IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA 2019 TRAINING

WEEK 26 – Monday 8/26/2019 – Sunday 9/1/2019

Dave came to join me for the Saturday long ride, a planned 5.5-hour ride with an hour-long brick run right after.  As he was getting ready I saw that he was doing a little pre-ride carb-loading with what looked like a Little Debbie Nutty Bar.

“Is that a Nutty Bar?” I asked.  “Yeah, do you want one?”

Do I want one?  That’s like offering a junkie a fix.  That’s like asking a dog if he wants a bone.  That’s like asking a fisherman if he wants to go fishing.  That’s like asking…  well, you get the point.  At one time I was addicted to the dang things.  I would buy a box weekly and have one for my mid-afternoon snack.  When I go on car trips and stop for gas, the snack I look for is a Nutty Bar or a Payday if the gas station is dumb enough to not stock Nutty Bars.

So back to the question – did I want one?  You bet I did.  But seeing that I had just eaten breakfast and also was dealing with a pre-ride nervous stomach, I didn’t want to chance eating one and regret my decision.  So I very reluctantly took a pass.

 

 

So onward we rode heading south and west on the route I take because it’s the safest and best riding from where I live, but that can be an issue if the wind is not in your favor.  We could tell that the wind was going to be in our faces coming back as we rode out with ease.  But as we turned around, it didn’t seem to be too much of a struggle.

 

 

 

At the turn around we filled up our water bottles and Dave texted his brother John that we would swing by his house to pick him up.  John had done Wisconsin and Lake Placid with us, but his growing little family has now taken priority in his life.  So we were looking forward to riding with him.

We finally got to his place and I could see he was having some issues with his bike.  He showed us his chain and it looked like he had tied the chain in two knots.  Quite a head-scratcher for sure, but we got it sorted out and hit the trail for home.  When we got to downtown Frankfort, this younger guy on a mountain bike asked as we passed if he could join us.  I don’t think any of us said yes to him, but he grabbed on to us as we were trying to meander our way back through Frankfort that was extremely busy with the annual Labor Day Fall Fest.  Dave and John both rode up and told me that this guy was behind us, so I pushed the pace and tried some different routes to see if we could drop him or get him to get bored with us, but he hung on.  We finally got close to my house and stopped and told the guy the ride was over.  I guess that was all it took and he said he’d ride around Mokena for awhile.  I got to hand it to him, he kept up with us at times doing 25 mph or so on a mountain bike.

 

 

The run went well and we both came back ready to be done with the day.  I offered Dave the opportunity to jump in the pool for a cool down, but he declined.  He loaded up his gear in the car and we said our goodbyes.  As I walked away, he said: “Hey, do you want a Nutty Bar?”  I reluctantly declined again, this time with a chuckle.  I didn’t think a Nutty Bar sitting in a warm car would be very tasty, and I kind of wanted some real food so once again I reluctantly passed.

They better have Nutty Bars at the finish line of Ironman Chattanooga.

 

WEEK 26 TRAINING TOTALS:

Swims: 1 total, 2800 total yards

Rides: 3 total, 131 total miles

Runs: 5 total, 45 total miles