Sunday, September 4, 2011

Sunrise Century

I have been largely negligent in my blogging this week, mainly because I’ve been largely negligent in training. I did write a couple race reports, ran a couple times (2.5 miles and 3 miles), and hiked through Percy Warner (4.5 miles) with Hollyn, and I was otherwise quite productive. I wrote a nice long list of things to do this week, which I kept adding to and crossing things off of. It was definitely a successful week.

Today, however, we had a good long ride. Anna, Parri, Val, Lee, and I went up to Clarksville (with a bunch of other people) for their annual Sunrise Century. For the first 40 miles, I rode with my teammates and a huge group of guys. I didn’t have to do much work in terms of pulling, but I did have to do a lot of mental work trying to hold the wheels in front of me and not worry about the other people around me. Any time you’re on unfamiliar wheels you have to expend a lot more energy than normal to stay upright and ride well. I didn’t mind it most of the time, but some times it just got to me and I found familiar wheel. At those times, I just found Lee or Val and sat on their wheel.

Just before mile 40, you could decide whether to do the full century (100 miles) or the metric century (62 miles). I was just on the edge of the lead group and decided that I didn’t want to be gone (and out in the heat) all day. So I opted for the metric and found myself with 2 strong and steady guys’ wheels. It was fantastic. Here are the stats:

  • 61.15 miles, 2:41:27, 22.7 mph (31.1 max), 167 HR (183 max), 1610’ ascent, 1545’ descent
  • Lap 1: 19.97 miles, 49:28, 24.2 mph, 164 HR
  • Lap 2: 20.01 miles, 50:14, 23.9 mph, 171 HR
  • Lap 3: 19.96 miles, 58:00, 20.6 mph, 164 HR
  • Lap 4: 1.22 miles, 3:44, 19.5 mph, 182 HR

I’m a little behind the times here, but I finally watched Soul Surfer tonight. It is absolutely amazing. Not only is it well made, it is based on a true story and thus super emotional and moving. Bethany loses her arm and yet still does what she loves to do because God gave her the ability to. I would like to think that I’d have that same faith and trust in God if He took something like a limb away from me, but I just don’t know. And then I don’t know whether I’d like Him to so I could see how I would react. Though He does say, “Consider it all joy when you face various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (and dependence on God).

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