On Saturday I hoped once again to hook up with one of my trusted tried and true training partners but to no avail. It was me, myself, and I. Blue was not anxious to get out of bed that morning (I tried to talk her into a 7am start but that wasn't happening) so we both agreed on 7:30am wake up and then out by 8:00am. However, I had some zen and the art of bike maintenance to do and that took longer than expected. Once I was covered in grease it was time to roll out of stone field.
I see you Mr. Ed!
I have a hard time finding training partners. The guys my age are just too darn fast. I would end up blowing my heart rate out of the ballpark for the entire three hours. Some of my other Ironman friends are also riding by heart rate and they are a bit older so their max is lower forcing them to slow down. Once again, I don't want to push them, they don't want to slow me down. It's a tough thing, so sometimes you just have to go solo. That's exactly what I did.
A cute little creek along the ride!
Yep, that's me!
I rode out to my old stomping grounds around Cranberry and 989. This is where a friend taught me to do a big square so I wouldn't get lost. At ever stop I make a right! That, my friends, I can handle!
My bovine friends down home on the farm
I passed hill and dale, cow and chicken alike (and said hi to most as I went by). It was hot, but it was beautiful and my heart rate was perfect. I ended with an average of 145 which for me, is pretty good. During my Ironman training keeping my average above 140 was a real challenge as I was pretty fit and the downhills it would drop easily into the 110's within seconds.
See - 140 Coach (do not attempt this at home)
I ended with a nice transition run of 30 minutes in North Park where I had to keep backing it down because by this point it was well into the high 80's.
It was a great day and I am thankful I'm not afraid to get out there and just go my own way. I miss my TP's, but maybe we will be able to work it out soon.
In other news I went to a dermatologist last night. I have been to see many derms in my day because I've had serious acne issues since I have been about fifteen years old. Sure, you may not see it in some of my pictures, but I have become a master at hiding it (and not posting the bad ones!). It has plagued me for so many years it's just become a part of my life - get up, wash face, get sad when I see a new one, pick at it (because I'm a compulsive picker) and then try to cover it up. I don't get regular acne - like a lot of zits all over. I get one or two really bad cystic acne flare ups at a time. It really makes it hard to deal with because I just can't keep my hands off my face.
Needless to say, with my stress level lately its been out of complete control and last week I actually had someone ask "what happened to your face?" like I had been in a car crash, or fell of my bike or something!! Supposedly this lady does many different types of treatments and her first order of business was a chemical peel. I literally said during it "If I can do an Ironman, I can do this" in order to keep myself in the chair. It hurt so bad!! I made it though and now my entire is face is going to peel off over the next three days.. Sounds fun huh!! Lovely. I spent a gazillion dollars on some products (no seriously - like a new Powertap or something worth -ahhh!) so please Father in heaven, let this be the time that finally works as I have tried EVERYTHING!!!
We'll see. Marit once told me a lot of top triathletes have really bad acne. Humm..I wouldn't say I'm one of those but maybe we all make too much testosterone or something. That's a fun thought right!
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