Longest OWS to date, then run, then bike!

SWIM: 1.86 miles in 63 minutes. 3rd NT OWS, did 3 laps. 68-70F water, 80F air!

RUN: 12.6 miles in 1hr 56 mins. WU 15 min, then 30 min aerobic @75%, then 6x20s building to 90% with 1 min rest, then 4x 1.5miles (0.25 mile rest) @75%. CD to <60%.

Finally a good day at NT. No rain and no wind. Might even say summer is here! The water felt much cooler because the air was warmer, but once you got into the lake it was a very comfortable temp. Today's goal was 3 laps close to race pace, and to stay fueled and hydrated to avoid cramps. Success!

I put last week's swim lesson to good use and found a powerful pull in my stroke. The first lap slid by without my usually 5-10mins of warm-up. I settled into a good rhythm and finished in 20:46! Up and out of the water, hustle back for round 2. Same thing: good rhythm, powerful feel, maybe not fast but faster than I used to be. Another 20 min loop. To put this in perspective, 1000y in a pool takes me 19.5 minutes. OK, maybe the course isn't exactly 1000m. Up and out of the water, hustle back for more.

Round 3 wasn't as smooth, I got distracted. My right ankle, which has taken to popping again, started to hurt. A 2 on a scale of 10, but enough to make me aware and worry about it. If I kick, will I kick it out of place? What will happen on the run later? What if this happens in a race? That's all it takes for me to lose some form swimming, it's probably why my swimming is horrible at the end of the day--so much on my mind! So I let my foot drag behind me and kept going. Other problems surfaced, such as a tightness in my left quad muscles, up close to my hip. I think I was stretching there, using muscles to hold a straight position in the water. I did a bicycling-kick to work the legs out and kept going. I started swimming a little crooked, re-adjusted and kept going. All was well, until another problem revealed itself--a swimmer came up behind me and hit my ankle.

OK so this ankle thing has to be taken care of! I decide that for next week, I'll tape it and see if it stays in place. In the end, it never was popped out like I feared, but I don't need the distraction!

The IM swim is 2.4 miles, which would be one more loop of the lake. Only one more loop! If I hadn't been out of time (lake closed at 10am), I woulda and coulda done it. AND, I coulda done it in 1hr 20 mins!! So hopefully I won't need the 2hr 20min time allotted by the race to finish the swim.

Off to the run. I didn't start the run until 45 mins later, at 11am. I was dizzy from getting out of the water and still swaying a bit 30 mins later. It's either the horizontal-to-vertical switch or I'm swinging my head side to side while swimming. I wasn't dizzy so much as I was not steady on my feet. Something else to work on. The run program for today was complex, but it sounded interesting. Breaking up 2hrs into intervals makes the time fly by, so I've decided to race my IM in intervals. haha.

The day had really warmed up by this point, but I was feeling fantastic. I took off planning to return to the truck in 45 mins for water. To do this, I didn't want to run inside the subdivision. Too much concrete and too little space, so I planned to run on the surrounding rural roads. When I did this 2 weeks ago, the fact that there was no shoulder on the road was remedied by running in the dirt along the road when a car approached. Today, however, this caused problems because the dirt was soft. My ankles and knees felt the pull and twist of running in sandy mud (in fact the next morning as I type this they still feel it, especially my right ankle!). 40 mins in, I passed the turn to go back into the subdivision. At the same time, a group of bikers from my club passed me. I figured I'd take the next turn in so I could finish my interval without the temptation of stopping.

What next turn? There was no next turn. I kept going, going, wondering, soon passed the next subdivision. I knew the road I was on would eventually connect to the front entrance road of NewTown, so once I finished the interval I kept going. Finally I was rewarded by a trail heading into the 2nd subdivision! A trail! No traffic! I was getting sick of cars and road debris. And this is a planned set of communities, so this trail should connect everything together and I'll get some water soon.

I had by this time finished my long intervals and started the 6x20s. I thought these would be refreshing but instead they were damned hard. If I had to pinpoint what wore me out, it would be those. Dang were these tough! Maybe I won't do these intervals in IM.

The trail was smooth, quiet, and passed manicured houses with nobody playing in the backyard. Something on TV I guess. I could see NT off to my right and kept waiting for the trail to ... turn left? What? Yup, left. It dumped unceremoniously onto the narrow highway that leads to the main entrance of NT. Who the h*ll ends a trail on a bad highway?!? Now the traffic is so bad I'm running in the mud the entire time. This was miserable. Steady cars, rocks, garbage, pollution, and mud. I wanted OFF that road. By the time I reached one of the side entrances, my right foot was bitching about conditions and a tendon pulled up tight. I reached the truck at 60 mins, hot and thirsty. I rested, hydrated, and took off again. Although tired and hot, I was still feeling good. I let myself walk during rest intervals. I finished slightly short of goal (4 minutes) but I didn't think 4 minutes would really change the course of history.

Off to the bike. During the run, I thought I'd scrap the bike ride. Or at least stay off main roads, I was too tired to be dancing with cars and feared making a mistake. But once back at the truck, a ride sounded wonderful. There would be a breeze, my legs could stretch out, and I'd be moving again. Got the bike off the rack, shoes on, ...helmet....where's my helmet...check again...and again...no way....heeeeeeerrreeee helmet....oh NO! DAMN IT!! So much for the bike ride.

In the end, a 3hr day, not the 4.25 that was planned. Not the end of the world, but I want to start getting my teeth into these epic IM weekends and I've yet to do so. Sunday's plan is a long ride and a run, and in the end I might be glad I save some energy. My right leg from the knee down is beat up from the mud and ankle problems, maybe less is more on a day like today's.