The first 100mi ride

2,820 calories ready to go!

Ah, the 100mi ride. Probably not on the average person's list of "fun things to do on a Saturday." My first 100mi ride in training was last weekend, and I was a mix of excited and nervous. 100mi is a scary distance! I've done the distance on my road bike before, out from Anaheim Hills to Palm Desert (105mi) on Friday, and back (110mi) on Sunday. That was with a group. This one was all me. My awesome husband rode the first 38mi with me, but I was in front. No drafting in Ironman!

The Challenges
Tuesday before the ride, I did my usual commute to work (23mi)

Yay for missing out on this traffic!

and commute home (37mi) then ran for an hour. My shoulders were hurting, and my run (which was slow on purpose to save energy for a track run the next day) didn't loosen them. Usually when I run, my shoulders relax and feel better. Not this time! I was so worn out afterwards that I showered and lay down, feeling out of it and taking more than 30 minutes to finish my recovery drink. Not normal. Maybe I was getting sick?

The JOURNEY is the reward.

The whole week before the ride, my body had been battling an infected sebaceous cyst. Yeah, it was in my right armpit. Lovely. And painful! It got so bad that I could barely move my arm 2 inches in any direction without the pain receptors saying "Umm EXCUSE me, but just WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING! OUCH!!" Running was out of the question. I could lift my arm above my head very...very...slowly... I was supposed to swim on Thursday and Friday. Thursday didn't happen; I couldn't even go to work that day. I tried swimming on Friday, and did about half of the workout. The pain got better for a while, then it got worse, so I stopped.

50mi: halfway there!

The Blessings
I started antibiotics on Wednesday, and the pain eventually became less (after getting worse first). I guess this was good for my legs, because they felt fine by Saturday! Being in the aero position was great for my arm, because it wasn't too much of a stretch and the open position gave it room to breathe.

So how did the ride go? Pretty well! See the stats on Garmin Connect here. It was nice to have company for the first 38mi, but good mentally to be by myself for the rest of the time.

See those two big hills? 2 loops in South OC: 5400 feet of climbing. =)

I rode a 2-loop course, to practice the mental challenge of being close to the finish line and having to go out again, heading back out for another 50mi when I was less than 4mi away from my house.
Mental toughness practice = check!

Done!

I had some challenges within the ride (shoulder neck pain, discomfort, hot spot on my foot, strain on my eyes from being in the aero position looking up), but overall I felt pretty good the whole time. Going at an easy/moderate pace from the very beginning meant that I felt strong at the end! And as a bonus, I had absolutely no knee pain. Did I mention the 5400 feet of climbing?? Knees don't do well on hills usually!

I have another couple of these long rides to do, and from what I hear, they get easier. This time though, I didn't have a brick run on the schedule this time, and I was grateful. Next week I have a true test of my training - a Half Ironman race! I'm a little apprehensive because of how terrible I felt in the Wildflower Half Ironman, but more confident this time because I've been doing over-distance (100mi bike rides instead of 60mi rides, and a 16mi training run instead of 13.14). I look forward to giving a good report...