In the Barn ... Training and Fundraising

The Hay is, that is.  Coach texted me this picture on Saturday after my last ‘long’ workout.  I had driven down to Senoia, GA to participate in the Wilson 100 with Lindsay.  We had a 115 mile bike and 6 mile run on the plan.  The day was crazy hot, not to mention humid, and at least during the execution of the intervals (yes, intervals mixed in, as if 115 miles wasn’t enough), it was blue sky and no shade most of the way.  Roads were super rough for the most part, to the point of not being able to get aero through one stretch because it was just so rough.  Worse than Muskoka 70.3, which I honestly didn’t think possible.  Lol.  After warmup, I had two 30-minute segments at race wattage, followed by three 7-minute segments at much higher wattage to tire me out, and a final 30-minute segment at race wattage again.  Given the density of training leading into this, I was quite happy with my performance on these, basically hitting all of them.  In particular I was happy with the speed that these targets produced, since I’ve been griping about my speed a bit.  This was more like what I'm hoping for in Choo.

My problem with the ride, ultimately, was that my neck was so sore I could not think about anything else.  This is a problem that has plagued me the entire time I’ve ridden aero.  Doesn’t matter the fit.  It wasn’t until this weekend that I made a possible correlation with another ever-present challenge I face – dehydration.  I just can’t seem to ever drink enough. My Canadian body was just never meant to endure this level of heat and humidity ;)  …After the prior weekend’s not so stellar brick, which resulted in a slightly shortened run due to a loss of 4% body weight, I was super diligent on hydrating all week (to the point I actually downloaded an app to help me).  And during the ride, I was extremely conscious of drinking enough, and I drank almost double what I normally would drink.  That is, 9 bottles over 5.5 hours.  Believe it or not, it still wasn’t enough.  The reality is though I don’t know I could have drank anymore!  I just have a very high sweat rate.  (as the guys riding somewhere around mile 50 can attest as I shouted out to Lindsay 'I'm sweating like a mother-f*@&er...whoops, sorry boys).  It took me till mile 85 before I actually peed.  That’s crazy with the amount I was drinking.  And at mile 85, I just felt like hell.  Things had gone great during the work of the session, but had gone quickly downhill since then.  Wasn’t sure how I’d make it back to the start of the 103 mile course, never mind do another 12 after that. 

The interesting thing, and the point of this story, is that at that rest stop there were these AWESOME homemade pickles.  The lady dishing them out also filled the cup with pickle juice.  I ate the pickles, and dumped the pickle juice into my water bottle.  Within 15 minutes I actually started feeling better.  By the time I got back, which actually turned out to be only 99.5 miles, I felt good enough to loop back out for more.  I figured I’d ride till I met Lindsay again, and then turn home again.  I didn’t run into her, but did manage another 7 miles.  I realized later that not only did I feel better in general, but my neck had stopped hurting so bad.  It occurred to me that night that perhaps the real problem with the neck is electrolytes and hydration.  As I reviewed (anecdotally) the previous times that had happened in such an intense way, I knew I had also experienced severe dehydration.  So at least for now, that is my working hypothesis.  I’ll be looking to test that out over the next while.  I won’t have a definitive answer before the race, but at the very least I will be ensuring not only sufficient hydration, but more electrolytes than I’ve been taking as well.

So I cut the bike short, based on wanting to ensure I had a good run off the bike this weekend, and felt confident that another 7 miles would not matter at this point.  In the end I also cut the run short, after a very good 5 miles, all slightly above goal pace actually, again due to heat and dehydration.  Just about passed out, and decided it just wasn’t worth another mile.  Hence, Coach’s pictorial response to my texted explanation of the day’s recap, and cutting each a little short.

And he’s right.  I can’t do much to improve fitness at this point.  But I can sure do stuff to mess it up.  Caution and confident decision making is the name of the game now for the next couple of weeks.  We’ve put a lot of work into this, and there is no need to screw it up now with moments of desperate insecurity.  J

Awesome day riding with Linds.  Here is our pic to commemorate our ride:

Oh right.  No pic.  We were too busy being triathletes 3 weeks out from Ironman to take a picture.  WTH.  and lol.  #INTHEZONE

And yes, the hay is in the barn for my CCFA fundraising efforts as well.  I am so grateful to each of you that donated to this cause on my behalf. 

  

I’m happy to report I raised a total of $5700 for CCFA.

It has definitely brought a new dimension to my racing, and I’m glad to have had the opportunity to contribute in such a way to this charity.  For all my $100+ donors, the last few “Stay in the Moment” medallions will be headed out this weekend.  Thank you for your generosity.  And in particular, I want to thank my 3 biggest donors:  my sister Leona, who has won the custom jewelry item; my dear friend Philip, who won the stained glass art; and my Mum.

Now, to taper.  Can’t believe how close it is now. 

Happy tapering,

Kat