Welcome to the jungle...

Run: 1:28:15

Just finished my long run for the week at Yargo, and boy was it steamy. The humidity lately has really added an extra challenge to my workouts. Mostly to make sure that I'm prepared nutritionally and hydration wise before I head out. Today I did not feel prepared but I was able to grit this one out. If it was a 2 hour run though I may have been in a lot of trouble. I've got to start planning ahead what I'm going to eat and drink before I start my long workouts.

monster month

AM Run: 45 mintues
PM bike: 1 hour 1 minute, 30 seconds. (20.3 miles)

After yesterday's unplanned day off and some training schedule re-arranging for the week, I got back on track today with a run in the morning and a ride in the evening. Both were just mileage workouts. Although the bike turned into somewhat of a speed workout with the impending storm moving in over my head as I passed the halfway point of the ride. This month has been my most training hours for triathlon ever with over 41 hours logged, and I still have one day left in July. This week I'm wrapping up with the Covington century (100 miles) on Saturday so my hours for the week will be nearly 14. Covington should be fun, last year there were around 700 cyclist!

I also signed up for the Philadelphia Marathon yesterday. I'm pretty excited about it - the goal is to really see what running the distance is like and contemplate weather I am capable of the full Ironman distance, which concludes with the marathon distance...after a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike ride. What the hell am I thinking? We'll find out I soon enough I guess.

Edurolytes

Brick- 3 hours
Ride: 2h 27m - 19.4 mph avg - 47.0 miles.
Run: 31:49 - 4 miles

Endurolytes saved my butt today. Those tiny capsules of just the right amount of electrolytes seem to do the trick when your losing lots of fluids. I'm not so sure I adjusted my fluid intake enough as the temperature came up through my workout this morning. To much fluids and your electrolytes of diluted to much to be useful, to little and well - just dehydration sets in. I wasn't far off today, maybe another 20oz bottle of water thrown in somewhere would have been helpful especially with the temperature in the 90's by the time I hit the run. I did discover a type of power bar that goes down more like a smoothie than a solid. Which is why they call it "smoothie" I guess. It seems to melt in your mouth a good bit as you chew it and goes down pretty easily. I'm trying to get away from to much solids for refueling during long workouts and my races. I don't think the nutrients are broken down and utilized by the body fast enough. I'm looking for that perfect combination of mostly a liquid diet and a small amount of semi-solids (gels perhaps). All in all it was a good workout and I felt very strong on the bike but I think the heat started to get the best of me on the run.

Weekend re-cap

I finished out my recovery week with a run on Saturday and a bike ride to work on Sunday. The run went fine - I brought Scout along for the 37 minute jaunt. She really enjoys going for runs but does much better at Yargo on the trails where I can let her off the leash. She can stop and smell..among other things..with out interrupting my run.

The bike ride into work was pretty draining for a number of reasons. I was up late the night before for Naomi's party - "dirty hippie fest". It was really humid out and the ride is just plain hilly. On top of all of it I was wearing that back pack again. I had planned on riding home but after getting their I decided that this would be outside of the relm of what I would call recovery. So I took Naomi out to dinner for her Birthday instead. Monday would be a big day with a 3 hour brick on the training plan.

Friday Swim

Today I hit the pool up for about a 45 minute workout. I've been feeling very good in the water lately - really ever since the Chattanooga race. I think doing some short fast stuff to build strength has really helped. My main set was 12 x 100's on 1:30 alternating freestyle and backstroke. I held around 1:11's on the free and 1:15's on the back. I think this is a good set to test my limits on and I'm going to try to do some 100's on faster and faster intervals as we go. I'd like to be able to make them on 1:10 to 1:15 easily. I logged around 2500 total yards. The weekend I will wrap up my recovery week with a 2 hr bike and an hour run...taking it pretty easy of course.

Bricky McBrickington

This morning I had a fantastic brick with Naomi. She is really improving on her riding and our average speed when we ride together is getting much faster lately. We started our brick with a 20 mile bike ride and averaged about 17.5 mph - I think previously our fastest together around this distance was right around 16. We picked up another training buddy for the run...Scout! So the three of us set out on a 30 minute run at a nice easy pace. The weather was warm today but unusually the humidity was pretty much non-existent. This really made the difference in that the breeze actually helped cool you off.

I'm off to the pool later to get a swim in.

Mt. Mineral Springs

This morning I rode into work. The ride is about 23 miles and you gain about 400 feet in altitude - so it's mostly up hill. I wore a back pack that weighs about 20 pounds with all my clothes and lunch in it. It really makes me work hard! It gives me some incentive to maintain my weight, I can't imagine riding as much as I do weighing 190 pounds. Even this basic 20 mile or so ride to work was pretty tough.

This afternoon I'm looking forward to a short, mostly down hill ride to my parents house where I'm meeting up with a family friend to help me get the flat tire on my motorcycle fixed.

max cycle number one complete

So I've set my last 13 weeks of training up into three cycles. Three "on" weeks followed by one recovery week done three times. The last time I end with the taper into the South Carolina Half Ironman. I just finished the first cycle and it was pretty successful. I completed weekly training hours of 9, 10, and 11. The middle week included an Olympic distance race at the Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon. My swim and bike were very solid, but I sold out on the run and made excuses the entire time. I was 21:33 for the mile swim, 1:09:34 for the 26 mile bike (22.5 mph avg) and then an awfully slow 48:59 for the 10k run. I'm fully capable of low 40's for the run. I made the mistake of squeezing a hammer gel into my mouth right at the start of the run with out washing it down with any water - it caused some stomach cramping through out the run. My legs felt fine but I let the stomach issues get in the way of running fast. Even though I've completed some 30 triathlons I'm still learning things every time I race.

Last week, the final week of the cycle, was pretty tough. It included a 3 hour brick, a 11 mile run, and a 3 hour ride. The brick and run were solid - but the run took placed on Thursday night, followed by a brutal day on the bike Friday. I rode 55 miles to work on a hilly route, then rode 24 home from work after standing up all day. My legs were dead! I'm feeling very strong this week though on the recovery week which will only total 8 hours. Then we'll be back on it next week picking up my next three week cycle of 11, 12, and 13 hours.

feels like burning

I got up before work this morning and head out for 20 miles on the bike. It was the first ride with the fabulous new wheels. They make the bike accelerate and hold the turns so much nicer. I went for it a little bit and averaged just a touch under 20 mph on a pretty hill route. I definitely was feeling better towards the end when my body started adjusting to the lactic acid it was producing. I think it's also time to add those aero bars back on - sitting up and letting the wind catch my wide shoulders is getting old. My last three workouts of the week happen to be my longest - mostly due to my work and coaching right now, there's just not time during the week to get 2 hour + workouts in. I have a 70 minute run, a 2 hour bike, and a 2 hour brick to wrap up the week. I have tomorrow and Sunday off work and no swimming so it shouldn't be an issue getting this done.

swimming!

Had a fun little workout with the summer league team I coach this evening. It's nice to workout with others even if they are half my age. It was a good mix - did some 100 repeats with some speed play involved and also some really short stuff - which really isn't to my benefit but the kids need it! I'll take the pool time and mileage any way I can get it. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get 30 miles in on the bike along with the long run for the week of 70 minutes.

Weekend + Mon to Wed

This past weekend the training went pretty well. I ended up with a 38 mile bike on Saturday with Naomi. We started off by riding up to Lanier to watch Tracy compete in the Irongirl triathlon. It was fun to watch someone else do the racing and it always gets the competitive juices flowing. Tracy did great - I think she's going to be addicted to triathlon. That same evening I went to Yargo with Scout and ran 8 miles on the trails. I felt sluggish - it was pretty sticky out though.

Monday AM I got on the bike for a 75 minute ride and logged about 24 miles. I'm still adjusting to that new crank size on my bike. I think in the long run it will make me stronger but right now it just hurts. There is no spinning right now and coming from a compact crank when I spun everything, it's a big change. The idea is to get to the point where I feel like I'm spinning the bigger crank therefor I'm probably going to be moving a lot faster than I was with the compact.

This morning, Wednesday AM, I headed to Yargo again with Scout for a 6 mile run before work. I felt much better than Sunday's run but still not great. I think the hours I'm up on my feet at work plus coaching swimming is making my legs feel a bit lethargic on my workouts. Coaching is over in a few weeks though, so I'm hoping be able to devote that time to recovering from workouts instead of standing up an extra 12-15 hours a week.

In other news, my new wheels came in for my bike yesterday - super excited! Maybe I'll post some pictures of the complete bike with new wheels on here after I put them on today.