Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

Boco Loco “Race” Recap

On Sunday Cory and we had 60-100 mile ride on our schedule and coach suggested participating in Boco Loco. We decided to go for our first century and that having support sounded like a great idea. Because this was an event not a race you could start your ride any time between 6:30am and 11:00am. We wanted to get out as early as possible since we knew it would be a long day but didn’t start until around 8am. We grabbed a print out of the directions, hopped on our bikes and got on the road.

The ride started out really fun, it was rolling, there were lots of riders and it was well supported

At the beginning the 8, 32, 60 and 100 mile courses ride together. High school students were manning the aid station around mile 15, they were cheering like mad and really great support!

 It was a beautiful, clear, cool morning, I heard last year was rainy and crappy, so I guess we lucked out.

 My favorite part of the ride was a short out and back to Rabbit Mountain, we turned around at the trail head, I made a mental note that it would be a great place to go for a trail run!

As each distance peeled off the there were less and less riders to share the road with. By the time we separated from to 60 mile riders it was pretty lonely. Luckily I had Cory to keep me company.

I was feeling pretty good until about mile 60 even though my legs were a little fatigued from running 30k on Saturday I took some pictures while riding (that’s totally safe right?)

Miles 60-70 is where the wheels fell off (not literally). My legs really hurt and I was getting really tired. I started to get really worried, if I couldn’t make it 60 miles how would I ever make it 112 for Ironman!?! There was an aid station at mile 70 where jumped off my bike did a few quick stretches, inhaled some PB&J sandwiches but failed to top off my water bottles. After the pit stop my legs felt much better, but I was worried they would start hurting again during the last 30 miles. Surprisingly they didn’t, in fact they felt better and better! I finished feeling pretty good, I was happy to get off my bike after six and a half hours but felt that I could have ridden another 12 miles and I could have run if I needed to, but I was glad that I didn’t need to!

Overall, this was a great way to get some miles in and there was some great swag. We got a nice tech-t

a great water bottle

and some great samples and a ice pack, I always need more of those.

50 miles and REI love

After checking out the forecast this morning we decided to do our bike ride today. We got a bit of a late start so I was worried about the strong winds that were supposed to start after noon but it was a beautiful day (highs in the 80s and sunny) and we wanted to get our ride in. We rode from just north of REI on the Platte River Trail down around the Chatfield Reservoir. I shouldn’t have been too worried about the wind, there were a few times that it was really gusting but it never really bothered me. We rode 50 miles at an average 15 mph, given the wind and busy trail I am happy with our average.

When we were done we refueled with Starbucks frappuccinos, conveniently there was a Starbucks in the parking lot that we started and finished in =) After getting home and cleaning up we headed back to REI with our dividend in hand. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular but I came home with all of this:I got 4 GUs for tomorrows 22 mile run, a new run belt, I have been using my SPI belt and it wasn’t the best, Trail Runner magazine and Brooks Cascadia trail shoes! I am so excited to have actual trail shoes instead of just running in old road shoes. As seen here:Looks like mom needs trail shoes too. It’s my mom’s birthday today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM), instead of trail shoes though I got her a gift certificate to a spa, hope you like it mom.

After shopping Cory whipped up an awesome carb loading dinner for us, I am so lucky to have a husband that cooks.*This was Cory’s plate, I didn’t have the shrimp.

It was the best way to end a great day, now we are going to relax and and watch a movie. Hope your Saturday was fabulous too.

Forty Miles of Fun

We had the best ride today, it was a beautiful sunny (unfortunately windy) warmish day. After a slow run yesterday it felt great to jump on my bike and go fast!Cory’s bike all ready to go, I have nicknamed it princess because he is so nice to it 🙂
We started out at Frog Hollow Park (how cute is that name) and headed south on the Platte River trail for 20 miles and turned around at Chatfield reservoir.
Turn around point. Everything is so brown here, I miss green mossy Oregon. I know that riding in the rain isn’t fun but moving from the rain forest to the desert is difficult.

All in all it was a great and productive weekend, hope you all had a good one!

Stomach Cramps

For the last few evenings I have had stomach cramps, I talked it over with Cory and we ruled out lady issues, food related discomfort and exercise related soreness. Last night Cory suggested that a lack of electrolytes might be causing my discomfort so we stopped and picked up some gatorade. After drinking half a bottle I was feeling much better and within a half and hour my cramps were completely gone. I didn’t think I had been working out that hard this week so I was relying on just water and not taking in any nutrition with electrolytes. But on reflection all of my workouts have been at least 90 minutes in a warm gym. Lesson learned, I need to be taking in electrolytes even during the week for my short workouts.

Have you ever had these issues? I have heard of people taking salt tabs but I don’t know much about it, I have relied on gatorade so far. Today I am branching out and trying nuun on my 50 mile bike ride.

nuun ready to goWinston wants to try it too
I will let you know how I like it. Happy Saturday =)