Saturday long ride

Friday night, I installed the XLAB Mini Wing that I got from Triboutique.ca a couple of weeks ago on my Kuota. Having only the capability to carry a single bottle on my bike was a bit of a roadblock on my road to longer ride. I'm not really an heavy drinker when exercising so I can do with 0.8l for a 4hrs ride (unless it's particularly warm) but since I'm hoping to do an unsupported 200km ride before the summer is out, I definitely needs to carry more liquid with me. Also, I probably should get into the habit of drinking more ... which I did the following morning by riding 133km with 2 bottles.

I didn't drink all, but alternated between both bottles at each of my feeding slots (every 30 minutes or so). In one bottle, I had my usual homemade energy drink (minus Maltodextrin since I'm out and need to get more at the store), and in the second one I put a bit of Agave Syrup with one tab of Nuun for electrolytes.

Between the energy bites, the drinks and a couple of dry apricots, I didn't feel low on energy but however, my legs started feeling heaving (and painful) at the 100km mark, so the last 33km were not super enjoyable.

I'm planning to extend the ride this coming Monday (which is an holiday in Canada) to make it over 160km. Assuming the weather collaborate since it's kind of looking wet this week :-(

Thursday long ride

In the last post, I was complaining about the weather being wet and cold ... but that was nothing in comparison to how wet yesterday ride was. Why ride you may ask? Well, once again I got fooled by the weather forecast which called for mostly sun ... The sun did came out, but too late for an early morning ride. Oh well ... Rule 5 & Rule 9 come to mind 8)

Just like Tuesday, I didn't have my homemade energy ball, so I took some dates and a single fruit&nut bar (Kind brand). I, however, didn't forget to make my energy drink ahead of time.

I wasn't particularly sore after the ride, not the following day. I guess my body is getting used to frequent endurance ride. 

Tuesday long ride

As you may recall, I alternate between Sunday and Monday when it comes to doing longer ride, but since the weather forecast for this past Monday wasn't looking too great, I pushed the ride to Tuesday as the forecast was better ... Except, it wasn't. It was colder and wetter than I had expected, and while there was no hard rain during the +3 hours I spent on my bicycle, it wasn't super fun. Still, managed to beat a few PR and my average speed wasn't too shabby:

For some reason, I was a little off that day and the previous night as well, and on top of not having prepared any energy balls, I totally forgot to prepare my energy drink the night before. As the result, I had to rely on 4 dates and an (store bought) energy bar, which I had half way. I had one date every 30 minutes after the first 45mn of the ride.

Planning on doing the exact same ride tomorrow morning, weather permitting ...

Cylco de Mayo!

Yesterday, I went for my longest ride in a long time, logging above 132km in less than 4.5 hours. I felt pretty good during and after, which, I suppose, means that my body have adjusted for endurance. I even had enough left-over energy to maintain speeds over 35kph in the last 30 minutes of the ride 8) I could have probably continue riding and score a century ride (miles), but it wasn't the plan ...

This was my second ride with my new Giro Air Attack helmet, which I really like. I can't really comment on the aerodynamic advantage compared to my older (and crappier) helmet, but it's definitely a better fit and a lot lighter. Not to mention, it look sleek :P

My feeding plan was the following:

• one home-made power ball every 30mn (starting at 45mn into the ride)
• two sip of my home-made energy drink every 30mn (starting at 45mn into the ride)

Pre-ride, I only had a single energy ball and a small sip of water after waking-up. Since this was going to be over 4 hours long, I wanted to minimize the chance that I would have to stop to urinate; it worked well.

Post-ride, my legs were not as sore as they have been in the past rides. Going up and down stair was a little painful, but they felt okay during this morning (Monday) commute ride to work (on which I got a puncture on my rear tyre). Stamina wise, I didn't feel utterly wasted for the rest of the day. However by the time I hit the sack (at 10PM), I was tired.

Coconut Apricot Energy Ballz!

For my long(er) ride yesterday, I decided to make my own energy bars using a recipe I had stumbled upon a few days ago from Read Food. Real Deals. Aside from the Apricots, we pretty much had everything already and the recipe is pretty easy to do, and vegan 8)

I tweaked a little bit the recipe, though, by reducing the amount of coconut shreds and adding 1/4 cup of chia seeds (which was too much). Also, I used oven-roasted almonds for a better taste.

Since the goal was to eat them while cycling, I used a 15ml measuring spoon to form small balls. It worked well, although maybe the balls ended up being a little too big. I may put some hemp seeds in the ball next time.

Ride wise, I was planning on another 100km ride, but the wind in greater Vancouver was so damn strong (and dangerously strong at time), that I had to settle for only 80km :-(

Good case of the Monday

Yesterday, I went off on a long ride before going to work. This is something that I have started doing last year late in the season (I just didn't think of it before!) and which allows me to do one long ride (+80km) every week by alternating Sunday ride and Monday ride. This gives me a bit more flexibility but also, and mainly, gives room for more family time.

Anyway, I was planned a 90km ride, but it ended-up being 95km. Considering the pain I have felt in my hip/groin area (mainly when running, mind you), the ride went pretty well and I didn't feel any particular pain (aside from the usual muscle burns), although my neck was a little sore by the end of it.

Contrary to the tradition, I didn't run with my wife after getting home yesterday afternoon. Which was probably a good move considering I'm still recovering from that possible injury. My legs didn't feel particularly sore (neither did they this morning when I rode into work) but I was kind of tired (and went to bed at 10pm).

Early season injury?

Few weeks ago, just after I had started to ramp up cycling to work and running, I started getting a new kind of pain in the groin area of my left leg when running :( 

It started as just some minor discomfort but as I didn't really take it easy (my bad), it became painful to run without adjusting my running position. To my defense, it wasn't painful enough to make me stop when running and usually the discomfort will be worst until I got warmed-up enough ... Walking was slightly painful but when cycling, the pain was not there but I could definitely feel a little something in the groin/hip area.

At first, I though it was coming from my adductors but then the pain moved a bit along the thigh and to the hip, glute and Rectus femoris. As the result, I have been taking it easier, especially with the running with last week being totally off.

I resumed running last night (with an easy 8km) and the specific discomfort that I was feeling before when running wasn't there. My legs were pretty sore, however, from Sunday's morning 80km ride, so I'll have to see how that goes during the 2 other planned runs for this week ... However this morning, after my usual 22km ride to work my left hip and glute are slightly painful :-\

Last run before the big day

Yesterday we ran our last run before this Sunday's Marathon and we're now in full tapering mode for the race. Overall, we lowered our training volume this week with only 2 runs but I did commute on my bicycle 4 days of the work week.

I'm pretty excited for Sunday, but also a little anxious to see if I can do a good time. I'll be happy with anything under 3:30:00 ...

1/3 Marathon before The Marathon

This morning we did our last long run before next sunday Marathon. I didn't push myself much as at this point I'm mainly focusing in not getting injured right before the race :P

The run to & back work experiment #2

Ran to and from work today as a second experiment with an average pace bellow 5:00/km. The weather was kind of crappy on the way back, which was kinda lame. However, I better get used to liking running in the rain if I'm going to do that more often during Fall and Winter.

I'm taking tomorrow off and then Sunday, we're scheduled for our last long run (14km) before the Marathon next week-end.

Run to Stanley Park (21K)

Saturday we ran our last long run in preparation for the Victoria's Marathon which is now in less than 2 weeks. I had follow my now usual feeding routine on the morning (bagel + espresso), but since we didn't correctly carbo-load the two nights before, I wasn't really feeling all that up to running an half-marathon that morning. However, I started feeling more energetic after 10 minutes or so and we completed the distance in 01:45:46 with an average pace (05:01/km) at the one I'm aiming for the marathon.

Here's the run's details on Strava:

Just like for our previous long run, I refrained from eating anything during the run, and relied on my now usual energy drink (tea + maltodextrin) to keep my blood's sugar level from diving. 

I was planning to go for a 120km bike ride this morning (Sunday), but the wife reminded me that the last time I didn't take a day break between a long run and a long ride, I injured my calf. So as a mesure of precaution since we're now within 2 weeks of the Marathon, I took the day off .. :(

Training schedule reality check ...

Wade Wallace, over at Cycling Tips wrote a post on a training schedule which had me somewhat flabbergasted ... The total volume per week is over 18 hours! Granted, that's a cycling only training. Still, it's way more than what I'm doing currently. At best, I'm putting 7 hours per week on the bike (including commuting to worm 5 days a week) ...

Obvsiouly, I'm doing it wrong.