My Second Century

Since I'm now WAY behind on blog entries, most would not even know that I'm training for an Ironman that starts in less than 5 weeks! I have been training on my own "program" complete with bike rides (both mountain and road), runs (both trail and asphalt), and swims (I know, I thought I retired from that as well). With the exception of a foot injury last month which had me off running for about 5 weeks, training has been fun. I have not been going long, but have tried to be consistently cross training. I enjoy the challenge but it truly makes me appreciate riding with my friends. One can only ride or run solo so much before it loses its luster...but the group rides every now and again provide a recharge! 

Anyway, this weekend has been a great weekend for my crash course training program since I missed quite a bit with my injury last month. Friday I ran 13.1 miles (half marathon and my longest run yet) and then swam at our local 50 meter pool. Then hooked up with friends for poker night (thanks Jen and Jeana). Saturday I woke up early and did about a mile ocean swim with my friend Jeana (also an Ironman trainee) and followed up the swim with a great three-parks mountain bike ride with the fellas. Then went to The Bruery for some excellent beer tasting, not to mention killer grub courtesy of Beachwood BBQ (another fine establishment). 

Then this morning rolled around and I was looking for some motivation to get out a do a long ride. I decided to get suited up and just go and see what I felt like. My legs were pretty tired and I was stoked when Molly wanted to join me for a part of my ride. At mile 20 we split and I was on my own heading south down PCH. Feeling pretty good and concentrating on pedaling not mashing, the tunes made the ride go by quick and I soon found myself at the entrance to Camp Pendleton. Well that's 50 miles down which means 50 back! Feeling pretty stoked, I turned and headed north concentrating on eating and drinking all the time (had to stop at the local San Clemente food mart for some water and gatorade). Then kept riding and soon enough made it home with 100.5 miles on the odometer! Sweet, my second century ever. Now just add 12 more miles to that and that's the bike leg for the Ironman. Ugh.