200 Miler Because, Why Not?

Alright… I know I was going to give everyone a break, but this is “technically” not a race report! Even though I raced 5 70.3’s this year (3 virtual, 1 was with dad), I wanted to do something that felt more like a full. So with no races until May, I wanted to really challenge myself. Before taking recovery time then building into Ironman Tulsa, I wanted to ride 200 miles. In training I typically average around 20mph, so that’d put me right at 10 hours (hopefully 170-180W will be enough). Since I finished Madison in 10:00:32, I figured that would fill the void.

All Smiles at 6:30AM

Prep and Planning

I knew it was going to be a long day, so I chose to wear my race kit (it’s the most comfortable thing I own). I started out with 2 Gatorade bottles and my 35 oz aero bottle with water (300 calories). I also took 2 Cliff bars, 10 shot blocks and a Gu (900 calories). I figured this would be enough to get me past halfway before my first stop. My goal was 200 cal/hr, but I had no problem adjusting if I felt like I needed more. I targeted an average watt output of 165 for the first 100 and would increase from there if my legs felt good enough to do so.

 

How’d It Go?

Well it was definitely something. It certainly wasn’t as difficult as an Ironman, but it challenged me in a different way. I was out on the roads by myself for 9+ hours with no reason to keep riding other than internal motivation. That being said, my motivation to push hard was to simply get off my bike sooner. I took 1 potty stop at 40 miles and fuel stops at 120 & 150. Ready for some numbers???

Total Elapsed Time: 10 hours and 17 seconds

Riding Time/Pace: 9 hours and 19 minutes/21.5mph

Average Power: 183W (191 normalized)

Average HR: 137BPM

Elevation Gain: 5000 ft

The Deets:

I started the ride from my house as soon as it was light (6:30am). Luckily there was little traffic during the 3 miles it takes me to leave town, so my pace was good to start. The wind was already blowing at 8mph, and quickly increased to 12+ by 9am.

I needed a potty stop 40 miles into the ride and wasn’t too happy stopping so early. I quickly got back on and wanted to ride until I reached a gas station at mile 120 before pausing again. Any time I was fighting the wind, I threw my watt goal aside and was pushing in the 190-200 range, so my initial average of 165 quickly rose to 180W. I was just starting to run out of fluids as I rolled up to the Casey’s at 120. I refilled my bottles with Gatorade and snagged an extra Cliff Bar.

 

A lot of strange looks at Casey's 

I was at a 21mph average when I left, and I had a beautiful cross-tailwind for a 30 mile stretch south. I average around 26mph with the help, and it almost brought me to 22mph. From miles 120-150 I enjoyed the speed and sitting up whenever I wanted to stretch my sore neck. I got sick of sugar/Gatorade and wished I bought a bottle of water (stupid 3 for $4 deal…). When I got my last chance for aid at 150, I opted to stop 1 last time to refill a bottle with just water to make sure I had enough fluids to get home.

 

From this point on, I had 50 miles of straight headwind to get home. The good news was that the wind weakened in the late afternoon. This made a huge difference when it came to my average speed. I pretty much put my head down and stayed in aero as much as possible as I worked my way home. It wasn’t until mile 170 that my legs really started to bug me and I was struggling to maintain the 180 watts I had been holding. My shoulders and neck had been sore since the Casey’s, but I kept telling myself 30 miles is only 1.5 hrs if I can just hold 20mph. I don’t remember that last bit much, but I just wanted to be done. Ty was kind enough to come pick me up so I wasn’t riding in traffic all disoriented.

 

Would I do this again?

I am writing this a day after I finished, and I’d say yeah… I’d do it again. The effects on my body do feel similar* to an Ironman with my easy swim being challenging. I couldn’t catch my breath and was swimming 10s/100 slower than normal. If I were to ever ride much over 100, I’d want to at least have someone join me for part of it. A little company goes a long way, and it’d help to share the load and relax behind someone’s wheel for short stints. All in all, I’m so happy I set this silly goal for myself and I believe I came out a better and stronger cyclist for it.

 

Multiple athletes have said this, so I don’t know who to quote…but, “If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough”. This was something that I thought a lot about, because 200 miles actually scared me a bit. Especially since my longest ride was 120 miles from 3 years ago. So if you take nothing else from my musings, don’t be afraid to challenge yourself. The reward at the end is worth it.