Lessons learned the hard way

Sometimes, even though it doesn't feel like it at the time, blowing up during a training session can be a good thing. Chris was planning on a 4.5 hour ride followed by an hour to hour and a half run. He left at 8:00 in the morning so I figured he'd be back by around 12:30. I was looking at a shorter ride so I could get in a longer run as part of my brick since my brick runs to date have been short and I really needed to lengthen them in preparation for Miami. So my plan was I'd leave around 9:30 and get back at about the same time as Chris did and join him for the run. I didn't get going till 10:00 though so I changed my original 90 km ride plan to 75 km but decided to go harder and make it feel like 90 km. Oops, mistake number 1. I did go harder, 32.5 km/hr average. My legs were trashed by the end of the ride and if Chris hadn't been running I could have easily laid down on the couch for the rest of the day. During the ride I only took in about a litre and a half of water and even though I knew this was wrong it just got away from me. Mistake number 2. And to follow it all up I didn't take in any calories at all. Mistake number 3. Normally I wouldn't need food on a ride but the difference today which I didn't account for was that I'd be running afterwards. A long run. Aside from my legs feeling destroyed I still felt ok energy wise though so Chris and I decided to meet at the Petro Canada and head out from there. It all started out fine and my legs seemed to be holding up fine for the time being so we ran over to 10th Line and turned north. It was uphill most of the way, especially from just south of Major MacKenzie and it was hot so the going got tougher as we went. For me anyways, Chris seemed fine. As we got to Major Mackenzie I told Chris I'd see if I could make it to Elgin Mills, another 2 km of uphill and he reminded me that it was a matter of could I make it BACK from there. Duh me. Well I made it up to Elgin Mills and that was our turn around point, 7 km from home but heading south would hopefully be easier as we would be heading downhill and into a cooling wind. I started feeling a bit better at this point and our pace picked up a bit but my right quad felt like it was on the verge of cramping a few times so I would slap it as I ran every once in a while. We hit 10 km and I was happy to have made it that far and could have easily stopped at that point but kept going because as I've written on my blog page, "Pain is Temporary, Quitting Lasts Forever". And now I was starting to feel it. By 11 km I knew the bonk was coming on. My energy was pretty much done, my legs were moving strictly from memory and my brain was telling me to stop and walk. But I told my brain "Are you kidding me? With only 3 km to go? No way." I pushed through, we got back to the Petro Canada where we'd started and Chris headed straight along 16th Ave. while I turned south on 9th Line towards home. Well that last kilometre to home was one of the toughest I've run in a while. I could have easily walked it and no one would have known or even cared. Except me. So as for the lessons: 1. Do Not Hammer on the Bike. I'm still going to need these legs for 21 km or running. 2. Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate. And for the most part I do but today seemed to get away from me. I just have to make sure I'm constantly aware of taking in fluids for the extent of the race or training session. 3. Eat. It may not be necessary for the shorter rides/runs but for the longer bricks I'll have to take in calories to maintain my energy levels throughout. Lessons learned the hard way.