Surviving the Pelofondo

This weekend is the Pelofondo, a challenge for Peloton riders that pushes you to achieve great distances over the course of two days. The minimum mileage for the weekend is 35, and the website says the max is 120, but I know quite a few people who pushed to beat 200 miles! Craziness!

I did my first Pelofondo in July, and completed the minimum 35 miles in 2 hours and 35 minutes. I made my goal 50 miles this time. I thought it would take me about 3 hours, but I have no idea where I got that number from. 

When I saw my nutritionist this week, I asked hot to handle it. Normally I would carb load, but my diet is pretty much carb free, so I wasn't sure how to handle it. She suggested 80 calories of carbs that morning. Um. No. I decided to splurge and had steel cut oatmeal for breakfast, and some protein an hour before the ride, which started at noon.

After "lunch", I prepped my nutrition for the ride. Peanut butter and apples, cashews, a protein bar, and a few pieces of licorice type candy. I had an apple piece with peanut butter after each ride.

 

Once my food was prepped, I got ready for the ride. I broke my own hard and fast rule, and wore a new tank and pants on race day. Luckily, I didn't regret it, but it easily could have gone the other way. I got my official The Tour Does Pelofondo pants, and the tank was from the last Peloton website sale. So comfy! The pants are a littler longer than I like, but they were soft as butter!

   

Time to begin! The Pelofondo is run through a Facebook Messenger Bot, so after every ride, you submit your distance and the length of you ride.  The Bot then tells you how far you've gone, how far you have to go, and the percentage completed. 

I started out doing a Tour. This is a stack of rides compiled by one of the admins from the Facebook Group and they must be done in order, without stopping, and no substitutions. This was a special edition Tour, which meant you also had to do it at the same time as everyone else. The Tour was 2.5 hours long, and when it was done, I only had 30ish miles done. I could have gotten off of the bike and finished the next day, but I was worried that my knees would swell up and I wouldn't be able to finish!

Amy "called me" during the ride and we talked a bit!

I decided to pull up my all time favorite Dolly Parton ride with Robin Arzon, and then take it ride by ride. This ride has Jolene in it twice, and if you follow along, you know that my bike is called Jolene! I was riding a flat road the whole day, which for me was a 33 resistance and between 70 and 80 cadence. This was getting me roughly 1 mile for every 5 minutes. The 30 minute rides were getting me roughly 6.25 miles per ride. After the Dolly ride, I did CDE's latest low impact ride. I had heard that it was super zen. What I didn't anticipate was that it would have me bawling like a baby throughout. I highly recommend this ride!

Still not done!

I needed one more ride, a 30 minute ride. I had 5.47 miles to go. I chose Sam's New Year's Recovery ride. He had Elton John music, and some older songs that had me singing along. It was just what I needed, and when I hit 5.48 miles, I jumped off with 4 minutes to go (not reflected in my finish time below.)

Whew! I was done! I told the Bot, and then promptly ordered a personalized tank. I hadn't even stretched yet!

Once I stretched, I ran a hot bath and soaked for awhile.

What I did right:

I was ready with proper nutrition

I paced myself, and didn't go out too fast

I did the front half with a group, with lots of motivation

I stretched when I was done

I stood up and stretched between rides

I ate between rides and never let myself get hungry

I did not quit

What I did wrong:

I did not have enough hydration and ran out during my final ride

I should have done some solo miles when I was fresh 

All in all a success! My goal for my next Pelofondo will be to follow minimum cues from the instructors for as long as I can, although I won't ride out of the saddle. I will aim for the same 50  miles, with a faster finishing time. I hope to increase my goal to 75 before the year ends. 

Have you ever done a half century ride?

 

Fiction Friday

 

The first week of January has been a crazy one, and I have been trying to read for at least a couple of hours every day. Each day, I read a chapter of Bleak House, a chapter of a Self Help book, and some pages of Shakespeare. Plus my fun book, which I read for the rest of the time, and I bring with me when I leave the house. You know, just in case.

My first book for fun was Apt Pupil, by Stephen King. I thought it was new, but it turns out that he wrote it in the 80s and it was in one of his anthologies under a different title. Basically, it was a re-read. Oh well. It was really good, and I breezed through it.

I also joined a Litsy challenge to read Dickens, so Bleak House is my first Chunkster. I am reading a chapter a day, which will take me into the end of February, possible early March. Y'all. The dude got paid by the word and he took that seriously. I am liking it so far, which is fortunate! 

I actually enjoyed Taming of the Shrew. I legit HATE reading plays, which should make this whole Year of Shakespeare thing pretty interesting, but the dude is seriously funny. If you haven't seen Ten Things I Hate About You, I highly recommend it. If you have, you've seen Taming of the Shrew. 

Next on the list (actually it was first, but I was waiting on the Complete Works to arrive, and I already owned Shrew) is Twelfth Night. I am looking forward to the shenanigans. 

My next read for fun was Dying For Devil's Food by Jenn McKinlay. I adore this series, and I ripped right through this. For real, if she doesn't marry Joe soon, I am gonna get cranky. A lovely and spot on look into attending your high school reunion as a former loser. I ate it up!

I have moved onto the 14th book in the Pendergast series. This guy is amazing, and I am liking the return of a few characters from past books. I am more than halfway done!

Somehow I am missing a pic of my current Self Help, the Comeback Quotient. I am reading along with some fellow BibRave Pros, and it is a great read for someone returning to sports after injury. 

What are you currently reading?

Thursday Training Update

Wow! I feel like I have said this a dozen times before, but it has been a klong time since I have done one of these! I am pretty much going to mention one workout from before the New Year and then skip to January 1st. I have been mostly using the Peloton, with yoga and the occasional walk thrown in. 

On December 30, I did my 250th ride! Woohoo! I chose Kendal, who I rarely ride with, and loved it! I really need to choose her rides more often! I have been on a hardcore Cody and Robin kick lately, so a change every once in awhile is good!

So.

January 1st. I was sick on New Year's Eve, after having a bad side effect of some antibiotics, so I took it kind of easy? a 1 mile walk with the hubs plus 40 minutes of upper body and core, and some yoga.

January 2nd I did a few rides, a stretch, a full body workout, and some Yoga. Yoga with Adriene is doing a month long challenge, so days that I am not teaching, I will be doing her challenge.

January 3rd, I did a 2.5 mile walk with the hubs (he almost died, what a wimp!) plus some yoga.

January 4th I woke up early to do a 30 minute full body strength class with some of my fellow BibRave pros. Yikes, it was rough! I also did some yoga!

January 5th, I did a holiday ride! I really needed it! Also some upper body and yoga!

January 6th, I taught yoga, and my cat Nala helped me out. I didn't want to lose my Peloton streak, so I did a yoga class with Denis that night.

Today I took a one hour walk with my Peloton crew! I love that they have walking classes! I will get some toga in soon, and maybe some strength. 

This weekend I am once again taking on the Pelofondo. My goal this time will be 50 miles, and I am hoping to exceed it. Stay tuned!!

What was your favorite workout this week?

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

What I’m Reading in January

 I love the beginning of a new year. All of my reading challenges reset, with new prompts. Planning begins full force. My stack of daily books is usually 4 or 4 high. When I finish a book, it satisfies so many prompts from the year long challenges as well as the monthly ones. I found a few new ones this year, so my pile is a little higher than usual!

I have my journals all set up. I used one last year, and it got too full, too soon. This year, I got one for my challenges and one for my book journal. I also got a cute library cart to keep my monthly TBR pile off of the furniture. The hubs is still laughing about it, he thinks I’m insane! 

I have a pile of four books right now. I’m reading  a chapter a day of the Comeback Quotient (for the BibRave Pro book club) and Bleak House (for What the Dickens on Litsy).

I’m also reading Taming of the Shrew for a Shakespeare challenge that gives me a schedule so that by the end of the year, I’ve read his complete works. My copy used to belong to my mom, but she gave it to me in high school, along with some others. I had to buy his complete works anyway, and when I get to that I will post a pic. It’s a monster! 

I have finished Dying for Devil’s Food and will be starting Blue Labyrinth, which is a a Pendergast book. I adore Pendergast. I’ll be starting it tonight.

Challenges I’m doing this year: Pop Sugar, 52 in 52, Flourish and Blotts on Facebook, Creating and Co on YouTube, to name a few! I’m also doing some Litsy challenges. 

What are you reading right now? Do you have any reading goals? 

My 2021 Achievement Board

 It is my 9th Blogaversary today, and what better way to celebrate than to talk about my Achievement Boards. Every year I post about them, and pretty much every year I explain them. If you've heard the story before, feel free to scroll down to 2021!

I was watching a Hallmark movie in December 2012 (it had a Little Women theme to it)  and one of the characters made an achievement board for her sister. It was flowery, if I remember correctly, and for every goal she met, she colored that space in. I loved it! Why not do this for fitness? I jumped right on it. Small attainable goals are way better than resolutions you never follow through on!

In 2014, I jumped on the One Word bandwagon (who didn't?) and decided to use my word on my board. This is the board when I made it, not at the end of the year, so nothing is colored in yet. 

2015 was the year I would run the NYC Marathon, or so I thought. I did believe I could do it, but plantar fasciitis changed all that. 

2016 was the year of the NYC Marathon, and I was right. I can do it. I kicked butt, too. Ok, no I didn't. But I finished, and that's all that mattered.

In 2017, I ran Chicago, and the plan was to finish better than NYC. That did not happen, but I loved every minute of the race, and that is redemption for sure. It was also the year I ran the Disney marathon with a hole in my heel and only got to mile 15. Chicago was way better than that!

2018 was a good year! Lots of fun events!

2019 was the year of trying hard things. I didn't get to everything on the list, but I have kept the heart behind the idea in years going forward, and will keep doing it. I did tear my meniscus in November, which brought everything to a screaming halt, but at least the year was almost over.

sigh. Journey. The plan was to journey through my recovery and on to more adventures. I am still recovering, since I also have arthritis in my knees, plus. You know. 2020. But look at all of those colors! I did so many things. I fired a gun for the first time (and if you don't agree with this, feel free to keep that little nugget to yourself), I got a peloton, became obsessed with it, shared that obsession, got others obsessed... I read over 160 books, lost 20 pounds, started doing peloton Tours, started my 500 hour yoga certification (i am almost done!), did a bunch of multi sport challenges, did my first triathlon (at home, with a peloton for the bike portion), and so much more!

2020 was rough. Not just because of Covid, but mostly because I am just not recovering the way I would like. Arthritis is forever. Walking around the house sometimes hurts. I decided 2021 would be more about taking care of me. Yes, there will be fitness goals, weight loss goals (I will post about this journey soon), new things to try, etc but also yoga goals, and reading goals, as well. There are so many things that I cannot do right now, but there are even more that I can do. I will be adding more strength workouts, trying new reading challenges, and this year I will get on that damn horse. 

Whenever I make an achievement board, it starts with the One Word. Well, 2021 is the year of the Fuckit Bucket, so I went with two words and threw the One Word right into that bucket. Peace out, buddy. Could I have found One Word to replace Self Care? Probably. But I didn't. Once I choose the word, I make the board. I have done the same board every year except 2013, so I tried something new. Ish. 

Once the ruler helped me make the nice straight lines,  I traced them with sharpie and got as nice, fine point one for the goals. My reading goals are at the top, and my others are at the bottom. At any point I can add to these, it isn't permanent, and I never sweat the ones I miss. 

As I reach my goals, I color them in. Sometimes I add another, sometimes I revel in my success and call it a day. It depends on the goal. As the year moves on, I may add more as they occur to me as well. 

Have you ever made an Achievement Board? Tag me on Insta if you post it, I love seeing them! @Barkingmadrun