On the Road to Kona in a Snowstorm

I've been doing the Spinervals 32-day Challenge since December 1st. We're in the home stretch, but this week has been pretty tough. We've been joking on the Spinervals Facebook page that every DVD ends with Coach Troy saying that the next day should be a rest or recovery day, and yet, we find another grueling intervals/big gear/strength training on and off the bike session scheduled. This week, I did the Pain Cave on Monday, which is rated 9.8 out of 10 in intensity--lots of intervals. Then I did Bending Crank Arms on Tuesday, which is a 9.5, and involves big gear work on the bike, and squats with hand weights and isometric squats off the bike. Yesterday (Wednesday) was Ultra Conditioning 2.0, rated 9.3, and had one-legged pedaling on the bike and core off the bike. A huge Nor'easter was forecast to move in last night, and predictions were for 13-18 inches of snow. So, I thought since I'd likely be stuck in the house all day, maybe I'd do Kona, instead of waiting for Saturday, when it is scheduled. Seemed like a great plan...until I got up this morning. It was a snowstorm for sure, several inches already, so I was going to be stuck home. Check. My son had to go to work (nervous about that, still waiting for him to come home), and my husband would be out plowing all the neighbors and relatives all day, so I'd have the house to myself. Check. Hip flexors very fatigued and sore from yesterday's workout. Wait a minute, that wasn't part of the plan! Now, Coach's notes for the ride say 3-6 hours, and he has 6 1/2 hours plugged into the calendar for today. Last night, when I was all high on snowstorm excitement and leftover chocolate pie, I was thinking maybe I'd do at least five hours. No big deal. Then DOMS reared its ugly head. Always takes 24 hours to kick in. So, I had decided before I even got on the bike, I'd only be doing three hours. Did I mention that we have a 5 1/2 hour, 100 mile ride scheduled for Tuesday, New Years Day, the last day of the 32-day Challenge? The first hour went ok, except that my hips weren't liking the aero position. I checked my stats after the first hour, wished l had written them down, but they seemed pretty good. Think I was averaging 16.6 mph. My one issue I always face is, I can't do the gears Coach suggests and the cadence. I either need an easier gear to do the cadence, or stay in the suggested gear and let my cadence drop. I was also finding today that if I hit the cadence target, my heart rate, power and speed all dropped. So, I mostly went for the Big 3, and didn't worry about cadence. My HR and power were solidly in Zone 3 range. All good. Except pushing that bigger gear made my legs start to tire. Disc 1 ends at 1:55 into the ride, and I was happy to take a break. I did a quick bathroom break, put on a dry shirt and grabbed a dry towel, and recorded my stats: avg rpms-72, avg HR-142, avg power-165, avg mph-16.0 (oh, oh!), distance-30.74 mi. Hmmm. I polished off one big bottle of Heed after 90 min, and was eating two Gu Chomps every 30 min or so. The third hour got ugly, especially the last 45 min. I was moving around so much on the bike, because everything seemed hard. Standing, sitting with hands on bar ends, aero, back to sitting up, back to standing. Aero was almost impossible, I could almost hear my hip flexors screaming, then whining, and finally just the occasional whimper. I continued to do Chomps, then a gel, plus the Heed, so I wasn't bonking. Felt good, except I couldn't generate any power from my core. It felt like survival by the end, and I was sure my numbers had tanked in that last hour. But, when I slid off the bike and had a look, they actually weren't all that bad: 3:00:07, avg rpms-71, avg HR-140, avg watts-161, avg speed-15.8, distance-47.6. That puts me at around a 6 1/2 hour Ironman bike, which is about what I always thought I would do, based on my past riding experience. I can do a century in about 5 1/2 hours, but that's on a road bike and drafting in a pack. Right now, two hours later, my hips feel like jelly. So, lemonade from lemons, considering how tired my hips were, I actually think if I were rested, I would've done much better! And, it was really fun, looking at the beautiful tropical footage, while a snowstorm raged outside my window. This is likely the closest I'll get to Kona. Someday, I'll do the entire DVD.