3 weeks to Bolton and this week is supposed to be a final high-volume week before the taper into the race. 15 hours of planned training this week (the most ever by quite a bit) and I'm now laid low by a horrible ear/nose/throat thing. Light-headed, sore, tired, cranky, and nauseated (due to the delightful pus produced by tonsilitis) but also hungry. This is sub-optimal.
I should have seen it coming, given the last couple of days of training and how pants they've been. It was probably an early indicator that my innards were on the decline. The really annoying bit is that my longest brick ride/run before the race is scheduled for this weekend and it's pretty much the last time I get to try out any race nutrition changes. I was planning to factor in using Gatorade (I'd link to information on Gatorade, but their web site is so awful, there's no point) as well as solid food, given how tricky solid food is for a number of reasons if it's the only fuel; carrying enough of it, actually eating it, avoiding littering, digestion and other fun things. Gatorade is what is available at the aid stations on the bike course and I can't be self-reliant for drinks in a simple way throughout the 180km of that leg of the race, so I need to use the available aid and swap out bottles at least every 3 hours of cycling (so, probably twice over the bike course). Having not tried it before, I'm not sure if it plays nicely with my stomach under the stress of endurance sport conditions and it'd be stupidity to go into the race just hoping it'll be fine. I'll now need to rely on the final ride of any length left before the race which is the weekend after this one. If Gatorade turns out to be not good, I've got no time to find and try something else under difficult enough circumstances to be sure. Here's to hoping it is fine (and it seems to be for most people, regardless of whether it tastes OK or not).
No comments:
Post a Comment