The Hardcore 100

This weekend I was lucky enough to get about 11 hours in! My primary workout was the Hardcore 100, a 5 hour 37 minute indoor training ride.

It's sort of overwhelming to think of what's ahead of you when you put in disc 1 and see over five and half hours ahead of you. As the hours go by, the workout gets harder and the mental challenge increases.

I think that's what's so important about doing workouts like this in training: to face whatever you might bring to the table that day such as fatigue, dehydration, ect. and work out the solutions in training.

Surprisingly, each time I do it gets easier. This time I had one small glitch at about 3 hrs, I got off the bike ever so briefly to change my sweaty shirt, get some water, and use the ladies room and powered on through.

My theory is if you can sit on a trainer in the dingy garage for 5+ hrs, riding through the beautiful adirondacks--especially near Ausable should be a breeze on race day.

This week is a bit of recovery to start out with and then it's time to get organized for the Lake Waramaug Ultra.

Nutrition on the Run

I guess the popular Pre/ on the run nutrition these days is probably some type of gel or gatorade-type drink...plenty of carbs, maybe even a good portion of HFCS. Some may add in a bit a caffeine too, great if you want a quick sugar rush and then the crash which leaves you totally depleted in the end.

Still searching for nutritional nirvana, I don't know if the issue is protein, fat, less processed foods, the type of carbs ect.

But in my ongoing experiments, I did try organic baby food last night. Aramanth, veggies, fruits...couldn't ask for more nutritional value all in a portable very easy to use package.

Although I don't think it's the be all and end all to my search it does give me some ideas about self packaging some pre-race whole foods like potatoes ect in a similar manner. It does however give me a fall back plan when needing real good quality non-junk food in a pinch.

Training and the Mind

Lots of new info has emerged in the recent years about the perception of effort, and our own concept of limits that often holds us back.

The mind it appears, has capacity for far more than we could ever imagine. Tapping into that power could have enormous potential.

Right now, though, I am not thinking of huge goals or PR's. I've had a super long day, and this is only day 2 of my usual but extraordinarily long work weeks, which are mentally, physically and emotionally exhausting.

Trying to visualize my goals, visualize successful completion, and tap into that hidden mental strength to get this workout done tonight: Brick, 70 minutes hard bike followed by 30 minute T-run...and this is my second workout of the day.

No wonder they call it Brick, feels like I might be hitting the bricks soon!

Channeling willpower, strength, goals..

Burn Calories for Fuel 10K!

Beautiful April Day for a 10K. Missed a PR by a few seconds, but got a good 45 minutes in Zone 4/5 to compliment my very long Zone 2 36 miler from last weekend. Not quite sure of the official time yet, but it was good enough 3rd Place Overall Female!!!

K-O-N-A

Ok lottery results announced in 3 days, despite the slim odds the Crazy Eight Ball app on my iPod Touch says "outlook good". I'm thinking about the bay, the Queen K, and Ali'I Drive!!! But we'll see on Sunday @noon.

Aloha!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Fit some training into your workday!

Audio Fuel

This is an awesome training tool, available for Swim, Bike, and Run workouts. Some of the more recent installments are narrated by no other than Chrissie Wellington 3X Ironman World Champion. These workouts are challenging, put together seamlessly so the beat matches the prescribed pace of the workout and although you're gasping for air there's no way you can stop with Chrissie yelling through your earbuds. They're totally worth the price on iTunes for the self coached athlete. My under water headphones seem to be on the Fritz, I guess that's a topic for another post.