Training Log Archive: Yvonne

Dirty Kanza Half-Pint - moving time 8:32:01

Considering my very limited training time on the bike (e.g. 9.5 hrs in May - 4 hrs of which was in spinning class or on a trainer!) and no ride longer than 50 miles in, like, umm, 10 (??) years, I really didn't know how I would fare. So I just played it cool and didn't stress when my big gel flask bounced out of my bento at 16 mi., a full water bottle fell out about 60 sec. later (both of which I had to run back up a hill to retrieve), and then I rear-flatted at around 40 mi. and didn't exactly do a speedy repair job. Plus, I was distracted by the flint hills terrain (i.e. completely in awe of - IN AWE OF). As a bit of a prairie fanatic, it was a huge treat to ride through the middle of the largest tract of remaining tallgrass prairie in the world. Wowzers. At the checkpoint at 60 mi., I did what I needed to do but didn't hurry.

Then somewhere around mile 75 I thought, "Hmmm, I feel really good, in fact, I haven't felt bad once yet". Bike continued to be super comfy. Felt strong on the hills. So I tried to push the pace a bit. However, the cloudy cool mist from the morning was replaced by sun/heat/wind in the afternoon and I realized I made a tactical error by deciding to leave a water bottle in my checkpoint bag. With my high sweat-rate, I would really struggle to finish on the water I had left. Enter heavenly Emporia-area farm family with a cooler full of bottled water for racers! I gratefully took one and that 17 ounces got me to the finish line despite a rather tough last 10 miles with some tolerable muscle cramping and a bit of dehydration. 16th place gal. Happy with that.

The finish line party was incredible -- so inspiring to see a town pull together to support an event like this. I LOVED the gravel roads. No cars, limited development, incredible terrain/scenery. I definitely want to come back next year...and maybe w/ additional training do the real deal 200? Fun to see the STL folks there.

Other than the water issue, fueling was OK but on the low side - kept with the simple/easily digestible strategy which seems to work best for me. For future planning purposes: Leg 1: 7.5 oz homemade gel (w/ electrolytes); 2 oz Baked Lays (crunched up into tiny pieces and put in a flask - weird, but I like it); 80 oz water. Checkpoint: 6 oz water; 1 large banana. Leg 2: 8 blocks Gu Chomps; 3 packets Gu; 72 oz water. Other: Approx. 6 Endurolytes spread throughout the day, 100 mg caffeine tab @ 3 hr and 6 hr (bad replacement for my beloved coffee).