IRONMAN 70.3 ROCKFORD TRAINING – WEEK 9 WRAP-UP – MAY 4, 2025
My local friend Karen, who is crazy enough to also like to run and tri, asked if I was going to do the course preview ride this week. I hadn’t planned on it, but if she was going, I thought I would too. After thinking it over, I texted her and told her that I signed up, and she replied, “Oh cool-I guess I better sign up too 
“. Great, she tricked me into it. Fortunately, the ride fee was only about $25 and Karen offered to drive, so it was set – my long ride this weekend would be a group ride with police escort of the race bike course.
I found the one person who drives slower than I, and that is Karen, but we had a great trip there and back with great conversation. Once parked, we unloaded our bikes, fretted over what to wear on this 50-degree morning, and then waited for the command of “Riders UP!” (couldn’t help the Kentucky Derby reference.)
Riding out of Rockford was going well, with the group finding spacing and fitting into the spots in the peloton where we best fit. It consisted mostly of rolling hills, with one decent climb in the first 10 miles, but every uphill had a pretty decent downhill to match.
The group would stretch out, and after a while, the police escort would stop and allow the group to reassemble. The ride included a pit stop for a nature break and a pit stop for some snackies.
At one of the pit stops, I ran into another local friend, Jennifer, and her friend Laura, who were also having a fun ride. I jokingly gave Jen a “yellow card” for blocking (riding out of position in the passing area), but we were all doing it. Hopefully, on race day, the riders will be better spread out and follow the race rules. Today, however, we were all riding and chatting.
As for the course, it was typical of what we have around our area – rolling hills, some flats, and wind. It was what I expected, and glad to see that it wasn’t anything that I won’t be prepared for.
Karen and I forced ourselves to do a little post-ride run afterwards, although neither of us really wanted to. We then took advantage of some post-ride drinks and more snackies, and then made the trip back home. A fun capper to the week. I’m looking forward to racing the course in June. It should be pretty fast.
Note: Facebook blocked me from sharing my own blog post on my own Facebook page, calling it spam. I hope that it doesn’t do it again.
Week 9 Totals: Swims 0 – Bikes 5/106 miles – Runs 4/25 miles
an amazing run 