Confidence Builder

Yesterday I did a hard ride followed by my long run. I covered 43 miles in just a hare under 2 hours (avg 21.6) and proceeded to run 19.2 miles in 2:25 with tempo. It was 30 minutes "warm-up" although it's hardly a warmup when you've been riding for 2 hours, then 30 minutes E3 (perceived exertion on a scale of E1-E7 where E1 is incredibly easy and E7 is all out), then 10 minutes recovery, then another set of 20 minutes and 10 minutes E3. My pace was a little slower than last weekend, but I did this run in the heat of the day and when I got back to my car it said it was 94 outside.

Then today, I did my first century - 103.2 miles in 5:28 or so of ride time. After that, I did a 6.2 mile run in around 47 and a half minutes. I got an early start and was on the road at like 10 after 6. My plan was to do 2 loops of a 51 mile route and try to get about the same amount of climbing as the L'ville course (~4500-5000). I did a loop around Lake Natoma first and then headed up towards Newcastle. However, when I was about 25 miles in, I got a flat. I was actually kind of glad because it forced me to change a flat on my race wheels, which I hadn't done on a ride yet. I had a little trouble with the CO2, but eventually got it to work and got enough air in my tire to finish the first lap. I had my pump in the car, so I just had to make it back there. I was trying to simulate the IM ride, so I did the first loop pretty conservatively and tried to keep my power around 200-220 when crusing and under 300 on the hills. I finished the first lap in about 2:45 of ride time. I got my 2nd bottle of perpetuem and was off on the 2nd lap after pumping up my back tire. No trouble on the 2nd lap and I went a little harder to see how I did. On the first lap, I averaged 180 watts and 18.6 mph and on the 2nd lap, I averaged 183 watts and 19.2 mph. Overall, I had the route at about 4600 feet of vertical and my average speed was 18.75 and my average power was ~180.

I also tweaked my nutrition plan a bit and did ~500 calories of Perpetuem in the first half with 4 gels (360 calories), but then for the 2nd half, I did about 400 calores of Perpetuem and 2 Gels and dialing down the calories seemed to work because when I got to the run, I didn't have a repeat of last week's nutrition problems. All-in-all, I was very pleased with the ride and am gaining confidence for the L'ville race.

I'm done for the week and did 20 hours (20:13 to be exact), covering 9200 yards in the pool, 203 miles on my bike and 48 miles running. This coming week is a recovery week to lead into Vineman 70.3 next weekend. If I don't have any bike problems (flats, etc.), I will have a really good race!!