Fruits of Labor

Well, aside from being really sore from yesterday's workout, today has been a really, really good day.

This morning I drove out to Island Lake State Rec area to do a shakedon run of my prposed race plan. Everything went amazingly well. I rode for about 35 miles on the pavement (the trails are still too soggy) and it only took me 2:20. I was planning on it taking almost 3 hours. I've gighlighted some of the key observations below:

1) Pre and post ride weight was almost identical.This means I'm right about on target with 25 oz/hr of water. I'm sure this number will creep up when it gets warm out, but for the time being it is really encouraging to know I'm close

2) 32:16 seemed to be the sweet spot today. I'm planning on racing the Mohican with a lower gear, but for the rolling hills I was on today, man I was able to MOVE. I even caught a guy on a road bike; that was the best feeling I've had all week.

3) Hammer Perpetuem seems to work. I was taking in about 270 cal/ hr and my stomach was fine. I did start the ride with Hammer gels , but those were a pain, were really thick in the cold, and only tasted "ok". The thought was to give my body what it needed nutrient wise throughout the ride, but I think next time I'm just going to start with the perpetuem. Calorie wise it seemed pretty good. I wasn't even hungry an hour after I finished. Normally I'm famished within 20 minutes and could eat an entire pizza on my own!

*** I also was taking one salt-stick electrolyte tablet every hour starting 1 hour into the ride. I don't know if this is necessary since Perpetuem contains some of the same ions. I will play with this more as it begins to get warmer out and my sweating increases.

4) This is the big one; it appears Crossfit Endurance is working. Knocking 40 mins ff of my expected time, and feeling good for most of the ride was awesome. The infamous "Mile 3 Hill" at Kensington Metro Park got beat 3 times today. In fact, not once did I burn out on a longer climb. Sure I slowed down, but I didn't feel a need to stop and rest which is a first ever, even with a geared bike.

I did notice that I was feeling pretty gassed at the end of the ride. I'll have to play with some things to see if I can't beat that.

So the last 3 months of sweat, sore muscles, and research seem to be paying off. Today is a good day.