98 degrees

If you've been to my facebook profile, you would know that I am, or at least was, a closet 98 Degrees fan. They were definitely the best of the 90's boy bands. And as far as I'm concerned Nick Lache's career ended way to early. His marriage to Nicole Simpson was similarly cut short, but I digress...

The 98 degrees I'm talking about now is the temperature on my ride today. Add the 15 mph headwind and I felt like there was blast furnace in my face for the ride home from work, which included the North Ogden Divide. When its that hot and the HRM is screaming at you just because of the heat, I'm not sure how effective the ride really is. Just as I started the climb up the divide I just about called it quits and headed straight for home. But for better or worse I kept climbing.

I'm really paying the price now though. I am exhausted and the heat is radiating from me. I've put plenty of fluids back in my body so hopefully I wake up tomorrow feeling better.

Last week saw some good rides with some intervals and short race tempo stints. I'll be racing this next weekend in Sanpete. I'm going to experiment with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) loading and see if I can tell a difference and not get the stomach issues. The easiest to read article about loading I have found is here: http://www.limitlessathletics.com/Index/sodiumbicarbonateloading.php.

From what I've read, baking soda works best for short, intense efforts, when lactate acid buildup is greatest. That really doesn't fit for LOTOJA. But would loading assist me during the short, intense efforts I'll be doing to keep up on the climbs? Or is it too late in the season and too lcose to LOTOJA to throw something like this in? Any input would be appreciated on this subject!