T81 - CRASH - Bike/Run Brick

Gainesville

I'm not liking these shorter days. I woke up at about noon on Tuesday and realized that in order to get in this 5 hour bike ride before it got dark, I had to leave by 2. Which was cool. Gave me a chance to watch Maury before I left. But still, I would have liked another hour or so to get mentally prepared.


Bike - 5 Hours

2 Lipodrene
3 Advil
1 Salt Tab

Today was to be a ride that went almost 3 times down Hawthorne and back. I am very encouraged by the fact that every time I do this trail, I am setting a new record in the time it takes me to get to the end. Today it was 56:10 for the first trip down, averaging almost 19. And I wasn't even that tired. I was low on gels, so I took a gel at 45 minutes and 90 minutes, then a bar at 2:15, which I think worked well. I seem to lose about .2 of a mile per hour off my average each trip, which I'm not thrilled about but I figure it's better to go hard that first 2 hours, because I think I'd end up doing 18 or so either way by the last trip down. Point is, I had a record first trip today and that was good. Took a salt tab at the turn around, then another 2 Advil at the end of trip 1.

Trip 2 also went nicely. Made it down in under an hour still, would have been 58 if you factored in the extra time from my house to the trailhead. Took a 3rd Lipodrene at the 2:30 mark, figuring that was about all the booster I'd need for the remainder of the ride. Finished the second trip at about 3:40, which I felt was a pretty solid time for 71 miles. Turned around for trip 3 and popped my last 2 Advil and a salt tab. Gels were working well. Body was feeling ok. my low back went in and out of pain, which I'll chalk up to Advil wearing off and kicking in. My shoulders also started to feel a little sore from all the time in Aero.

Anyway, I turned it around at the 4:17 mark, and wouldn't you know it it started to rain. Which I'm usually ok with, save for the filth it adds to my bike. Well I was trying to push the fast spots so I could end up averaging over 18 (my goal was 18 average, 90 miles for the ride)and this may not have been the best idea. I hit the final big curve (marked by a sign that reads "Big Curve") at about 22-23, and began to apply my brakes where I usually do. Unfortunately I seem to have forgotten that brakes do not work as well in the rain as they do when it's dry. Next thing I know I'm skidding around the curve at about 18, slamming my right side into the ground, and watching my bike fly over my head. I just said there thinking "Fuck, this hurts," and looking at my various new body parts that lacked skin. My right forearm got the worst of it, pretty much skinning the entire thing from my elbow half way down.

I did make a point to keep my head up to avoid another concussion. So I got up pretty quickly, dusted myself off, and re-did the chain to get ready to move. Then I noticed my handlebars were pretty much at a 45 degree angle to the frame. Yeah, definitely fucked my shit up. I bent them back to about a 10 degree angle, and biked the final 4 miles home like that. Which put a lot of stress on my left shoulder, which was already sore since it never leaves the handlebars. Sadly, I was not able to get into aero for any of the last part of the ride, and ended up averaging 18 and doing 91 miles in just over 5 hours. Would have been 18.1 or 18.2, but the last 4 miles were a lot slower than I would have liked. A lopsided, fucked up bike doesn't help. I got home covered in filth and blood, leaving a nice blood stain on my door, and necessitating a shower before I hit the treadmill.

Run - 30 minutes (treadmill)

I showered off, had my last gel, and hit the treadmill. The exposed flesh burned like a motherfucker in the shower, and I knew the sweat wasn't going to be any better. So I put a wristband over as much of my raw right forearm as I could, and hit the Jefferson 2nd Treadmill (thought some of the sorority girls down there might have been a little grossed out by a giant bleeding arm running next to them too). After the 91 mile ride, I felt a speed of 6 would suffice for today. And it was hard. Not brutally hard, but it was definitely a strain to keep that speed up for the whole half hour. I did it. Didn't like it, but I did it. I seriously hope I can at least start at this speed for a while during the Ironman. I know I'm not setting any records in my marathon, but I'd like to finish in a respectable time.

I'm relatively certain I'm not injured from the crash, and it wouldn't be a training cycle without at least one accident. Hopefully this is the only one, but you never know. Maybe the fatigue had something to do with it. but for now, I'm going to blame it on the rain.