Long, Hot and Windy Ride

You know you're a newbie cyclist when you record your longest ride ever, and it's barely over a half century. But that's exactly what I did yesterday.

I met my new riding friend, Tom, at a local trailhead yesterday morning, where we set out on the Centennial Trail for a casual ride. We didn't have a set distance or time in mind, so we played it by ear. It was a hot morning and getting hotter as the ride progressed. We crossed the border into Idaho and decided to continue through Post Falls (a small town just across the border) with the hopes of finding a trail by the river. We failed in that quest, but managed to ride through a Strava segment named "Cruising through the Ghetto of Post Falls. Watch out for the drug dealer at the auto place!" Nice. We could tell it was a shady part of town, but I wasn't aware of that segment until I uploaded my ride data to Strava. Maybe we'll choose another route next time.

We had a tailwind all the way out which meant, of course, we had to ride back into the wind. It was approaching 90°f by now, so the heat was becoming a factor. After a few miles riding into the headwind, I could tell my tank was running low. I was okay through about 42 miles, but from then on I was running on fumes. I had just about polished off my second bottle of fluid, and my legs were toast. I hung onto Tom (a more experienced and more fit cyclist) and, after a short rest break to stretch and eat a granola bar, we made it back to the trailhead. Thankfully there was a working water fountain, where we refilled our bottles with cold-ish water (the water & sports drink in my bottles was warm for most of the ride, even though they started as mostly ice). Once I dismounted, I noticed that I was pretty lightheaded and dizzy. Tom had another 15 miles of riding — including some climbing — to get home. I knew if that was my situation, I'd be in trouble. It was 93° at this point.

I loaded up my bike, started my truck and sat in the AC for a few minutes to recover and cool off.

Once home, I ate, drank, took an ice bath followed by a hot shower, put on compression socks, then laid on the couch for 30 minutes.

I learned that, even though I'm improving on the bike, I have a long way to go. Heat + headwind are not my friends. Still, I'm happy with the ride and enjoyed Tom's company and conversation.

NUMBERS:
Distance - 52.1 miles
Time - 3:05:55
Pace - 16.9 mph
HR - 131 avg / 145 max

Cycling miles YTD: 714

Heat: Yes. Speed: No.

This morning I ran my first race since my marathon on May 15th: the Run of the Mill 5k, in Mill Creek, WA. How did it go? Ugh. 21:53 (my goal was 20:59). I'm going to blame the heat for my lack of speed (plus the heel injury and under-training). It hurt far more than it should have.

Splits: 7:06, 7:04, 6:54, [6:28]

Official results: 
Overall: 112/1711 (6%)
Age Group: 12/143 (8%)
Men: 103/707 (14%)

There was quite a bit of uphill the first half of the course. When I hit the downhills on the way back, I was too toasted to take advantage of them.

I ran a warmup mile before the race (7:48), which told me today wouldn't be my day. After post-race festivities, I ran 3.6 miles home and was starting to feel a little heat exhaustion, plus the heel was hurting (it felt fine during the race). Took an ice bath when I got home.

So...Ragnar is less than 2 weeks away. It could be rough. I'm running the lead-off leg, which starts at 4:00pm on July 23rd. All next week, I'm going to run during the hottest part of the day (even though it looks like a cooling trend is on the way). Still, that won't be enough time for heat acclimation. I'll just try to take the first leg (6.2 mi) slower than normal and save my energy for the final two legs.

I've never run well in the heat, and I'm not entirely sure why. For a guy built as slight as me, one would think it would be easier for my body to cool itself. Must be my Nordic heritage.

Here's how this week panned out:

Runs: 4 (6, including warmup and post-race run home)

Miles: 22.34

Time: 3:12:10

Avg. Pace: 8:36

Avg. HR: 130

Off to the Mountains!

I had tentatively planned on riding this morning, but, for a few reasons, that didn't happen. We're heading to Mt. Rainier this morning for a camping trip. Last night, I felt absolutely exhausted (I also lifted weights yesterday, after my ride). I thought I was pooped from the heat (we're in the midst of the hottest weather we've...maybe ever...had...supposed to break 100 deg F today), but I woke up with a sore throat this morning, still with no energy. So no ride. I'll go out for a tough ride on Saturday morning. If I start feeling better, I'll get in a good hike.

Since I won't be here tomorrow, I did my weigh-in 1 day early. Here are this week's stats (and changes from last week):

Weight: 147.6 lbs (-.2 lbs)
Waist: 30.3" (-.2")
Bodyfat%: 10.2 (-.3%)
Resting HR: 41 bpm (-2 bpm)

My weight was basically the same as last week, which is interesting. I've been relaxing my diet just a bit...which makes my waist and bodyfat measurements even more surprising. That's the lowest either of those has been since I started keeping track about 10 years ago. My goal for bodyfat % is to get under 10%, so it's getting closer.

I better help finish packing, before I get "the business" from the Mrs. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Early Morning Ride...Nice and Easy

I hadn't planned on riding today, but felt the urge to do a relatively short (20 miles) and easy (16.1 mph avg) ride today. I went out at 6:30am, since it's going to be a million degrees here today in the Seattle area. It was beautiful! A deer even ran across the trail in front of me. There were a LOT of people out, presumably getting their daily exercise in before the sweltering heat kicks in.

Recently, all my rides have been pretty tough, so it was nice to just ride easy this time, without regard to time or pace. I haven't decided yet if I'll go out for a punishing ride tomorrow morning. We're heading out on a camping trip tomorrow, so we'll be packing & loading up. Plus...tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day yet (a bazillion degrees, officially), and even early in the morning, it'll start getting hot and humid. The humidity we've had lately is something us Pacific Northwesterners don't normally have to deal with. As you may or may not know, most of us in western Washington don't have air-conditioned homes. They're usually not needed more than maybe 3-5 days per year. Well, it would be REALLY NICE to have it now. But I'll still take this over the cold spells we sometimes get even during summer. I'll just sit naked in front of an industrial fan. Just not too close. Sorry about the visual.

First run back home

It was refreshing to go on a late morning run today and NOT feel beaten down by the heat and humidity of Central Florida. I enjoyed the visit, but I think I had a bit of a cocky attitude going into my runs down there. I'm not in mind-blowing shape right now, but I'm probably as fit as I've been in, oh, eight years maybe...and feeling pretty good about it. The first couple of runs weren't terribly difficult. The last one, however, wiped me out. So today I ran a fairly slow 7 miles on my hilly trail in 58:11 (8:19 pace). I ended up having stomach cramps the last 2 miles, along with some tightness in my lungs. I haven't felt 100% the last few days, and even thought I thought I was okay, that "under-the-weather" feeling came back near the end of the run. I was called out on Facebook by my friend and Whisky Dick Triathlon teammate Arthur about running today and not cycling like I should be. Okay, he got me. I just felt like running today. I probably should have gone for a ride. I was planning on doing that tomorrow, but I had a crazy rush job come in late today that will keep me busy tomorrow and all weekend, it looks like. If I can fit in a ride, I will.

Amazingly, I lost .6 lbs while on vacation. I say "amazingly" because I didn't have the cleanest of diets (pizza, fish and chips, beer, cake, ice cream, etc), but I'm obviously still burning more calories than I'm taking in. Here are this week's weigh-in stats:

Weight: 148.6
Waist: 31"
Body Fat %: 10.7
Resting HR: 41 bpm

I hadn't seen my "six-pack" for about 17 years...until now. Maybe that's keeping me from eating as much as I should - just the thought of my midsection increasing again. I know - eat fairly clean, but just increase the quantity. If worse comes to worse, I'll start counting calories (which I HATE doing).

All for now. Have a great night!

Hot & humid - long run cut short

Even by starting my run before 7:00am, I wasn't able to avoid the heat and humidity here in FL during my weekly long run. I was shooting for 9 miles (5 loops of my 1.8 mile course), but I could only make it around 4 times (7.2 miles) before it was a bit too much. I started getting a tad dizzy and my breathing more labored than it should have been. The good news was that the 8:25 pace I was running seemed VERY slow. That was my 3rd run while down here on vacation (16.1 miles so far). I hope to get in at least 1 more before flying home early Wednesday morning. I do miss the hills, but the heat and humidity is adding another dynamic to my training. Not sure it'll translate to any kind of improvement, but I like finding out how my body will respond to different stressors.
I hope everyone enjoyed their celebrations yesterday!