What a difference a week makes! Exactly one week ago, 90 mins into a two hour ride (first hot ride of season) I was conceding defeat and crawling to a mobile hot dog stand and chugging down water to save my soul.
Fast forward to today, same conditions (85+ degrees), 2 hours -55 mins, 57.5 miles, 188 watt average, 19.5 mph avg and I just about had the best and most successful bike ride IN MY LIFE!!!
It wasn't the fastest at that distance (rolly terrain), but it was the most powerful. I have never EVER held a 188 watt average for that long. My previous bests were 170 watts for 56 miles @ Timberman (8/09. semi-flat course with some rollers), 170 watts @ 56 miles for New Orleans, (4/10. pancake flat course with two bridges and headwinds) and 172 watts @ 56 miles @ Mooseman (three weeks ago. hilly F-ing course!).
Today was a training ride. I can't wait to rip it @ Timberman in ~8 weeks!
So the things that helped me out today were:
- Lots of miles under my belt this season. I am very close to hitting my 2009 yearly mileage, and its only the end of June. Wanna ride faster? Ride more.....its really that simple!
- Hydration. I drank every 10 mins last week, and subsequently almost died (not literally). Today I drank every 5 mins after about 55 mins. This helped tremendously!
- started off conservative, and built up the intensity. I notice that if I start off @ my goal pace, I can't hold it the entire time. Rather if I start off easy, then go harder towards the end, it all averages out to my goal pace, but I feel BETTER coming off of the bike.
-simplified my nutrition - gone are the thoughts of peanut butter and gone are the Balance Bars. Its only Chocolate Gu now....I only need about 5 for this distance and I take them every 30 mins. I felt full of energy @ the finish of the ride.
So over the course of 57.5 miles, my brain waves were repeating over and over the following songs:
"Walcott" - Vampire Weekend - super annoying song and only when I was climbing.
"500 Miles" - The Proclaimers - not a bad song! Remember "Benny & June?"
"He Was Worse Than the Needle He Gave You" - Delta Mirror - currently one of my favorite songs. Went through my head when I was feeling "fast"
"Ting Ting" - Jo Koy - when I started feeling wonky with around 30 mins left to ride. Jo Koy yelling "Ting Ting!!!!" Started flashing through my head. This is a hilarious clip especially if you have a little boy. haha!
So if you can't tell, today's ride was a huge breakthrough. I not only beat the heat but put in a best performance. When I stopped for water around mile 37, there was another triathlete stopping as well and we chatted briefly. He was @ mile 85 of his ride with his 6th attempt @ Lake Placid coming up in a month. See you up there in the changing tent! I will be in his shoes in about a year!
6 mile run tomorrow. I hope to test out sweat loss and will report back on my findings. Pray for fumidity! I need it as muggy as can be for the best results.
Awesome bike Jon! I have also started looking more at my hydration, which I think will help me!
ReplyDeletegreat bike ride. good stuff. ya hydration in important.
ReplyDeleteand its not like with running where you cant drink too too much or u will get stomach aches.
have a good run tomorrow!
Congrats on an awesome ride today! Today, you kicked the heats ass!
ReplyDeleteRide that wave into tomorrow's run.
Nice ride! Your "5 Point Plan" paying off already!
ReplyDelete-Derek
awesome ride! any side affects to all the drinking? Really nice wattage on the ride for the length of a ride!
ReplyDeleteWay to go Jon! You did an awesome job of beating the heat :) I wish that I could do that on my runs!
ReplyDeleteYesterday I ran with my running group and many of them are triathletes. They were talking about their long bike rides. You know the 100 plus mile ones:) I said something like...."God, I don't know how you do it! I don't think I could last a few hours on a bike, let alone several hours covering over 100 miles!" They all looked at each other and said, "Oh my God Julie, it is the best fun ever and we love our long bike rides!" They did say that the long hours on the trainer is what really sucks! Talking to them about bike riding was so wonderful because there was so much passion involved in our conversation. There was a woman who just started the Tri stuff last year and she was talking about her new bike wheels:) She was thrilled and the stars were in her eyes! This is one of the reasons I love your blog....the stars are in your eyes too and it shows in your posts:) Have a great day little bro!
Great ride today Jon! Hey, I've been using the EFS Shots from 1st Endurance lately. It is a 5oz bottle and is perfect for the HIM 56 mile bike. It has 1500mg of sodium which works for the fumidity. I figure Gatorade has about 250 mg of sodium per 20oz bottle. So 3 bottles over 3hours with the EFS is 2250mg of sodium. This prevents me from having to take any salt tabs on the bike.
ReplyDeleteSomeone has been busy... Love the new blog theme!
ReplyDeleteI'm still working on learning my hydration needs. I'm sure I'll get it all figured out by the time the season is over... :-/ haha.
Congrats on the awesome workout! I'm sure that was a huge confidence booster! That is quite the song list that went through your head!
ReplyDeleteglad you figured your nutrition out! :)
ReplyDeleteNice work, impressive all away around
ReplyDelete