Wow! What a week - The Kancamagus Ride

Wow! What a fantastic day pal John and I had in the White Mountains! I did not take this picture (no camera), but we had a spectacular day with temps around 70 deg. and clear blue skies. The views of the mountains were absolutely great. This ride ranks on top of my best rides ever - I spent a lot of time gazing at the scenary. There was no real agenda for me on this trip except to get as much climbing as possible in prep for Ironman France. I would get the same amount of climbing as in the Alps broken into two, on the out and back of the Kancamagus highway. We made short work of the first climb leaving from Linclon center - I think we made the top of the notch in 50 minutes. We also made short work of the entire Kancamagus and continued on West Side Road all the way up to Attitash. They had the road torn up for resurfacing, so we came back and stopped and had lunch in N. Conway. This was something I had never done before and it was great! What was the name of that Deli? Great food and it gave the feeling of the whole bike touring thing. It also gave me a recharge as I have had no shortage of training or any rest heading into this ride. John on fresh legs cranked back up the to the notch - I was really feeling the climb. No switch backs or breaks on the return climb, just straight climbing to the top. It is also more total altitude on the return climb, making it the most difficult climb I have ever done - mission accomplished! I am gaining more confidence for tackling the Alps! The one negative; I was hoping for more technical decent. The switch-backs really slow down the bike, so I could let it just fly, but I'm told I can't do that on the decent on the IMF course.

Ride Stats:
101mi, 4871' ascent, 4890' decent, max alt. 2855, avg. speed 18.5mph
30 Minute transition run 4+ miles (around 7 min pace)

I also ran the Stow 5K on Sunday in support of my friend Kendra who puts this on ever year. Numbers:
18:22, 5th overall, 1st master, pace 5:55 - not bad for all endurance training the last 5 weeks

Last week's numbers:

M: Swim -3K yds, Bike-20, Run-10
Tu: Bike-28, Run-8 (6x800 @ 6:00 pace hard)
W: Bike-101, Run-4+
Th: Swim-3K yds, Run-12
F: Swim-3K yds, Bike-32
Sat: Bike-12 (easy), Run-10
Su: Bike-16, Run-9 (5K race)

Totals:
Swim: 9K yards
Bike: 200 miles
Run: 53 miles

Some slight soreness in the lower back - only bothers me when I sit at my desk or in the car. I will continue to do extensions until it is gone (also minimize time at desk and in car). Yeah, yeah, I know - too much running. I will focus on BIKE miles this week, as there is no plan for a long ride after 3 weeks in a row (80, 101 and 101). All quality workouts though, all the way around, so I have no complaints about the training. I still need to get cloer to 250-300 miles with only a few weeks to go! Ughh!

Exactly one month until Ironman France!

-Kyle