Training has been going a lot better lately! And I am quite happy about that! Since I got a new coach and someone else for reference/advice, it feels like I got a renewed sense of motivation to put in some long rides, and in particular, RUNS! After my big training week with Terri and the Peterborough Swim/Bike I did not put that many hours into training. It was a little bit of a recovery week and I am now right back at it! I also have been working lots! I am currently in my last long stretch of 2 on, 1 off, 6 on, 1 off, and 6 on which started the night of the Peterborough race. Yikes! But so far, so good!
The week started with swim practice with the UofT masters swim club after my 5th night, so I was a bit tired. The next day I did an interval run workout, where I did mile repeats, followed by swim practice again. Not too bad! The mile repeats went relatively well. Then yesterday I ventured out on my long ride - solo! My goal was to reach Lake Simcoe but I wasn't sure how far it exaclty was. I rode to Lake Simcoe before but starting in Markham. This was the first time I rode from home, in midtown Toronto. The first 26km or so took forever. I left just before lunch time and I must have been caught with the lunch hour rush. There was lots of traffic and it felt like I was being stopped at every stoplight. At least the first and last hour of my ride was for warm up/cool down. It took almost an hour and 15 minutes before I was able to enjoy some nice cycling roads. However, in exchange, rural roads meant no stores or gas stations. So about 2 hours into my ride I ran out of water, all 3 bottles that my bike could hold. It was a hot and humid day with no store in sight! I was not sure how much further my destination was as I didn't pay attention to my bike computer when I reached the normal starting spot, about 53km to the lake. I was also a little worried about the time as I had to get back home and get to work and start my final stretch of 6 nights. I ended up hitting a point of no return. If I turned around, it meant another hour of no water and I was sure that I was closer to the lake where I know there is a store. So I continued and tried to pick up the pace a bit while scavenging the area for any convenience store or gas station. I made it to Willow Beach at Lake Simcoe in a little over 3hrs, about 80km into my ride. I refilled my bottles with free municipal water courtesy of the township of Georgina and visited Angleo at the corner convenient store and drank an ice cold can of coke. I met Angelo, the owner of the store, last year when training for IMC. So it was nice to see him and chat with him for a short bit before I made my return trip.
I knew I was pressed for time so I tried to keep a good steady pace on the way home. Good thing it's slightly more downhill then up on the return trip. However, I think I was so preoccupied with the time I didn't really feel some of the hills I usually feel when I ride this route. I also once again ran out of water. Before I knew it I was back in Markham and stopped at a gas station for another refill. Some guy took an interest to my bike and we chatted for a bit while I was refueling but he also held me up for a bit. I
REALLY had to get going! I had about an hour to get home to give myself enough time to get to work. Finally, I was soon on my way and was just so focused on the time. Unfortunately, I did hit rush hour traffic so I had to do the stop-go thing again and deal with stoplights. I made it home and was in very good spirits! Usually after a long ride I am tired, just want to get off the bike, and can sometimes feel a bit miserable. However, I think I distracted myself enough with the time that I did not feel tired, or miserable. I felt happy that I did this ride all on my own. Happy that I made it with just enough time to get to work (I really cut it close though, haha!). Happy that my legs were not trashed.
My powertap measured a normalized power of 137W for the whole ride, that includes the crappy city riding I had to do. I really need to learn the PT computer more and set intervals so I can separate the good and the crappy riding. I do not think I was stellar in the nutrition department but it must have been enough for me to feel good at the end. I had about 2 packages of clif shot bloks, 1 powerbar, 1 bottle eload/carbopro, 1 bottle eload, 2 cans of coke, and 6 bottles of water. My legs also felt ok, a little tired, but ok. I actually really didn't feel my legs all night at work until I had to run for a code blue at about 5:30am...then I felt the stiffness a bit! LOL! :) Today I ran about 13km steady before heading into work for shift 2 of 6. Yes...I am counting down! My legs were tired but it was an ok run.
All in all I am quite happy with how my training is going so far! I am feeling a bit more confident now about going to IMC! I was really worried before, even earlier this week, that I was not going to be quite ready because I would really like to PB this year! But now I have this long ride under my belt I think I will be ok. I need to get some more long runs in but I still have time. I have a 20km run scheduled for Sunday so I hope I am disciplined enough to complete this run! That's it from me for now - over and out! ;)
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