I think was my most perfect week of training so far. Not only was it my biggest week at 15 hours, but I did all the workouts and I felt great doing them.
The week was capped off with a big weekend of training. This involved a 2:30 hr run where I ran just over 12 miles and then a 5:28 hr ride on Sunday where I rode 100 miles. This was my first 100 miler.
The long run went really well. Like my previous long run, the cooler weather helped a lot. For this run, I just ate gels every 45 mins and I think I will stick to gels for my actual Ironman.
For the ride, I didn’t know what to expect. When I tried a long ride the previous weekend after a long run on the Saturday, my body was just tired. This Sunday, that was not a problem. The biggest issue was the cold weather. I started off feeling OK, but once I started to sweat, it got a bit chilly. The good thing was that it didn’t start to feel any colder so I stayed the same for the first couple hours. Once the Sun came up, it warmed up a little and by the end of the ride, the weather was comfortable.
For the ride, I stuck to drinking SOS, eating Golden Oreo cookies, and licking salt. I think this is the right formula for me. With the Oreo cookies, I’m getting about 200 calories per hour. I need to see if that is sufficient. I did start to get some very minor initial signs of cramping, but once I licked my salt at my next scheduled time, it went away. I think I was borderline dehydrated. I know for the first couple hours I didn’t’ drink as much as I should have, My first bottle lasted 90 mins instead of 45-60 mins. The colder weather fooled me and I wasn’t drinking as often as I should.
This week was the first for a 3-week stretch with 15 hours planned each week. This was a great start.