long ride finally done

Today my goal was to finish 180km and dial in nutrition. Last ride I'd found the Perpeteum and Cytomax were a bad mix and I dumped all the Cytomax (powder) with Jamie when he rescued me from the flats/no spare/unable to patch due to rain. But I was cramping horrifically last ride and wanted to address that. I'm getting there. I headed out this morning, after waiting for it to warm up a smidge as we're under frente frio No. 6 (!!! already, and it is only OCTOBER) and wasn't sure where I'd go. I'd mapped out the distance to Coba and there and back was a neat 180km but I was worried about the dogs along the route. I considered doing Tulum twice (another 180 km) but I am so Sick To Death of riding back and forth to and from Tulum I might die of boredom. I also considered going past Tulum for 45 km and turning around but I had no idea of what the abarrote support was south of Tulum and I knew I'd need another liter of water at the turnaround so I finally nixed that. I also considered 3 loops of Xel-Ha becasue the Ironman course is also 3 loops of 60ish.

In the end I went with Coba, mostly because I told our abanil I was going there (and his eyes bugged out) and because I've not been there yet. I was right to worry about the dogs but after I figured out to stuff rocks under my shorts and throw them at the dogs it got easier. I was pretty done at 4-4-1/2 hours and super hungry at that point. For some reason I hate using GU (I take it for emergency) but couldn't find candy anywhere until Tulum the 2nd time (135 km) and by then I was doing better.

I had 2 packages of Perpeteum (270 cal each), 1 Cliff Bar (240?), 2 GU (180), 1 bag of lifesaver gummies (180) and half a PB&J and a Poweraid. I figured it was about 1000-1100 calories at the 4.5 hour point and I'd probably burned about 3000 cal so maybe that's why I was hungry. Who knows. I scarfed down some lifesaver gummies and than added a GU and all of a sudden I was bloated. I worked that down and took only Poweraid and water for the rest of the ride (almost 2 hours) and was almost better when I got home. So I found I can do real food and bike+run. It was super duper low humidity today (60ish and temp only got up to 29) and I was covered with powder when I got home, so apparently the humidity hides all the salt. I took Endurolyte tablets - 2 whenever I thought I needed them - and never cramped and am only very minimally cramping now at home.

So a good day all around but TBH, I'm not looking forward to more 6-hour rides. Tomorrow is a 2-hour ride and then we're off to Home Depot to try and stay ahead of the construction.

lack of planning or trying?

We're under all the red/pink/white. I suppose I should have put on my big girl panties and gone out yesterday because I'm not sure the winds and rain were any better today. The traffic must have been less today though. I had a pretty good first 2.5 hours and then flatted and my spare was a dud. So I tried to patch the original (spare already had 1 patch) in the rain and finally gave up and called Jamie. Like a knight on a white horse he showed up with the heater blasting and gave me 2 spare tubes AND changed the bad tube. He then headed back home to meet me at David's with a new bottle with Perpeteum (I'm loving the caffe latte flavor) and a Cliff Bar and water and he'd accompany me for the first 18 km of my 2nd 90km loop. Unfortunately he was running late so I headed back to the palapa only to find out work was screaming for help. I was really pissed I was going to have to cut short my ride (the flat and coming home put me 1.5 hours in the hole) and was a lousy companion for about the first 18km or so. Since I decided to cut my ride short to get home in time to help work out Jamie decided to come with and we slogged through the wind and the rain together. Except the rain was somewhat acidic and he couldn't see. He had to stop occasionally to clear his eyes and I just tucked my head down and rode. If you can call 22-23 kph riding. I was so discouraged. I was going to miss out on my 6-hour test ride AND a brick run AND I was going slower than molasses.

I finally got my head together and got out of the 21-23kph doldrums and headed home. Once home I found work didn't need me after all! ARGH! So I went for a run and walked the puddles (our puddles get super slick with the limestone+flour sand) and came home to a wonderful meal - jamie had made salmon, potatoes and broccoli. I'm not sure about the Perpeteum. It totally worked today but I'm not sure it would work on a hot day. I'll just have to try again and see. I had 2 envelopes of Perpeteum (540 cal), 2 GU (180 cal), 1 Cliffbar (240) and 3 scoops of Cytomax (270 cal) over 6 hours (bike+run). I was not starving at the end but I definitely was hungry. According to BT I only burned around 3700 cal and at 1230 cal taken in that averaged about 200 cal/hr. That Cliffbar went down REALLY well at about 2 hours in and I think I should probably try for 225-250 cal/hr average next time. So while I didn't hit my goal of 180km and 6 to 6.5 hours, I did get 150 km in and that's pretty close. Next weekend will be the ticket. I think I'll head to Coba.

Invest 95

Whenever we got more than an hour of rain there is a good chance it will become "something." So after a full day of rain I figured we were under "something" and unfortunately it came during my Cannot Miss Another workout due to the 8 weeks I took of during Jesse's illness so I have to get it in somehow. I have 6.5 hours of riding to get in and it is looking like it will be tomorrow. I (stupidly?) believed Accuweather and Wunderground who pegged tomorrow as less rain and half the wind speed but looking at the current map, I'm not so sure. If nothing else tomorrow will be a day of less traffic as most don't work Sundays and with the weather people will likely be staying home. So if nothing else there will be fewer cars on the road. Only road around here for hundreds of kilometers. Last night I learned a good lesson in swimming - I've gone from 0 to 9000 meters this week and my old shoulder injury came out SCREAMING last night (with 2 days in a row of 3000 m). This is so sad as when I was a kid I did 10K a DAY during long-course season. How far we fall when we age. So no more back-to-back days of swimming. But the stroke that is there does feel good. I'm feeling positive about that aspect of the IM but I STILL don't even know how far we're supposed to swim but figure it has to be double the HIM and the HIM was 1.9 so the IM must be 3.8, right? I'm pretty solid on 3.8 km so I'm feeling confident on the swim front. Just have to keep the shoulder healthy.

Running is going well enough so far but I'm trying hard to restrain myself. I keep wanting to pile on the distance but I know I really shouldn't. I finally thought during today's (very wet) run that I can probably double my workouts by adding water running, but I'm not sure I'm up for 2 hours of water running (to add to my 3 hours of land running). The boredom might kill me but being more prepared for the IM just might be the tipping point. But the boredom. Geez.

So tonight I'm going over nutrition (Cytomax, Cliff Bars and GU) and figure I'll go with 2 loops of the Tulum route (90 km) instead of going out to Coba (180 km RT) for an increase in available abarrotes for water/Poweraid and easier pickup (should I need a rescue van). I've done Tulum about a million times so the boredom might kill me (beginning to be a common theme) but next long ride I'll try for Coba. Course that's assuming I'll be able to make it 6.5 hours on the bike. Big question in my mind but it will be a relief if/when I get her done.

the secret to ironman

is that you look forward to the marathon after being on the bike. This past weekend in the space of 23 hours I put 8 hours in on the bike. Yowzers my delicate lady bits are complaining this morning. AND I was SHORT by 1:20. No way I was going to do more than I did. :) Saturday late afternoon I did the Tulum (88km) ride and early next am I was up for another round of Tulum and then back to the palapa to celebrate my youngest hitting double digits. Once she dedicated herself to the computer for the day (on their birthdays they get to do whatever they want) I headed out for another 2 hours and finished a hour shy of 23 hours. I was never so happy to set out on a run than I was for the brick (30 min) after that last ride. And I think that is the secret to Ironman. You're so happy to be off the bike you look forward to run. Sickos. :)

Today I'm supposed to put in another hour. I don't think so.

Got back from Merida on Friday and it is good to be home but I do miss living indoors. Now I need to really buckle down with training as October and November will be my last gasps. Next weekend I want to do 5 hours straight (or 6) on the bike to see if it would be possible. After this weekend I'm pretty sure it is. In Merida I know I got to a new weight low but without a scale I had no idea what it was, so this morning when I saw 69.4 on the scale I was really quite excited.

Picture is from the pool at Dolores Alba. On the way home from Merida we stopped to let Mom and Dad visit Chichen Itza.

Haven't done this for a while...
August totals (boy went in hospital 22-Aug)
Bike 17 hours 533 km
Run 7.5 hours 15.5 hr
Swim 45 min 20,400 m

September totals (left for merida 8-Sept)
Bike 15 hours 425 km (I have already equaled this in October)
Run 7.5 hours
Swim 45 min
17 days without any training at all

October totals (last week with food poisoning, etc.)
Bike 417.25 km 15 hours
Run 3.5 hr
Swim 1800 m