Red Bull

I'm tired of finding out how far I'm going, then what my average speed will be, then how long it will take, then take the number of hours multiplied by 300 calories per hour, and packing the needed calories. For this ride, I found a Ziploc of 9 strawberry newtons, made a pbj sandwich, left the 2 Clif bars in my Camelbak, and stuffed a handful of gels in my jersey. I was going to take two 20oz bottles of Cytomax, but one of my bottles already had cold water in it, so I only took 20oz of sports drink.

Mile 36 I stopped at a gas station and filled up my empty Cytomax bottle with Gatorade. Average speed to this point was 18.8MPH. My goal was to keep it between 17 and 18 MPH.

Next stretch was 30 miles where I kept my average speed at a much better 17.8MPH. I felt good, but I think I slowed down taking in calories during this stretch. Over the next 20 miles I felt like crap. My back was sore, no energy, sweat in my eyes, legs were tired, you name it, and I had it. Thoughts of laying on the grasss and taking a nap went through my head. I stopped and connected my earphones so I could call Travis and continue riding. Anything to take my mind off how miserable I was. Our conversation didn't last long, so I had to find something else. 20 miles at 16.2MPH, and it felt like I was giving it all I had.

I couldn't remember the last time I took in calories, so at 4hrs 10min I took another gel even though I didn't want to. Shortly after that I stopped at a gas station to buy a Red Bull. Caffeine has never helped in the past, but I had hope. The gel I just took had caffeine, Red Bull did, and the last 2 gels also had it. There was no long brick planned, so I just needed enough umph to get me 12 miles on my bike. Shortly after the gas station I took my 2nd gel, and washed it down with the Red Bull that I put in my water bottle.

To my surprise, it appeared to be working. I'm sure it was partially because I was near home, and the fact that I now had fresh calories, and maybe even the caffeine. At 4hrs and 50min I decided to take my last gel. That was 460 calories in the last 40 minutes. Whoa, that's a lot. I pictured myself walking into a buffet with my trainer and bike for my next long ride. Last 12 miles of the ride at 18.2MPH and felt good.

Feeling Good

I admit that over the weekend I should of done much longer workouts, and a much lower intensity. However, on the positive side, I did run and bike faster than I thought I could in the heat, and it felt good. Today I did my 6@6 and felt great. It was only 7:30 pace, but I've run that pace before and felt like my legs weighed a ton.

According to the gizmo at the gym, my body fat is 11.8% today. I'd love to only carry 155 pounds around on my runs instead of 165, but it's hard to complain about that body fat.

Feast or Famine

After cycling for 300+ miles two weeks ago, I've been feeling fatigue late last week and early this week. Over and over I've been telling myself "go slow when increasing volume." Today I felt good, so did I follow my own advice? Of course not. My 28 mile bike route has a new record. If that was not enough, I did a hard 4.5 mile run afterwards. Why can I not listen to my own advice?

Maybe I'll have better self control tomorrow when I'm on the trainer for four hours.

Rare Swim Workout

Wife and I had to leave at 4am to get her to the airport. Since I was already going to be in Pensacola and Mark was swimming at the beach, it would be foolish to not go. However, there was rain and lighting the entire way, so I was sure we would not do it. I was tired and looking forward to sleeping in the car in my work parking lot while it rained.

Text to Mark: "Swim cancelled?"
Reply: "I'm headed out there now to see."
Text to Mark: "Storms all around. Clear at beach.
Reply: "Sounds good!"

Dang, so much for sleeping. Time for my first swim workout in over a year. The cool thing was that there were other people and in open water, so I could practice drafting and swimming straight. Both of those are hard to practice in a pool.

Swimming behind Ty was easy. His feet moved slow, and he moved slow. I could see his entire body by tilting my head up a little. Drafting off of Mark was not so easy. The only thing I could see was bubbles. The bubbles were all around, so I didn't know if I was heading toward the center of the bubbles or not. 90% of the time I wasn't.

As we were leaving, Mark asked if I wanted a ride for the 1.5 mile trip back to my workplace. I told him I'd run and his reply was "that a boy. just testen ya." It's good to be around people that encourage more working out.

Pain Threshold and Fitness Threshold

Someday I'm going to write a well thought out post on this topic. It all seemed so clear during my workout yesterday. Results are definately a combination of pain threshold, fitness threshold, and how willing you are to near each of those points. It seems obvious to me that as I get older, I can worry less and less about the pain tolerance, and simply go at the pace that I know I'm in shape to perform. More to come...

Group Ride to End the Week

With 98 miles on Friday, I planned on some easy miles Saturday, then a long ride Sunday to get 300 for the week. Why I choose to meet up with a group, I have no idea. I rode with them once last year, and knew nobody, so it's not like I felt obligated.

There did happen to be one person there that I knew. Johnny is the fastest tri guy in our small city. I've only talked to him about 5 times, but I look forward to training with him over the next few years and tapping into his years of experience.

Around the halfway point we stopped at a gas station. I made the comment that I'd break off and head back home since I only brought 2 water bottles and 2 gels. I had not planned on 70+ miles. Johnny was "nice" enough to offer to buy me some water, thus negating part of my excuse to head back early. There was also a reference to me being an Ironman, that was meant
to encourage me to tough it out. Against my better judgment, I stayed.

Although tired, it wasn't hard to keep up for the next 20 miles or so. However, at the end of a long gradual ascent, I couldn't keep up. About 100m after I dropped back, they stopped at another gas station to rest and refuel. It was less than 20 miles to get back, and I thought I would be fine.

Most pulls were around 22-23 MPH, and felt easy when drafting. Then Johnny would pull 25 MPH and I'd die. To make things harder, I was right behind him, so it was my turn to pull after being beat. After my pull I fell to the back and Johnny dropped back just a bit farther so I could catch his draft and catch back up to the group. What a nice guy. Someday when I'm a strong rider I'll have to remember to do that for someone struggling.

Home was getting closer, and I thought I was going to make it, until Johnny was pulling again. 5 miles from the finish and I couldn't stick to his wheel. Very disappointed with myself.

When I got back to the start of the group ride, I was still 7 miles from home. I'd been without water or calories for over an hour, so I called my wife. She asked if I needed picked up, and I just told her to bring cold water and sports drink and I could ride home. I stopped sweating a while ago, and now my skin was clammy and very salty. Dehydration is not how I wanted to end my ride. Next time I'll be prepared.

85 miles on Wednesday, 98 on Friday, and I felt fine after both. The 60 miles with a group on Saturday killed me. Monday morning my legs are still sore.

Numbers:
Cytomax - 40oz - 450 cal
Hammer Gels - 2 - 200 cal
Time - 3.5 hours (185 cal/hr)

2nd Long Ride of Week

Took a few wrong turns that added some miles, but still only 98.3 miles today. The speed and average HR were up some from Wednesday's ride and it felt good.

Problems:

Shortly after leaving I realized I forgot my gels. I thought it wouldn't be a problem since I had other calories.

Ran out of Endurolytes around mile 70. Next time I'll top off the container instead of guessing there will be enough.

Sports drink ran out about mile 70 also. This would not of been a problem if I was smart enough to buy a refil at the gas station. However, the only thing I could think about was buying more water since I ran out of that.

Numbers:

figs - 12 - 600 calories
gatorade - 20 oz - 75 calories
cytomax - 20 oz - 225 calories
pbj - 327 calories
honey gels - 3 - 300 calories
total calories - 1527 (277 per hour)

water - 140 oz

hours - 5.5

temp at finish - 95

No 5k

Yesterday I decided that the 5k this weekend is no longer a "maybe." It's a "no." For the last 2 weeks my legs were heavy and my times were slow. Yesterday I did the 6@6 at 7:18 pace, but it felt much slower. I'm happy about that.

Still, even if I get a 5k PR or quality speed work, that's not what this week is about. This week I'm packing in the cycling miles without dropping below 20 running miles. I have a long way to go before I can finish 112 miles on the bike and feel ready for a marathon. Doing 5k's isn't key for me to get there... at least not at this point in my training.

Short Century

Took a wrong turn today on my first attempt at a solo century. It's only fitting since my only other century I also took a wrong turn. Both times resulting in less milage, so I've yet to pass the 100 miles/day mark.

Started at 6:30 this morning after having a small banana and an Ensure. High temp of 92 today, but I was lucky to have some cloud cover. Just about drained all 100 oz of my Camelbak, and the second 20 oz bottles of Cytomax emptied around mile 75. In addition to the sports drink, I had 6 fig newtons, PBJ sandwich, and 3 PowerBar Gels. Thought about stopping to buy a Red Bull but didn't test it today. Forgot about the banana or I would of ate it.

Numbers:

Calories:
Fig - 300
PBJ - 327
40oz Cytomax - 450
gels - 300
Total - 1377 (275 per hour)

Endurolytes - 8
weight loss < 8 lbs
miles - 84.2
time - 4:54:47
Avg HR - 118