Hi Running Mommy,

Some food I like to eat on really long rides:

Sushi-mmm- has carbs, protein and fat. Settles my stomach and lasts a long time. I only eat the more solid foods at the halfway point and beyond. I like the itty bitty ones with the seaweed wrap, or whatever it is, for biking. Not messy. I put six pieces in a little Ziplock, and carry a couple sets. (This is also one of my favorite pre-ride/race breakfasts and recovery meals!)

Chocolate milk. Same reasoning as sushi- has carbs, protein, and caffeine! Goes down easily, quenches my thirst, and I get about 540 calories in one shot. Also an excellent recovery food.

Pasta. I've carried snack-sized Ziplocks of leftover penne- it's wonderful!

Sharkies, Jelly Belly Sport Beans- I put those in a coin purse in my Bento and munch about 100 calories an hour, then eat something bigger every hour- say a Power Bar, Clif Bar, Luna Bar, Mojo Bar. All those bars are very different, so I take one or more of each, because you never know what will sound good at the time.

Fruit Trekker Bars. They are 100% fruit, come in mango, pineapple and bananna. 120 calories each. I carry a couple in my Bento and eat while I'm riding.

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Staying entertained. That's easy for me, since I ride on paved trails- I listen to Podcasts about triathlon training, endurance sports, interviews of people like Peter Reid and Andrea Fischer, etc. I only use one headphone so I can hear what's going on around me and have a conversation with anyone who passes.

The ride isn't the race. I stay "fresher" if I get off every couple hours and walk or sit on a bench to eat my snack- take off my gloves and helmet, and relax for 5-10 minutes. I even plan in a lunch stop at about halfway where I can stop for 10-20 minutes if I feel like it and even take off my shoes!

I am happy when I can ride "negative splits"- the second half of the ride takes less time than the first. I try not to go all-out on the first half, and then push it more in the second. I've found that the more comfortable I am with a distance, say 70 or 80 miles, I know how fast I can ride it and not use up everything. I like to feel, at the end, like I just had a nice ride, not like I will be laying in bed the whole next day. Because a good way to build up your total mileage is to do a long ride Saturday, and then half that distance Sunday. Then tack on 10 more miles the next weekend. Then on the third weekend, cut back to 20 miles less. Then the fourth weekend, go further. (50,25--60,30--40,20--60,30--70,35--50,25--70,35--80,40--60,30) At this point, 60 miles feels like a little jaunt!

In the last third, and especially the last hour, you might get really mentally fatigued, or feel like you're going to bonk. This is probably your brain running out of fuel- it's the first thing to go. Good time for a _substantial_ snack. It's easy to let the fueling slide when you feel like you're almost done- but you've long ago used up any stored reserves and need to keep a steady supply coming in, even though you might feel so tired you don't want to bother. It only takes 5-10 minutes after a nice snack to feel the results. It also really helps to just take a short break, even a couple minutes, say to stop at a water fountain even though you don't need to, or whatever.

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My absolute favorite shorts are the Trashy Cat Satin Shorts. I love the fit, love the chamois, love everything. And I am not built like the models on the site, but the shorts still fit me. :-)

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Another thought on training. I was listening to Peter Reid yesterday. He's won Kona three times. He lives in a pro triathlete community. When they all train, he is training at an aerobic level, whereas they are all going all-out, doing a lot of anaerobic training, etc. So in training events, he's always coming in last, but on race day, he wins. They say, "Peter, how do you do it?" and he says he just learned to train right. He talks about how he worked with Mark Allen to determine the heart rate levels, and he closely monitors that. (You can listen to the podcast here:

http://www.enduranceradio.com/archives012006.htm

Oh, and I also listened to Andrea Fischer, pro female triathlete whose interview you can find here

http://zentri.blogspot.com/

who spoke about how easy the bike is, so the other two disciplines get neglected in training.

One of the two, I want to say Peter Reid, said that it really all comes down to the run.

Good luck with your training!

Nanci