Less than a month to go....

I'm getting close to "the big day"....UGH! I still haven't decided on a bike to take. Either Cervy or Orby....Orby is better for climbing, but I just can't sit on him for more than 60 miles. My who-haa is killing me. then there is Cervy. Cervy is much more comfortable but can't climb worth shit. What to do???

We're off to Lake Placid to train this week, and I'm taking both boys. Hopefully I'll get this figured out once and for all.

And I'm starting to get really nervous! I hadn't ridden over 100 miles in a month, although I did do a hilliesh 86 miles and a couple hilly 40 mile rides.

But, the most amazing thing? My longest run ever yesterday (ok, ties for a run a did when I was in the marathon training program back in 2001, but not since then). I did 15 miles, and survived! Eric and I celebrated by eating at Cheesecake Factory. But I'll tell you, my body has adapted to 13 miles. Everything, my feet, my butt, my head, hurt for the last two miles. Eric is unreal. We had run down to Georgetown from Bethesda and he even ran the Exorcist steps. Wow. I had to keep "whoaing" him since he'd start speeding up. After all, this was MY long slow run.

This is going to be very interesting. can I just PLEASE do it this one time??? I promise, do it once, I won't do it again! ok, at least till next year...

Training in Lake Placid

On to training. Eric and I went up to Lake Placid to train. Its a lOOOONG trip there and back, but well worth it. So beautiful!

I was absolutely elated about the bike course since it seemed much easier than I expected.
I expected the hills of death I saw in the Tour De Carroll, but only there were three longish climbs. At first I was freaking out b/c I was going soooo slowly, but the whole middle part was flat. And its so pretty. You pass a huge waterfall and go down this 6 mile hill. I was partially scared out of my mind and partially exhilarated. No way I can do it in aerobars like everyone else, but I kept a tight grip on the brakes, just in case! But, the worst happened. My first bonk. At mile 49ish, I noticed just how long it was taking me to do a mile! I was really slowing down, and I started to languish. I was even having problems steering, and we were going up a long climb that had a guardrail. It wasn't the time to be having problems! I finally stopped and had a fig newton, and that brought me back to life. I really wanted to do another loop, but I would have to figure out this nutrition first. Decided to try some accelerade to drink to see if that would help.

The thing is, I went from being absolutely elated to deflated. I still have yet to do 100 miles on the bike, so I have a lot of work cut out for me.

Then, we got to swim in Mirror Lake. It was great! I never did find the "cable" or "rope" that everyone kept talking about, the one that you could follow for the course. Oh well. It seemed cold at first but was refreshing and easy to swim.

We were pooped by the end of the night. Got to spend some time in town, had some good food, and went to bed. We had some biking to do the next day!

Well, no such luck. We got there in town just as it started to rain. :( It was soo cold and windy and wet, and I was terrified of going down those hills in the rain! We decided to run instead. I was going to try to run the whole course. Interesting since I hadn't run over 6 miles since Cherry Blossom, and have barely run anything over 3 miles! It started to rain harder and harder...