The hay is in the barn

Saturday:  Tour de Cure!  A few months ago Bex invited me to join her team (BD) and I happily tagged along on this ride - Big thanks to Rebecca and Team BD for letting me join them!  It was the furthest I've ever ridden, but with the rest stops and generally pleasant weather, it really didn't seem particularly difficult, which was quite surprising.  My watch was set to auto-pause so the rest stops weren't averaged in, but our moving pace 17.4 mph (80.2M, 4:42:17) - not bad at all.  I must say again (as I did after the MS 50), that I really love supported rides, and I'm looking forward to doing a lot more of those in the future (starting with the Velo for Yellow Century on July 20 and Five-0 Memorial 100K on August 24).  Once we finished the ride, Bex and I made the quick change to running shoes and ran a quick 20 minute transition run (2.5M, 19:46).  

Sunday:  Rise run with Sarah and Adrien (10M, 1:18:43).  The humidity was terrible, but despite being soaked we ran the last mile in 7:08.

Monday: It was supposed to be a rest day, but I opted for a nice walk on the indoor track with Nicole (2.5M in about 40 minutes) and quick swim (1K, including 6 x 50, 21:00)

Tuesday: 7 miles with Ellen in the morning and a 45 minute interval workout on the trainer

Wednesday: A little transition practice with Bex  - 5 x (10 minutes on the trainer + 3:30 transition run).

Thursday: Rise run with Sara (5M, 39:43) in the morning and open water swim practice at Jordan Lake (roughly 1.2 miles in about 50 minutes - not breaking any speed records...)

Friday:  Cooler temps made this a lot easier than last week's tempo, and I actually felt reasonably good through the working intervals (2 x 2 miles).  The splits were right on target, and my heart rate ranged from 160-172 through the faster miles (goal zone of 165-172), so I was pretty pleased with the workout.  It also helped to have company - so thanks to Ellen and Amy for that! (8M, 1:01:50)

7 day totals: Swim (1.77), Bike (80 plus two workouts on the trainer), Run (34.75); 12:41:41; 9,855 calories

Saturday: The morning started with the Doughman with team YODO (You Only Doughman Once) with Ellen, Caren, and Jen.  My leg involved eating a mac and cheese cupcake and then biking about 10 miles.  I tried to ride as fast as possible, but streets were not closed and we had to stop at lights and intersections, so it turned out to be basically an interval ride.  Results haven't been posted yet and I didn't wear a watch so I don't know the time or pace, but it took a lot more out of me than I'd expected.  Once Jen and Caren finished their eat-run legs, we ran over to the finish as a team and collaboratively downed 4 delicious desserts (with me caught on camera stuffing a cupcake in my face).

After the race I headed home and met up with Nicki and Noah (from the DTC) at Moonberries to ride down to Jordan Lake and check out the start of the race (47.25M, 2:54:35, 16.2 mph).  We put in a pretty good effort on the way out and averaged a little over 17 despite a pretty strong headwind.  Just before the turnaround, Nicki's shifter decided to stop working and she wasn't able to get out of the easiest gear, so I rode with hear at a nice leisurely pace (given all of the spinning on the flat and downhill sections).  It was actually nice to just spin it out a bit and get some time in on the bike without working very hard, so maybe her bike malfunction was a blessing in disguise.

Sunday: Test run of the Ironman Raleigh course with Ellen (12.2M, 1:38:40).  For the first few miles I thought, "well, this isn't too bad"... and then we got onto Reedy Creek trail.  I am not sure how accurate the elevation profile is because it was far hillier than it looks, and somehow it felt uphill both ways (though obviously it isn't).  Given the forecast of temps in the high 80s for the run portion of the race, I think I am going to have to throw any expectations of a decent time out the window.  Oh well, nothing I can do about it!  Hopefully the last couple of months of decent training and a nice easy taper week will be enough to get me through this!   ONE WEEK TO GO... AAH!