This will be my most difficult training day yet this year.  As i'm prepping for the half ironman i want to get in a 56 plus mile bike ride and follow that with a run of at least an hour and today is the day.  the weather is not looking so good, but the temperature isn't that bad. I'm using my Rever Reach water container for the first time and LOVED it.  It attaches to the back of my saddle and a tube runs along the cross bar and right between my aero bars so i can just lean forward and suck in a small amount of water any time i want.  I added a bottle of water with want more energy to one of my cages for purpose of electrolyte replacement.   I also brought gels and two different kinds of bars.

I set my goal to ride the first half at a slower pace and easier heart rate.  I'm going north on 9W for an hour or so and then turning back and maybe repeating.  Just watching the weather closely and don't want to end up 30 miles away and stuck in a downpour.  The first two hours my hr was 134bpm which is apporpriate for a long ride.  For the second half i set out for new territory.  Went south past the GWB and into palisades park which i heard is really hilly.  The road had very little traffic, but this old road could use some work.  I had to be very cautious on the down hills between the broken pavement, small tree branches and the shaded environment all lead to difficulty seeing the terrain well.  Really beautiful though and definately steeper hills than i have climbed in a long time.  Spent a bit of time out of the saddle.  I stopped for a gel at one point and asked two other cyclests where the road led.  They said about 3 miles further it would dump out onto 9w (i'm going north again now).  It was time to turn back, but i may start my next ride here next time. This second half i did not work as hard as i wanted to.  My HR was only 3bpm higher than the first half, but i was really getting tired of being on the bike and didn't feel like pushing any harder on these big hills

I completed my ride in 3 hours 45 minutes with very little stopping.  I covered 57 miles with an average speed of 15.2mph.

Back at the car i changed into running shorts and shoes.  Grabbed my handy water bottle and stopped into the bike shop to use the bathroom and inquire whether my bike rack replacement parts had come in.  Also locked up my bike outside the shop.  This system worked out well, although there were probaby 10 minutes between the bike and run.  Certainly not ideal.

The sun is out now and it's pretty humid so i had to decide between a fairly flat run in the sun or a hilly shaded run.  I chose shade and headed downhill to the palisades park again.   I always feel good getting off the bike so probably took it a little too fast in the beginning.  I had a gel right before the run and was feeling good.  My goal was to keep my HR between 156 and 162bpm, but that was not going to be possible with all these hills.  I was so glad to be off the bike and my mind was in a much better place now so i just went for it.  Ended up running  the 8 miles in 1hr 12min at a 9mm pace and HR ave of 165.

This is by far the longest training i'v done.  Almost 5 hours! and it really wasn't that taxing.  I was dying for a bagel with lox and cream cheese so went on the hunt before driving home which could take 45 minutes.  I didn't have any more food left and will remember to bring more bars and at least a piece of fruit with me next time.  This crappy town of Leonia has nothing open on Sundays.  Over just 1/4 mile there ws a deli, bagel shop and a bakery all closed.  So disapointed.  Drove home and bought one from a place around the corner from me and got all the satisfaction from that bagel and lox I was looking for.  Had a simple dinner of almond crusted roasted chicken over salad greens that night for dinner along with a cup of a mixed salad of beans and vegetables.  Followed by a cupcake.  No dout i can eat a cupcake after all that training today with no regrets!