Unexpected Things

Sunday

This was the end of week three of the first big four-week endurance training block for RAW, and I am looking forward to a consolidation (recovery) week.  I'll be posting the entire training plan shortly, and look forward to learn what people think of it, and how I could adjust it.  I'll also talk about what I mean by a "consolidation" week versus "recovery".   This was also week two of the double-5+ hour rides, and week 3 of 7+ hour rides.  I'll recap the training block next week, but it was a good start.  I got both double-long rides in, got the mid-week ride up near four hours.

Saturday's 7:15/133 mile ride felt reasonably straightforward--more on that below, but today's 5 h ride tested me mentally.  I was tired, it was windy, cloudy, damp, and cold (at least for Tucson), and the normal bright scenery was replaced by the flat greys of a rare Tucson cloudy day.  I had several reasons to quit (tired, already had a huge week, cold, distracted), but no good reason to fail.  I was unfocused, and fell behind early on both hydration and feeding.  This is one of those critical crew functions at RAW, keep me on track with hydration and feeding.   I thought about how I would get through times like these in RAW, and would have to just keep the bike rolling.  In reality, all those reasons to quit today were really the exact reasons to gut through the final 2 hours.   I thought about how I would reflect upon this block if it was just "almost all checkmarks" on its goals, vs. finishing up.  I finished the 5 hours, and finished feeling pretty good in the end.

Really, it was cold... 61 deg. Brr.

At the low point in the ride, I stopped to take the gloomy picture, winds, clouds.... then, not two minutes later rolling back through Marana was the most unexpected thing. It was this sign: "You are AWESOME!" just stuck there at the end of the Interstate off ramp.  Go figure.  I don't know if it was just someone's cheerful thought, or left over from El Tour, but it put a smile on my face, and I finished up.

Finally, tailwinds for the final 40 minutes, through the cotton fields of Marana with the snowy Catalina Mountains in the background.

---

Saturday

Saturday was a much better ride in retrospect.  I stayed on top of hydration and feeding, eating 2600 calories in 7.25 hours (360 cal/h).  The feed had a good mix of carbohydrate and fat, and I could tell the difference in how, and how quickly my body would react to each.  The ride and and a bit beyond the end of the pavement on the Reddington Road was new to me, and gave awesome views of the Tanque Verde Canyon, Tucson, and the 40 mile ride home from there.  

The Team Ride portion started and finished at Mona's, at the corner of Swan and Sunrise.   Mona's was a great change from the usual Starbucks, and had a huge variety of pastries and muffins.  The owner at Mona's was super accommodating of a bunch of sweaty cyclist in cleats munching down after the ride.

There is 190 days left to RAW.  I have the training plan outlined, and now I realize it's really not that far away.  There are five endurance blocks, and one racing block in the preparation, and one is already mostly complete. ​  Its coming up fast.

Day 22, 190 d, 19 h, 42 m to RAW 2019.

About a 1/4 mile past the end of the pavement on the Reddington Rd. Awesome view of Tanque Verde Canyon and Tucson. Its 40 miles home from here.

---

The On-Bike and Post-Workout food inventory. That's a lot of food!

I lost track of the eating today, had to inventory the wrappers when I got home...