Late last week, I formulated my plan for this weekends workout. I was going to do the Wachusett mountain loop twice, which would be several thousand feet of climbing and about 110 miles, followed by a 10 mile run. I'd get up at 5am Sunday morning, as it was supposed to be rainy on Saturday, and this would be the last real long workout of the season, because I'd have to start the October marathon taper.
Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out that way. We went to a barbeque Saturday afternoon, and in trying to make sure I had a nice solid nights sleep, I avoided alcohol because I didn't want to wake up dehydrated. So I had soda instead. Unfortunately, between the soda and the desserts, I set myself for a restless night. I initially fell asleep around 10pm, figuring I was good - but then at 11pm I woke up to go to the bathroom (damn soda!) and couldn't go back to sleep (damn caffeine and sugar!). Try as I might, I tossed and turned, unable to catch any sleep. Once it got to after 1am, I thought 'well there goes that plan... SHIT!' and turned off my alarm clock. Now not only was I still jazzed on caffeine and sugar, I was pissed that I'd be missing the intended workout. I went into the living room to watch some TV (second such action in an attempt to distract myself and get tired), figuring that my workout would instead maybe be a couple P90x workouts, or do a shorter ride, or get an open water swim in - something. I was so upset with myself that I just really wanted to kick my own ass because of my stupidity with the damn soda and desserts. Finally around 2:30 I was suddenly hit with sleepy.
I woke up around 8:30 and fortunately felt fairly well rested. I started thinking that I could still probably salvage a good workout. I had already done most of all the weekend chores already, so I really had nothing to do all day anyhow. I decided I'd end up doing a Wachusett reservoir trip, but with looping around the reservoir a few times for the extra miles, and then do a 10 miler when I got home. I'd still get close to 100 miles, albeit a much flatter course, and get a nice brick workout in. Oh, and the other thing is that I'd be able to test my idea of using raisins, peanuts and M&M's as solid fuel for a long bike ride. Previous near-centuries I had only a protein bar in addition to gatorade and started thinking maybe it wasn't enough. And lastly I'd try upping the strength of one bottle of gatorade, and having another bottle be just water. I had been finding on these long rides that after a while of just having gatorade, it gets really boring, which doesn't help with fluid consumption.
I also tried a slower warmup period on the bike ride as well - trying to keep a relatively low level of exertion because I didn't want to burn out too quickly. I ended up doing three loops around the reservoir, at about 21-22 miles per loop. The first loop I felt good, but a little bored because I knew I was < 30 miles in and still had a long while to go. The second loop (< 50 miles) was better mentally and I still felt pretty good physically - I was finding that if I kept my HR at about 140, I felt like I was at a steady state of exertion and could go all day. The third loop (around 65 miles), my legs started to tighten up a bit and I was glad this was the final loop and then I'd be heading home. However, even the trip home was another 20 miles. All the while, I made sure to have some of my homemade trail mix fairly regularly, washing it down with regular water, and having gatorade in between. The variety of tastes, such as they were, were a nice departure from a long bike ride subsisting solely on gatorade - so that aspect was a success.
By the time I got home, I was glad to be off the bike. It was a total of 92 miles, but I definitely felt better than I did around the same point on my previous century rides - so that appears to have been another positive of having solid foods.
However, I knew that 10 miles for a run was probably out - I wasn't feeling that good. But I also knew that things can change - so I decided that I'd make the decision around mile three - at a point where I would turn one direction for six miles, and another for the 10 mile loop. If I felt really good, I'd go for 10 - but otherwise having done 92 on the bike, I'd actually be happy with anything more than three. As is normal for a brick run, the first couple miles were slow an odd feeling, but I was surprised I was able to keep nearly a 9 min/mile pace. My goal was to keep my HR around 150 (that turned out to not happen0, and as I do with long runs, I took a walk break every mile. Somewhere around miles two and three, I decided that six would be the distance, however I had to promise myself not to take a shortcut that would have resulted in about 5.25 miles. In return for not taking the shortcut, and also as an experiment, I'd allow myself to walk up the hills on my six mile loop, which occur from mile 3.5-4, and again from 5.5 to 6. I was mostly curious whether it would allow me to feel stronger on the flatter portions by not 'striking a match' just to get up the hill. In the end, the jury is still out on that one - I'm conflicted because walking that much allows for lack of mental toughness. On the other hand, I have no basis for comparison for how I felt at the end - without those breaks maybe I'd be absolutely shot after 6 miles instead of just fatigued and happy to be done.
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