Day 7, Week 8: A stupid FAQ about a stupid 50 mile bike ride.

I mentioned yesterday that I had one heck of a bike ride planned for today.  50 miles of cycling goodness, to be exact.  And I'm as surprised as anyone that those 50 miles actually happened.

Five OHHHHH my quads hurt

Why was I surprised?  Well, that sounds like a good start to one of my world-famous stupid FAQs.

So, why were you surprised you could do a 50-mile bike ride? Didn't you do 45 miles last weekend?

Yes, but the number "50" is nice and round and large enough to make my brain start this crazy mantra even in the middle of actually doing it.

"I can't do this I can't do this I can't do this WHAT ARE YOU DOING I can't do this" 

Also, it didn't help that my quads were really tired and I put the part of the ride with all the hills up front, making my quads scream from the get go and further feeding that false mantra.

What kept you going during the ride, then, if you wanted to quit early on?

The fact that I blogged about doing 50 miles yesterday and so...shame if I didn't actually do it.  Yeah.  Shame. That's healthy, right?

Hmm...maybe no so healthy.

Wait...haven't you done a 50 mile ride before?

I sure have - when I was training for a half Ironman that ended in DNF shame and excruciating IT band pain.  

Well, how'd that first 50-miler go?

You can check out the details for yourself below.

How does that ride compare to the one you did today?

Well, I have to say that I did just a tad bit better.  Like a half-and-hour freaking better.  But it has been four years since that first 50 miler and I am juuuuuust a tad bit more trained for distance than I was back then.

Well, it certainly seems like you've improv-- hey, wait a minute...why was your last 5 miles today so much slower than the rest?  Slacking much?

Two reasons, really: 1) My legs were really, really tired.  Like, really.  Really, really REALLY tired.  And 2) those last 5 miles were up a huge hill and then a turn right into what was a light wind but felt like a wind tunnel by that point in the ride.  It was pretty much all I could do just to keep going at that point and not pull over, go sit in a corn field, and cry myself into oblivion. 


Sounds like bad planning of a route to me.  Can't you do a better of picking a route?

Well, I could pick flatter routes, but, you know that duathlon bike course pretty much consists of 56 miles of nothing but hills.  So, if I went with flatter training routes, I'm pretty much increasing the odds of actually sitting in that cornfield and crying during the race.


Understood.  Can I ask what time goal you're looking at for the bike portion of your duathlon?

You may ask. 



Oh...you want me to answer the question too.  I don't really have a time goal.  Unless "survival" is a unit of time now.


Overall, how do you feel about your ride today?

My face in the pic below pretty much sums it up.

BUH it's over. 

Tomorrow's workout: As if 50 miles on the bike wasn't enough today, a 17-mile run is on tap for tomorrow.   *quietsobbing*