Day 72 - Wednesday

Wednesday

A strange and fulfilling day. After a nice lie in bed, and a later start I worked through the morning with a pretty focused mindset. Achieved some tasks that needed doing at was ready to have a 'quick' workout by about 1600h.

Gym

I decided on a workout which would make me feel pumped after! I opted to do chest and abdominals, I pushed hard in the gym, blowing out the cobwebs of another naval day. I was going pretty well actually, especially during decline bench press and the incline dumbbell press exercises! Started seeing just a touch more development there! My abdominals were feeling like they had plateaued but after yesterday I knew I could keep going! I maintained a good training rhythm for around 90 minutes.

Spin

I was intending to do some endurance cardio today. Initially I was going to run, but the inclement weather made the decision for an indoor session for me. I then decided on a short spin and a short swim. Have you ever gotten so into a flow, that you've lost track of 'time', even though you know how long you've been going for? Well, today that was the case. I was spinning really comfortably, averaging 95rpm, with a steady low heart rate 110-115bpm in a nice gear similar to my normal riding gear on my Cannondale. I saw 30 minutes fly past, then 45, 60....90 and well, after I realised how close to riding 50km I was - I decided to stay put until then. I ended up riding 54.1km in 120 minutes. Not bad, and although the saddle and riding position isn't perfect on a spin bike, I was pretty comfortable throughout, even when my butt started to get sore at 50km! A very pleasing time.

Gels & Energy Products

I wanted to test out some electrolyte gels to see which ones would be suitable (for my glutardyness) for when I start running beyond 20-30km in preparation for my marathon in September. I wanted to test to see if could go a little farther after taking a gel, and to see how my body would react. I took an Endura brand gel in my pocket. Since I've tried the dextrose ones, and the GU Chomps (which are quite good on runs), I wanted to give a thicker gel a try. This one was espresso flavoured which was quite nice at the 30 minute mark. I made sure to hydrate throughout my session, but did down a little extra fluids after the gel (as directed on the packet). I found it to taste good, go down easy, and most impressive of all - I have had no reactions from the maltodextrin. I found my ride focus was improved, but that might just be due to listening to my iPod for a change of music! Plus conversation with a sailor riding alongside me for around 30 minutes made light work of the first quarter! I'll be talking about these gel things a little more in the future, when I get to test on some long runs.

Needless to say, after 3.5hrs of training, I was getting hungry and decided to call it a night. Now I need to get back into my packing...Going home in 2 more sleeps!