A Bump in the Road

I would apologize that it's been 5 1/2 weeks since my last blog post and for being the most unreliable blogger of all time, but based on the enormous amount of comments on my last post I don't think anyone noticed.  Life has been hectic as usual, but I think I might just be able to sneak in a post before we ride our bikes down to the riverfront to watch the 4th of July fireworks (at least that's the plan).  Adam and I did some grocery shopping, went to the gym and lifted hard enough to generate some serious lactic acid, did some housework, and I just finished giving Ruffian a much-needed bath at the Muddy Mutt ,   so here I am with a keyboard at my fingers and a little time to spare.

Well, after FatMaryFastMary's first painfully slow bike race and wonderful Memorial Day weekend, she enjoyed a visit from her beloved supermommy in from Peru for the summer.  Mom bought a fancy new diesel truck in South Carolina and road tripped up to Arlington to see me before embarking upon a cross-country road trip to New Mexico with her friend, Linda.  Mary commissioned Supermommy and Barbara (the supermommy truck) to chauffer her to her next attempt at bike racing up near State College, PA.  The race was a 50 mile mountain bike race, aptly christened the Stoopid 50.  The event showed some promise as the organizers had a keg tapped for pre-race carbo loading.  It was definitely a different sort of scene than the way-too-serious spandex crowd you see at some races, but the course was no joke.

I rather enjoyed the first 15 miles or so before the first aid station.  The weather was pleasant, the trail was a little too rocky with a bit more "hike-a-bike" than an ideal race, especially one as long as 50 miles, but the scenery was lovely.  Unfortunately, my muscles had begun to cramp painfully very shortly into the race.  I have Monday-morning quarterbacked the cause of this ad nauseum, but it really was a freaky thing.  Stupidly undaunted by my pain, I consumed some Ibuprofen, sports drink, and a banana and expected the pain to work itself out considering I felt fine otherwise.  About 15 minutes after leaving the aid station in beautiful sunny weather, the sky let loose.  I was soaked... and so was the trail.  After the downpour, very little of the remainder of the course was ridable.  If I had been fitter, I would have covered more ground before the weather turned and dodged this bullet, but taking it easy was NOT an option on this day.  A 50 mile bike race turned into a potential "25 mile bike race plus running a marathon pushing or carrying a bike" race.  At around mile 27, the cramps were excrutiating and I knew that my race was over.  I passed a course marshall I was hoping would be equipped to pick up stragglers or at least point me to an easy way back to civilization, but all i got was "you need to ride another 8 miles to the next aid station".  "Ride".  Yeah right. 

I hopped back on the bike just in time to hit an unridable section of rocks and dismount and meet up with another friendly female rider.  We "raced" together for about a mile until my cramps became too strong to walk.  I bid her farewell and layed out prostrate until some guys met up with me and one of them gave me some electrolyte pills and encouraged me to join them for awhile.  One of the guys was feeling better than myself and the other guy, so he went ahead, while my new riding partner and I took turns alternating between riding/walking and writhing on the ground in agony.  The worst part of this ride/walk situation was that once i was on the bike I could sort of ride... sort of... the problem was that when i had to get off to walk due to the ridiculous soggy rocky nature of the trail, the motion of re-mounting the bike and having to push off the ground left my leg painfully stuck in the toe down position with no way to maneuver it onto the pedal without manually pulling my toe towards my face.  It was more over than over when i took a faceplant crossing a slick bridge and wished for one of those "Medic-Alert" bracelets because honestly, I couldn't figure out how to get up.  Every muscle I tried to use to push myself up off the ground would cramp into a useless and painful position.  I crawled to the next aid station at about mile 35, met by supermommy, and was never so happy to call it quits at something as I was at that moment.  I wonder if anybody doubted the extent of my agony based on the huge smile I was able to muster at the realization that my suffering was over.  I vowed to do some serious research on electrolytes before starting to train for the 100 miler coming up on Labor Day, which would mark the return of "Fast Mary"

Well... not so "Fast".  After the weird cramping incident, I started to train again and added morning runs with the dog to my repertoire to try and boost my weight loss efforts.  The diet has been a real struggle.  I got into the swing of things with my bike commute and working out at Ft Meade, but then I started a new project closer to home, but just the changes in routine make it difficult to think about nutrition when thinking about so many other things.  Today, July 4, I have done a great job with my food choices, so maybe this will be the first day of a long string that will melt off some of the FatMary flab.  I hope so!  Maybe I will do a little accountability blogging for my own sake in that arena.  I also have sort of given up on FastMary as far as bikes go for awhile... maybe "Buff Mary?"   Adam and I went to Harrisonburg, Va this weekend where I planned to mountain bike like a fiend and really use it as a training opportunity for the 100 miler, but I only made it out on one hour-long ride and it was hot, buggy, and miserable.  Not to mention, there are times these days where my cardio capacity is unexpectedly diminished to that of a 75 year old smoker, especially when it is hot and humid.  You see, the "bump" in the road is actually a "bump" in my tummy.  I may have engaged in slightly more amorous activity than the "cuddling" I admitted to in my last blog about my wonderful Memorial Day weekend and now I have to deal with a very opinionated little micro-person who says that he or she likes it better when mommy climbs or lifts weights than when she goes biking in 90 degree weather and 90% humidity.  sooo... i guess i should rename this blog "FatMaryFatterMary".... but i won't.  My idea is to just climb and lift enough to get my arms and legs cut-up and buff enough to make sure everyone knows I'm pregnant and not just FAT!