I'm gonna do it...

At some point I think we all question how much we can actually do. What is our own personal limit, and is that limit truly physical or merely mental. Each week for the next couple months I'll be pushing that limit to figure out where it is and then find a way to go past it.

This weekend was on of heavy training; I commuted to work on Friday as a way to get in some "for me" riding, but after that it was all business. Saturday morning, we did the Tri-ROK 5k up near Gloucester as it was a free race for me, and Rachelle signed up as well. Also, our engagement photographer and friend Barb and her husband were in town this past week and Barb came to race as well. Rach and Barb did great, and while I was around my usual time for a hot race with some hills (42:xx) but I did manage to run the first 1 1/4 miles straight through at a 13:00 pace. Plus I passed a couple folks in the last half-mile so I was pretty happy with that.

After breakfast and a nap, I got back out to finish my work for the day. I had planned on 8 more miles but a sore left leg made me think better of it, and I did just 7. Still 10 miles in a day is the longest I've ever done in training walking/running. Next Sunday, its a half-marathon worth of training. Hopefully it won't be as humid as it was Saturday.

Yesterday was where the big news happened: 60 miles on the bike. My longest ever ride to this point. We did 3 out and backs on the minuteman bike trail, which although fairly flat has several miles of false flat uphill each direction that make you work some. It suits most of our ride in Ohio for Rev 3, though we'll still be doing some hill work to make sure we're ready for the couple of hills the race planners throw at us. The first 40 miles were again very close to race pace (just a hair under 15 MPH due to all the starts and stops from crossing 7 roads in 10 miles each way). The battery in my 305 died after 42ish miles so I dont have a data file on the last 20 to go by, but I am fairly positive they were at least a little slower.

I made a couple mistakes I can learn from in the nutrition and hydration departments. i didn't bring nearly the food I normally would for a ride that distance, and though I brought almost enough fluids for 60 miles in 90 degree heat, I went the 10 miles between miles 30 and 40 without anything to drink. It cost me at Patriot Half, and it cost me yesterday too. By the time I got to mile 40 I was fairly bonked, and drank most of 32 ounces in the next 10 miles. In total I drank over 15 pounds of fluids yesterday during riding and recovery and at the end of the day was up less than 1 pound. That's how hot it was.

Obviously nutrition is key to getting through an ironman distance race, so while it sucked for yesterdays ride, it was a valuable lesson learned. My Hydrapak is working out great, but I also saw that packing a couple of bottles on the frame with fluids would have been a good call as well. Lots of lessons learned as we prepare to go longer and longer distance training these next few weeks. I was really happy with my legs especially considering the 10 miles the day before

Notes:

- Rachelle actually did 70 miles yesterday. She did 10 miles in the morning while I was watching le Tour. Sorry, guys got to have his priorities.

- We got the aerobars from Matt at Enjoy the Ride along with some beads as Matt lives in New Orleans. Suffice to say, I'm not sure which Rach was more excited about, but we'll definitely be putting those bars to good use, especially once rach gets her new TT saddle.

- Speaking of saddles, the harder saddle I bought for my birthday isn't working out. My hiney muscles are not capable of keeping me comfortable and my weight puts too much pressure on my other bits to make a saddle without a cut out a good idea right now for longer rides. So, I went back to the saddle I got last July, and it sadly, is giving up the ghost. The padding around the cutout has started to roll off the plastic so I wound up riding on harder stuff than whats on the hard saddle for part of yesterdays ride. I had to stop and adjust it at the turnaround point after every 10 miles. A new saddle is now at the top of the upgrade list, along with new shoes, and shoes for Rachelle.