Monday, September 1, 2008

Just another masochistic Monday - 9/1

Today's run, based on the schedule, was a 9 miler. Similar to last weeks 7 miler, the purpose was basically to pound pavement for an extended period of time to build up endurance.

But just for fun, I threw in a 50 mile long bike ride. I felt like I owed something to the person who gave me the bike, and we agreed a few weeks ago that we'd go for a ride sometime. Last week I got word through Laurie that he was probably going to be doing the Wachusett Reservoir loop - which is 20 miles around the reservoir itself, but you have to get there first. So around 1:30, we left and made our way up to the reservoir. Keep in mind that this is a guy who has been cycling for years, does the Pan-Mass challenge, and who does century rides quite often. Also keep in mind that when he gave me the bike and I started riding a mere two months ago, I hadn't ridden a bike in about 16 years.

It was an interesting ride. I started off with 2 x 24 oz bottles of gatorade, and I went through them in the first hour and 20 minutes or so. The funny thing was that my mouth was dry, so it was saying 'drink more fluids!', but my stomach was full. So the problem wasn't lack of consumption of water/liquid, but that I was just expending it faster than my system was able to absorb it. I think I was just working at a harder pace than I am used to, so I was sweating more than normal. After stopping for 20 minutes at a Cumberland Farms, I slowed down my pace and did much better throughout the rest of the ride.

So after three and a half hours of riding a bicycle, I got home, took about 20-30 minutes break, and took off on my 9 mile run. I definately went slower than normal (I purposely did the bicycle part first because of the fact that the 9 miler was purely endurance and not speed oriented), but I plodded along. The first 5.25 miles was a loop I do quite often. I took a 10 minute break in between to fill up my water bottle with gatorade, and tell Laurie that pizza could be ordered in about 15 minutes. The last portion of the run was at Callahan State Park up the street. I figured having the last few miles on dirt trail would probably be a good idea. As it turned out, I think I came a little short of the 9 miles, as I was starting to feel the ligament in front of my knee cap, and I felt something strain a little bit near my hip. Neither were painful - so I'm not too awful concerned - but I didn't want to push it. Besides - at that point I had been doing cardio work for 5 hours - I think I'm allowed to cut the 9 miler a little short :)

Bicycle part:
Leg 1: 1:17:54 avg HR 156
Leg 2: 20:00 avg HR 117 (rest)
Leg 3: 31:05 avg HR 148
Leg 4: 0:47 (stop @ restaurant and fill up water bottles)
Leg 5: 1:24:35 avg HR 145
Total cycling distance: 47.11 miles
Total cycling time: about 3 hrs 13 minutes
Avg HR (excluding rest): 149

It's interesting (and predictable to me, as I've been using a HR monitor for years) that the portion of the trip where I was over-exerting myself had the avg HR of 156, and the portions of the trip where I had much better endurance had an avg HR of around 145-150.

Jogging part:
Leg 1: 57:53 avg HR 154 Distance: 5.25 miles
Leg 2: 9:31 rest and refill water bottle
Leg 3: 23:59 avg HR 152 Distance: ~2 miles (assuming same 11 min/mile pace)
Total jogging distance: 7.25 miles
Total jogging time: 1:21:53
Avg HR (excluding rest): 153

Also interesting is that the HR stayed the same, but the pace slowed dramatically (obviously an effect of the fuel supply in the bloodstream having been pre-depleated).

Good thing tomorrow is a rest day.

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