OK, lap 1. Feel pretty good, except that breakfast plus the Ultra Fuel wasn't yet through my system, so didn't feel like drinking right away. Wind wasn't too bad. Sun shining brightly. Mind wandering all over the place. Couldn't believe some of the stuff I was thinking about (can't even write it here!). Life is good, legs feel pretty strong.
Lap 2. Ergomo isn't working properly (watts display). Oh--should have done the reset after the IMLP rain festival, I guess. I had thought watts were off last week and even week before--I have a good feel for how hard I'm working, and the watts display was crazy low. Maybe this is why I've felt on the verge of shelled the last few weeks? Nah, that plus that silly IM race has done it. Haven't drank that much yet, but am getting the Infinit calories down. Boy is it humid. And hot. Seeing lots of cyclists today. Leo the dog (Newfoundland) takes off after me at the West Gate, but his master calls him off me. There were 2 other cyclists there--why did Leo pick me? Life is still good, feel pretty strong, wind is picking up.
Lap 3. Have no idea how hard I'm working, but based on speed alone and considering the amount of time I'm spending into the headwind, I must be doing OK. Life is still good. Lots of caffeine in that Infinit--maybe I should have mixed different ratios. Oh well, not feeling hungry, drinking plenty. Why was it I thought I needed to ride 115 miles today? Oh yeah--because next Sunday I'm going to ride 200K! About 8 miles into this lap, I come upon a huge oak tree that just fell onto the road. There's a security guard there, and I ask when it fell, and he said about 10 seconds ago (I had come around a curve). He remarked how lucky he was that it didn't fall on his car, and I'm thinking yeah, I feel pretty lucky, too. Starting to see triathletes on the roads. Figure many of them are doing their last rites either for IM Canada or a shorter ride for IMWI. Me? I'm just a dumbass circling around in here for no particular reason!
Lap 4. Life is not so good. My core temperature seems really elevated. It just hasn't been this warm on the weekend since IMLP and I'm definitely not used to spending this much time in the sun. I am disgusting--drool and sweat all over my face, assorted dead bugs all over my skin. The wind is pretty annoying, but at least it's going the right way so I should have a tailwind home. Think about cutting the ride short. I've never done 5 laps here. But when I finish this one, there is no option but to continue.
Lap 5. Legs don't feel bad but the miles are sure going by slowly now. I am hot and tired. My head is on fire. Feet feel OK, though. Still no clouds in the sky. When I get back to my exit gate, I am so excited to be on my way home. I'm guzzling water, but luckily I don't seem dehydrated (I can tell by tapping on my deltoids--kind of like cake testing).
Thank God the tailwind is here! I'm not looking at speed or anything, just going. The first major stoplight is dead, and I'm the only vehicle going east--will the cars let me pass? I watch the 3 other directions and when I think it's my turn, sure enough, there are a bunch of cars waving me through. That's a nice feeling. About 4 miles later I have to get into some shade, I really feel like I'm overheating. My water is warm, though. I keep going, and when I get to my home town, there's a bike race going on. I haven't looked at the clock all day, so have no idea of my elapsed time, and finally I look and actually I've done pretty well, considering. At a stoplight, I hear someone yelling my name and see a friend. I dismount and since the day is about bikes, I'm getting a lot of people looking at me and mine. Dan asks how far I've gone, and I'm at 112 miles with about 1 more to go. Boy, am I hot. I want to watch the race, but I'm so hot and probably need some more calories, but I watch the last lap of the Cat 1 race and then think about how am I going to get home? I end up riding on sidewalks for a few blocks and get quite a few looks from riders who are on the course warming up for the 100K race. I actually think that once I shower and eat that I'll come back and watch that.
Get home and I'm really not hungry, but I get in the shower to dedisgustify, and of course it's one of the best showers ever, and I put on a robe and grab cold Endurox and begin sipping on that. Lay on the couch and watch some Olympics, and all of a sudden I'm pretty cold. Crap. Go upstairs and put more clothes on, go back downstairs, and I still need the blankets all over me. I must have been in heat exhaustion. I was even shivering. Go upstairs and grab my exercise physiology book and read about it. Yep, that's it. Says to drink cold fluids. I find it interesting that hypothermia and hyperthermia produce the same reaction, only with hyperthermia, the body is all confused and thinks you need to be even warmer. After about 1/2 hour of shivering, my body figures out things are fine, and the blankets come off, and I'm even starting to feel pretty warm. Get tired of Olympics and just want to lay down. Can't fall asleep because of all the caffeine, but laying in bed with a fan blowing right on me feels good. Figure I'll just lay there until I get hungry, because I must need some more calories, right? I think I stayed there about an hour and a half (getting up every 15 minutes to pee and drink more cold water), and then I started feeling hungry. Heated up a burger I'd grilled on Saturday and fixed a nice salad with unpitted cherries! I like fruit in my salad now.
I never did go back to watch the bike race. The thought of being out in the sun just wasn't very appealing. Once again, today when I looked at the wind history for yesterday, yeah, it was bad, so I guess I HTFU'ed a little. I almost phoned a friend while I was out there to ask for some HTFU, because I didn't feel like I was doing the day justice, but at some level I supposed I had. I reviewed my last 3 big rides--#1 was lost and hurting, #2 was windy as hell and cool, and #3 was windy as hell, hot and humid. Maybe I don't suck after all.
I am going to give swimming a go this morning, and no I'm not riding a bike there! Hope everyone had a great weekend!
| Weekly Workout Totals | 08/11/2008-08/17/2008 This week's totals are sponsored by HTFU, which I need more of. |
| Swim: | 14075 yards (7.99 miles) in 4.92 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 1722 calories burned Canadian: 12870.18 meters |
| Bike: | Approx. 185.22 miles in 10.58 hours; 50% of weekly workout time; approx. 4834 calories burned; Total TSS=634 Canadian: 298.08 kilometers |
| Run: | Approx. 28.93 miles in 4.36 hours; 21% of weekly workout time; approx. 1965 calories burned Canadian: 46.56 kilometers |
| Strength: | 1.32 hours; 6% of weekly workout time; approx. 330 calories burned |
| All Sports: | Approx. 222.14 miles in 21.18 hours; approx. 8851 calories burned Canadian: 357.5 kilometers |
| Sleep: | 8.29 hours avg./night |
| Stretching: | 2.52 hours. Massage: 1 hours |
2 comments:
Epic ride Sheila, thank god you figured out the whole hyper/hypothermia thing!
You do NOT suck.
Keep that in mind at all times.
Heal.
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