Disney World Princess Half Marathon

Hill Hopper

I was visiting my friend Janine in Austin on Saturday, so I couldn't ride with the club. So, I did the Hill Hopper ride on Sunday morning on the way back. Woah, that was a tough ride. The wind was brutal. 

WINDY!! Look at those flags flapping.

It's so pretty out here.

Bike Fit

I was getting a lot of pain in my back as I started increasing my distance. So, I headed to the bike shop for a new bike fit. I went to Shama Cycles because I know a few bad@$$ cyclists out there and they all go to him. 

The first thing he did was remove my aerobars since I'm doing the MS150 (a road ride) and not a triathlon. I can always put them back (or get an actual tri-bike.) 

He put on a longer stem, dropped my handlebars, put on a new saddle, and a few other tweaks. It feels sooooo much better. 

Before

After

new saddle (worth every penny!)

http://shamacycles.com/

Sealy Ride

Longest Ride Yet! 

Those last 8 miles from the rest stop were brutal (straight into the wind!)

I spoke with my coach after this ride and told him how destroyed I felt. It turns out that I'm not giving myself enough fluids/electrolytes/calories while I'm riding. So, we spoke about nutrition, and on my next ride I'm going to make some major adjustments. 

Also, there was one hill that was a 9% grade! It was so steep that I ran out of gears and was worried that I didn't have enough forward to keep myself on my bike. So, I stopped and climbed off the bike and pushed my bike up to the top of the hill. It turns out that I was not the only person who did this. 

In addition, I bought a strap to attach my phone to my handlebars of my bike. Now, I am able to download the route to an app called "Ride with GPS" and it gives me audio cues for turns. The previous week, no-one in my group had this and we got lost trying to make all of the turns using paper maps. Oops.

I borrowed these next to photos from my friend Lisa's Facebook.

40 miles + a few battle scars

Houston Half Marathon

• Houston puts on a great race. There were thousands of volunteers and they all were encouraging and smiling even though they were cold. I love how many people come out and cheer. I high-fived many strangers. There were some great signs (including one that told me to rub JJ Watt's abs for power! and the solar system people)
• I love running seeing so many friends at the expo and on the course. I especially loved hanging out in the starting corral with one of my oldest and awesomest friends, Meredith.
• Having a personal cheering section out on the course makes a huge difference. Bruce told me he would be around mile 9 and as soon as I saw him my spirit lifted up and I ran faster. He made me a big sign that said “Go Bonnie!” with a little bear wearing a Texas A&M hat. Then, he was around mile 13 just before the finish line. Maren was volunteering at the finish line and got to give me my finisher's medal and that was pretty cool.
• I thought it was going to be freezing, but the weather ended up being perfect.
• I missed my goal by 9 minutes. This is not how I planned for the race to turn out. It’s not my worst race, but definitely not my best. I’ve trained hard and smart for this, and my best explanation is that it was an off day. My body crashed around mile 8. My HR went up and my pace slowed down and I needed more walking breaks. My back was hurting. I could feel a migraine coming on around mile 10. After I finished, I felt like I’d been hit by a truck and could hardly move. (Compare this to last weekend when I cycled 30 miles on Saturday morning and ran 10 miles on Sunday morning and bounced back to my normal day like nothing happened) I know that I have a better race in me, so I’m a bit disappointed by my time, but I still crossed the finish line and that is good.
• It's crazy how seeing the finish line can motivate me to run faster. I was in so much pain, but I ran that last mile in and it was solid. As soon as I could see the GRB I wanted to finish. My last mile was one of my fastest miles. Mental toughness is definitely a huge part of endurance running.
• I need new running shoes. I just got these, and they are the same as the ones I’ve run in for years, but this year’s model has changed and I’m getting heal slippage and blisters in places I’ve never had blisters.

Pattison Cycling

My second ride with the SLB club. 

I also enjoyed this ride because Bruce was out in the area on his motorcycle and I saw him twice. We me up at our favorite place for breakfast after - Mamie's Kitchen. Yumm!