Friday, September 19, 2008

Another one bites the dust...

Wednesday I ran 13 miles. It went great; I felt good. Thursday I needed to swim, but I forgot that the rec center was closed for maintenance. So, my shoulder gets a couple more days to heal. That's probably for the best anyways. It almost feels well now, though. This morning was another 100 miles on the bike, followed by a 3 mile run. Here's how it went down:

I planned on starting at 4:00 in the dark, and riding with my lights in town until sunrise, then heading out to the country. I woke up at 3:30 sans alarm, and got on up and piddled around a bit. I didn't want to do this ride, to be honest. I am a little tired of riding 100 miles every weekend, plus, it was so dark outside, and this time I was alone. To make a long story short, I piddled around until 5:15, when the angel on one shoulder finally yelled louder than the devil on the other, and convinced me to just go ride.

Little Devil: You are sick of these 100 mile rides. They hurt your crotch, they take all day; do you really need to do one this weekend? Good greif, how many have you done already?

Little Angel: You know what the plan says...and this is a good time to ride since the boys are spending the night with friends. Just hop on and go!

Little Devil: But it's SO dark outside. You don't wanna do this. Think about just curling back up in the bed.

Little Angel: ~sigh~ Do we have to go through this again? You know what the right thing is, please spare me and just go do it.

Little Devil: You need arm warmers. It's cold outside. You're gonna be cold. And did I mention it was dark?

Little Angel: Look, lets do this the easy way. Just get on your bike and ride in town under the lights. You know the runners are out running long right now, go find them and chat with them for a minute, then ride in town until daylight. If you still want to go home after that, then fine.

That was enough to convince me. And I was fairly convinced that I would ride until daylight and then pack it up and go back home. But daylight came, and whattayaknow??? I decided it might be cool to head to the country. So that's what I did, and I rode until I was back home and my mileage said 101 miles. I did ride very slow, though. It was windy enough to make mention of it, and I just didn't have my heart into pushing the pace today. But the weather was beautiful, and I ran 3 miles, comfortably, following the 100 miles at an 8:49/pace. I was pretty glad to be done with it, and happy that I pressed on.

Tomorrow is a 12 mile run and possibly a swim if I can get it in before Briar's football game.

Lesson relearned: Things seem different at 5 a.m. before you take off than at 6:30 after you've been going a while. Don't listen to the little devil...just get out there and train.

13 comments:

Darrell said...

I'm glad you were able to talk that little devil down.

Love the poop 101. I thought I was alone in some of these, seems like there's plenty of sh*t to go around.

Anonymous said...

Way to not let the Little Devil win. I think every now and then we have to forget about pace and just go. Well done.

TJ said...

Feels good to kick the little devil's a$$ doesn't it!

triguyjt said...

next time...kick the little devil in the crotch.!!!!

good ride...way to get it done

Lisa said...

Nice seeing you & the boys today! Go Titans!

Phil said...

I couldn't do 3 miles after 25 miles on the bike. Congrats for getting up and getting moving.

Michele said...

Man, your posts always make me feel like such a slacker. Great job getting yet ANOTHER 100 miler in.
You are going to rock Ironman!!!

Cliff said...

I was contemplating of getting up at 3:30 am to run...(training for a mara).

Then I thought that's nuts.. Who run..at that time. :) dang...i got a question..what sorta gear to u wear to ride outside..do u have blinkers or lights on the bike for safety?

Thanks!

SingletrackJenny (formerly known as IronJenny) said...

I can see it now - Lana's gonna run right past Mike Reilly and go for an extra loop on the run.

;-)

You are going to OWN Florida Ironman!
xoxo
Jenny

momo said...

oh lana, you're going to do so well at imfl! i just know it - donig 101 solo - well, girl, that is STUDLY!

Marni Sumbal, MS, RD said...

100 miles..wow. And every weekend. Looks like you are training right on track to IMFL! Keep up the hard work..it will ALL pay off come race day. Just keep enjoying it!
-marn

Ryan said...

I'm hearing that damn little devil too, I always win but as the fatigue is really setting in, his voice get a little louder.

jahowie said...

You are MIA again. I hope that everything is going well.