Chivalry

This was the week where my workouts started to get a bit longer.  Over an hour of running at a stretch, a bit longer swims, and on Independence Day I celebrated with a 3 hour brick (2.5 hours riding, .5 running).  

Seeing that 3 hour brick on my schedule, I pulled out my long ride/run nutrition plan that Heather had put together for me last year for Kona.  I had forgotten just how much planning there was involved in this.  And totally forgot how I was able to carry enough water/sports drink on my bike to meet my 'sweat challenging' needs.  I decided that I may be able to tone down the fluids a little since I planned to hit the road before it warmed up too much.  Yeah, global fail there.  I seemed to also have forgotten just how long it takes to get all the various bottles, computers, etc loaded on the bike and get ready to roll.  In retrospect it's probably a good thing that I couldn't work out plans with any of my go-to riding partners since I was so late getting moving.  It was about 9:30 before I actually pushed 'start' on my Garmin and hit the road.

It was a beautiful day out there and I felt great just pedaling along.  I headed out Niles Canyon, which didn't have too much traffic, probably due to the holiday.  Or maybe people were at church.  Either way, I was glad.  That curvy, sometimes too narrow, road tends to make me a bit nervous when there are a lot of cars.  Most people are pretty aware and courteous, but several times I feel like I've been 'buzzed'.  Kept going out towards Calaveras, planning to turn around before I hit the real hills.  I had just turned around to head back for a loop through Pleasanton when I felt something a little off with my bike.  Sure enough, a not quite flat, but seriously deflated rear tire.  Pull out the spare tube, CO2, and pull off the rear wheel.

The Calaveras Reservoir area is a hot spot for cyclists here.  So while I was riding on my own, there were lots of other cyclists out there on pretty much all the roads I was traveling.  I'm not sure how long it took me to change that tire, probably longer than it should have, but I wasn't really hurrying either.  So it was no surprise that probably 6 groups of cyclists passed by while I was standing there changing my tire.    What *did* surprise me was that the majority of them made sure I had everything I needed and that I was okay.  Some of them yelling as they went by, some actually stopping to make sure.  It was nice.   My first thought was, "Wow, chivalry isn't dead after all."  It didn't occur to me until much later on the ride that perhaps it was because I looked like I had *no* idea what I was doing and really needed help.  Either way I managed to change that tire all on my own and got back on the road to finish up my brick.  The next hour and a half passed by uneventfully for the most part.  I took in all my fluids, nutrition, and even remembered my salt sticks this time.

Pulled into my driveway, hopped off the bike.....and realized my T2 was going to be a bit long.  I forgot to put all my running stuff out.  So I scurried around gathering stuff while Bam looked at me like I was crazy.  And I finally headed out for a short half hour run....and wow, it was toasty.  Even though weather.com said it was only 78 when I finished up, it sure seemed warmer.  If my half iron is 10 degrees (or more!) warmer than that, I think I'm in trouble.

I finished up and grabbed my recovery drink (chocolate milk mixed with almond milk) and sat down to figure out my fluid balance.  I had remembered to weigh myself pre-brick, weighed myself post-brick, and the difference was......down 1.5 pounds.  Yikes.  I guess I shouldn't have tried to dial down my fluid intake from my IM plan after all.  *sigh*  I plugged the numbers into the sweat rate calculator Coach Liz sent me and sure enough......if I had taken the amount called for in the plan, I should have been right on the numbers.  Something to work on for sure.  It does get challenging trying to figure out how to carry that much water around on the bike tho.  But it's good to find out now what I'll need on race day and get my body used to taking it in.

Just over 8 weeks until my big race of the season!  And coming up this weekend....10k time.  And I signed Jeff up for the 5k.  Hopefully he won't have to wait around too long for me to finish.  Especially since I'm hoping for a new PR.....even with the hills.  Fast feet, fast feet, fast feet!