IronMatron

I haven't been writing lately, and I haven't been reading blogs. This isn't really on purpose.

I just am not getting all da shit done these days. I won't list da shit. It would be boring for you, and depressing to me. But suffice to say da shit is getting in the way of my blogging and spending quality time in the blogosphere.  But onward.

Let's talk about my ride yesterday, shall we?
It's April in New England. Daffodils. Birds chirping. No place to hide and pee because the leaves aren't on the trees yet.
Springtime also means it's time to clean off all that winter sand from the roads. No one likes sand, especially road cyclists, so generally I like to see those sand sweeping trucks out and doing their thing.
Except when I am actually riding. Today was the ride of the sand sweepers......they were out in droves and they were blowing that fucking sand at ME, baby.

I pedaled along, minding my own business, when I'd see one in the distance, coming toward me, roiling up the road, the earth, the dust, the SAND.

AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
And there was no where to go ... no where to go.... but straight through it.
You can imagine what I looked like at the end of this ride.

It was also the ride on which I became reminded that I do not particularly enjoy riding longer than 2 hours. To be frank, I get sick of it and I just want to go home. Today this was exacerbated by the fact that I was covered sand and grit, of course.  I need to increase my biking  mental endurance. I remember this is the case every spring... I am so excited to be out for the first part of the ride, and then I am miles from home, and just want it to end.

I have developed my pacing plan for Boston. The plan is to go BIG or go .... into the medical tent. One or the other. I am taking a risk with this one. My running has been going well, but not so much better than it was going when I PR'd the marathon last time, 1.5 years ago. For that marathon I trained similarly... similar mileage, similar pacing. And I ran an easier course to get that PR. SO, am I being a fool to run harder on a harder course this time around?
Perhaps.

But why not risk it... I have nothing to lose here. Boston is not my A race this season. I am not trying to qualify for it for the future; I am not particularly worried about seeming the fool if I fall apart; I am not terrified of falling apart in general. If I do, I do. I will still make it to the end unless I pass out or something.

So, that's my plan. Run the first 16 at constant, manageable, but not easy or slow pace, and then hang on for dear life. Sound good?

Meanwhile, this week should be taper. Only it doesn't feel like taper. I am certainly tapering the run; I think my total mileage this week before the marathon will be under 20 miles. But I am still biking, and I am still swimming. My bike yesterday took me over three hours, which is normal for IM training at this time of year for sure, but not normal in terms of tapering for a PR marathon. Oh well.  Still, the priority, even though I want to run well at Boston, is Lake Placid, and I simply can't afford to stop biking right now in service to the marathon.

Two days ago my dogs got into the kids' crayons and yesterday they shat multi-colored poops. The colors were pastel, and I had this urge to shape the poop into Easter eggs, put the shaped poop into an Easter basket, photo it, and then have you guess what the eggs were made of.

But I didn't do it. Next time.