Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Three Things Thursday...on Wednesday

I was going to wait and send this post tomorrow but it's done, so why wait!

Three Things Thursday... on Wednesday

1. I participated in the Venus De Miles, an all women bike ride benefitting Greenhouse Scholars. I rode the whole way with Melanie of See Mommy Race and my boyfriend (er... girlfriend? More on this later) Derek. I did the 64 mile ride, which is the longest offered, but there were 2 other shorter distances for those not up to the highest distance yet (or just wanted to get back for the food and fun earlier).
My favorite photo of me and Melanie!
I will preface the next few photos by saying that Derek was part of the "Men-in-Drag" support crew, so if any of us helpless ladies needed something fixed, he would stop and help them get back on track with their bikes.  He stopped a couple of times but another fellow Man-In-Drag was helping so he was able to keep biking with me. However, he did have to help one damsel in distress, me! My chain popped while I was switching gears after a hill and I'm useless when knowing how to do things pertaining to a bike, so I flagged him down and he helped me. It was somewhere around mile 60.

Me and Derek

Forget it ladies! He's all mine!
Overall, I had a lot of fun but after riding 2 rides longer than 60 miles, I have to say that 30-40 miles is the perfect long bike ride distance! This route had a lot of hills too (A LOT!), and our legs were so fatigued by the time we got to mile 50. And we missed a turn at the end and had to backtrack a bit, which brought my total miles to 66+. I was happy to be done! :)

2. I bought a new bike!  Unfortunately, I didn't have it for my really long bike ride. I got it the same day but afterwards. It's not brand new either. It's a 1995 Trek that's in pretty good condition. And unfortunately, I haven't ridden it yet since I got it. I'm hoping to change that this week.  My old bike was a cheepy, very generic, bike that we got online. I have to lean too far over on the handlebars and put too much pressure on my arms. The trek bike lets me sit a bit more upright and I noticed right away that I'm not putting any pressure on my arms!  I'm so excited!

A picture of the same bike I bought, just not my actual bike
3. Marathon Training. I'm now in week 10 of my 18 week training schedule! Wow! That's moving fast! I'm feeling pretty good so far (knock on wood). I'm never feeling perfect but that's because my body sucks. But I've been consistently running hills every Wednesday for 6 weeks (is that all? Seems like longer!), which is going well. I've also been changing up my long runs (location and people) every once in a while. That could be partly because of half marathons that I had in the last couple months. I love running with "my girls" of course, so when I can meet up with them, I jump at the opportunity. I have my longest run since last year (17 miles) on Saturday and runs over 15 miles always tend to freak me out a bit. Trying to remain calm. I know I can do it. I've done it before (several times)... ok maybe not 17 miles but I've run 16 and 18 miles. I'm doing the Hal Higdon Novice 2 plan and the long run miles are a bit different. Looking forward to telling you all about the great run I'm going to have this weekend! (See what I did there? Trying reverse psychology on myself. Don't tell me).

7 comments:

  1. 64 mile ride? Wow, nice! Where did you find your new bike? Congrats on being well over half way done with your marathon training schedule. Hard to believe it's less than 8 weeks away (and I still don't have my corral assignment)!

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    1. Someone posted in my run group page about an add in the paper about the bike. So it was from a woman. Her and her husband use the hybrids they bought so she doesn't ride that one anymore.

      And I'm doing Grand Rapids full so it's the following week after Chicago!

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    2. Oops, I forgot you were doing Grand Rapids. Good luck with the training.

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  2. I really want to do the Venus de Miles. It seems like a blast, but didn't work out for me this year. And what a handsome catch you have there. Loving the pink wig!

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  3. Derek looks awesome in his drag get-up!

    64 miles, oh my goodness. I get tired after doing 10 miles on the stationary bike. Great job on completing that distance, woo hoo!

    I am excited to hear more about the new bike once you start using it!

    Yay for your hill training and the diversity of your long runs, et al. You are going to knock it out of the park at Grand Rapids!

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  4. Love Derek dressed up - great job on that long ride! I think the longest I've ridden my bike is 20 miles, and I thought that was a lot!

    Hooray for a new bike! I am sure it will make all the difference - like getting the right running shoes. :D

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  5. Hey you! I've recently come back to blogging and I'm just catching up with old friends. So great to see you are still writing and working out. One thing I'd love to get into in the future is biking. I miss simply riding on bike paths as I did as a kid. Keep up the great work!

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