Tough week

Last weekend was extremely tough!! I had my longest bike ride ever this past Saturday. 88 miles. It was not a pleasant experience. It's almost comical as everything that could go wrong did!

First of all, I was going slow and people that don't generally pass me, passed me, I could not figure it out. Why was I going so slow, why couldn't I keep up?? Well, as it turns out, that lovely sticky Infinit nutrition that I take in my aero bottle that splashes out at every little bump in the road, got on the spring of my brake and locked it up, causing my brake pad to rub against my wheel. Basically every time I used my brakes it would do this for quite a while before it loosened and then as soon as I used my brakes again it would rub again. God, no wonder.... It was a hilly course and I did use my brakes quite a bit. Ever since the bike wreck, I get nervous going fast down hill... Go figure... .. A friend of mine offered to clean my bike for me and he couldn't believe all of the sticky residue covering my bike. he's the one that discovered that my brakes were rubbing against my tire. That makes me a little relieved. It does make me wonder, if it is that sticky what is it doing to my body.... Do I change nutrition? Big question... In order to do the ironman I will need to take in at least 230 calories an hour on the bike. It's much easier to get all that in using liquid than real food. So, do I change my aero bottle, put my Infinit in bottles instead, or switch nutrition? I really don't want to have to switch nutrition, I don't want to put it in bottles instead of an aero bottle, because if I do that, I won't drink as much plus... on this bike, it is hard to stay on coarse and drink from my bottles. I get nervous everytime I have to take out or replace a bottle. I've also been told that I need to be drinking plain water too. I think it would be ideal for me to have one of those dual aero bottles with a lid, to where I can put water on one side, and nutrition on the other. That way they will always be in front of me.

Secondly, while I was on my last three miles of the bike, I got stung by a bee on the tongue. Luckily, I'm not allergic to bees. It took everything in me to do the second loop. We were supposed to do a 50 minute brick after the bike, but since the bee sting happened I wanted to have a medic look at it, and it took me so long to do the damn ride, (thanks sticky brakes) that I didn't want to bother doing the run, as I would've been the last person to leave.

Third incident was that I got food poisoning from the chicken fajitas they served after the ride, therefore I was unable to do my 17 mile run on Sunday. I had to make up for it on Monday night. I managed to get in 14 miles before the sun set. There were at least 11 other people that got the food poisining... and many of them tried to run the next day, I stayed in bed. No way, no how am I gonna even attempt to run with that issue. I've had it happen in the past and it is a miserable experience.

I wore a long sleeve white shirt and that worked out great in terms of protecting me from the sun. I think I'm going to do this from now on, I've ordered a Craft cool max white long sleeve shirt and a coverlet as well. I did get a sunburn on my wrist where the shirt rode up on my arm. I think it is important for me to wear long sleeves, as no matter how much sunblock I slather on, I will get burnt. They say there are people there to put sunblock on you in transition, but honestly, I'll be all wet and sweaty. I just don't trust that it will stick. I have a 100 mile run to do this weekend and a 20 mile run. It's gonna be another tough one. Luckily there is a century ride in Salado that will have aide stations. That is probably the only thing that will get me through it. After riding 88 miles, I dread riding 100. I dread it more than running 20. The thing that makes running somewhat bearable is that I kind of turn into a robot. After a certain point, you just keep going and going. However, on the bike, it's easy to bonk. It's easy to want to cry, It's easy to want to say "What the hell am I doing this for". There's no rescue on the bike. You can't just stop and walk back to your car, whereas in running, you can at least walk. What terrifies me, is that due to my injuries, and last week's debacle, I haven't done one brick workout yet. Ironman trianing would have been ideal had I not had the herniated disk, had I not had the bike wreck, had I been able to get my ass out of bed at 5 in the morning to make morning swims so that I can do evening workouts as well. Alas, it was not to be. I am getting in all my hours. I am only running once during the week and spinning once during the week and swimming twice during the week... it would be ideal if I could run and spin twice during the week in addition to the long runs and bikes on the weekend. Oh well, I'd rather have a job and not be able to train as much than to not have a job I guess. Yes, it would be great if I didn't have to work, and could devote my time to training.