hot 100

Friday: 35 minute run
Saturday: 5 hour ride, 101.4 miles.

I finished this past week up with a short run on Friday, and then I completed my 2nd Covington Century on Saturday . My total training hours for the week were 12. The century went as well as I could have hoped for it to go in the kind of heat I was riding it. Temperatures were well into the 90's for most of the ride and the humidity was the typical Georgia variety of A LOT. I started out to fast..again...but I was able to get a hold of myself before the entire day turned into a disaster. I was 22.1 mph avg through the first 25 miles. After this point I realized with the rising temps there was no way I was going to hold that - so I took it easy for a while pulling some 17's and 18's then got into a pretty good groove around 20-21 mph. Most of which was not in a pace line, especially after the mid point. People start to get to spread apart and pace lines are a lot less common. After hitting a sag at mile 65 - the point at which were I totally lost it last year - I ran into a section of long gradual climbs for the next 12 miles or so - In my state of delirium I convinced myself I had taken it out to hard again just like last year and this was the beginning of the end. My average had dropped to around 20.2 mph. I made it to the sag at mile 76 and put my head under the hose - this seemed to really help me feel better. I got back on the bike with 16 miles to the final sag and surprisingly had a lot left in my legs. I made it to the final sag at mile 90 with a 20.0 mph average - still hanging on. I cooled my head off again and headed out for the final 10 miles. 3 to 4 miles later my legs finally had had enough, I was able to hang tough at around 17-18 mph for those last 6-7 miles so I ended up with a 19.8 mph average for the day. I really wanted that 20 avg and sub 5 hour century but I guess I will have to go for that another day.