Mission Completed...

Sweet, I am done with my version of the "100 Miles Of Nowhere" and it feels so good. Also, I am almost not hurting, even though I did over 50% of the distance today.

Here I am sitting on the porch with the doggy while the Garmin is trying to get a signal.

I ended up doing the Green Valley Loop four times with a slightly longer variation than I posted yesterday. So with the five miles to and from the loop and the loop four times over, I was dead on the mileage I needed to complete my goal.

Highlight of the ride: Falling over at a light not even three miles into my ride.

Other than that, it was an uneventful ride and the weather was beautiful and the legs felt good until maybe the last ten miles. My nutrition was kinda out of whack. I sure didn't have enough food with me and I was also running out of water. Next time will be better.

Here are some stats:

So long! ;-)

Trying To Find The Perfect Loop

Today is the official day to commemorate the "100 Miles Of Nowhere". As I stated previously, I am in no shape to try to attempt ONE HUNDRED MILES in one day, so I changed the goal to make it a week long event for me.

So far I have logged 43.3 miles this week:

• Tuesday, I did a hilly 13.3 loop over Paris Mountain
• Wednesday, I pushed through 20 (quite painful) miles on the trainer
• Thursday, I put another 10 miles in on the trainer, because lightning made it impossible to get into the pool which I would have much preferred with the butt pain (see Wednesday) that is going on these days

That would mean, that I have to do 56.7 today to complete my goal of 100 miles for the week. And I pulled a 50-miler out of thin air a couple of weeks months ago, so it's not impossible.

So now, I just have to figure out, where to do this! Of course I could do the loop, that I did for my last long ride, but I will be on my own and considering how many encounters with crazy people we had, I don't care to face this on my own.

Here are the options that I am thinking about right now:

Maybe the easiest loop would be the short 2.2 mile loop around the house with 161 feet of climbing.

Next possibility would be a 3.8 mile loop around Furman with 138 feet of climbing. I think I like this one a little better, because of the elevation profile... I am simple like this.

Or the last option that I am looking at right now is the Green Valley Loop.

The loop itself is 11.3 miles and it's 5 miles from the house. Over this distance, it has 256 feet of climbing, that is much less considering the distance.... This is my favorite right now, because the scenery wouldn't be as repetitive since I will pass the same spots around 4 times and not 25 times like I would with the shorter loops.


I guess, I will decide what I am doing at the drop of a hat, so you have to check back to see what loop I chose to do! ;-)

So long!

Like A BRICK Wall

Hmmmm... All kinds of sporting fun is up on the horizon and I am really looking forward to it. Only every now and then the craziness, I got myself into, is hitting me like a brick wall.



Soooooo.... Just to get things straight.... I am planning on running 17 point something miles of the Palmetto200 relay at the end of April and will attempt my first century ride EVER the week after the relay. If that is not stupid enough: I do this off a training plan tailored for a SPRINT DISTANCE TRIATHLON!

Well, I addressed half of the issue already by putting in more miles running as needed according to the plan, but the cycling portion... Not quite. Right now, I am at around 50 miles on the bike PER WEEK and really don't know how that translates into 100 miles in ONE DAY. Let me illustrate the problem a little more: The longest time I have been sitting on a bike in the last couple of months are two hours... And to complete ONE HUNDRED MILES, I am looking at more than six hours... Even if it's on the trainer or a pancake flat course.

Oh and to make things even more complicated... There is also this wedding that I am currently planning and where people count on me to be there... So that workout weekend is pretty much toast! ;-)

To prioritize things in my head and put them into perspective, I made a list:

• last year I ran the Blue Ridge Relay after several weeks of little to none running due to an overuse injury... and I survived and not total tanked my legs either!
• this year, I am smarter when it comes to training (hopefully that is not wishful thinking here) and also have a better base for longer distance running to begin with
• last year I did a metric century (60 miles) ride with less than 40 miles as my longest training ride... but I had tons of mileage per week going on leading up to the even... I finished the thing in four hours.... My right hand was numb for about a week due to the pressure on the palms for the time of the ride... Fun stuff!
• this year I stink in the cycling department so far.... and the weekends were I will be able to squeeze in long rides are almost non existing.... Make it work! ;-)
  

This was the perspective list and now on to the priority list:

• focus on the running, because it's an actual race in which you are part of an actual team

It's that simple. It really is. Yes, I do want to complete 100 miles on the bike on May 8th, but if it's not happening, then it's not happening. There are no results and no DNF's in this event. I may start out on the road and then move to the trainer and take off the resistance... I may to 50 Miles Of Nowhere instead. Bottom line... I am not going to put myself under pressure for this... The priority clearly lies on the Palmetto200... and the wedding... and a little kitchen renovation and my family coming to visit....

Nuf said! ;-)

A Lot And Not Much At All

It's already Monday again. I have NO CLUE where the weekend went... I have no idea where my weekdays go either these days.

Looking back, there was nothing big and special, but a lot of smaller things that got accomplished. These days, there are also a lot of gender specific separations going on in our household which sounds horrible, but it's just what it is. Emancipation is great, but not all areas in life need to be emancipated... especially not the kind that involves hard physical labor.... thankyouverymuch.

So while Terry and the kid and temporarily even a nephew worked very hard in and around the house (tiling - this time the kitchen, replacing more windows, fixing base boards, planting huge bushes in the front yard, painting and whatever else), I took care of the more womanly topics like wedding stuff*, laundry and cleaning as far as that makes sense with the current construction projects.

*We have a photographer now! I scored a fierce pair of shoes. I also took care of hair and make-up appointments... Crap... I know that most women plan this day since they are five, but I was just never one of them and a lot of the time I am getting overwhelmed by all the things that have to be taken care of... At least I start seeing the end of the tunnel now.

Between everything that was going on, I see it as an added bonus, that I was able to squeeze in a bike ride on Saturday and my first 10-miler in four weeks on Sunday.

The run was pretty good! I did an out and back run on the Swamp Rabbit Trail. I took it easy on the way out and then pushed the pace a little coming back. At around mile 7, I took out the max speed alert (set at a 10 minute/ mile) and just ran... The drizzle that came down also helped with the speed, since I just wanted to get done and also had more plans (see above: wedding stuff) for the rest of the day. My last mile was actually my fastest mile. That's always good! ;-) Funny event during the run: I saw the same group of three guys on mountain bikes three times during my run. They took it easy, chatting the time away. Met them once right when I started, than again shortly before my turn around point and the last time maybe a mile before I was done. One of the guys asked me if I am coming back up (Travelers Rest that is) with them again. No Sir... I am done for today, almost anyways. Once I was back at the car, I stretched some. Good stuff... 10 miles in 1 hour 43 minutes...

I got myself another pedometer... At least this one is counting steps properly, but the stride length is not adjusted to running... So the plan right now is to use the Garmin for run mileage and the pedometer for everything else.

I really want to keep up the 10 mile long runs throughout the summer. Last year, I had a lot of stomach trouble on longer distances once it was warmer. Hopefully my muscles have developed and my cardiovascular system improved in the meantime to a point that I won't have so many GI issues. I guess I have to wait and see how things play out once the temps rise and I try to maintain this distance.


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Update on "100 Miles Of Nowhere"

I registered today and what about you?

So far it doesn't look like there will be a race going on in Cleveland Park or in our basement, but that can change any second, if YOU (yes you!) decide to join in. But if you are not living in the area, or the date doesn't go with your plans or you prefer to do this alone then don't wait too long to register since participants will be capped at 500.

Here is the link for Fatty's post with the links for registration and also some more information about the contents of the schwag bag.

Also, I wanted to corrected a previous statement of mine: All of the proceeds (your $95 entry fee) are still going to Team Fatty's LiveStrong Challenge, but (and here is the correction) it's not tax deductible! Sorry for that!

So long!

100 Miles Of Nowhere - Who's In?

Okay, where do I start?

There is this self-proclaimed bicycle celebrity blogger who calls himself "FatCyclist" and who is out to fight cancer by raising funds for the LiveStrong Challenge. To motivate people to donate some of their hard earned money in economically challenging times, he gets very creative and raffles all kinds of goodies off and he is about to organize a "race" called "100 Miles Of Nowhere".

100 Miles Of Nowhere
(click here for Fatty's explanation of rules and timeline)

What: Ride 100 miles on your bike (road bike, mountain bike, Dutch bike etc) without moving or without moving far away from your starting point... So either on your rollers/ trainer or a small loop preferably close to your house.

When: May 8th 2010

Why: Raise funds for cancer research.

Registration: Will take place between March 22nd and March 28th 2010 and the registration fee is USD 95. You think it is crazy to spend this kind of money for a "virtual" race with no chance of awards? THINK AGAIN! It's a 95 bucks tax deductible donation to fight cancer and you will get some nice stuff like this t-shirt and other goodies that haven't been determined yet. (I will update this information as soon as Fatty is posting more about this!)



WHERE: Okay and now we come to the part, why I am writing this big old post about the 100 Miles Of Nowhere instead of just linking the page and be done. I would really like to participate in this event, but I would really like to have company doing it. So my proposal is that we get a group of cyclist together and get 100 miles in our training logs while enjoying each others company. I have three suggestions for possible locations:

If the weather is pretty, I suggest that we meet at Cleveland Park at the shelters near Greenville Zoo and do this (2.199 miles, 45.5 loops to complete the 100) or a similar loop around the park.



If the weather is crappy, I'll push the couch downstairs to the side and we should be able to accommodate up to eight bikes on trainers/rollers there. Music and/or TV entertainment would be included in the set-up, as well as a bathroom! ;-)

If the weather is nice, but the majority of the group wants to do the ride on the trainer/ roller (maybe because of the amenities mentioned above) , then we can meet up at the house and set the trainers up on the driveway... There are tons of trees, so don't worry about frying in the sun.

So please contact me if you want to join the group, so I can keep a headcount! Registration is on you, as well as bringing along a trainer if we go for that option. I will have basic provision at the house (water, Gatorade, fruit, prezels etc) if the event will take place here.

I will add information as I get it or once I remember all the points that I have forgotten to mention so far.

Please consider participating to fight cancer. If you haven't faced this disease yourself, you most likely have family members or friends that fight this battle right now or fought it in the past.

THANKS! And so long!