40-13

No, 40-13 are not my new body measurements. Although a 40" chest and 13" waist is total porn-star material!!

40-13 is my brick assignment for the weekend.

A 40 mile bike ride followed by a 13 mile run.

Because I'm heading out of town on Saturday morning, I wanted to get this brick done on Friday so that it would be behind me--worry free--for the weekend. It was also the perfect opportunity to ride one 37 mile loop of the AZ course again on the Computrainer.

I met Valerie at the T3 Training Center bright and early this morning. She had just finished her open water swim and I was bricking with my 13 mile run after the ride. Coach Maurice got us set up, calibrated and ready to go on the trainers. Now it was up to the two of us to just settle in for 2+ hours and establish some level of speed and comfort. The computer and trainer did the rest.

I rode this loop a few weeks ago with Katy and was surprised at how hard it was. Truly, I didn't expect to struggle as much as I did. My goal for today was to just better myself from that first ride three weeks ago and leave enough in the tank for the run. I immediately kicked it in to gear and worked on my cadence--trying to keep it around 95rpms. I felt good until about 1hr 20min into the ride when I started to fade slightly. I could tell I was getting restless as my form was starting to fatigue slightly. Plus, it's hard to deny the competitive nature of having another cyclist's information in full view. What was once close to a 1 mile lead on Val diminished. She was hammering the second half of the course. I clearly pushed it a little too hard on the first half.

The good news was that I was doing and feeling SO MUCH better today than three weeks ago overall. On the last seven miles, I just remained comfortable and didn't try to push it. My avg. speed was still going up, but I wasn't working nearly as hard to keep it there. I also wasn't mashing the pedals. In fact, I had it in the small chain ring and was spinning at a pretty high cadence. Afterall, I still had a 13 mile run to accomplish. Val actually caught up with me and ended up passing me at the end. We still finished about .10 mile apart, but it's a great testament to her strength and riding ability.

So, here are my results comparisons:

February 29th

37 mile Computrainer loop

Total Time: 2:10

Avg. watts 124

Avg. HR 160

Avg. cadence 92

Avg. speed 17.1 mph

March 21st

37 mile Computrainer loop

Total Time: 2:04

Avg. watts 136 --more power this time!

Avg. HR 154

Avg. cadence 96

Avg speed 17.6 mph --woo hoo

From start to finish, it was a much better ride today!

So, my biggest mistake was not taking in enough calories on the bike ride prior to my run. I was sipping perpetuum, but I only finished about half of my bottle and I really needed to finish the whole thing. I burn 450 cal/hr, which means I need to replenish about 300 cal/hour. During the entire ride, I probably only had about 200 calories total.

It's no surprise that I was already hungry when I started my 13 mile run. I had 3 clif blocks, but it certainly didn't satisfy the hunger. Plus, I only brought one gel with me so I had to be very conscious of my body. I stopped at all of the major water stops to make sure I was at least hydrated. I started conservatively, but picked up the pace quickly and effortlessly. I just couldn't stop focusing on my hunger. Fortunately, I had my gel at Mile 8 and that helped a ton. I knew I would finish. The trail was packed today (I had run 2 miles from the training center down to the trail) thanks to the Easter holiday...not to mention the near-perfect temps of low 70s with a slight breeze! By the time I was beginning the final two uphill miles back to the center, I was cruising along at a nice pace. Still, I wish I had packed more food. It was certainly not enough and my tummy was grumbling. I couldn't wait to get to that parking lot! One final push...hit the stop button...

13.1 miles

Avg pace: 8:35 per mile!!

I'll put my mile splits in later. The garmin is in the car at the moment.

Hell yes! Awesome pace following an awesome training ride. What a great way to start a holiday weekend with Easter brunch on the horizon.

Tomorrow morning, I just have to do another 40 mile bike ride and then we're heading to San Antonio for the weekend. A little over 3 weeks to go!