Shut up, Legs!

We are into Week 3 of our Century Training and we have two of our longer Saturday rides behind us.  To the more seasoned cyclists 30 and 36 mile long rides are not long at all, but to me, my longest ride being just under 60 miles and that was a year ago, the work that goes into these longer rides are killer.  Our first ride was way worse because, being from Michigan, riding in 90 degree sun for 3 hours on hills my legs were not conditioned for, was a b*^&#.  Compounded by the fact that we were on roads I was not familiar with, riding with Adam, who is so much more in shape than I am (jerk) and that we ran out of water 10 miles from home made me into a whiny and very tired person who could not sustain what we wanted to be a pace of 17-20 mph.

I was miserable and it is so unbelievably frustrating to know you are gutting yourself trying to keep up with someone and they are still pulling away from you! I wanted to kill him, but I didn't have the strength.  So we spent a significant amount of time going much slower (12-14 mph, and 7-9 mph on some of those g*& d@!#$ hills).

But there was hope!

There was an MS fundraising century ride that was going on whilst we were pounding out our pitiful 30 miles and the organizers were kind enough to let us refill our water bottles so we wouldn't keel over on our way home.  If I hadn't been so sweaty and gross I would have hugged her.  Thank you so very much!

Side note: it probably would have helped if I wasn't wearing my pink and black Fat Cyclist jersey.  Black material and sun are bad choices.  But I was stylin'.

Anyway, we managed to drag my sorry carcass home and continue on with our lives and training for another week.

This past weekend we had our 36 mile ride planned for Saturday, but we weren't going to be in Lansing, we were going to be in Petoskey to go camping with the best people in the world and we weren't comfortable trying to come up with a 36 mile trek in a place neither of us were familiar with.  We felt it would be a poor life decision.  So, we did our ride on Friday riding from my in-laws house in Big Rapids to my parents' house in Reed City to Hersey and back to Big Rapids.  This one was much better.  I was about to sustain our pace much better, in part because a) it wasn't a billion degrees, b) it was cloudy, c) it was mostly flat and d) I am very familiar with the trails we were riding on.

But then! (dun dun dun!)

I rode over something bad on our way back and got a flat. Frick!  But fortunately my handy-dandy patch kit was able to save the day and we didn't have to change the whole tube!  I had never been so glad I had a patch kit in my whole life.  It was annoying to have to stop for a half hour to fix it, but all in all this ride was much more successful than the previous week's.  I only had to tell my legs to shut up 4 times instead of 20!  So glad I had Jens Voigt humor to pull me through.

Even though we have 6 more weeks before we ride our century for the Michigan Pink Tour, I am finally, for the first time, feeling like a century is something I am capable of.  During the first two weeks of training I was rather, shall we say, unsure of my ability to condition myself to do this ride.  But today, after 2 unplanned rest days because of camping and my exhaustion from Friday's ride, we went out for an at pace ride for 14 miles.  And it felt easy! 17 mph? Puh, nothing!  I felt great! I even felt great riding at 17 mph after going up a steep hill at 20 mph from base to summit.  I know that sounds like nothing, I did it.  And I am so freaking proud. I can't believe after 2 weeks of training how much my body has changed and I am really looking forward to where I will be in 6 weeks.

So if you're in Michigan and feel like riding for Breast Cancer Research, I'll be there, with my husband and wearing my 'Fight Like Susan' Fat Cyclist kit.

Come ride with us!

Where did they go?!

As the few of you who read me regularly will have noticed, I have not posted in roughly a month, until a few days ago.

Along with that, you will have noticed that I ceased posting the weekly weigh ins.  Even without the vacation from blogging that was completely unplanned, I would have stopped posting those.  At least in the format that they were being posted in.

It's not that I am uncomfortable with what I am putting out there, although I am queasy every time I post how much I weigh.  I hate the amount I weigh right now.  Blech.  The problem is, that they format I was posting in was so boring!  I felt like I was just saying the same thing a different way every day week after week.  If it was boring for me to write, I can't imagine how bored you guys were.  I wouldn't blame you if you just looked at the numbers at the top and left.  Gah! I suck!

So, I'm thinking I'll just do a short post with the numbers, and post whatever I think is pertinent to the week. This means that on my weigh in day, which is now Thursday, I will post the changes.

A few things have changed since I last posted a weekly weigh in.

1.  Weight Watchers Online just wasn't working as well for me as going to the meetings.  So I am now going to meetings on Thursdays.  I really like my new leader, Amy, she's fun, approachable, personable and entertaining.  I think the meetings just work better for me because there is more accountability and the idea exchange is wonderful.

2. My weigh in day is now Thursday. (duh)

3. I have a mantra now.  "Strength is just what you have left when you've used up all your weak."  This is surprisingly effective.

Well, that's all she wrote.  Numbers below!  I am happy to report despite my inability to not eat all of my Grandma's and my Mother-in-Law's amazing cooking, I still lost this week. :D  My exercise must have been just enough.

6/30/11: 203.8 lbs
7/7/11: 203.0 lbs

Have a good week everyone!

What is Strong?

"What is strong?"

The answer is so varied.  What do you think is strong?

"Is it muscle?"

I'm not going to pontificate and try and answer it.

"....Or something more?"

I know that there is always more, more that you can give, 

more that you can do.  A well of determination to dip into.  

I'm trying to keep mine.  I start training for a century ride 

(100 miles) on Monday.  We have eight weeks of training 

before we rock out this ride.

"Is it measured in miles or milliseconds?"

It's going to take us 6 hours, at least, that's what we expect.

I'm nervous, incredibly so.

128.7499 miles.  It seems so insurmountable.

Lansing to Big Rapids.

"Is it your best time or your worst day?"

But training builds you up slowly, which is exactly what I need.

One turn of the cranks at a time.

".....Maybe strong is just what you have left when you've used up all your weak."

What Is Strong? (60 second) from Saucony on Vimeo.

Great commercial by Saucony, a shoe company based in the US and Canada. It is one of the most motivational commercials I have ever seen. I saw it this weekend for the first time while watching the Tour de France. Excellent commercial.

**Authors note: I am not sponsored by Saucony, this post is not, nor is this blog, affiliated in any way with Saucony.  I liked their commercial and decided to write about it.