Fear and Loathing of Las Vegas

Well that isn’t entirely true, although the fear part of my upcoming race in November is real! Obviously I am adequately prepared for the Silverman but I do feel a tad bit exposed on the cycling side of things. I would certainly have liked to have done more long rides, but the weather has just not co-operated. So I opted for the trainer for shorter, higher intensity type work. Hopefully that gives me what I need to deal with the 180 km bike ride on a course that has 9,800 feet of climbing on it! I’ll get my answer on November 7.
After my marathon on October 10, the recovery has gone quite well and the legs are feeling better already. This week I have racked up 24 miles of running so far with no ill effects. Given the quick turn around time, I will probably not do any runs beyond 10 miles or so.
The marathon in Victoria was wonderful as usual. I ran a fairly good race, clocking 3:02:33 and should easily have broken 3 hours had I managed my days prior to the race better. The prime reason for our trip to the coast was to deliver a load of “stuff” to my daughter who has recently relocated to Vancouver and of course to visit her. So the days prior to the race were spent loading and unloading material, a trip to IKEA for more stuff, and then the assembly of our wares from IKEA. Hydrating and carbo loading were put on the back shelf and the race pretty much forgotten until Sunday morning. Having said that I still ran a great run, 1:02 at 10 miles, 1:24 at the half and I was still cruising at 35 kilometres and then I just seized up. The last 5 or 6 kilometres were a struggle, but I managed to keep a smile on my face and shuffle along to the finish. I have no doubts that I would have easily met my target of sub 3 had I been a little better prepared from the nutrition and hydration point of view. Since I am driving to Las Vegas I will have to be more mindful of those elements on route.