Week 3:  Now I am into my first week of taper and race prep.  Crim was on Saturday and now its time to think about the details of the event itself.  What am I going to wear, eat, drink and how will I set up the bike.  I ordered a Profile Designs Aero bottle so I could stay aero while I drink.  I know I will be able to get up and down while I climb so I shouldn’t have too much trouble with the position.  I have a good idea about everything else except for my pace.  I really would like to do the ride at 20 mph but I have no idea if I can do the marathon after.  It will be a gamble to try that and I am leaving it to the last minute to decide.  

Week 4:  I did a bunch of shorter runs but no 20’s.  I did the Assenmacher Saturday and decided to go out on the road bike.  There were a group of the faster riders that were going off at 8 am.  I decided to go with them.  There were about 40 people and we had a real good peloton established.  The pace was up to 23-24 immediately but there was a big group so it wasn’t too brutal.  That carried on until we got to 80 miles.  Then they went up to 25-27 and it stretched out to a circular pace line.  The pulls were seconds and they were flying.  The group was down to about 12 and I could only pull every now and then.  The result was they eventually dropped me.  They were all accomplished racers and I was out of my league.  It was good ride though and another good test.  I had just completed my last week of hard training.  

Week 5:  Wednesday I was going to knock out that 20 once and for all.  I had the belt and all the water I needed.  I had Sue as my support crew and plenty of daylight.  We did the same course and it went like clockwork.  

Sunday I went out on a reverse of the course that I do for my 56 mile rides.  I had a detour because they were doing a shooting for an episode of “Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition”, and they had the area blocked off.  The detour added a bit and I got about 63 miles in.  

Week 6:  Now we were into August and the last part of the program.  The next month would be the most volume of the whole 20 weeks.  Wednesday I was planning on going out to Stoney for another crack at the 20 miles.  This time I bought a feed belt and it had about 40 oz of water on it plus a couple goos.  When I got there and they had the loop blocked off.  I about had a meltdown.  Sue calmed down and we came up with an alternative.  The trail was out 5 miles so I decided to do 10 mile out and backs.  The only problem was I was behind on time and we didn’t start until 7.  The park closes so we were really burning daylight.  Sue rode with me and kept me going until we knew we were going to kicked out.  She ended up going to get the van to pick me up.  While she was off getting the van I got the most awesome light show way to the north.  There was a huge thunderhead that was pounding the thumb area and there was strike after strike lighting up the sky.  I was in a pretty good groove and it was one of those runs where you know god sees you and is there for you.  I didn’t mind so much that I would get in the whole 20.  I knew I had the distance in me and 18 is darn close.  

That Saturday Sue and I came up with and interesting ride.  I was going to ride straight up M53 from Romeo to Port Austin.  It was 100 miles from 32 mile road to the tip of the thumb.  It was another hot day and the wind was pumping up from the south.  Who could argue with a tailwind even if it was hot?  When I got going I was flying north at 22 – 24 mph.  I ended up averaging 22 mph for 100 miles!!  It was like 4:31.  It is unlikely I will have a tailwind the whole ride at Madison but I guess I can hope.  All in all it was a solid week of training.  

Week 7:  Wednesday I went out for what was supposed to be an 18 mile run at Stoney.  Sue was with me and we had been having a heat wave and it was brutal hot.  Sue rode the bike and I was planning on getting water at each 6 mile loop.  It turned out to be not enough water for that kind of heat.  I got around for the second loop and I knew I wouldn’t make it for another loop.  I ended up with 12 miles and bagged it.  This week was the Tour de Lacs metric century on Sunday (62mi).  Saturday we volunteered to marshals for the Maillot Jaune road race.  We had the kids there and encored our share of drama.  Lets see…Sue got stung by a bee while we were waiting for the race to start, the lead motorcycle for the Cat 3’s went off the course at my corner and caused a crash.  Then he went through Sue’s corner and she was panicking because riders were yell at her and she expected (naturally) that the lead vehicle knew what was going on.  Somehow they got the whole group back on the course and no one was killed.  The traffic was so high that trying to handle them coming in four directions and keep car off the course was about impossible to do alone.  Luckily I was able to get help from people who felt sorry for me, basically.  I learned a lot about how to do the marshalling on a semi closed course.  Later I was talking to the race director and he said that everything sorted itself out and that the racers were fine with the way the day went.  

The next day I went back for the Tour de Lacs metric century.  I headed out of town with a group of roadies and settled in about 6 bike lengths back from them.  It was a small event and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t out on the road by myself so I dangled behind them far enough to stay out of the draft and close enough to be noticed as a part of the group.  It was a good challenge because they we moving about 21-22 mph and they had planned on doing one loop.  I was going to go out again and try to get at least a hundred miles.  They were all folks I rode with before so they knew me.  I was able to keep up and come in with them on the first lap.  I went out for the second lap and decided to avoid the traffic and go out to the rural part of the course ASAP.  I ended up getting an additional 36 miles and came in with a group I met in Parshalville.  They were the last folks out on the course but it was nice to have some company for the end of the ride.  It turned out to be another day of hard riding.  

Week 8:  I went out for a 100 mile ride through Armada, Memphis and north to Yale.  I was trying to push it way north of Imlay city.  The Yale part of the route was the worst but the road cleared up nicely near Brown City and all the way back home.  I had a new route that kept me off from M53 down by Romeo and I felt a lot safer off from that stretch of road.  I added in 14 mile run and a 4000 yd swim so now I was getting the all the long workouts in the same week.  A long day for each of the sports would be the staple of the build section of the program.  Where in base portion we are training to train endurance is the key now. 

Week 9:  The 15^th of July was the Bastille Day 15k run in Fenton.  It is a challenging course that features some hills that are famous to the Fenton area folks.  I was able to run a 6:42 min/mi pace and ended up with second in my age group.  Roger Lara from our Striders club won the class.  I had the experience of being passed by the lead women (girl) at the base of Denton hill.  She was 19 and galloped up it like it meant nothing to her.  Sue, of course, had fun with that.  They gave out Baguettes at the end that everyone took pleasure in poking each other with.  The award ceremony was on the gazebo, which was nice, and Sue got to have a nice Fenton experience.