Day 1 of my 3-day training turned out harder than expected

Training is ramping up. Yesterday's good Friday meant an additional full day of training, a test before Lititz. 

Morning Bricks: 4 1/2 hours bike ride & 30 min tempo run

Though it was a chilly morning (34 degrees), I was very excited about riding my first 4+ hour ride of the season...outside! With IM Zurich being a hilly course, I chose a hilly road today, going through the Pallisades Park, Tweed (near Piermont, NY), and little Thor. I believe I totaled 5K+ of vertical climb, which, if my Garmin is accurate, is pretty good for a long ride.  

I took time to prepare my drinks and nutrition, and really thought that I did it right, only to realize that I forgot to add EFS to CarboPro in all 3 bottles! I was on top of my liquids intake, taking a sip 10 minutes into the ride. I thought that the taste was light, almost tasteless, but I felt good in the first 2 hours. I started to feel weaker in the 4th hour, and struggled to rally home with 10 miles to go. Not fun, but these training sessions are eye-openers, and though very difficult, they are very important. Someone twitted once: there are no failure in training, only positive feedback. I prefer messing up my nutrition on a training day, than on race day. I ended up riding with less than 150 calories/24Oz per hour, well below the 250 calories/hour I was supposed to take in. 

I got home with little energy left in the tank, and knowing that I had a 30 min tempo run was not the best. I figured that being negative about it would only make the run tougher, so I took it positively,

convinced myself to look forward to it and accept the challenge of running in an empty tank. I was determined to get it done, and not just going for the sake of putting the minutes in, but I went out with the objective of hitting my target. I ran the 30 min at a 7:17min/mile pace, not my best, but I focused on keeping my HR in my zone, and more importantly focused on my form and strides. The 30 min went faster than I anticipated, and not as bad. What the power of the brain and self-motivation, persuasion can make your body do is pretty impressive! I am glad I powered through this tough workout, and really think that it was an important one to go through.