And the bike...

Yesterday, I decided to tackle the 28-miler on the bike again. I was looking forward to it, kind of at least. I figured I'd get really bored with no one to talk to...

First off, I started on county roads. I have two options in Stillwater for biking: County roads or city roads. The longest trail here is 3 miles. Not so good for long bike rides. City roads have cars and crazy people. County roads a bumpy. I swear they found a pothole and filled it with four times too much asphalt every sixteenth of a mile! So by the first five or six miles, my hands hurt from all the bumping...and guess what? My neck/shoulder area was already seizing up. Cool. This was going to be fun! After going around the aforementioned 3-mile trail once, I headed north along a "highway." It's officially a highway, but there it's just two lanes and probably about 50 mph. It had been recommended by the biking group here in Payne County. It was great. My new favorite place to ride (it's about seven miles from my apartment). Except for roadkill. Lots. But the shoulders are really wide and it's almost like I have my own lane. And it's not bumpy and crappy either. A few hills. Nice ride. About mile 19 or so, I took a break to rest my neck and "eat" some gel. I'm still experimenting with gels. Kayle said the Hammer were the best consistancy and after trying one, I bought two variety packs. I had the orange last night. I would recommend it. Tasty really, but after almost 20 miles of riding, what isn't? I accidently spilled so, though, and got my legs, hands and water bottle sticky. Oops... I rested for just three minutes before getting back in the saddle.

The rest of the ride was also fairly uneventful. Except my neck, which spazed out on me every two minutes. Toward the end of the ride (about 25 miles in), the skin on my neck was actually numb to the touch, I'm guessing from the nerves just being pissed off. It got me a little worried. Since I'm not really used to the bike...still...do you think I should get it checked out and maybe get the bars raised a bit? Kayle's aren't as low as mine. As soon as I got home, I stuck a heating pack on my shoulders and it stayed for two hours until I went to bed. At that time, it was still seizing and hurting really bad...I could barely move my neck! I put one of those adhesive shoulder packs on overnight and it felt a lot better when I woke up. Still tight, but not seizing. It's mad now that I'm on the computer again, though.

Total bike time: 2:30
Three weeks ago: 2:45

I cut off 15 minutes, which I was really pleased with! I even had to stop for red lights some! Nick still thinks I need to speed up, but I'm happy with cutting 30 seconds off each mile! I included my break time too, because if I have to stop and rest my neck during the tri, guess what? They aren't stopping time for me!

Total combined hours: 4 hours 41 minutes
Three weeks ago: 4 hours 47 minutes

Despite my horrific run, I'm still coming in a little faster than I did three weeks ago. You've got to add transition times now. If you average my transition times of my two previous triathlons (you never know how big the transition area will be), and add they add about four minutes to my tri. Plus, of course, being tired will add time. I'm guessing I'll come in between 4:30 and 5 hours. Time isn't important to me in my race, it's just nice to know what to expect...and what to warn my family about!

My game plan:
- Rest today. I thought my legs would need it, but as it turns out, it's my neck/shoulders that do!
- Completely devote myself to my triathlon for two weeks. I can give up hours every evening after work for two weeks, right?
- After those two weeks, it's going to be just nine days before the tri...time to start tapering anyway.
- Abs/core work. I hate it, but I need it.
- Eat clean until the tri (except for something fried, on a stick, at the fair this weekend! - and of course, birthday cake)
- Keep telling myself I can do it and push out the negative thoughts!