10:45 am: It doesn't look good. 20.9 miles in 2:08, or (roughly) 9.796875 mph. (But who's counting?)
But the good news is that right now, I feel great. Just had a quick egg-substitute crepe topped with yogurt, and a scoop of whey protein shaken up in skim milk. Now I'm going to ride out to REI, to see if someone can check over my bike, and then pick up some groceries.
3:00 pm: Still feeling good, but stiffness may be a problem, this time. My legs feel like they got a really good workout.
The ride to REI and back was 6.4 miles, and I took it easy, as a cool-down ride. (The bike guy at REI checked over my bike and found it sound and safe.) After a shower, I worked my legs over for 5 minutes with my electric percussion massager, and then we went out to Ihop for their low-cal Tilapia with broccoli ($9.79 ea.), the idea being to load up on protein. When getting out of the booth, I realized sitting there had given my muscles a chance to seize up. So back home I spent another 5 minutes with the massager.
All this is part of my effort to make my recovery from this ride as short as possible.
The timed part of the ride was interesting from a couple of standpoints. About two-thirds of the way through, I felt stronger and more energetic than I did during the first third. My legs felt tired and strong, tired and strong, in succession, throughout. So I can't tell, at any particular point, how much steam I've got left. When I got winded, I let up (except on the hills wherein I was already in low gear and still had a ways to go) and tried to be conscious of how much time it took to recover, partially or completely.
I don't see how I can make the 80-80-8 goal in less then seven weeks. Especially since I plan to rest for at least a full week before the Big Day. Just not enough time left to get in that kind of shape. Today, I only cut six minutes off last Tuesday's time. I think I need to find an alternate route (loop) that involves fewer challenging hills.
Idea: As soon as I'm recovered, repeat today's ride to see if I've gotten any stronger. But lay out a flatter ride of the same length, and tackle that one, the next time.
You sure it wasn't 9.796874 mph? If you get enough base miles in, you'll do your 80 miles in 8 hours. Just go a little easy the first half, then let it all hang out the second half.
ReplyDeleteAs I pointed out in my Aug 16 post, I should have taken your advice. I actually tried to, sort of, but I got carried away by the excitement of the moment, and burned myself out early.
ReplyDelete