So the first 25 miles was pretty good. I humped it through the 10-mile climb through Thompson Canyon. It was hell. Even the flats were uphill. It was also a little scary. We were riding on a mountain road sharing with cars that were going too fast for all the curves. But made it to the turnaround rest stop no problem. My goal was to do the 50 in 4 hours. I got to the turnaround just before 2. I should have known something was wrong when I didn't have to pee. I had ridden 25 miles and I'd only drank 1/4 of ONE bottle of my Gatorade. Ate half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. No oranges no extra drinks. I drank some of my gatorade and stayed at the rest stop for about 10 minutes. But hopped on my bike and went about three miles out of the way before I finally turned around and started my way home. Zoomed down the canyon woo hoo. Hit 40! Then came to another country road that was a long uphill. Felt some discomfort on the downhill, the makings of a charley horse but I kept going. And then.....My left leg seized up. Then my right leg seized up. Then I fell off my bike onto the side of the road. I was experiencing a pain I had never had before. It wasn't really pain it was terrible agony. I screamed. I screamed. I kept screaming. I couldn't stand. I just rolled around screaming. Across the street was a livery. Guys were on their horses rounding up cattle. Two guys galloped over to me. They thought I had been bitten by a snake. They asked me what was wrong but I couldn't talk the pain was too great. Tears were rolling down my eyes. My thighs began to literally blow up. They began to grow and grow. They were the size of watermelons. The pain was unbearable. After about three minutes - the longest three minutes of my life - the pain began to subside. An older guy rode by and stopped. I told him what happened. And he said,
"You're dehydrated. When the legs swell like that it means they aren't getting enough water." Duh. You bet your ass I was dehydrated. I was debiliatingly dehydrated. The older guy gave me some Advil and told me to drink up and stay put for 20 minutes. I cried, my race "time" was out the window. At this point I was wondering if I was going to survive. About 15 minutes later, after several people had passed the cycle store's van came by. He asked if my bike was alright. Yeah, I said, bike's fine it's my legs that do not work. Then the moment of truth - do you need a ride? I could've said yes. I wanted to. I was still in so much pain. But I told people who donated money to me that I was riding 50 miles and in a meoment of stupidity, why not I had had a whole day of them, I said no. I couldn't sit and wait for 20 minutes so I started to walk. I walked about a mile when I felt good enough to get back on the bike. I had less than 10 miles to go. I could gut it out. Three miles later another attacked. Waved down an event vehicle. Both my water bottles were empty now i drank them to ease the pain. Guy gave me some water. Back on the bike. two more miles agony. Off the bike and this time I did sit on the side of the road. Guy came by and switched my empty waterbottle for his full one. Another guy came by and filled my water bottle. I drank about 40 ounces of water in that last few miles. Last rest was four miles away. I passed it not wanting to chance hurting getting off and on the bike. As I rounded the last corner legs started to hurt again. As soon as I go to the chute I hopped off the bike and I was done. I iced my legs and drank as much Gatorade, electrolyte stuff as I could. By the time I left to go home I had to pee. YEAHHHHHHH! I finally had to pee. It was a great sign. The 2 hour ride home took about 3 because I kept stopping to rehydrate, pee and stretch the legs. Thank God for cruise control. Ugh. I finished and I learned a painful but necessary lesson. Hydrate on the bike. Or you'll regret it. Triathlons isn't just about the physical training whether you can do a distance it's about doing that distance well and not in pain and the only way you can do that is to have great nutrition.

DUH - DRINK AND EAT MORE!

Iced the legs. Neck massage. Limped around.


No nutrition plan and no nutrition.


Got to figure out a nutrition plan.