Confidence boosting 50 mile rides

My training lately has been sporadic at best. Between work, traveling, injuries and other things, I haven't exactly been logging the hours that I should, given that my first 70.3 is only 27 days away. That's right - 27 days.

So I've been a little anxious about my overall stamina and fitness, to put it mildly.

I did a run/walk on Saturday in the form of the Color Me Rad 5k. It was my friend Liz's first ever 5k, so I stuck with her, and we had a good time. For those unfamilar, this is a 5k where you wear all white and get pelted with colored cornstarch. Random, but fun. As I mentioned in my last post, we ran as Team Nerd Herd!

And then Sunday came and with it, my first long bike ride in almost a month (eeek!). So my goal for the day was to do 50 miles at a comfortable pace - sort of like the swim I did in the Hammerhead Olympic. Not pushing super hard, but just going at a good effort that I can keep up for a while.

And I did it! I averaged 16.5 and did the ride in 2:53. I'm super happy with that. I finished feeling good, and like I could run. Granted, I was pretty wiped out by the time we made it home, which makes me think perhaps I need a little more nutrition on the bike. It made me feel a lot better about my upcoming race, and made me feel like I'll be able to accomplish it. 

Coming up this weekend I am running the Marine Corp Half Marathon, to get a read on where my run fitness is, though that is the area I have the most confidence in.

Onward and upward. I can't believe it's under 30 days until the race!