Gainesville
Bike: 60 minutes at RPE 4-5
2 Lipodrene
Still not feeling well. But given my lackluster bike performance on my previous couple of rides on 441, I thought this would be a good opportunity for a little confindence builder on Hawthorne. The goal was to make it to the 30 minute turnaround from that first strong ride I did with Trevor, and I figured I had enough in me to do that and the long run. Didn't quite happen.
I won't say this ride was bad, but when it took me over 8 minutes to make it to the trailhead I knew I wasn't setting any records Thursday. Again, I was able to get into aero and I didn't feel particularly bad, but places where I had been doing about 21-22 a few weeks ago I was now doing about 20. Every spot was about a solid 1.5 mph slower than I'd been doing. Didn't even make it to nigbridge in 28 (I had been doing sub-25 my last rides) and fell well short of the turnaround when I turned around.
I thought maybe this was a case of having some sort of headwind, or maybe one of those times I just needed a warmup. And while I did make in it back 30 seconds faster than I'd made it down (pretty good considering the return incline on Hawthorne) my average speed somehow went down. Yeah, my computer is once again jacked up. So I will be taking it in. But despite that, this ride was better than the last couple, but still disappointing to basically have regressed back to where I was in June.
Run - 2 Hours
1 Lipodrene
I read in the Ironman athlete's guide that they will be providing chocolate chip cookies at the aid stations on the run. I believe they did this at the Half in Orlando too, but I was always skeptical to take them for fear of getting a sideache. But this, friends, is why we train. So I bought a box of the CVS Decadence cookies and put them in the Saturn Aid Station for the run. I even had one right before I started and felt fine. I think the motivation chocolate chip cookies may play a major role in my making my way through the marathon.
Run started out feeling good, but by about the 3 mile mark I again was feeling light headed and dizzy. I thought I was slowing down, but actually found myself ahead in the music on the iPod (and I've started to freeze the buttons on it in the hopes of keeping it from freezing up, so I don't skip any songs), so I guess I wasn't going any slower than before. But I just felt soooo lethargic and tired. And dizzy. And a few times just wanting to take a nap.
I got through the run fine, and did it in abut my usual time. Or so I could tell. I had cookies both times I stopped at the Saturn Aid Station, and they were delicious. And didn't hurt my stomach nearly as much as the Gatorade did.
Because I've never pushed my run much, it really hasn't bothered me. Like I never hurt that much, I just get used to a constant dull pain from about mile 5 on. And the difference for me between 13-18 miles isn't a whole lot. 18-26, though, I'm thinking might. Point is, because I go slow and steady, I think I can keep it up longer even feeling like I have. So I have come to accept that dizzy and short of breath and tired is how I may well feel through the entire Ironman. It'll suck, and I'm pretty sure it's gonna cost me some time. And while that is disappointing, I've now felt like this for almost a month and really see no imminent signs of improvment. Just gotta play the hand you're deal, I suppose.
A friend, who I passed on my run, texted me later that night and I told her about how I'd been feeling like shit. She mentioned a lot of her friends had been coming down with mild cases of mono. Great. That's just what I need. But, it's not going to stop me either. Slow me down, sure, but not stop me. And hey, I'm training with that feeling. So come race day, dizziness and lethergy will just be a part of it I'm used to.
Showing posts with label mediocre bike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mediocre bike. Show all posts
Friday, October 23, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
T91 - Improvment can Throw you Off - Bike
Gainesville
I had to get my oil changed Tuesday, and for whatever reason every single shop in Gainesville takes 2 hours to do it. Even Jiffy Lube. So I figured that window would be a perfect amount of time to get in a bike ride while I waited. I took my car to a shop by my old apartment in Duck Pond so, for old times sike, I decided to bike up Waldo Road to Waldo and back. That used to take me about 2 hours from my old apartment, so I figured it would be close enough.
Bike - 2 hours, easy spinning RPE 3
2 Lipodrene
I immediately remembered why I never bike Waldo anymore. It's not so much the constant parade of semis once you hit the highway, but the street crossings at the begining. Waldo has this nice greenway bike lane park thing (usually populated by Gainesville's finest meth addicts and homeless) but when it crossees a road, it almost always includes at least one 90-degree turn. And despite all my time on the bike, I still can't do those. So I'd have to either slow down to an almost-stop, or stop completely, unclip, and start up again when I got to the straightaway. I even off-roaded a bit to avoid one turn. Basically, the course sucks.
But I did find myself going a lot faster than I used to. I was going probably 22 the whole way up, a fact that forced me to lok over at the plants on the side of the road and see I had a pretty nice tailwind. I'm not a fan of tailwinds on the way out either. Because I had to be back to the shop before it closed at 6, I had to bike by real time instead of road time, especially on Waldo where theres a lot of lights and stopping you don't want to do. Anyway, I left at 3:38 so I figured I'd give meself an extra 8 minutes to get back, accounting for the wind, so I'd turn around at 4:34.
Problem was, it doesn't take me an hour to get to Waldo anymore. I rolled up to the Hardee's at the junction to U.S. 301 at about 4:22. Well, there's no bike lane on 301, and i'ts a pretty crowded road, so I opted to turn around. Had a gel, and headed back, pruposefully going 25 through the area where I got my school zone speeding ticket. Sadly, there was no school zone today.
The wind on the way back was not fun, and even though I didn't feel tired, I felt achy and fatigued. Like my shoulders got sore immediately, and my hips were aching for some reason. I even felt a little dizzy and tired and found myself standing up at about the 55 minute mark (in the saddle, I didn't stop). I'm hoping this is just residual sickness, but who knows. I fought the wind ok, I guess, but my average speed dropped from 19.2 on the way out to 17.9 by the time I finished. I seem to be coming up just short of all my goals lately. I finished in 1:42 minutes of real time, which included stopping at the turnaorund and the endless parade of lights on Waldo. So the increased return time didn't concern me a whole lot. And for whatever reason once I've biked my planned course for the day, I don't extend it. If I got it done too fast, oh well. I have plenty that take longer than expected too.
What did conern me was the fact that I felt tired on a pretty short bike ride. I'm not sure if I've just lost my enthusiasm for short, non-intense rides like this one, or if I still feel sick. But I'm not sure how this bodes for Panama City this weekend. I gotta do 112 miles on Friday, that's no fucking joke. And the fact that I felt realy ytired and lathargic after the ride is not a good sign. This is a new thing, and maybe it is just part of the virus still lingering. But I need it to go away and go away fast.
I had to get my oil changed Tuesday, and for whatever reason every single shop in Gainesville takes 2 hours to do it. Even Jiffy Lube. So I figured that window would be a perfect amount of time to get in a bike ride while I waited. I took my car to a shop by my old apartment in Duck Pond so, for old times sike, I decided to bike up Waldo Road to Waldo and back. That used to take me about 2 hours from my old apartment, so I figured it would be close enough.
Bike - 2 hours, easy spinning RPE 3
2 Lipodrene
I immediately remembered why I never bike Waldo anymore. It's not so much the constant parade of semis once you hit the highway, but the street crossings at the begining. Waldo has this nice greenway bike lane park thing (usually populated by Gainesville's finest meth addicts and homeless) but when it crossees a road, it almost always includes at least one 90-degree turn. And despite all my time on the bike, I still can't do those. So I'd have to either slow down to an almost-stop, or stop completely, unclip, and start up again when I got to the straightaway. I even off-roaded a bit to avoid one turn. Basically, the course sucks.
But I did find myself going a lot faster than I used to. I was going probably 22 the whole way up, a fact that forced me to lok over at the plants on the side of the road and see I had a pretty nice tailwind. I'm not a fan of tailwinds on the way out either. Because I had to be back to the shop before it closed at 6, I had to bike by real time instead of road time, especially on Waldo where theres a lot of lights and stopping you don't want to do. Anyway, I left at 3:38 so I figured I'd give meself an extra 8 minutes to get back, accounting for the wind, so I'd turn around at 4:34.
Problem was, it doesn't take me an hour to get to Waldo anymore. I rolled up to the Hardee's at the junction to U.S. 301 at about 4:22. Well, there's no bike lane on 301, and i'ts a pretty crowded road, so I opted to turn around. Had a gel, and headed back, pruposefully going 25 through the area where I got my school zone speeding ticket. Sadly, there was no school zone today.
The wind on the way back was not fun, and even though I didn't feel tired, I felt achy and fatigued. Like my shoulders got sore immediately, and my hips were aching for some reason. I even felt a little dizzy and tired and found myself standing up at about the 55 minute mark (in the saddle, I didn't stop). I'm hoping this is just residual sickness, but who knows. I fought the wind ok, I guess, but my average speed dropped from 19.2 on the way out to 17.9 by the time I finished. I seem to be coming up just short of all my goals lately. I finished in 1:42 minutes of real time, which included stopping at the turnaorund and the endless parade of lights on Waldo. So the increased return time didn't concern me a whole lot. And for whatever reason once I've biked my planned course for the day, I don't extend it. If I got it done too fast, oh well. I have plenty that take longer than expected too.
What did conern me was the fact that I felt tired on a pretty short bike ride. I'm not sure if I've just lost my enthusiasm for short, non-intense rides like this one, or if I still feel sick. But I'm not sure how this bodes for Panama City this weekend. I gotta do 112 miles on Friday, that's no fucking joke. And the fact that I felt realy ytired and lathargic after the ride is not a good sign. This is a new thing, and maybe it is just part of the virus still lingering. But I need it to go away and go away fast.
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