I know the graphic above isn't that clear, but for some reason Garmin seems to think I burned 18,508 calories this week. Despite this calorie burn, the scale seems to disagree and I did not lose 5 pounds :P
Actually, ever since my mock half ironman, my garmin's elevation data has been screwed up. From what I can gather in my research is that the barometer temperature inside the garmin is maxed out and reads something like 359 F, and the device thinks I'm at 63,000 ft all the time. Luckily, Strava has elevation correction so I've been using Strava a little more. I am pretty sure I can take corrected Strava data and then transfer it into Garmin, but it's a lot of hassle just to fix a few issues on the readings. I'll send the device in for fixin' after the race.
This weekend was such a bummer for my long workouts. Feel free to read ahead if you want, but it is a massive post. The TL;DR version is this: Long run sucked due to overheating in a new shirt. Long bike sucked due to blowing three tubes, having brake problems, requiring a full tire change. I'm starting to get a little worried that I haven't rode over 75 miles in my entire training so far. =/
Now for the long stories, no offense taken if you don't read my ramblings. I'm not a good story writer.
Saturday's long run was scheduled to be 2hr45min long. I wanted to try out my new DeSoto Skin Cooler shirt. I put the shirt on at the house and it felt generally "too warm", but I figured maybe the air outside would cool me down. Spoiler Alert: IT DIDN'T , I found that keeping the shirt wet made it awesome! But, I can only carry so much water with me, and that water is for drinking! Around mile 7, I found a water fountain and doused myself with water. This shirt is so awesome when wet! But, it dried up about 3 miles later, I had run out of water, and it was high 80's at least. I wound up having to call in and get picked up at the nearest 7-11, I got a gigantic Dr. Pepper to make me feel better. :) Ended the run short by about 15 minutes, I was out there for 2:45, but I spent 15 minutes of it just at stop lights! Next weekends run will be at a park or somewhere I won't have any stops like that. Undecided about wearing the shirt on Ironman day... it will be easy to keep it wet with aid stations every mile.
Well, the fun didn't stop there. The next day for the long bike ride, it didn't start off very well at all. It was scheduled to be 5hr30mins long. My Dad drove out here for some flat uninterrupted riding. Attach the bikes to the bike rack, and my tires needed a bit of air, so we filled them up and then drove to our starting point. When we got to our spot, I noticed my front tire was completely flat.
[Back up to last weekend, I did get a flat that managed to cut my tire, so during the week I changed both my tires to some I had lying around. One that was lying around, I had forgotten also got a gash in it and I had superglued it shut. I guess having it sit in the garage for some time made that seal become weak, but we didn't figure this out until two more tubes later.]
So.. 2nd tube gets put in and since my rims are deep, I have to use valve extenders.. yeah, the stupid extender broke onto the valve, and I lucked out I had a spare extender in my bike bag. Okay, so the 2nd tube finally gets pumped up and we get ready to go and I say, "Dad, I just don't have a good feeling about this ride.", no more than 2.5 seconds later my tube explodes! Dad gives me a *high five*. =/
Alright, so we take the tube out and feel around the inside of the tire and don't feel anything sharp, so we just assume we're pinching tubes on accident. 3rd tube is in, and I finish pumping it up with what's left of the CO2 cartridge and kinda just call it good even though it was a little low. We start to pedal off and I try my brakes... they don't catch! Wow.. now the brakes don't work! So we pedal back to the car for an allen wrench and fix up the brakes best we can. My front brake needs fixin'!
Back on our way again.. where we are immediately passed by a group of three, and once they pass us, they slow down and ride 3 wide! How annoying! We get pass them and then come upon 2 riders riding next to eachother who were chatting. A couple of yells of, "Hey coming up! On your left! HELLO!?!" I am assuming they did not speak English or something. sigh... this ride is really shaping up. Maybe about 30 feet ahead of those two guys is an intersection that was green when we rode up to it, so we crossed the street before the light turned red. Well, those two guys must've just been sheep because they entered in just like we did but for them the light was red! I turned around just in time to see them both fall in the middle of the road narrowly being missed by a giant, green SUV. I probably would have felt different if they got hit, but in my mind it was a small victory for their stupidity.
Now, we finish crossing the intersection, and I feel that I really do need to put more air in that tire. So, we stop, I hook up a CO2 and pump it up good. I ask my Dad, "Is it good?", he says Yes.. and then *BAM!* air shoots out right where that superglued spot was right into my face! If I wasn't wearing my sunglasses, I think the ride would have been over and a trip to the hospital for a busted eyeball would have been in order. SIIIIGGHHHH... we have one tube left, but at this point I think we were stupid enough for using 3 tubes already. We were going to call it a day at this point (a whole 1.8 miles in), but instead we called Andy to bring me a new tire, tube, and a floor pump. 15 minutes later, he delivers and we get ready to go.
After all that, the ride went without a hitch. I even had a guy draft off me at 20mph for a good 8 miles or so, and then he had to quit :D Only rode for a little more than 4 hours though, for a total of 70 miles. Oh, and my gears were slipping the whole time! Taking my bike in for a fix this week!
