot of memories for me.  My first attempt, five years ago was chronicled in Redline to Bonk and I still vividly remember the feelings of exhaustion and demoralization at the seemingly endless hills.  But it is gorgeous countryside and I've grown to appreciate the area and know the route which helps immensely.  Plus, we planned on taking the first loop very very very slowly in order to keep ourselves fresh for the second loop and final 16 mile kicker.

The day started with a 4 am wake up for a 7 am wheels up and we headed out in a group of about a dozen.  We slowly split up into pace groups and Rich and I tried to keep a buffer of space around us since his recent bike accident had made him a bit nervy of having unknown riders too close.  We made good time through the rollers and false flats to the first rest stop, and then patiently climbed the shortish Mountains of Misery-type hill in Z2.  Eventually, there were five of us, including a couple for whom this was their first time at Culpeper.  It was so much fun chatting and complaining about the road conditions, retrieving jettisoned water bottles and rescuing errant tails.  Aside from one particular bitch of a stair step climb and way too many crazy drivers along a busy road, the ride was fairly uneventful and not hideously bad.  Rich and I headed out for the final 16 together (thanks Rich!) and it felt great to get the day completed in what felt like a decent time.  I even managed a short 1.5 mile brick afterwards to help remind me of what it'll feel like in August.

When we got home, and I downloaded my data, I was delighted to see that we'd ridden 110 miles 0.6 mph faster than the 62 on the same route a couple of months ago, despite significantly more climbing per mile.

It's been an extremely good training weekend.  I'm very glad to have arrived at recovery healthy and happy.  I'm even more grateful when I think about my teammate who is recovering from a bike crash a few days ago.  So easy to have happen, especially when you think about how many hours we spend on our bikes.  Maybe some of that is feeding into my feelings that something bad is about to happen.  I had this same feeling a few weeks before IMLP and ended up breaking my elbow.  And losing my job.

So, I really really really hope that I'm wrong this time.