RR#2 for TryCharleston HIM April 30
Well Saturday's RR was amazing, 50% of things went well and I would be amazed if "more" complications could come up.
Friday -- tried to keep nutrition/hydration exactly as would be in HIM. Did all bottle set up and electrolyte pills etc., dotted i's and crossed t's just like plan on for pre-race day. Ended up have friends drop by and hang out til 10, but still ate BAS for dinner, so all good, and only had 1 beer.
Saturday -- Got up at 2AM to slam 550 calorie recovery drink and then get back to bed. Had the "pre-race" excitement all night and slept relatively little btwn 2 and 4:30 when I got up. Had lite breakfast bar and drank big coffee around 5AM.
Threat of strong storms and high winds had begun earlier in the week and I had decided to do the RR in any case. Only light rain and some gusts before I took off. Had rain bands for the first hour and 25-30 MPH gusts throughout. Had about 550 calories of accelerade and 80 ozs of water with me.
The addition overcast meant could leave until about 6:50 to head out. 10 minutes in I realized that I had forgotten to take my electrolyte pill before leaving the house. Fortunately I had put in some extra's in case I was sweating heavy or something happened so I popped one and rocked on.
It was very hard to stay below my first 30 minute target of 217 watts and the watts were jumping around a lot. Felt same race day "pumped up" feeling I expect in two weeks. At 30 minutes in amped up watts to target 228 and started trying to get into the grove.
Five minutes later my Joule came loose and spun upside down. I spent the next 20 miles or until about 1:35 occilating between trying to get it to stay right-side-up and/or trying to find my "zen-zone" and just hit the watts. Needless to say I was a little distracted and my watts show the jumping around on the post RR analysis. Still ended up NP around 218 watts for the first 1:35.
At that point in time I ended up having to stop at a light, and out of frustration just polled the Joule towarded me on the extension bar and the zip ties stuck on the cable coming out of the extension and the damn thing stuck upright. {Two major lessons learned: Can maintain power form better if I don't stay as dependent on technology AND repositioned my Joule between the extensions within 30 minutes of finishing my RR}.
The last 1:17 of the ride I managed to keep the pace a bit more steady NP ended up being 225 watts for that. Power still jumped around a lot (I hope mostly due to the gusting wind) Problem was that around 1 hour into the ride I had developed a "boil" and it was rather painful to stay aero. I figure I probably only stayed aero about 60% of the time, which made a huge difference with the wind.
Finished all the calories 15 minutes from the end and all but about 20 ozs of the water. No hydration or nutrition issues all day. Finished the ride in 2:52:32 for 56.6 miles NP 219. {NOTE: Had thought my time would be btwn 2:40-2:50 and given the doinking around with the computer, gusting winds, and boil was feeling pretty good.}
Slammed a gel while changing, put another in my pocket, took my camelback with water, and headed back out with my dog in less than 5 minutes.
Have a Garmin 310XT and about 1/4 mile in I look at the watch and I was going 2 minutes per mile faster than I wanted (I am not fast, I have one speed -- forward -- and so my HIM run pace target is 11:30). I really had to work hard in the first two miles to slow down, got into a grove and at about 30 minutes had to run into the woods to pee. That is really good news for me as I have not really had to during the other long stuff and so I was staying hydrated. The last 30 minutes I picked up the turn over rate and held my pace. Felt pretty good.
All and all I feel pretty good as I had to deal with weather, technology, electrolyte, boils, and "holding back" all in one RR and I made it through.
This ended up being kinda long.
I am really looking forward to the taper and the race.
Thanks R&P
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