PB: Week 18

This is week 18, right? My week 17 wasn't posted until Saturday.

M - Run 35 min.
T - Bike 43 min/10.5 mi.
Th - Bike 55 min/13 mi. Intervals 4 X 3:10.
F - Yoga 25 min.
Su - Bike 53 min/12.6 mi.
Total - 3:39

Nothing new in training, but the race logistics are starting to come together. My teammates and I have been able to scrounge enough gear so that they'll only have to fly out with their bags. They're borrowing two bikes, two paddles, and a canoe seat. I'm getting a third bike mount for my roof-rack from a student for the weekend. The only thing left to buy are water purification tablets, SPD cleats, and NYNJTC Shawangunk Trails maps. Unfortunately, the maps are hard to come by locally - I should have mail-ordered them weeks ago - but my teammates should be able to buy them near the Gunks the day before the race. They'll be flying in Thursday night. I won't be up there until late Friday, leaving after the kids go to bed. That means I'll be lucky if I get three hours of sleep before leaving for the 4:30 am bike drop.

The latest and last race newsletter laid out the course pretty plainly - 3 hours trekking, 4 hours on the bike (with the bike start at a major singletrack area), then a river paddle and a foot score-o finish. They are kindly letting us stage equipment and nutrition with the bikes and with the paddle gear. This is great for two reasons - one, we won't have to carry paddles and pfds for miles, with the paddle shaft wacking me in the head and getting caught on branches, and two - I'll be able to pack some Ensure to slam 600 calories in the bike-to-paddle transition. Mmmm... geriatric goodness. If we didn't have the drop I'd be carrying the Ensure in my pack. People call me crazy for packing liquid nutrition, but even though it tastes gross when warm it hasn't made me throw up yet, and it goes down fast. It's got a much higher fat-to-carbs ratio than typically recommended for endurance events (the Ensure Plus variety), but it works for me.