Ready Or Not, Providence, RI here I come!

Let's see ... first a re-cap of my holiday weekend! I had an EARLY morning run scheduled with Elizabeth, who headed over to my neck of the woods from the west side. I got a good 20 minutes in of quality stretching, which can really psych me up to run.  A deer approached me at 5:15 am - pretty much with the look of "what the heck are YOU doing here, NOW?"  Yeah, I hear you deer.  Elizabeth arrived and we set out for a 12.5 mile run around Mentor.  Now Liz is a talker when she runs, and I am not - and I KNOW THAT SHOCKS MOST OF YOU!!!  I get it! It really is quite the paradox!  But, we did a bit of chit chat and it wasn't bad. Around mile 8 I began to feel tired so we stopped to get a drink and use the bathroom at Sheets - my FAVORITE place to stop because they have a nice water fountain! After we resumed the run, I had to crank the tunes to drown out the fatigue I was feeling at holding our 8.5 min/mile pace.  We had a great run and I was happy to have the whole day ahead to just hang out with my husband.  We took in an Indian's game Sat. evening and they even won.

Sunday I headed over to the west side to ride bright and early with Elizabeth and her friend Fran. We set off for a 60 mile ride.  This was a new experience for me, in that they ride in a line and the front cyclist pulls for 1-8 minutes then drops back and the second is up to pull.  So the three of us rotated the entire ride. Now, prior to this I've always - ALWAYS! - either been in the back, or smack dab last, as the caboose. This is where I am comfortable! But, little did I know I was shirking my responsibilities of pulling!!  So, this day, I pulled!  It was fun and I loved the pace the three of us held! We were very compatible!!  Until we were nearly home and Liz got a fire under her ass and was pushing 21+ I'd swear! I began to drop back and Fran stepped up to save me by taking my turn and letting me draft off of him.  Thanks Fran!  And more power to you, Liz, for going with it! When you feel good, ride that wave! :)  All in all,  62 miles.  A good day!

Monday, I joined the scheduled CTC/Spin ride.  I was a bit tired from the past 2 days, but ready to push the limits.   I felt good early on, and hung with the group for ~1/3 of the ride. Then I began to fall behind. They waited for me a few times, and by the turn around I was tired.  We refueled and rehydrated and took a bit of time to rest, then back we went.  I lost them immediately. First I had a chain issue, but I fixed that, then I just settled in at about 17-18 mi/hr.  They waited - what a nice group! But I said I was good with spare tires, CO2 cartridges, a phone, ID, money, gels and water.  I told them to go ahead, I didn't want to ruin their ride. I knew the area and could get back on my own. All said and done: 60 miles   I was pretty happy with it.  Now, off to get home and clean up so I could head to work.

Tuesday we had an OWS at Headland's beach and I did maybe 800 yrds easy.  I felt great and I'm really hoping the OWS time will help me to feel more relaxed in the water for IMRI.

Tomorrow I head out to Rhode Island! My husband is coming and we will hit the road in the early afternoon.  Plan to try to get to Albany and stay overnight, then head to RI in the morning.  I'm excited for this race!  It has a split transition - T1 is south and we bike north to T2 then run 2 times around Providence, RI.  I will be number 147 and this is an Ironman brand event, my first.  You can track my progress (or lack there of!) with the Athlete Tracker on their site.  I will be wearing a PURPLE cap (yippee!) and my swim wave goes off at 6:05 - first wave after the pros.  Sooooo... I'm excited! I'm nervous! I'm REALLY hoping to best the CT time, and more specifically, go under 7 hrs.  I will hope to do under 6 hrs for the Deer Creek Half, but that's in FLAT Ohio.  The elevation map for RI is SCARY steep in a few places and I believe it will be similar to the bike course in CT.  I've spoken to athletes that have done both and they tell me they are equally challenging.  Great!  I'll chime in with my opinion here after I'm done. I'm hoping my bike fitness has improved such that I have a little more left for the run leg this time. :)

So, there you have it ... I'm excited!! I'll check in Sat. and Sunday after the race. You can follow me on Twitter for my super exciting and very important Tweets ---> docheindeldvm
Peace out!
Tiff