Weekend Training - 104 days to Augusta Half Ironman 70.3 miles!

As I sit here in my nice cool house, I don't think I want to get HOT again this weekend.  Boy it's been a HOT one!  Saturday morning we even started our run or I should say walk at 5:30am hoping to beat the heat.  It was ok the first loop, but by the time we started the 2nd loop it was just down right HOT. I had meet Frank & Krista to do 10-12 miles.  They had around 13 on their schedule and I just wanted to try to get in an easy 10 miler.  I hadn't ran all week because I was letting my knee rest that had started bothering me the previous week.  I have NO clue what I did to it.  However, that's usually how it goes with us runners.  A new aliment pops us unexpectedly and we can't figure out why.  It throws us for a loop.  What did we do wrong.  Too many hills, too many miles, running too fast, or just plain old over training.  Yes, sometimes we do know what happens to cause an injury, but I'd say most of the time we just don't have a definite answer.  So I rest when it happens.  I feel like it might be a little bit from overuse.  I recently did a 100 mile bike ride along with all the TRI training I'm doing.  So I'm telling myself it's overuse.  :>)  Anyway, we ended up walking most of the 10 miles.  We jogged here and there, but most of the miles were walking.  It was so good to visit with Frank & Krista.  I hadn't got to do that in a while.  Here's a picture we took when we were done.   I didn't realize my app put the word "GYM TIME" on the top of the picture until just now.. ha

Sunday a couple of my friends were going to Wiggins to Flynt Creek to TRI train with some people that Kathy had been talking to on Facebook.  I hated to miss church, but felt that I needed to go tag along to get in some good open water swim practise.  That's my weakest event as of right now.   Their plan was to swim 1 mile, bike 30 and run 20 minutes.  So I joined Kathy & Serina and missed church.  

Flynt Creek was beautiful.  I was shocked how clean the water was when we got in it.  We started at 7am so there were no boats out yet except for 1 small fishing boat.  

The swim was great!  We did 4 laps outside the swim area.  I think there were like 8-12 of us total.  It was a mixed group of men and women.  I had thought it was going to be only women until we saw the guys driving up and unloading.  They were all pretty good swimmers.  After swimming we got ready to start the bike ride.  One of the guys came over to tell us about a very bad dog that we would have to pass on the route.  That's when I started to get worried.  I hate mean dogs.  I had not carried any mace or my tazer.  I was so wishing I had it right then!  He said they would ride in front and if the dog came out they would spray him and for us to peddle as fast as we could to out run him.  Yes, this dog likes to chase you and will bite!! I don't know why owners of dogs let them do this to innocent bikers!!! Drives me crazy.  So we took off and I started praying immediately.  

Luckily the dog didn't come out! I was so happy!!! However, I knew we had to come back that exact way to get back in the park where were started.  The route was rolling hills.  It was a very nice ride.  I had rode most of the roads before when I did the Wiggins TRI so I was prepared for the hills. I'll never forget my coworker telling me her parents live right on the bike route and how they weren't really any hills in Wiggins. I told her after doing the TRI last year that she needed to get out of her car and on a bike and she'd see they have HILLS.  LOL  The guys that were with us would stop and wait at intersections for us to catch up to make sure the group stayed together.  They were really a very nice group of people.  One husband and wife was from the coast and they come to Flynt Creek to train most every weekend.  They are also doing Augusta in September.  All of sudden I hear a loud pop and notice my front tire is going flat! So I stopped.  One of the guys that was close to me asked if I was ok and I told him I was fine but my tire was flat.  He asked if I knew how to change it and if I had the equipment.  I told him yes.  He said they would go on because they would be turning around soon and heading back my way.  When he left I started taking off my bike tire and changed my tube.  I was so GLAD that my friend Frank had told me to learn how to change my own tire.  If I had not known, I could of either walked 10 miles back pushing my bike or sat there on the side of the road until they finished and came back to pick me up.  Boy it was hot changing that tube! NO breeze at all! My CO2 bottle didn't fill my tire up very much.  Thank goodness that the two fastest guys were heading back and stopped when they saw me.  I told him my bottle didn't seem to fill my tire up so he handed me his.  He also asked me if I changed it myself and I told him yes.  He said good job little lady. :>) 

So now we are on our way back......and I'm dreading the dog.  We all stop at the top of the hill to re-group and he reminds us that the dog is coming up so be prepared.  Thank goodness Serina had her tazzer with her!! We all started down the hill and here comes the bulldog looking dog hauling butt after us.  I was gripping my handle bars so hard.  He literally started coming my way and Serina popped in front of me and hit her tazzer.  He came to a complete stop and just stood there.  I was so relieved because he had his eye on me.  I was on his side of the road and if she hadn't been there, he would have probably gotten me! Thank goodness for good friends!! 

When we arrived back at our cars one of the guys came over and told us that the dog had nipped his wife.  He said they had been dealing with this dog for a long time.  I was saying in my head... WHY DON'T THESE PEOPLE PUT THIS DOG UP! I HATE MEAN DOGS!

We did not join them on the run due to Kathy's broke foot.  The doctor just released her to bike and swim, but no running just yet.  So we packed up our stuff and changed clothes.  I had Serina take this picture of us as we were leaving.  

We are all home now and I've had a nice shower and I seriously don't think I want to be HOT again. I thought about going outside to lay by my pool or in the pool on a float, but I think I'll stay inside with the AC on and nap.  We got us a good workout this morning!  They said they go most every Sunday to Flynt Creek to train.  I so want to join them more because I feel that I need that type of training to get me ready for Augusta.  I just don't want to miss Church every Sunday for training.  Serina made a joke and said we might have to change religions and go to church on Saturday.  ha   I'm not sure what I'm going to do.  I plan to pray about it.  Maybe God won't be too upset with me if I go train 2 Sundays a month until Augusta in September.  It's not like I'm in church every Sunday always..I do miss from time to time.  It's just not a planned training thing as why I miss sometimes.  One of my friends once told me that we can get to where we worship these races, training, etc. so I don't want to be one of those or for people to think that's me.  I just want to be prepared for the biggest race that I've ever done by September 25! Did I say that's only in 104 days?! No time to be playing around now.  LOL  It's hammer time.