Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa all in 3 days!

Hi people. Pretty deep into training and travelling so i will be brief! It's too much work to get my phone out of my way packed back pockets so there is no evindence of all the roads we covered on friday, and there is no evidence I was in Iowa soon after ( via car) for a Family Reunion.

IM training is tough. I am starting to see how little things like having to get in the car and drive 3 hours after a long ride and T run, then sleep in dorms on crappy beds is more irritating to me now than if i werent in the thick of it.

So Friday went like this:

Bike farther and faster than i have since the Triple Bypass last year. And on my Tri bike none the less. I still think climbing is meant for my road bike, but that is another matter. We rode from home to Hastings, across to Wisconsin, Prescott down the river ( and the hilly parts!) back home to Red Wing, to Cannonfalls on a lovely trail that we pretty much had to ourselves, then back on country roads into Farmington, Rosemount and then home. I had a low moment around 100, we were short on water and we were both just getting fatiqued. We had a nice cloud cover but it was sticky out.
Got home to do a T run and felt a bit jittery. Not bonking Jittery but like i was still riding my bike, despite standing in my kitchen. Perhaps 10 gels, 2 waffles, and powerblasts and lotsa Perform just had me a bit hyperglycemic. But the run was fine...hot...but fine so i think I was fine! Just tired.

ICe bath, subway, out the door for a three hour drive to Luther College! Woohoo!
Late night pizza ( of course we made it for the ice cream social, so eat dessert first right?) and in bed by 10 pm.

My Preus family cousins came from all over ( Norway, duh) but also Germany ( Johan Christian Hermann Linka...) there is some Deutsch in there, and it was lovely to see and meet many of them. I am sad to say i missed the entire saturday morning education bc i was...running:) I did get going by 7 am, but 2 1/2 hours later i was done. I made my run to get ice ( we are in a dorm no ice, no fridge) and i was just trying to cool off. It sure is Humid down there i love it, but when the trail i am on says tehre are two potty stops with water and they are no where to be seen....well....I fogot Iowa has these NON MODERN REST STOPs. That means there is a hole in the ground. OK. The trail supposedly went thru, according to a gal i asked in the route, but when i ended up on a corn field i was so lucky to find "Jared" with his camelbak and we ran back into Decorah on a road. I had no clue where i was, and am sure the little pink flags on the proposed trail would have gotten me into town eventually, but i was so short on water i was ready to fall over. Only in Iowa do i end up in a corn field, ask a random farmer/person in a truck, and find a Luther native to chaperone me home. It was my lucky day.

Since i also was blessed with my monthly visitor i had a few GI issues that luckily waited till i was home ( my dorm home!) and food that day was sparse and sorta icky. Dinner was Nordic buffet. yup, we got a bit of it all. No Lutefisk thankfully, but beets, pickled herring, pureed rutabaga ( which is actually kinda good) and some pork and swedish meatballs. Needless to say my tummy is sorta not happy. Its all good, but not what i would normally eat for good recovery.

We stopped on the way home and got Corn ( Yes! finally roadside corn) and some tomatoes. Our's are taking their time coming in. I had a rest day and my body thanks Jen for that. I can see how the cumulative stress wears on you but mentally i am doing good, just trying to stay positive and keep the physical body parts working. So far so good, a few spots i keep my eye on, but one day at a time.

Happy Weekend. Keep this great humidity coming. I cant stand the thought of a frigid lake start on Sept 11!