defeated by a century

saturday's swim was fun! i did cm's workout that she gave me last week:

200m wu
200m IM
200m-25m fly, 25 free, 25m back (DO IT!), 25m free, 25m breast, 75m free
2x300m-{100m IM, 100m free, 100m stroke choice} w/ :20 rest
2x{100m fly, 4th 25 fast :15 rest
100m back, 3rd 25 fast :15 rest OTTER STYLE
100m breast 2nd 25 fast :15 rest
100m free 1st 25 fast :15 rest
200 free RACE IT LIKE A CRAZY PERSON!!!! :20 rest
150 choice FAST LIKE A BUNNY (if bunnies swam fast) :30 rest}
100m free, 4th 25 fast :15 rest
100m free, 3rd 25 fast :15 rest
100m freet 2nd 25 fast :15 rest
100m free 1st 25 fast :15 rest
200 free RACE IT LIKE A CRAZY PERSON!!!! :20 rest
150 free FAST LIKE A FISHIE! :30 rest
250m cd or join SB and I for our easy swim
3700m+

when i read this workout over before doing it, i did a double take on the 100 fly. 100 fly?! i'd only done it in a 50m pool and then super slowly. i tend to heat up and get tired really quickly on fly, although i love it, so during those i remember thinking, "cool as a cucumber"and picturing a cucumber doing fly. i had actually brought an underwater disposable camera left over from my england trip, and was looking for the hairball but only found the baby hairball. after the swim i went for a ridiculously easy 30-min jog b/c the weather was awesome but i didn't want to do any running that i'd regret during the ride the next day.

today's ride was the pumpkin patch pedal, 100 miles. A and i showed up at the park at 7 a.m. in the freezing cold and saw chaz only at the beginning of the ride, which i knew would happen. he glided past us as if he was floating. that was the last we saw of that monster cyclist, and didn't even see him during the break!

the weather for the whole day was perfect and it was the perfect way to enjoy the day. it was funny that the only thing i remembered from last year's pumpkin patch pedal (we had done the 62 then) was that it was hilly, but it wasn't hilly at all. A was a gentleman as usual and didn't go too far ahead of me. we did 50 before taking our first rest stop and hung out for a few minutes with cyclists who enjoyed sharing war stories about their rides, that went something like, "i just did such-and-such a ride, 500 miles with 100 hills, backwards, without shoes."

from mile 50 onward, my quads felt like they were burning, kind of like how they feel when you're finishing up a set of squats, except they just never stopped burning. i was feeling really frustrated b/c i kept slowing down and felt bad for slowing A down although he never complained. i kept switching to a higher gear and then trying to go harder but couldn't keep the cadences up so had to go lighter again..then to try to compensate for going on a lighter gear, i'd pedal faster but that just made me feel like acid was going up and down my legs. we stopped for another break at the 80 and i tried to assuage my misery with apple and pumpkin pies. i was feeling foolish b/c i had done a century once before and although i was mashing at the time, at least i had done it! only 20 miles were remaining so i thought it was doable. time passed slowly and to entertain myself and to make sure i wasn't mashing, i kept counting my cadences. my legs were still feeling awful, and i tried to have a positive attitude about it, telling myself that this was a good workout for my legs and not to think about speed, but to enjoy the day. on mile 90, i had a mental meltdown and couldn't stand my legs hurting anymore; i suddenly wanted to throw up and was having a lot of trouble breathing, and my helmet was feeling very tight around my chin. i stopped, threw my helmet on the ground and started crying b/c i felt awful and then i felt silly for feeling awful. A turned around to help me chill out, whereas, come to think of it, if it was the other way around (and i can't ever imagine it being the other way around) i might have said something to him like, "man up!" i am so glad he is such a patient guy. the people whose house i stopped in front of came outside and were incredibly nice to give me cold water and shade. A offered to find a car so i didn't have to finish the ride but i really wanted to finish. the last 10 miles were ok, particularly b/c A stayed closer in front of me and was highly encouraging. whew! afterwards we celebrated at my favorite salad place, mcCarthy's. total time = around 6:14, my average pace = 16.2. the last 100, average pace = 16.7 and i had hoped to go above that.

since #1 goal for the ride was to keep cadences up b/n 80-85/minute, and goal #2 was to finish at a decent time, i was glad to have at least accomplished goal#1. still, i am pretty aware that a lot of progress needs to be made, in the biking area especially, before imlp. i'm so glad we have 10 months to go!