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The Portland Century – Part 3

The Portland Century – Part 3

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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27 Comments

  1. Becky

    WELL DONE!! I’ve really enjoyed reading all your posts on this. What an adventure! And I’m glad you finished this one with a smile on your face. I would be disappointed by the lack of finish line and no medal. I am ALL about the bling!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Thanks Becky! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m glad I finished it with a smile too.

  2. Roz

    I am so impressed with your ride Lisa. Congratulations!!!!!!

  3. Jill

    YAY!!!!!! Awesome job Lisa! You did it and you did it with a smile!! You must feel so proud of yourself! Reading these posts- I felt like I was with you! You have inspired me by showing me you could do it. I am doing a race like this next year- and I have been teetering on not believing in myself! You have inspired to keep believing that I can do anything!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      You CAN do it Jill! You will be great!

      1. Jill

        You inspired me to do something else!!! After I read your recap- I had this strong desire to ride! I just got back from a 12 mile ride! It was GREAT (except when my chain fell off)

        1. Lisa Eirene

          Way to go on your 12 miles! Sorry about the bike chain. I hope it was something easily fixable.

  4. Lisa

    I loved reading about the Century. You did a great job! I actually just discovered that app on my iPhone the other day and love it too. I love seeing my ride on Google Maps. The only downside is that since I have the 3G, I can only use one app at a time. Sometimes I would rather listen to a book or music than run the bike computer. I will be doing a 265-mile bike ride across the Katy Trail in MIssouri over 3 days in October. I have been training for it and am falling in love with cycling. It’s even got me thinking about training for a triathlon. I have a long way to go, but I always do better with weight loss when I feel like I am “training” and not just working out. I’ve only been reading for a few months. Have you done any triathlons? With your love of swimming, running, and biking, you would be great!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Hi Lisa- I’m glad you liked reading the recap. I have thought about doing triathlons but something about them scares me! My goal is next summer. I have to just bite the bullet and DO it.

      Your event in October sounds challenging. I’m impressed by the 265 miles! Even spread across a few days it will be hard. You can do it!

  5. Marie

    BEER!!

    Congrats on a fantastic ride- I’ve had fun reading about this. I always just imagine your butt being sore, never really thought about back and shoulders, but it makes sense…not sure it inspires me to pick up cycling! πŸ˜‰

    1. Lisa Eirene

      BEER!!! It was well-deserved if you ask me!

      To be honest my butt was NOT sore at all during the Century. Or the day after. Michael had some soreness the day after though.

      When I feel “cycling” pain it’s usually my neck/shoulders and lower back. It’s always been that way. Conditioning helps but it doesn’t cure it. Unfortunately.

  6. Leah @ L4L

    You are a total rockstar! I’m so impressed!

  7. cindylu

    It’s so nice to be run or bike a race where you’re familiar with the route. It really helps in that mental aspect that everyone says is so important. I had run the last half of the LA Marathon in training and that helped so much because I knew when I should push or conserve some energy.

    I’d be bummed about the lack of a medal too, but that food and beer looks good.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      There is something kind of nice about doing a route that is unfamiliar too. It’s more interesting and you don’t get bored! But you make a great point about knowing when to push it.

  8. Lori

    Nice pace! Next year the 100!

    I decided I am not doing 100 miles again. Twice was enough LOL. I like my max rides now to be about 50 miles.

    The interesting thing that you will find that that shorter rides like 30 and 40 miles will be nothing to ride and will be really fun!

    (And I would have had 3 desserts) πŸ˜€

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Lori–why no more 100 routes? Too challenging? What was the hardest part about doing the 100’s?

      And yes—the smaller numbers seem silly now. I noticed that when we were routinely doing about 40 miles on our long rides every weekend. 40 suddenly felt “too easy.”

      I think the 50-75 miles are good numbers. My goal is not to be miserable DURING the ride, or crippled AFTER the ride! 72 seemed perfect.

      1. Lori

        100 miles just takes a long time. Like most of the day LOL. It’s just also really mentally fatiguing. The body is okay, but I was too tired mentally to want to do that again. And really, I don’t see the point in doing it again other than to say I did it again.

        But then, I could always change my mind πŸ˜€

        1. Lisa Eirene

          I totally get what you are saying. The mental part is where I struggle. I just get DONE mentally and it’s hard to push forward…then I start to feel the physical aches and pains.

  9. Eleah

    That is a bummer that there was no banner to ride under… that’s one of the best parts! Seeing it coming up and feeling the accomplishment that comes with it.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      It just felt anticlimactic. Like we pulled up to PSU and were like “I guess we’re done?”

  10. jane Cartelli

    Inspired, yes. Exhausted just reading yours though. . . .

    Jane~

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Hehehe I get that. It sounds like a staggering experience…

  11. Alan (Pounds Off Playoff)

    Lisa, I don’t know how I missed these posts this summer, but I loved reading them today! You do a great job of showing what it’s like to do one of these rides. I started following you during Reach the Beach. Yes, I will do one of these rides!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Thank you Alan! I’m glad you liked those recaps. I wanted to do them in enough detail to give people an idea of what it’s like. And they are fun. Challenging, but fun and TOTALLY worth a try! Even if you aren’t ready for a full 100, do the 25, then the 50 someday. 55 was doable for someone who had done the bare minimum of training (a.k.a me last year – lol).

  12. Jeff C

    Just stumbled across your sight this morning, and it’s great! Loved reading your race/ride reports….it’s inspiring me to get off my butt and do some real riding this spring/summer!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Awesome! I hope you give it a try. Let me know if you try a Portland event.

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