Jersey Shore Century: Garmin Battery Fail

My buddy Mike and I set out to ride 100 miles this Saturday, between Sandy Hook NJ and Barnegate Inlet. We got it done in about 7 hours, with a mileage of 101.2. Unfortunately, since my Garmin battery died at mile 77, I only have data for about 75% of the ride. I use a Forerunner 405 which features a claimed battery life of 8 hours in training mode. I'm sure that claim does not include the use of cycling accessories. Mine gets about 5 1/2 hours of life on long rides, which means I won't be using it at Leadville next year.

The ride went well. I didn't have any of the foot problems which I suffered from on previous long rides. I attribute that improvement to my marathon training. On the other hand, from mile 80 on, I had really bad IT band tightness in my right leg. We had to stop a few times to stretch. At mile 90, I literally could not pedal my bike until I sat on the sidewalk and stretched. After that, it loosened up a bit, and I finished pretty strong. Mike had been talking of a sprint finish, but I wasn't sure if he was serious. I moved into the big ring around mile 99 in preparation, but the sprint never materialized. Afterward, my legs felt surprisingly snappy. I attribute that to marathon training as well.

For the rest of December and January, the plan is to work on flexibility and core. I need to get rid of these IT band issues.