Pre-Race: SM100 Part 2

So I have gotten a  little bit farther on this "race plan" business. I have decided where to put my drop bags, I think, yes I have: at checkpoints 2/6 and 5. I don't actually think it really matters that much, because all I really see putting in them is my drink mix. It really seems that the aid stations will have everything else I could need. I struggled with what to put in my drop bag for the Stoopid 50, and ended up filling it with random stuff because I felt like I needed to put something in it. The only thing I really ended up wanting, and didn't have, was my own drink mix. I will of course put my light in my bag at 5. I am really hoping not to need it, but I would rather have it and not need it than not have it at all of course.

I never really understood the people that were insistent on trying to drink all of their calories and eat nothing during a race. However, I seem to be turning into one of these people, but not by choice. I just don't seem to want food during rides and races. My reliance on powered stuff, gels, and bars goes completely against my quest for an entirely whole foods diet, but it just works so well and is easy to carry and all that. So oh well. Another day of existing entirely on sugar.

I am convinced that someday a study will come out saying that drinking Gatorade for 12 hours isn't exactly healthy, but I can't really take my string bean and ham soup, that I am about to eat here at my desk, on a ride with me anyway. I have tried potatoes, but compared to a PowerBar, they just take up too much pocket real estate for the caloric value. I have also tried Dr. Allen Lim's rice cake recipe, which is really quite fantastic, but I'm not sure if I will make the time for that (even though it doesn't take very long). However, the more I sit here and think about it, the more I feel that I might want some rice cakes. Possible addition to the drop bag.

So my food plan is fairly simple, but simple is hard to mess up. Now all that is left is figuring out what assortment of warm clothes I might need for the morning (I am a wimp for cold), and fretting over if I really trained enough or not and if a 6.5 hour long ride 4 weeks ago was really enough before starting to back off the endurance work. But I think I am done caring about that, and the warm clothes will probably just involve me packing everything and deciding that morning. I should probably be more concerned that I don't have a sleeping bag and that it might be in the 40's at night. Hard to think about that when it is over 90 out right now.

Pre-Race: SM100 Part 1

It is time for me to channel my inner Type-A over achiever triathlete and write a race plan for the Shenandoah 100. Mostly, because every race I have done in the past year or so, I have found a way to be somehow unprepared at race start by over looking something critical. I have arrived at triathlon swim starts without my wetsuit, nearly forgotten money to pay for races, and have been generally unprepared for rain. So this time, I am trying to think ahead a bit more.

The first thing I managed to think ahead on was sleeping on the ground. After my last two camping trips of barely sleeping, I decided that there is no way I can sleep on the ground all weekend without some significant change to my gear. So I finally broke down and bought a self-inflating Thermarest mat. I even threatened to practice sleeping on it at night, figuring that my new inability to sleep on the ground must have something to do with my sleeping technique. I have not yet done that, but I have been using my new Thermarest camping pillow that I only justified buying because it was on sale. Turns out, it was worth the $12 because it is the most comfortable pillow I own. Maybe that just means I need new pillows. Anyway, at least I know that my head will be comfortable the night before the race.

I don't think my bike was this clean when I bought it.

The next thing I managed to think ahead on was making sure my bike was ready to go. This has had mixed results. I bought a new saddle, took it in for a tune up, bought some new grips...and then decided to check on my tubeless tires. I got the tune up done early, but attempted the tires a little on the late side. The sealant was definitely dried up inside, but I also definitely needed an air compressor to get them back on. Which I did not have. I witnessed my boyfriend set his up with a floor pump, so I assumed that I could do the same. Turns out, I was wrong. So days before the race and my bike is back in the shop. Perfect.

Next on my to-do list is actually figuring out everything I am going to eat, and what I am going to put in my drop bags, and where I am going to put them. This is really where the race plan part comes in, because my pacing plan is simple: don't kill myself and just keep going.