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Passing the Taco Test...

Sunday, 24 April 2016 00:10

By Brad Mitchell (obsessivetripulsive.weebly.com)

I felt like I had a big mental breakthrough tonight on my bike ride. I worked until mid-afternoon then headed to the pool and did my 3300 yard workout. The kids got off the bus and we did the snack/homework/play thing. Today's (Tuesday) bike training was by far the longest mid-week bike workout I have done since I starting in triathlon. It appears that is the beginning of the long course beast!  It was a simple ride to follow - 2 hours at 190-200 watts, which for me right now is not exactly lolly-gagging it. Last year I'm pretty sure I did not average 200 watts for any of the many short-course races I did and those rides were over with in about 37 minutes....

I love my 11 mile loop. It begins at my house and is like a big triangle with mostly wide shoulders to ride on and good surfaces. The first third is straight and fast, second third more of a varied elevation (and almost always a head wind) and the last third has a BIG hill I like to call, "Old S#*ttY S*#t Hill" Today it was a little colder than I like on the bike (because I'm a wuss in the cold) and the roughly 30 oz of fluids I took in on the first 3 laps was trying to fit in my by now, grape sized bladder. It was too cold to pee on my bike and I was wearing bibs and layers so I would have to get pretty much naked on the side of the road to pee. I didn't fancy ending up on the news in some scene from Deliverance so I held it in but that was not the worst of it. READ MORE