Strangers in vans to the rescue

Getting ready for Racine with only a couple weeks to go has been so stressful and nerve-wracking. I'm still wondering if I could actually get thru this and if after all of this is done, will I really be ready for Madison next year.  I know that I can do each leg separately but doing it all in one day is still freaking me out. My anxiety level is definitely at the max and I'm trying to keep it under control, but not sure I can.

It was really strange, but the week after Pleasant Prairie, I was just not feeling it. My motivation to train was so much less than in the past. I found reasons to skip or shorten a workout and I didn't like how that felt. I was still feeling pain in my leg, the one I sprained during the run in PP weeks before the race. And I was still feeling really really dehydrated and no matter how much water I drank I was still thirsty.  If this is what an Olympic did to me, what will a Half Ironman do????

We started doing longer training days these last couple of weeks, including a long bike ride. Last weekend was our 4+ hr bike ride ranging between 60-75 miles.  Since I had L.A.T.E. Ride on Sunday it wasn't going to happen then, so I took Friday off and Stephanie I went on the ride with me.  We decided to try the Perry Rd route, but instead of starting at the forest preserver, we went to NIU and set out from there. This gave a good location with a bathroom and food for afterwards. This was definitely an adventure. We had some strong head winds as we headed west, and at time we barely kept a 9 mph pace.  It sucked, but it built character :)  After our stop at the Shell Station in Rochelle, where we fueled up, it was back to campus.  This time the wind was at our backs so we were clocking 19-24 mph... this was AWESOME.  Once we got to 4th Ave, we realized we would not hit our mileage so we stayed on Perry Rd a little longer. We were going to hit Saumanack and then head north to Lincoln Highway and then back to campus.  Good idea, so we thought. But the north winds were picking up and that made is so much not fun at all. Then from the west we see the storm clouds coming. There was no way we would out ride these. We tried our hardest, but once the wind really hit and the rain, and almost falling into the ditch on the side of the road, we opted to dismount and walk. We had about a 2-3 block walk to safety, a Mobile station. So here we are, walking along a highway with our bikes, winds and rain and trying to just move forward. When all of a sudden some guy stopped and asked if we wanted a ride.  Without thinking, we were in the van and heading where ever he took us. Yeah we said we needed a ride to campus, but he said he had to go to the bank first... We lucked out so much, he was a nice person and got us back to campus safely.  So we ended up being about 6 miles short of our ride, but we survived... and now we celebrate with beer nuggets :)