MS 150

After the pictures were published from my Sprint Tri, I realized just how nervous I was about the bike ride.  The Sunday before the race, I had crashed into a ditch when a runner decided not to share the hike and bike trail that we were on.  She was running towards me and grabbed the middle, which left the edge for me.  It would have been fine, but I hit a crack and down I went. Thankfully, I was slowed almost to a stop before I crashed. 

So, the pictures came out, and you can see the look of pure terror on my face.  Smiles after the swim.  Smiles during the run.  "Oh dear sweet baby Jesus, just get me through this!" on the bike.   So, clearly, the most logical thing to do to beat my bike was to sign up to ride in the MS150.

The MS150 is a 150 mile (give or take) 2 day bike ride from Houston to Austin.  The ride raises money for MS research, and gives bragging rights to crazy people like me. I waffled about signing up for it, I considered every excuse in the book.   But I finally decided that if I didn't just suck it up and do it, then I never would.  Besides, I had a perfectly lovely bike just wasting away in the garage.  Why not ride it 150 miles?! :)

Several people from my office also decided to ride, and we signed up on the Conoco Phillips team.  Their team is one of the most (if not the most) organized in the entire organization.  They hold supported rides every Saturday leading up to the event, they offer training for new riders, feedback on safety on the road... the list goes on. I'm so thankful that I am riding with this team, because it has made the experience very enjoyable.

After the first "long" rides (I count "long" as anything over 40 miles), my body just completely crashed.  Either at a point during the ride or shortly after, I turned into a zombie and didn't recover until Wednesday morning.  Of course, I did some more googling, and found a few instances of people being warned against Metformin in endurance events.  So, I called my doctor, and told her all of my symptoms, how I was hydrating and fueling, and asked her opinion.  She assured me that Metformin has a low incidence of hypoglycemia, and suggested that I up my carb intake during the rides. 

So, last weekend, I enjoyed Cici's pizza on Friday night.  On the way to the ride Saturday morning, my ride buddy and I stopped at McDonalds, where I ate hotcakes (sans syrup).  On my back, I carried Fig Newtons (a google suggestion!), oranges (a soccer holdover), and some GU.  For the ride home, I prepared a bottle of Endurox (a carbohydrate recovery drink, similar to Gatorade).  At the rest stops, I ate Fig Newtons, oranges, and grabbed some trail mix (the team provides snacks at the rest stops). 

Saturday's ride was 55 miles of hills, and I could feel my hamstrings locking up with about 8 miles left.  I was trying to not eat any GU, to see if it would keep me from crashing so hard.  But when my ride buddy said he needed it with just over 6 miles left, I went ahead and downed one also.  I'm glad I did, because I just barely squeaked out the last hill!!!

After the ride, I felt great.  I continued feeling great on the ride home, and into that evening.  I finally came down (but didn't crash) about 7:30.  It was a much better feeling than the previous 3 weeks.  I'm not sure if my body is starting to adjust to the endurance, or if it was all the carbs, but something worked.  We're going after 63 miles at twice the elevation change this weekend, and I'm hoping my plan works as well!!

While training for the MS150, and knowing how many calories it takes to ride that far, I'm not intending on losing any weight for the next 5 weeks.  If it happens, that's great, but I'm not going to stress if it doesn't. 

Currently, I'm riding my bike 50+ miles on Saturday, hitting the gym T/W/Th (legs, back and chest, arms and abs), and running with my sister.  I am still doing my monthly races.  This Saturday, after my 63 miles, I signed up to do a Glow Run with my sister (a 5k in the dark).  The weekend before the 150, I'm doing the Blue Bell Fun Run, just to make sure my hamstrings are good and exhausted for the ride.  :)  So, while I've been riding and lifting, I'm also running 3-9 miles/week (depending on my sister's schedule).  We are loosely following the Hal Higdon 10k plan again, so that the 5k will feel super easy.  We haven't been very good at getting our mileage in, though (as you can tell!).

Aren't my cycling clothes flattering?!