First Big Brick...and a WINNER!!

This weekend I had my first of two killer brick sessions leading up to the race in September. Since I need to get used to the hills I'll be facing on race day, I decided to do 2 loops of the bike course and then some out and backs to make up any remaining time. After my flat tire on this course during the race the weekend before, and the fact that I was doing this workout solo, I was a little nervous. I knew I could push myself to do the workout, but being out there alone for almost 5 hours was going to be a good mental test. Since the half Ironman I'm doing is really small, I know I'll be alone during the race when things get tough so I need to be prepared for that.

I packed up for what looked like a weekend getaway and headed up to the lake bright and early Saturday morning. It was perfect weather and I was excited to see how the day would go. Right off the bat I felt ok being out there alone and with that confidence, I loosened up a bit and found myself really enjoying the ride. The hills on this course are rough and killed my pace on the bike, but that's ok. I had a lot I wanted to work on during this workout so not everything could be spot on. Hopefully my pace will improve on the course over the next 3 weekends since I'll be doing all my rides up there to get ready.

One of my main goals for this workout was to figure out nutrtion for race day. With the goal of 30-60g of carbohydrates per hour on the bike, I decided to split this up between a half of clif bar right at the start then use acceler-gels and sips of perpetuem throughout the ride. Since I know how my stomach gets during long workouts from Ultra training, and how certain foods just won't go down, I packed a poptart as a back up snack. I'm not sure there would ever be a moment during a race when I could turn down a strawberry frosted poptart! I was glad I packed it because mid second loop, I started to feel hungry and knew a gel wasn't going to cut it. While on the bike, not counting the clif bar right at the start, I consumed 430 calories and definitely not enough water. I rode 50 miles, my longest distance to date, and I was definitely hurting towards the end of it. My lower back, cooze, and legs were so ready to get off the bike and I let out more than a few moans of discomfort those last few miles.

After a quick transition I was out and running.  I was so thirsty right from the get go and opted to run with just plain water. My goal was to eat a clif blok every 2 - 2.5 miles like I do for marathons since my stomach can't handle big surges of sugar on the run.  My legs were pretty tired from all the hills on the bike but without even trying I fell right into race pace and held it steady for the majority of the run. I was in and out of the sun on a paved path and every time I hit the sun I started to feel a little funny. On top of that, I could barely choke down the bloks as planned and I was insanely thirsty. My plain water wasn't cutting it. I stopped at the boat rental shack to ask if they had ice because I was craving something cold to drink but unfortunately they didn't have any. Then right after that 30 second stop, I started to feel really emotional (sugar level definitely off) and I had some trouble breathing. It felt like I was about to hyperventilate so I stopped running to catch my breath. Within a minute or so I was running again and feeling ok but it was rough making my way back to my car. I had one huge hill in the sun around mile 9 that I decided to walk up and that sort of sucked. I'm usually really strong running hills but by this point, I was done. I made it back to my car, refilled my hand held with ice cold water and a nuun and set out for another mile. I was dying of thirst and ended up chugging half the bottle before the tablet even dissolved. Obviously need to work more on the nutrition and hydration!! I forgot to turn my Garmin on so I'm not exactly sure of my total distance, but it was between 10-11 miles.

After the workout, I mentally felt great.  I know I could have ridden 6 more miles and ran 3 more if I needed to. So the race distance is a little less scary. The hills on the course are going to be a bitch though and I need to make sure I keep enough in the tank for the run. As for how I felt physically afterwards...BEAT! I was so tired and my legs were aching so badly as I drove home. When I called Andy to say I was on my way, the first thing out of my mouth was, "I'll never whine about marathon training again."

As for the winner of the Dick's Sporting Goods gift card, I assigned each entry a number and had Andy picked randomly. Lucky #4 is the winner...Sara from Words to Run By!! Sara, email me at dclaffey76@yahoo.com by Wednesday to claim your prize.