My plan was to begin tapering for the 508 after my intense week of training. But I'm still 26 days out, I was feeling great, and I needed to take my newly built up Scott Addict on a long ride (pictures to come). End result? A very enjoyable ~8 hour, 143 mile ride out in East County, 8800 feet of climbing, in warm temperatures (probably around 90).
I didn't have my power today (don't have my Quarq installed on my new bike yet) , but I was able to approximate my endurance pace by keeping my HR around 160 on climbs (around 80% of my max). After years of training almost exclusively with power, I'm learning that, at least for ultra training and racing, heart rate may be a more important pacing tool. Today, despite the heat and a relatively fast pace, keeping my heart rate low kept my fluids and calories processing, and I felt great all the way through the ride. It's looking good for the 508!
At this point, I know that there isn't really enough time to make significant fitness gains - and I just need to be concerned with maintaining fitness and coming into the race well rested. But I do think I can still make gains with heat acclimation, and with fine tuning my hydration and nutrition plan. Really, I'm just enjoying being out on the bike, and I don't think that's harmful at this point.
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