memorial day cook out

Bike 85 miles, Run 1.8 miles
[Bike 5:27, Run 14:55]
2 x Mansfield Dam/Spicewood loop, 1 x Cuernavaca loop = lots of hills all day
Start temp: 70 degrees at 6am, End temp: 93 degrees at noon
Nutrition:  6 bottles of water (120 oz), 6 scoops EFS electrolyte (600 cal), 1000 calories of Larabar, fig bars, raisins, almonds.

Honestly I was not looking forward to this ride. I would have rather slept in and eaten pancakes on this day off. It took me some serious mental prep to get my mind around it. I went in strong and positive. Just get the work done. I only have one more long ride after this. Then I don't have to ride long in the heat ever again if I don't want to.

It was very pleasant when I started, cool with the sun just coming up. By 9 it was starting to heat up, and by 10 it was an oven out there. Having a breeze from riding kept it bearable, but there were a few large hills that I couldn't get any wind because I was going so slow. These were pretty much miserable and there was nothing to do but keep pedaling and know I would get a breeze soon. My nutrition worked fine other than my water being lukewarm at the end and not very appealing to drink. I'd say that successful nutrition in 90 degrees alone made the day a success. In the past, I would have gotten it wrong and ended up a cooked dehydrated mess on the pavement. Today I was merely hot at the end, probably unavoidable.

It seemed very hard at the beginning when I wasn't warmed up, harder than it should. I knew my legs were sore from the Crossfit, but were they THAT sore? My average speed was only about 14.5mph and I was working hard. It took me until mile 20 to realize that I had been riding with my front brake rubbing the tire. The minute I adjusted it, things got a lot easier. A whole lot easier, and my speed went up. I did some of the hardest hills with that on. Sweet :( Ok, so that was a learning experience. I definitely need to have a bike mechanical checklist for race day.

Brick run - I forced myself to do it. It would have been so easy to be done after the ride. The training plan said to do 30 minutes, but in the heat, my only goal was to run long enough to get the biking stiffness out and 15 minutes was enough.  After riding the triathlon bike today, my lower back was sore during the run and my hip flexors weren't too happy either. Good data point. Is there anything I can do at this point to make the run a little more comfortable? Perhaps some extra core work so I stay strong?