It's The Fuel Dummy

I decided to do the 55 mile route at the Tour de Donut today instead of the 28 mile chip timed course. After all, one of the points of all this cycling is to explore my long distance endurance. I just can't rack up enough 3 hour training runs to really understand what it takes to avoid bonking. The downside to the 55 mile route is that there is no official chip time, just my bike computer.

So today I went the full 55 and treated it like a race. No drafting, no pacelines. Just the road, my bike and I. I did stop at one of the four rest stops, at the 20 mile point, for a short time. This was to adjust my rear brakes, refill my water bottle and grab some food. Otherwise I raced.

A perfect race is where you feel stronger on the second half than the first half. This happened to me twice before in races longer than 2 hours duration. These were the 30k run in Sugarland in 2005 and the Houston Masters 25k run in 2006. This year, I can add the Tour de Donut 55 miler to this list. 55 miles completed in 2:53:15 cycle time or a pace of 19mph and an average HR of 145. The first half of the race was done at an average pace of 18.3mph, so the second half was at 19.7mph. Most of the speed was in the final 15 miles, where I was flying at 21-23 mph. Only three single riders and two pacelines passed me the whole 55 miles and no one in the final 15.

There were about three or four times during the ride that I started flagging, took some GU or Powerbar, washed it down with sports drink, and found a new gear. Fuel is key to success. Eat and drink right and you'll be the Energizer Bunny. Duh. Maybe I'll remember that when I do my next marathon.