Sufferfest 07 Day 2: 1 Hr Swim, 100 Mile Bike, Hills and Cold

05:39:45 AM: Up for Sufferfest Day 2! Legs don't feel horrible and I slept pretty darn well last night.

05:49:58 AM: A lot harder this morning to focus on details. Yesterday I was mapping, organizing, planning. Today I just don't have the energy but I do know that a little detail work now will prevent that big uh oh later on (i.e. "no socks?!?").

05:52:56 AM: Special prep this morning includes extra whey protein in my oatmeal (two big scoops) to prevent/minimize muscle breakdown. Ibuprofen to fight inflammation. Two multivitamins for all the little stuff that my body needs to fight exhaustion.

06:12:52 AM: At the gym for a swim. One thing I forgot to mention: sunburn yesterday. Not severe but my farmer's tan isin effect already... in February.

08:00:59 AM: Swim done. Solid first half hour... set work second half. Full shower and abs routing afterwards. Saw Jack quickly today.

11:47:04 AM: Cooter lake. mile 21. leaving comet, onto taylorsville route. cold as crapb but will warm up.

01:37:38 PM: Mile 45...general store break. Warmed up. Feels good.

03:50:20 PM: Done with taylorsville loop. At 74 miles now. Damn hills makw for slow going.

05:34:49 PM: Done. 100 miles. We'll now head into friday atlanta traffic. Good ride. Sufferfest Day 2 completed!

07:46:32 PM: Back home.

Each day seems to have its own demons. Yesterday it was a wind advisory and blistering winds. Today it was early cold and course mini-hills. We froze the first two hours. Then it warmed up and we entered rolling hills that just wouldn't end. Each of us had moments of weakness (although Marc was the strongest by far today) and we all helped each other get through them. Tons of chasing dogs on this course. Generally nice roads but some horrible ones near the end. I wore Chamois Buttr for the first time... goopy at first but fine after a while. Sufferfest is definitely getting more difficult tomorrow as we head into the north georgia mountains and climb some gaps with fresh-legged Matthew and Remling. Could get ugly if we don't control ourselves.

Average pulse today of 116 on average power of 205 watts. Oddly, this is a lower heart rate and higher power than yesterday. I don't think the Polar power meter does a good job of calculating power in the wind... it just never seemed to reflect how I was working. I'm finding this year that heart/lungs isn't my limiter... muscular endurance is.

Marc's take:

Silver Comet / Taylorsville Loop - 100 miles, 6 hours 7 min, 6483 calories burned, avg heart rate 133.
Cold at the start, should have worn more clothes but it warmed up. The 3 of us (Dana, Reger and I) remained strong all day. I wasn’t sure what would happen today with the body or fatigue but with the exception of a little more shoulder and butt soreness, it was a similar day to Thursday. Joe did a lot of work early in the day and Dana did a lot at the end. Gaps tomorrow.

And Dana's:

Up early working. Bus driver was back and kids made it to the bus. I sleep walked into Joe’s mini van and we headed out for the Taylorsville ride. Took a quick conference call from the car. Joe’s been doing all the driving and mapping - I really appreciate that.

Legs and body felt good today but I was fatigued. I haven’t been sleeping well. Lots going on at work. That added stress doesn’t seem to be helping recovery.

The first 20 or so miles of the bumpy Comet trail was tough. Vertigo was making me feel sketchy and jumpy. Maybe too much caffeine today. Need to watch coffee intake.

Once we got on the road, we settled in and worked through the cold thankful we didn’t have to deal with the wind like yesterday. Around mile 48 give or take, we found a charming little general store (stole picture below from Joe ) in the middle of nowhere. The store clerk was old and sweet. We stocked up our bottles and picked up some food, including Pringles with jokes stamped on them (random I know). Anyway, I chuckled (gosh that word is old…who says chuckle anymore) pretty hard from those Pringle jokes. So much so I couldn’t part with them. So into my jersey they went and back out to the road we went.

Then I started thinking. Not about the Pringles, but other stuff. It started with guilty feelings about missing Brit’s soccer game. It’s amazing how - once fatigue sets in deep like that - your brain starts sending negative messages and you start second guessing everything. The whole ‘why am I doing this?’ thing set in. When that happens, I think of my dad time and time again. He inspired me to get on the bike in the first place. I had to remind myself of how lucky I am to be doing what I love with good friends and how much my family supports me and how everything is in order and under control at home. It’s like talking yourself through a minor panic attack. You just suck it up and push through it - mental toughness I suppose. Interesting though that I thought muscle soreness would be an issue today and it turned out to be brain soreness. This intrigues me because it wasn’t a ‘bonk’ per se. I was eating and drinking constantly. My blood was flowing to the working muscles and, other than minor aches and pains here and there, I felt good. Marc and Joe were supportive. We’re pretty keen about keeping each other going. Once we got back on the Comet trail we each took turns pulling and rotating every 1 minute or so. I felt compelled to pull a little harder since they had been doing the majority of the work all day. That backfired. They thought I was trying to prove some other point. It was good to see the roof of the rest stop facility which indicated we had made it to the car. Total miles today: 100. Average HR: no clue. Sue called to check in while we driving home.

Gaps tomorrow. I’ll be extremely cautious on the descents especially given today’s sketchism. Looking forward to seeing Matthew and Remling.

Brit’s team won the soccer game 3:0. Brit had some close shots on goal tonight. Big game next Tuesday. Can’t wait to see it. Baseball practice tomorrow. 11-3. Coach is working them hard and that’s just what CJ needs.

Shout out to peeps doing Charles Harris tomorrow. Good luck!

Both accounts stolen without permission.

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  phone camera pics

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  dana marc phone camera pics