With the upcoming time change, though, I hope to be able to do some evening rides where I don't have to work super early or super late at night to make up for my time out. So far they've been understanding, but it's tough walking across "campus", getting ready, riding for an hour or so, getting changed back, and walking across campus again. It's like a time suck!
Justin and I hit the intervals pretty hard on Tuesday. I was left drooling on the top tube more than once doing 5-9 minute V02 max intervals. I made sure to get in better and longer recovery periods than I had the week before.
Weather was nice enough (after our massive heat wave last weekend) to ride in shorts!
Wednesday was a jaunt up the other local hill for some steady Sweet Spot Tempo and shorter recoveries (only on the descents where the HR drops anyway). We did a few power jumps and sprints. Felt totally worked at the end.
I've been eating a ton, and enjoyed an evening out (complete with a Fat Tire and loads of focaccia bread). I had plenty of chicken and rice leftover for lunch on Thursday (one whole chicken breast and about a cup of white/Jasmine? rice). Thought my nutrition was spot on all week.
I constantly WANT to eat, whether I am hungry or not. Not really sure what to do about that. I'll eat a big lunch and then be checking the clock 5 mins later to see if it's time to eat again (going 2.5-3 hours between meals/snacks). I'm literally not remotely hungry, I just want to be eating.
So, Thursday I snacked and had my decent lunch and tried to sit and be ready to hit the hills last night offroad. I'm getting excited since there's more and more daylight everyday. Next week we should be able to get in about 1.5 hours without even needing the lights. Made it about 50 minutes last night before I turned mine on. It's killer being able to ride in the waning daylight.
It was fairly chilly last night (high 50s when we took off), but the sunlight is great.
Sorry, Matt, more Wiens-style jerseys are in my closet now :)
Luke peeled off just before sunset as his quest for the evening was complete.
It wasn't too long after that I started to feel like crap. I felt like I couldn't see anything. Eventually I realized it wasn't a vision issue, it was a concentration issue. I couldn't focus on anything. The trail features were like 1D. Then I started to have a breakdown mentally. Just got super emotional for no reason and couldn't put out any power. I stopped, and shaking, grabbed for my gel flask and finished my water. I was only about an hour ten or so into the ride. I'd had a massive gel shot before taking off, and cereal and an apple 2 hours before the ride. I'd hydrated well all day. So, it didn't occur to me until it was too late that I was quite possibly mid-bonk. Ridiculous, because I'd felt REALLY strong the entire ride up until that point. I was putting power down, middle-ringing up steeps I'd never made in the middle ring before, and charging the descents. I was mentally feeling good, physically feeling great. The boys beat me up the hills, but I still felt really good.
I finally told Justin I had to call the ride. I did about another 15 or so minutes of Z1 spinning, and was really freaking cold. Temps had been dropping apparently. Once back to the truck I downed my post-ride EAS shake and some water, and felt a little better. I made us a pretty big salad when we got home, and we had some left over pasta with olive oil and lentils mixed in. YUM. Then I got to business making lunch, and figured I'd enjoy some dark chocolate while I was at it.
Oh no you di'int...
Oh yeah. I did.
It was damn good, too.
Today I did a regen spin. It was windy as all get out. Weather says wind gust is 5.1MPH? Pshaw. Other local stations are reporting anything from 13-20 MPH gusts. That's more like it. Made concentrating on the spinning a little difficult. Also, I kept wanting to get up and GO. Reigned it in since I've got plenty of GO planned for this coming weekend!
Parting thoughts for the weekend... tomorrow is the annual event which has basically consumed my fall/winter for the past 2 years. I spent November 2006 to March 2007 training for the little giant, and November 2007 to March 2008 training for its big brother. I got my feathers both times, despite a bit of hardships early on. I don't remotely regret not signing up this year. I set my personal record on the course over a month ago, and that's all that mattered to me.
However, I do wish my buds the best of luck out there tomorrow and hope that I make it out to cheer them on in some of the lower points of the race. Actually, I'll be up midway up the "mountain" so it will technically not be a low point! :)
Make sure to check out their blogs next week for full reports (hope I'm not missing anyone!):
Luke
James
Slater
Monique
Ryan
Jordan
TGIF!!