8:52:57 - 5x5

When I started thinking about this title it boiled down to the two above.

8:52:57 is the number of hours:minutes:seconds it took to bike 95 miles.

And 5 by 5 describes how I felt after that ride  yesterday.  I've been back on a sci fi kick lately so 5 by 5 came to mind from my Buffy watching days.  Faith used to say it and it basically meant 'all's good'

And that's basically how I felt at the end of the ride.  I felt like I could keep going and be fine. 
 Maybe there's something to be said about the battery dying on my odometer at some random point in the ride so I wasnt focused on that, or the evil word-of-the-day: chipseal

Would've been a much prettier pic had not not gotten most of that evil road in the shot. Ah well

But in the end, it was 5 by 5. Now to be realistic my middles are never perfect. 

I whine and moan and want to quit after 50ish miles.
And Tanya ignores me.
And I keep pedaling.
And then I feel fine, I get my eff it surge/second wind/gift from God and  95 miles happens.
I still don't kinda believe it.

Right off of stage right: Hunter attempting to shoot doves....the symbol of peace.Cray

Because I remember where I was at this point last year.  To say the least, I hated it all.  More specifically, I hated starting something I couldnt finish.  One of the most poignant yet simple things one of my old boss said to me is that back in the day (yes, paraphrased that part) a lawyers word was their bond. Clearly she was a lawyer and I'm not, but I've always lived and wanted to live by that.  Simply put - I don't agree to do things I don't intend to do.  Many people agreed to do stuff nonchalantly and then flake, but I've never been that type of person, so I deliberate hardcore before I agree to do things.

Last year I signed up for Honolulu and coming up to this point of the season, I was so disappointed in myself because I knew it was going to take sheer luck and adrenaline to get to the 100 finish.  And I didn't have it in me.  I sagged out a many ride last summer, and each time I was so pissed at myself it brought me to tears a lot  of times, sitting in that sag car. 

And then this summer. No-SAG 2012. And only 4 missed training rides, two being for yasi's wedding, one for my bday, and one for the hell of it but I felt insanely guilty.  It's just a different ballgame.

Also a different ballgame and much more painful...sigh

I need to get back into spin class the next couple of weeks.  102 122 miles of fun,  19 days away.

Right after I stay up all night watching this Buffy marathon.

Read More

runkeeper and other nonsense

This mornings route made me admit 2 things. 

1.  It's only day 1, but I think runkeeper is a better app than map my run. gasp!.  Doing eight sets of 2min walk/2min run got us to a full run of 2.99 miles versus lets sets and less total time running tracked by mapmyrun.  So begrudgingly I have to admit Lillie was right and mapmyrun was inflating our milage.   I hate being wrong. 

2.  Despite the heat, sweating and general grossness of outside. I love exercising outside now.  I can't imagine being on a treadmill and it makes it really hard to goto the gym outside of spin class.

Plus I'm afraid of this.

Ridiculously tired.  Maybe an East End run tomorrow....or maybe just sleeping in.


Oh and for Hillary and non-cyclist readers :)  I didn't know I was getting all cyclist terminology specific until Hill pointed this out. Whoops. From wikipedia's glossary of cycling: 

SAG wagon

Support motor vehicle following long races or recreational rides to pick up riders unable to complete the event. See also: food stop and SAG station. In racing events, typically the main group of riders will ride as a peloton and can be served by one or more SAG wagons trailing behind. In large recreational rides, there may be thousands of riders spread over much of the course, so ride organizers may employ roving SAG wagons to locate and assist stranded riders. It should not be confused with a broom wagon used in bicycle racing. A cyclist in distress is happy to see the SAG wagon as it may enable him to continue riding. No racer wants to be "swept up" by the broom wagon. For him, the race is over.

 

And its related word

 

SAG station

A location along the course of a long mass-participation recreational ride providing mechanical and/or medical assistance to riders in need. Volunteers at the SAG station may also dispatch SAG wagons to assist riders stranded along the course. A SAG station may also function as a food stop. "SAG" (most commonly written in all uppercase in the United States but without capitals elsewhere) comes from a 1930s British expression about riders "sagging" off the back of a group.^{[citation needed]} It was adopted in the 1940s when road-racing restarted in Great Britain to mean a following vehicle into which riders sagged when the effort became too much and they dropped out of a race. SAG is sometimes described as an acronym for 'support and gear', 'gear' referring to: mechanical support.

 

Read More