Seagull Century - CycleCentury

8,000 people; started race at 6:57am; still dark; first 7.2 miles with Adrian, drafted with woman doing 13-14 mph good until she continued with century and I veered off for metric. Virtually NO ONE doing metric. Major bummer - - - hated being all by myself, especially after hanging with the crowd. Lonely (again!). Oh well, enjoy the scenery. Lots of people passing me - - wow! why am I so slow??? Finally settled with guy travelling at 12-14 pace for about 20 miles - first break they split off. somewhat sore - -stretched hamstrings, ate a banana and drank water. Back brake was stuck - -no wonder it was so hard pedalling!! tech fixed it - - took off at good pace - - noticed I could easily hit 17-19 mph when I crouched over handlebars (need to get those aerobars). got to 2nd stop (~38miles) needed a good stretch!! ate 1/2 bagel with cream cheese, lots of water - refilled one bottle with water, long line for bathroom - - last 22 miles by FAR the most difficult - - wind picking up - - pushing hard to maintain 10-11 mph - -losing site of goal, tired, sore, no fun!! alone again - can't keep up with others to draft - - FINALLY a woman passes slowly at 14mph - -I push as hard as I can to catch up and draft (with her permission) - - tough it out to stay with her - -will be much harder if I drop back. She stays with me, even slows her pace to let me stay with her - in hard winds we slow to 8-9 mph pushing hard to stay upright! Pain in my back is bad, quads and hamstrings are sore - keep stretching legs out, they are cramping - - constant cadence, no break to coast! Last 5-6 miles were the worst - - knew I would make it, but definitely in major pain! finished!!!

pace myself - - slower - - -even if it means taking much longer to finish! take aspirin before and during - - or cramp pills - - - make someone is with me all the time to share drafting (I could not lead - -I was too weak!!) Get more sleep the night before!! and go for a swim on Sunday to relax the muscles some more!! Remember to put body glide on inside of legs (they were raw at end of event - maybe because I got soaked by ran - -but very tender)

slow ride to car, stretch back - - - -sit on ground legs out - -stretch - - lean over - stretch - - my arches in my feet hurt - - my quads hurt - -stretch - - -my hamstrings are sore - - -drink the rest of heed - - -take 2 more cramp pills - - -stretch - - -my elbow and arms are NOT SORE - - did a good job of keeping them lose.


the WIND and not enough training for distance - -probably not enough strength to push for extended time periods - -maybe needed to rest longer???


I need more distance training and remember to ride MY PACE - nutrition is really important (ran out of gels and forgot aspirin and cramp pilsl) - -post race meal (KFC chicken - not a good idea - pizza would have been better) - - -massage would have been good - - - need more sleep the night before and probably a swim the day after.