Catching up- the death ride, I’ll never be Michael Phelps, Peachtree and Chattanooga recaps

So far behind on recaps. I’ll just hit the training highlights of the past several weekends. 

First, the Death Ride, as I have since termed it. I had the hardest ride of my life the week before the Chattanooga Oly. Hardest meaning the closest I’ve been ( or the hardest I’ve tried) to bail mid-ride. Lately, I have been paring down on running to really try to concentrate on improving my bike. I definitely have found the point where less is less, but more on that later. Anyways, through this process, I have become a big fan of riding my bike!  Honestly, I love riding long rides especially, the harder and hotter the better, and I love all the great centuries we have locally near Atlanta.

So I really, really wanted to do the Cartersville century…. Even though I had done the Brevet 100 two weeks prior and a hard Gaps ride the week before… (and a HIM the weekend before that, and an IM a few weeks before that, and another HIM a few weeks before That!) Also, the C’ville century was a week prior to the Chattanooga oly, but I convinced myself it would be okay. I actually Planned on it being a very fast easy century and thought I could recover just fine. Famous. Last. Words.

Also, it was a record hot day.. 108 degrees and I felt like crap before I even started.  I have never been so close to getting sagged in my life.  In fact, I talked to the SAG guy… not near the end.. I was ready to bail at mile 48.. especially after we got lost and added several miles right near the beginning! There was some definite sweat and tears but I was convinced    forced to  finish by my friends. The last several miles I was freezing cold and I had full blown heat exhaustion. It was pretty amazing, really!

Fast forward a few days to Peachtree Road Race. I was soo excited because John and I, along with several other friends, actually decided not to run Peachtree hard and we wore costumes instead. Lots of fun and laughs.. I don’t think I’ll ever run Peachtree hard again!

I don’t have much to say about Chattanooga. Basically, I had an amazing swim (for me), then proceeded to ride my half ironman watts, and ran at a pace..a lot.. slower than my last two half ironmans. All the fun of the past several weekends catching up with me. As always, though, Chattanooga is really fun and we had a blast with friends. Someday, I am going to come and crush this race!