Long Brick Win!

And it wasn't even a good day.  Today called for a 6 hr ride with a 40 minute run.  I'm always slower when I have to ride "in town" due to cars, stop lights, etc. But today there was a steady headwind on the way out.  And I took a detour that took me over the big bridge loop, twice.  And I tried to tweak my nutrition based on the latest article coach sent out.  #1) "eat" fewer calories and #2) make them liquid or gel calories. 

What I learned, boys and girls, is that I need more than 150 calories an hour and GU doesn't work for me on the bike at all.  Made me nauseous just like it did on the multi brick.  It wasn't the multi brick.  It was the GU.  But I didn't have the $$ to buy all new Hammergel for this ride.  The new brand of salt tabs surely did not help.   I had to make due with Salt Stick because the shop that used to carry my beloved Lava Salts closed.

Needless to say, spent most of the ride feeling like utter crap. When one of the salt tabs got caught in my throat, I almost puked. I was so slow I ran out of everything but salt tablets and water.  Finished the last 45 minutes on fumes.  To the point that I arrived at the house (6:33 for 100 miles) fully prepared to skip the run.  Because I felt really nauseous.

And so I arrived at the house in the wicked mood with some very logical reasons to stop.  But my inner triathlete told me to just calm down and take 10 minutes to find something that didn't make me sick.  You've got 17 hours on race day.   30 minutes in T2 will not kill you.  Open the 'fridge.  Boiled egg?  Ew.  Cheese?  Bleah.  Chocolate chips?  Yes?  Would you like seltzer with that?  And so I talked myself into 12 oz of seltzer water and a tasty handful of chocolate chips.  10 minutes later a walk seemed very reasonable.  After all, I'm really just angry that the bike went poorly.  Sure, I'm still nauseous but it's not like I'm cramping and don't recognize my dog.  I don't feel so bad that I would be willing to DNF on race day.

Heck, maybe I'll even run down to the corner, just to see how badly my stomach will protest....and it wasn't worse than walking.  So I ran.  Down to the corner.  Then the 1/4 mile up hill to the intersection.  Then a little more, a little more, a little faster.  By the end of the run I hit 8:30/mile.  Faster than I've run in a long time.  10:38 average for the whole 40 minutes.

And to think I was ready to throw in the towel.  Just goes to show that a few minutes of refocusing and resting can make a big difference.

Huge mental victory today.