Ironweek 14

This week had the makings for a great week. Instead, it was so-so. I swam. I biked. I ran. I guess that's all you can ask for, when you are OLD, like me (turning 44 today - crap!)

I capped the week off with the Clean Air Century on the Withlahoochie Trail. Picture an old rail-road line paved over with lots of wooded areas covering the path. Flattened for the train, the trail is cut and raised through the rolling hills of Central Florida. It passes through a couple of really small towns but for the most part, it goes 46 miles from top to bottom in the middle of nowhere. The hardest part of the ride were the 8 miles off the trail that went up and down the hills on normal roads...that was the Central Florida I was used to!

I showed up to the Clean Air with an un-charged Garmin. Of course, I took it off the cradle when I left the house, so how it was uncharged remains a mystery. 100 miles on Perceived Effort is kinda cool - but I still would have rather had the data. I did it in 5:54 - no records were set in the posting of this blog. My first SAG stop was at least 10 minutes - the bathrooms were set back off the trail in a park that we had to walk back to...I really really had to go! I stopped at two other SAGs just for water and cookies - mmmm....cookies.

I guess I went out pretty slow, and came back in even slower, but actually felt like I could run afterward if I had to - and that was a first for me on a century. I also did zero pack-riding; another first. For $25, I got a t-shirt, a medal, 3 aid-Stations (for 6 possible stops...) some food before we left, and some good chili, hot dogs, and drinks (no beer....oh well) at the finish line. It was worth traveling 50 miles one-way for this one!

So...I got a longish run of 10 miles in - and that was it for running. 2 swims for a whopping 4483 yards - but the water is becoming my friend again. Lots of bike this week - 174 miles - for a total training time of 12:52. Coming up I've got the Strawberry Century on Saturday, The B-Fit Birthday Challenge on Tuesday, and some training in-between. It will definitely be a good swim week (what with my 4-mile swim tomorrow...jeesh), and a good bike week (44 on Tuesday, 100 at the Strawberry, plus...) and I'll be sure to get in 20+ on the run. Only 13 weeks to go!