Larabars Fuel 62-mile Ride

In spite of the drizzly weather, we got out for a 62 mile bike ride yesterday, out to Tiger Mountain and back. The uphill on Tiger is not so steep, but steady and fairly long, but quite doable -- and the downhill is totally worth the climb. What a fun descent! I took apricots and nuts, as well as a couple of Larabars on this ride, and was reminded just how much I love LÄRABARs. I love that they have 5-6 foods as ingredients and nothing else. I think I'll try making a homemade version, but these are going to be my go-to barin the meantime. This time I tried Cinnamon Roll and Ginger Snap flavors. The latter was a little heavy on the ginger for my taste, but the Cinnamon Roll was great (ingredients: ■Dates ■Walnuts ■Almonds ■Raisins ■Cashews ■Cinnamon). I'm looking forward to working my way through all the flavors.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to give my Bikilas much of a trial, as I've decided to obey the pain in my ankle and lay off for a little while. I did a few barefoot runs and stopped at the very first sign of the ankle pain, which happens at about 1 to 1.5 miles. I can run 4-5 before it really gives me problems, but I figured I'd try backing off on the running for a few weeks and focus on cycling instead, particuarly since I've been eyeing the upcoming June 20 Livestrong Challenge century.

I finally made an appointment to see my podiatrist again. Last time he couldn't/wouldn't diagnose this ankle problem because all he could see was my PF (I think he thought the ankle issue would go away with the PF, but it didn't). So I'd like to (1) see if he can diagnose it -- possibly with the MRI he mentioned, and (2) get a "prescription" to see a PT so I can work with someone to get it fixed (I need the prescription if I want my insurance to cover it). My attempts at strengthenging/barefooting/reducing mileage have helped, but haven't made it go away -- and it happens both on the bike and the running. Time to look for more help!

Look at all those rest days over the past two weeks! Eeks, well, I suppose I meant it when I said I'd try to give the ankle a break.

5/30 (Sun) Cycling 62 mi
5/28-29 --
5/27 (Thu) Weight training, 1 mile running (Bikilas)
5/25-26 --
5/24 (Mon) Cycling 52.5 mi.
5/23 (Sun) Run 2.8 mi. (Bikilas)
5/22 (Sat) Cycling 12 mi.
5/21 --
5/20 (Thu) Weight training,
5/19 Run 1.2 mi. barefoot
5/17-18 --
5/16 Beat the Bridge Run 5 mi. (VFF Flows)