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| Seal Beach, CA |
This was a busy week at work and did not get time to work on some training thoughts. But did nail down a gravel race for the coming year. While the Dirty Kanza 200 is on my list it is still up in the air if I get in as it is a lottery. I do have the Boston Marathon in for April and also plan on riding the following gravel races in KY; “45” in May and Kentucky Gravel Championships in August. For some time this year I have been interested in doing the Steamboat Gravel Race in Steamboat Springs Colorado, the 140 mile course, but heard it sells out fast. This past Tuesday I was sitting at my computer with my finger on the enter button right at 6AM PST and was able to get in and later heard it sold out in 25 minutes. Thus May (if I get in DK200) and August will be busy months. Actually Steamboat is the week after the Kentucky Gravel Championships but while not ideal will work out.
I do want to add in a 50K or so later in the year but need to get my foot sorted out first. There are a number of races to choose from September through the end of the year. I just need to wait and see how my foot does and enter as late as possible as over the last few years I have spent way too much on races I could not run so will pick a smaller race I can get into entering later – just the way it is.
Week’s Running Overview:
Took the week off from running to rest up my right foot. While it does feel OK I still gets some discomfort during the day. Much of this would appear to come from more than just the forces applied when running since I can get a fair amount of discomfort just sitting working at my desk. This leads me to believe that unbalances are leading to extra stress on my Posterior Tibial Tendon that runs across the area in question.
I had planned on doing some walking but due to weather and work schedule did not get to do that and maybe that was for the better. When I am working in So. Cal where I am now I do get a fair amount of waling in between the building we have at our plant.
It was good to get back into riding but the hard part being on the road is with the shorter days I have to get off work by 2PM to get in 25 miles and be done by 4:15-4:30 since if is starting to get dark and if it is an overcast day, which it has been here lately, by 4:15 it is fairly dark. Thankfully this week I was able to get off in time to get in a couple rides, oh yea and the weather cooperated, during the week of 25+ miles each. Mondays ride was a little tiring but as I had ridden Sunday it was the first time in a long time I rode two days in a row and with being on my feet all day just added up to a tiring ride. That said it was good to get out and move. Thursday I rode again and things went much better and got in a few PR on some Strava Segments and felt good doing so.
Sunday I rode 100 miles in a range of weather from rain to being dry with the roads being pretty wet and then windy with some more rain. Thankfully the rain was not heavy but the wind made it a little less comfortable. The ride I did is fairly flat but what climbing there is take place int eh last 45 miles with the majority in the last 25 miles. For today that last section was a little more tiring as it was also into a headwind. Things tend to slow in the last 25 miles not just due to hills but also due to traffic lights as most of the first 75 miles is on bike trails so no traffic or stops required. On the way out for the first 55 miles it was largely downhill with a slight tailwind but I did not push it enough to make up for what I w3oudl lose on the last 45 miles but that said still averaged a good pace and only took a couple stops to get waster so other than stops at lights took very few stops.
Good to get in a long and with at least two longer gravel races next year of 200 miles and 140 miles I need more of these rides. One thing I do need to remember is these rides are as much, or more, about time in the saddle than it is about speed. Over the next 3 months I will working to get in at lest 1-2 100+ milers a month.
Overview of Weeks Runs and Rides:
- Monday: Ride – 25.6 Miles
- Tuesday: Rest Day
- Wednesday: Rest Day
- Thursday: Ride - 25.8 Miles
- Friday: Rest Day
- Saturday: Ride – 100.16 Miles
- Sunday: Rest Day
Totals:
- Running Miles – 0 Miles
- Riding Miles – 151.6 Miles
- Total Time – 8:43 Hours
Pre-Ride:
- Coffee with Coconut Oil and Butter, Collagen, Half & Half and Chocolate Primal Fuel
- 1 SFuels Bar
- 1 Altred (Beetroot Extract)
Ride Fueling;
- 4ea - 24 OZ bottle of water with 2 SFuels-Race+ packets (See Below why just 2 in 4 bottles)
- 1ea - SFuels Bar
- 1ea - Maurten Gel
- 4ea - S!Caps (1ea at 2 hours and 4 hours)
- 3ea - Altred (1 at start then 1 after 2 hours and 4 hours)
- Totals: Calories - 480, Carbs- 68g
Weekly Diet Notes;
Just getting back into watching my carbs and while not a great week it was better. I have felt a little sluggish since I slid on how I normally eat so it is important to get back into eating in a way that makes me feel better daily and not just when working out.
For the long ride this week I did have an interesting experience that while not great did show that being fat adapted really helped. For the ride I planned on drinking 4 bottles with SFuels-Race formula in them. As part of this the first two bottles were premixed so no issue. For the others I was going to try and make a gel since in gel form the powder condenses down and I can put it in a squeeze tube. This way instead of carrying packages I carry the gel and just put it in the bottle as needed when refilling. I got what seemed like a good consistency in the gel but I had not tried it yet so as I rode and refilled a bottle I added the correct portion and shook it up. I did this for two of the bottles and when I did drink them I did think it seemed not so strong and just figured it might be I did not squeeze enough in. In the last 1.5 hours I started feeling a little tired, not bonking but tired, so took a gel just to be safe. What I learned when I got back to my hotel to clean the water bottles is I found the gel had settled and not really mixed so I basically did not get any of the extra mixture. I think the gel is the way to go but need to figure the right mix.
Conclusions and the Week Ahead:
As mentioned already it was good to get back riding and with the rest from running I also realized how much I like to run as well. As I mentioned in a previous post on why I ride and run – I just like to do both.
This coming week I plan to start up running again but not sure how much I will run. Plan is to run from 20-30 miles but sort of depends on how my foot feels. Part of the plan is to run a couple two a days so as to get in some miles but not as long on my feet continuously.
As far as riding I plan to ride another century this coming weekend and for the mid-week to ride twice, once at least. It may be a busy week at work and mentioned before it does get dark early so if for some reason I cannot get off till 3PM riding is out. However, with a long ride this weekend right now if I did not get in a ride mid-week it would be fine. I need to remember that this month is not meant to be a heavy training month so need to watch out for doing more than I should.
As always if you have questions let me know in the comments below.
Last Week's Overview #25
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