I logged on and saw you. I also saw you on the alpe. I was sending messages but not sure you got them. Great watching you between sessions as some kids are so done with school. I’ll see you tomorrow!
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I’m loving your songs of the day! Brilliant! 
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You are amazing @Stefanie!! I can imagine how mentally challenging things must be getting for you, I normally hit that point around mile 75 of the 100 mile events I do, that’s when I sometimes shed a few tears and then start distracting myself trying to play a solo version of the alphabet game (I choose a category such as English Premiership Rugby players, and then make my way through the alphabet with surnames). Just having something else to think about can distract from the monotonous turning of the pedals.
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Oh @gosimrrm now I know you are watching me I will have to not slack off! Thanks for all your encouragement!
Thanks @Michelle 
I love your alphabet game, what a brilliant idea!
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@Stefanie You are rocking it and amazing! This makes my day reading your reports. I love reading what you are eating before, during, and off the bike.
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@Stefanie another awesome report!! That mental aspect can be tough for sure - especially since you’re not in a group ride. Glad others didnt get sidetracked like me and checked on you today. And seriously you and the soigneur really need to do a cookbook for us when this is all over - you had me at homemade tater tots!!
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Day 5 and I am over halfway to the end! Still seems very far away though. Today was amazing with everyone checking in on me! Thank you so much! It really helped make the miles fly by. Let’s see there was @PaleGail almost first thing and then barely a minute after she left, @meganherzog showed up and rode with me a little while. During that time @goldendogy dropped into Discord. Then not long after they left @Coach_Theia checked in. And barely a minute after that @hollybw messaged me. And @gosimrr soon after and then @adm0629. It was such a morale boost, thank you all!
Breakfast this morning was multigrain blueberry pancakes. Ride snacks were sweet potato balls and baked oatmeal. My soigneur is home today and appeared at the halfway mark with a coffee smoothie. Cold and OMG delicious! This treat is made with coffee, frozen banana, some of the cream from a can of full fat coconut milk, unsweetened cocoa, and a little maple syrup. The boost did not last the entire second half of the ride but it definitely propelled me a good way!
My recovery meal was an enormous quesadilla. It was so big I thought there was no way I could eat all of it but I ate it all and was disappointed when it was gone. I asked James what was in it and he said, rice, beans, alfalfa sprouts, flax seeds, almond cheese, and ground up former Tour de France winners who didn’t test positive for drugs. 
Early in my ride I got to sit on the wheel of a pro who must have either been warming up or on a recovery ride. I drafted him through the aquarium. He came in 57th in the TdF last year so he was not sacrificed to make my quesadilla.
In a little while I get to have some chocolate sweet potato ice cream. Dinner tonight will be “eggs” made from yellow lentils with veg mixed in, spicy oat sausage patties, hash brown potatoes and toast. Nom nom nom
Oh, and my song today was Batshit by Sofi Tukker
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oh my god can we have a RAW cookbook? I’ll even pay for it. You were fantastic today. Even at mile 90 you were cruising. I’ll drop in again tomorrow. So glad that pro rider wasn’t sacrificed and you were able to ride with him for a bit! Stay strong and focused! .
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RAW cookbook sounds super! @Stefanie work has made me miss seeing you on Zwift so far this week but I will at least try to drop in on you via companion before you finish. You’re doing amazingly though, well done!!
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Thanks @gosimrr and @Tracyligemagreen! 
Many of the recipes are online, so perhaps when this is all over I will do a recipe link roundup for you 
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LoL @Stefanie, that quesadilla description made me laugh so loud the dog was looking at me funny 
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@Stefanie you are doing all the right things - with pacing, nutrition, recovery, and mindset!! Keep up the great work!!
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Wow. Wow. You rocked it @Stefanie!
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@Stefanie it was so much fun to ’ride’ with you today! Probably best that I got dropped quickly on the “ride with Stefanie” but that meant neither of us were worried about staying together we could just chat on discord (which I finally got to work) and the time i had to ride flew by!! That 45 min was the highlight of my day! And @meganherzog and i did not plan the i left she joined.we all just have perfect timing
I’ve been calling for a cookbook for days so hopefully the calls of others like @gosimrr @Tracyligemagreen will make it happen!!
And I think we need a vRAW Spotify playlist also - your song of the day is perfect!
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Woot! Day 6 is over! Thank you all for your continued support! Today @meganherzog huffed and puffed through her workout while we chatted on discord. @gosimrr checked in and for once I was not on the alpe. And @Coach_Theia chatted with me a little while too. I got the climbing out of the way early today so got to cruise along on watopia waistband after that. I’m slowing down a little so it felt good to feel fast through the desert while also not really working that hard.
My stomach was a little unsettled last night and this morning and I really didn’t want to eat breakfast, but I shoved it down and hoped things would be better once I got going. I got started a little later than usual this morning. James’s back is still sore and bending over is hard so I had to help him out with a few things. And then Waldo decided to hack up a hairball but at least he did it on the wood floor and not the bed like he usually does. Once I got going I ended up feeling pretty good and by the time I got to the top of the alpe I happily inhaled my mid-ride treat.
Breakfast today was sourdough French toast. Ride snacks were perfectly bland rice and bean balls. The beans were red beans and there was just enough to hold the rice together. My mid-ride treat at the top of the alpe was a repeat of the sourdough toast with peanut butter, banana, and molasses. I practically inhaled it.
My recovery meal today was a wrap filled with crumbled up spicy oat sausage patties leftover from dinner last night and various veggies. James was back at work today so I am not sure what all was in there but it tased great. Also, I rarely eat chips because they are just empty calories, but today I had some wonderfully salty baked tortillas chips with my wrap and I ate as many as I wanted, which was probably 15-20 chips but to me that’s a lot. And I enjoyed every single one of them. It’s hot and humid today and shortly I will be sipping a cold raspberry smoothie.
The song today was Alive by Sia.
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Loving your ride reports @Stefanie 
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Day 7 done! The end is in sight! I did two stages today. I began the day in Innsbruck and did the Achterbahn for the route badge. That was a hard route but the descents were lovely. So that was 30 miles. Then I logged out and back in for a Watopia rebel route–spiral into the volcano. It’s a pretty fun route and mostly flat except for the volcano climb at the end. Today I totaled 103 miles.
My stomach felt so much better this morning so I was really happy about that. But for the first time this week my legs felt tired when I woke up. Made me a bit worried, especially since I changed the original dinner plan last night from spaghetti to an enormous salad. Maybe I was about to regret that? But once I got going my legs felt fine and actually had some pep. I was almost done with my last climb up the volcano so I joined in the Q&A chat with the video off so no one had to look at my sweaty face 
Breakfast this morning was banana walnut pancakes. I had my mid-ride snack between worlds, a bowl of cereal with strawberries and some leftover banana from breakfast. My ride snacks were a little bit of everything because I didn’t know what I’d want. Turns out sweet potato balls were the winner today. My recovery meal was a gigantic burrito that did not last long! And there was a little chocolate sweet potato ice cream left from the other day that I just polished off.
I wore a thicker sock on yesterday’s ride and ended up getting a bit of heat rash on my ankles and the instep of my left foot. I wore thinner socks today and the rash on my instep bothered me at first but after a while there were too many other things to think about and I forgot all about it.
Today’s song was Bicycle by Filous, can’t not like the chorus:
Do I look too cool, do I look too cool?
On my bicycle, on my bicycle, yep
I’m sorry I rule, I’m sorry I rule, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
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Day 8! Only one more to go! Hot diggity dog!
Today was the day everything decided to rebel. My right knee ached at low cadence, my left hamstring was not happy with high cadence, I could find no position that was comfortable for longer than 5 minutes, my stomach was fine and then it wasn’t and then it was and back and forth it went, none of my ride snacks tasted good, for some reason I had to go to the bathroom every 90 minutes or so. I felt like I do in a hard workout on the second to last interval; I can see the end but, ugh, this is so hard and I don’t want to do it. But I did it, and some well timed messages from @PaleGail took me out of my funk and helped me finish the last 5 miles strong.
I have now finished all the Zwift route badges so that was a big plus for today.
Breakfast was overnight oatmeal. My mid-ride treat was a couple of “snickers,” and my ride snacks were a little of everything. My recovery meal was an everything bagel and leftover lentil “eggs” covered in Frank’s hot sauce. Dinner last night was sloppy “James.” I would call them sloppy Joes but when I asked James which of our many recipes he decided to use he said he made it up on the fly. He knows what he’s doing because it was really delicious.
The song today was Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees. It came on during one of my bathroom breaks and I strutted back to the bike John Travolta style. Bike shoes make a wonderful noise to the beat on a wood floor! However, I wouldn’t recommend trying to execute a disco move. Thankfully I only bounced harmlessly into the wall. 
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Stefanie, you are amazing. One more day!
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@Stefanie you have got this!!! When i realized you were still riding when we had that chat, i was feeling a little guilty since it meant you had to type - so glad it helped distract you at the end of your ride!! So proud of all your accomplishments!!!
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