Heating Up

Heat and humidity returned to the South this weekend; while the later part of last week was beautiful with temperatures in the mid-80s and low humidity, the weekend had temperatures in the 90s with humidity rising by the hour.  It was one of those weekends that when you step outside you feel as if you walked into a sauna.  That weather is great for a day at the beach, for your first century since January, not so much.

Friday evening was one of my favorite social events at Darden, Darden Days.  The entire school gets bused out to King's Family Vineyard (with breathtaking views) for some great music, free wine and BBQ.  Thankfully my friends have finally accepted my complete tri-dorkiness as they only looked at me with a raised eye brow when they realized I brought my own food.  I love pulled pork as much as the next person but eating it the day before a century ride just sounded like a bad idea.  So I packed a container with quinoa salad (will post the recipe in the future) and ate a healthy and organic meal.  After a great night with friends I got to bed around midnight and was excited for the big ride the next day.

I got  a bit of a late jump on Saturday, I had wanted to wake up by 7am to get on my bike by 8:30 am but of course left my apartment 2 hours late.  I finally got to the Church parking lot I've been using as my staging area just outside of Afton, VA and started by bike ride around 11:30 am.  The heat was really starting to come on strongly by this point, and my climb up Afton Mountain was BRUTAL.  I huffed and puffed up the mountain and was drenched in sweat by the time I reached the top.  Over the first 15 miles the ride climbs 2800 feet - in the humidity that felt like 10,000 feet!  During the climb my heart rate crested into the 160s which set the tone for the rest of the ride. 

Two weeks ago when I did an 80 mile route over the first 60 miles I averaged 16.7 mph, on Saturday I gained .5 mph and upped my average pace to 17.1 mph.  Most of the gain was on the climbs which is huge, my legs are getting stronger climbing up the hills and I'm able to sustain a much higher cadence.  More importantly my blood sugars remained stable the entire ride as my nutrition was spot on (except for the salt).

Given the nearly unbearable heat on Saturday I didn't have close to enough sodium or eletcrolytes in my nutrition mix.  I ran out of Thermolytes and had to use my backup Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes.  Endurolytes have about 1/2 the amount of sodium in them that Thermolytes do.  Given that by the end of my ride on Saturday I was dizzy, had a terrible head ache and could barely see straight.  As my clothes dried I was shocked to see the amount of salt on them, my black bib shorts turned almost entierly white.  In a word I was hyponatremic.

The last time I had felt that sick after a bike ride was 2 years ago after my first half ironman at Mooseman.  I ate as much salty food as I could Saturday night but it wasn't enough.  The ride on Saturday took quite a toll on my body so my blood sugars were a mess on Sunday.  I was supposed to run 2.5 hours on Sunday which I tried to get in twice.  I woke up at 8:30 am, and was to my running route by 10am.  When I left my apartment my blood sugar was 240 - a tad high but not too bad to start a 15 or 16 mile run.  10 minutes later when I got to the parking lot I was going to start my run from my blood sugar sky rocketed to 460!!!! 

At 460 it just isn't safe to start a run because of dehydration and the serious risk of kinesitosis.  In the short run it is very hard to take in nutrition when blood sugar is that high so starting a run is pretty much a no go at that point.  For the rest of the day I battled highs but tried to be as conservative as possible with my insulin as I wanted to get the run in.  I had planned to go for my run again at 5pm hoping the humidity would break by then.  Of course at 4pm when I started my pre-run prep my blood sugar began to drop.  I left my apartment with a blood sugar of 220 and by the time I started my run I was down to 206.  14 minutes into my run my blood sugar had dropped to 130 so I turned around to head back to my car, when I arrived my bs had slipped to 80.  Prior to my run I had a clif builder bar and a clif shot - both should have sustained my blood sugar well above the 130 it dropped to.  The issue was from batteling highs all day long there was way too much IOB.  I also believe that my system was thrown so out of whack from the day before that my body wsa in active recovery mode which will also promote higher blood sugars.

Thankfully this morning I'm finally feeling a ton better so it's time to go out for that 2.5 hour run!