How NOT to ride 80 miles.....

.... and still run well the next day.

That about sums up my weekend of training. First the details then you can see the results at the end of the post.

On Saturday I had a brilliant idea.
Aimee was going to meet her sister after massage and leave her car at the office. I would meet them later for dinner and pick up Aimee. Instead of worrying about getting the car after dinner I would plan my ride so that I finished at her office and pick up the car, the Pilot of course.

This sounded good and I would get outside for a ride. The weather called for an overnight low of 44. Awesome because then I could get a mid morning start and ride for around 4 hours.

Well the morning temps were more around 30 and I didn't want to bundle up that much since it was bound to get warmer as the day progressed. I hung out and got my stuff put together and waited until 10AM to head out. It was still a little brisk but I had a warm jacket, leg warmers, hand warmers tucked inside my toe covers, gloves and mittens and a beanie.

Sure I would be a little cold to start but I would warm up eventually. I also packed three bottles of fluid, two containing Perpetuem, a Clif Z-Bar, banana and a fruit smoothie PowerBar. I also packed money in case I needed it for more food or drink.

I headed south first which was nice because the winds were coming from the north across the lake. I was enjoying my ride. At one point during a hard effort I saw, caught up to and passed a golf cart on the road. Mind you I was in farm country so anything goes. It was fun zipping by the two kids and saying hi.

Eventually I had to head east and that meant going into the wind. I just geared down into the small chainring and spun it out. Things were going well. I was heading in the direction I wanted to go. I had made it to Medina with no problems. I felt that everything was going according the plan as I made my way towards the Metropark Reservation in Hinkley.

As I exited Medina my route headed northeast. I still had a bit of wind to contend with. It was only 9 miles to Hinkley but I could feel my energy starting to fade. My energy and the wind would come and go. I would feel strong but would soon feel zapped.

I didn't worry about the pace since I was still moving forward. The wind was still blowing and the damn temperature didn't seem to be getting any warmer. I was still comfortable but I could have used a better base layer up top.

Once I reached Hinkley I was 2 hours 13 minutes into my ride. I wasn't quite sure how long it would take me to get back. Only one way to tell. Full speed ahead. Well maybe 3/4 speed or half speed at times.

The rest of my ride would be almost directly north. Some of it would be west but it didn't help much. I was getting tired.

Eat, drink, spin.......eat, drink, spin.....eat, drink, spin.

I started to break up the remaining part of my ride into small segments. Make it to the next intersection. What is next? Oh yeah, make it to Wallace Lake. Oh good Cedar Point Road. Next marker Mastick golf course. Keep going.

A couple of times I found myself drifting away from the edge of the road. Partly due to the bad road conditions, partly because of my lack of focus. I just had to make it to the end of the park and climb one last hill.

Within one mile from said hill the inner thigh of my left leg started to cramp up BAD. I had to keep spinning from fear of simply falling over. I forced myself to breath through the cramp. I just hoped it wouldn't return while climbing the hill.

I made it to Aimee's office and the safety of the car. It took me another 2:15 to finish my ride. I had logged a total of 4.5 hours and 79 miles. As I emptied out my pockets I realized where I had failed.

On the seat in front of me was the banana, Z-Bar and half the PowerBar. Two bottles were completely empty and there was a little bit left in one Perpetuem bottle. I had completely ignored my nutritional needs. That was probably the worst bonk I have had to date. BIM Active says I burned up 3785 calories. I maybe consumed 800 calories on my ride. What a dumb mistake.

I still managed to get in a 15 minute run but it was a slow one. I made my way home and sat in a cold water bath for 20 minutes to help the legs recover. I was due for a long run the next day, Sunday. Time to HTFU.

I met Aimee, Becky and Kyle for dinner and we made it to bed before 9:30. Sunday morning arrived and we slept in. We didn't roll out until 8AM. We planned our day; running then grocery shopping. Meal plan was made for the week then we headed out for our run in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

I wanted some hills, as you can see below, and I found them. After a flat 3 mile warm-up I started with the hills. I was happy with how things were going. I was powering up the hills and recovering quickly once I reached the top of each one. When I reached the highest point of my run I reversed it and screamed down the Buckeye trial inside the Brecksville Metropark.

Once I made it back to the road I had the final rollers to attack and I was still moving well. Back onto a trail in the park I continued to push the pace all the way back to the parking lot. Of course most of the remaining mileage was downhill or flat resulting in the quick pace on the splits chart.

By the time I made it back to the car I was toast. Legs done. Stick a fork in them.

I walked to the Towpath trail and soon saw Aimee returning from her run. We both had good runs. I was happy my left thigh didn't cramp on me during the run. It only hurt when I tried to take off my shoes or put my sweat pants on.

After we got home from grocery shopping I took another cold water bath for 20 minutes. The legs really needed some relief. Other parts weren't happy with the cold water but it's a "small" price to pay.

Check out the information from BIM Active as I recorded the bike ride and run on my phone. There might have been a little bit of elevation on each day.

Remember, if you take food with you on a bike ride....EAT IT!!!!!

Game On

Saturday's Bonk-a-pottomus Bike Ride

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 875 ft Location: North Ridgeville, OH, Elev. Gain: -16 ft Date: 03/20/10 Up/Downhill: [+3530/-3546] Time: 02:30 PM Difficulty: 5.0 / 5.0 Weather: Mostly Cloudy 36 F temp; 79% humidity 36 F heat index; winds NE 13 mph Performance Distance: 79.14 miles Time: 4:34:30 Speed: 17.2 mph Pace: 3' 29 /mi Calories: 3785 Map Elevation (ft)

Posted from bimactive.com

Sunday's Most Awesome Hilly Trail/Road Run

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 757 ft Location: Brecksville, OH, Elev. Gain: -6 ft Date: 03/21/10 Up/Downhill: [+1135/-1141] Time: 12:25 PM Difficulty: 3.8 / 5.0 Weather: Partly Cloudy 50 F temp; 58% humidity 50 F heat index; winds NNE 6 mph Performance Distance: 10.75 miles Time: 1:45:34 Speed: 6.1 mph Pace: 9' 49 /mi Calories: 1241 Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 44 -1' 05 6.9 +0.7 -6 ft 2 8' 23 -1' 26 7.2 +1.0 -10 ft 3 9' 47 -0' 02 6.1 +0.0 +30 ft 4 14' 29 +4' 40 4.1 -2.0 +32 ft 5 12' 30 +2' 41 4.8 -1.3 +151 ft 6 9' 31 -0' 18 6.3 +0.2 -6 ft 7 11' 06 +1' 17 5.4 -0.7 +82 ft 8 10' 12 +0' 23 5.9 -0.2 -39 ft 9 8' 44 -1' 05 6.9 +0.8 -108 ft 10 6' 55 -2' 54 8.7 +2.5 -105 ft end 7' 31 -2' 18 8.0 +1.9 -26 ft Versus average of 9' 49 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com