Brick!

I rode Donner Summit again today, and had a great ride.  I rode with J, who's a much faster rider than me, but seemed to really enjoy the slower pace that I set, and was a great partner for the ride.  It was 19+ miles, and covered maybe 2/3 of what the bike portion of DLT will be.

It certainly was a bit of a reality check.  I was under the mistaken impression that all I really needed to worry about was the climb to the summit, then it would all be relatively flat and really a dream ride, well, not so much.  I have driven this road many a time, but it is crazy how you just don't really notice the hills while in a car, but on a bike every little rise becomes huge.  OK, so here's the elevation profile (looks just like a pair of tits, no?) 

This represents 2,335 feet of climbing, and there'll be another 7 miles (surely not flat) on race day.  I think the bike portion will be the toughest discipline in the race, by far.

Anyhow, the whole thing took just over 2 hours.  I do believe I am improving, measurably even . . . I reached the summit 7 minutes quicker than I did the last time, and if I had really concentrated and socialized less, I could have done it faster.  I did give this ride a lot of effort, but did talk most of the way and could have ground quite a bit harder, so I think my time of 2:01 could be improved somewhat.  J and I decided to do the whole course sometime next week, and I will shut up and put my nose to the grindstone and really try to get an idea of what might be a good goal for race day. 2:15 for the whole thing?  Maybe a little unrealistic.

After we returned from the ride, I had a bathroom break, a phone call and a 10 minute 'transition', then headed out on the road for a 2.5 mile run.  Oooh, that was hard, at least for the first maybe mile and a half.  I had to stop once or 3 times, a little 'cause I'm lazy but mostly because my left leg just didn't really want to go, not a charley horse or anything it just felt like it was asleep, tingly and empty.  I ran 2.37 miles in 29.11.  Oddly, the Garmin times seem correct, yet when I transfer the data over to my Ascent program, it lists the times as longer.  I think it doesn't subtract the time that Gary is in AUTOPAUSE.  I'm not overly familiar with the Ascent software, but I think I must be doing something basic wrong, or there's an easy correction for this. There's a few other questions I have regarding this software, so I guess I better do a little research.

So, the first mile or so was pretty damn tough, but things smoothed out and felt better after that.  I probably could have (and should have) continued on for another 4 or so miles, but I was already running late and took the easy way out.  I did pick up the pace at the end, and ran the last quarter mile at a 10:20 pace -- screaming!

All in all, it was a good day for me.  I felt quite athletic!