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May 20, 2006
Invasion of the Roof-Snatchers, 40 Mile Ride, Poor Nutrition and More...
Where to begin? :)
I should probably start with this morning. O and I both woke up around 7 am at which point we quickly formed a plan - he was going to go let Roxy outside, feed her and then all three of us were going to snuggle back in bed for a bit longer. Very nice. Except for the fact that just as they were getting back into bed, we heard trucks pulling into our driveway. And then Roxy barking. And then we knew...the roof guys were here to start installing our new roof!
This is good news because all the rain we've had recently has pushed back our new roof date and I was getting anxious for them to get started. But at the same time, I didn't really expect them to come so early on a Saturday morning! Oh well - I know they are behind in their work because of the rain so they are probably working around the clock to get everything done. I'm not complaining!
It was comical though for the next hour or so. Roxy was beside herself, racing around the house, barking and staring out the window. In her defense it is a little odd to hear people climbing all over your roof and then sound like they are ripping your house apart. It's also odd to see it raining shingles out your windows when they were pulling off all the old shingles and just chucking them down onto their tarp they had laying below!
Either way, she finally calmed down enough that O and I decided we'd get moving on the day around 9 am. He and Roxy were going for a run and I was going to go for a bike ride. I was tickled pink that there were actually sunny skys and no rain and I was finally going to get to ride outside!
It was a little on the chilly side (around 50 degrees when I left which is perfect for running but nippy while riding), but it wasn't raining and that's all that mattered. O and I had charted out a new course for me that involved riding on my 2 favorite roads. It's an out and back course that should have been around 35 miles total.
I started off feeling pretty good but it wasn't soon before I noted the wind and knew it was going to be a battle the whole way out. It was pretty bad in places. I was actually pedaling DOWN (a rather large hill I might add) and only going 15 MPH. That's crazy! I felt like I was standing still in places and was starting to think the turnaround would never come. I was talking to the wind, singing to the wind and then trying to not think about it at all (easier said than done!). When I finally turned around I was wayyyyy happy. It was a much easier time going back - I didn't necessarily feel the wind pushing me but it wasn't blowing me all over the place in my face so I didn't really care. I felt like I was flying! And indeed I was - moving faster UP some of the hills than I had just come down!
Around 30 miles I started to feel a little shaky. I had stopped for some Gatorade at my turnaround point but stopped again on the side of the road for more at this point. It's hard to explain how I felt - not really that tired, just weird and like I was running out of fuel. I was mad at myself for not brining something with me to eat. Dumb mistake, but nothing I could do about it at that point. Luckily I only had 2 more hills to go up and the rest of the ride would be all flat. I made it back up to where we live and then started feeling better (it was much warmer up in our area!) and added on another small loop to try to make it 40 miles total. I got back to the house in 39.5 miles and decided that was good enough! My total time was around 2:22 and my average speed was around 16.5 MPH. I checked my ave speed just as I was coming back into our town and it was almost 17 (16.94 to be exact), but my added loop through town slowed things down, especially considering I got every single stop light red!
Either way, it was a good ride, my longest yet and I definitely learned some things. For one - just because I'm a dietitian doesn't mean I know everything about nutrition! I hate to say it but I usually skip the "nutrition" chapters in the books I read about running or triathlons because I feel like I'm not going to learn anything new. Um yeah. If that was the case I would have brought some food with me on a 40 mile ride! So I just now looked through the nutrition chapter of the 2 triathlon books I have and they both have a little table wherein you can figure out how many calories you've burned on a ride as based on total time riding, ave MPH and body weight. With my ride today I burned around 1000 calories, 30-50% of which I should have replaced while riding according to the book. I definitely did not take in 300-500 calories as all I had was about 10 oz of Gatorade and water. I think this means that I'm going to either have to start using gels on my long rides OR use a higher calorie sports drink. I have to do something though because that shaky, weak feeling is no good!
Anyway, that's my story for today! Hope everyone is having a great Saturday!
Week summary:
Sunday - off
Monday - 3500 meter swim (500,2x250,5x100,2x250,500), core/feet exercises
Tuesday - 1 hour spin (trainer), 30 minute run, core/feet exercises
Wednesday - weights
Thursday - 3200 yd swim (20x100), 1:30 spin (trainer), 2x25 pushups, 2x100 crunchups
Friday - 1 hour run, core/feet exercises
Saturday - 39.5 mile ride, weights (modified routine at home)
Posted by beth at May 20, 2006 2:13 PM
Comments
the great thing about cycling (over stomach-churning runs) is that you cal also enjoy real food like raisins, apricots, bananas, oranges and the likes to replenish calories while still riding hard... sort of like "in-flight" refuelling :) And then you have those neat jerseys with the pockets on the lower back for extra water bottles... gotta love cycling...
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at May 22, 2006 1:31 PM
I agree! I was thinking of all the yummy treats I could bring with me on my rides and they are much more exciting than the gels that I used when running. I can also eat a full meal and then go out and ride. Cycling = easier on the stomach! Yeah cycling! ;)
Posted by: Beth at May 22, 2006 1:52 PM
My tri friend Betsy and I were talking about this stuff over the weekend actually. She said the general rule of thumb (which seems to match with what you're saying) is 2-3 calories per pound, per hour, while you're on the bike.
She gave me some Clif Blocks, which she uses, and she also eats Combos, the delicious pretzels filled with cheese.
Sounds like a great ride!! I hope you had a wonderful weekend.
Posted by: barb at May 22, 2006 3:10 PM