I wanted to, but I didn't want to

SWIM: I wanted to swim, but I didn't want to, so I didn't.
RUN: Didn't want to do this either, but I did it anyway: 6 miles in 58 mins.

I woke up on time this morning, but the mere idea of sleeping put me back to sleep. Which is unfortunate because this is the last week of outdoor swimming at CSP! That was the biggest reason I wanted to go--I won't see that pool again until next JUNE.

On top of the fatigue and lack of interest, my arms shoulder and back are wore out from some overhead work I've been doing at the house. The medallion is almost finished, and so is my swim season if I keep it up.

The rest of the morning was awful too. I had a lousy breakfast of pickens here and pickens there. Then a long day, sitting at my desk, getting stale. I was going to run over lunch but another heat wave came into town and I decided that if I'm feeling tired and sick the heat won't help any. So I pushed it later. And later. And later, til finally it was 6:20pm before I headed out the door. My nutrition and hydration were awful, yet I still wanted to run.

Actually I just wanted to hit the Reset button on the entire day, but life doesn't work that way.

Out the door, with the plan of doing the ~55min drills workout. I felt good the first 7-8 mins, then started to suffer. Then I ran into BE who just finished IML and chatted with him. I'd hoped some of his postIM energy would inspire me. I did. For about 0.5 mile.

This run sucked. By the time I started the drills I was ready to quit. By the time I reached 4 miles I was really ready to quit. It was about then that I noted my HR--high 160's! I was barely moving! :/

So I ditched the running drills and started to focus on HR. This was my first run since early this summer with HR so I didn't have a target range in mind. But this didn't feel like a 165+ effort. More correctly, the effort to run was high, it's just that the pace wasn't high. Key distinction to make. I ended up WALKING to bring my HR down to 120-130. WALKING. This sucked.

I went home and reviewed the day. Poor hydration. Poor nutrition. Poor sleep. Gee, wonder why it sucked so much?

Late Tuesday bike ride

BIKE: 1.5hrs about 21.5 miles

When the option to ride outdoors on Tuesday popped up in my Inbox, I took it. The Bird was still in the shop, Frea I hate to say I'm just getting tired of, and the Puppy doesn't go on the trainer. Why ride indoors anyway?!?

So I took the Puppy to the ride. It was just me and JM, I have to admit to some trepidation about being too slow, especially on the Puppy. It's not really a road bike, and I haven't been sleeping too good the last few nights (More on that later).

But in the end it was a good fast ride for being all in-town! JM pointed out the benefit of the high cadence needed for CX bike gearing, and sure enough he was right. It did require a steady and quick turnover to ride at a higher speed. And surprisingly I felt pretty good during the ride, the fatigue of the past few days seemed to melt away for a little while...

Speaking of the past few days...I've been...off. Off is the only way I can put it. Tired, sluggish, bored, hmmmm maybe burned out?!? Ya think!??!?

For two nights in a row I had awful sleep, and with some backtracking it might be coming from a powdered tea I was drinking those nights before bed. So I cut that out. We'll see what happens from there...

IM Songs

But what it takes to cross the great divide
Seems more than all the courage I can muster up inside
But we get to have some answers when we reach the other side
The prize is always worth the rocky ride

Sunday Triathlon, sort of

SWIM: 1hr ~1600y
RUN: 52 mins 6 miles
BIKE: 65 mins 17.4 miles

Ironman Louisville day!!!

I had to open the pool today so I squeezed in a swim. I pulled a plan out of my schedule from July that had a lot of small intervals. I did the first 35 or so minutes undistracted, took a break around 36 mins, then came back for 10 laps steady. Wound down, disappointed at going slow, but happy to get a swim done. Another tomorrow!

Then the run, which was my focus of the day. I went out to CCP to run the loop and when I was reminded of how flat it was I decided to to hill repeats on the little overpass hill near the roundabout. I'd been needing to work on my hill running form. Higher knees? Quicker cadence? Lean forward more? Not sure. I felt good on the hills, kept a nice 8:20-8:50 pace (ave'd 8:40 in the end) and felt good. The goal was to find my "forever" pace. Still don't have a HRM working, need to do that!!! Did this in the Kinvaras, finished strong and enjoyed it.

Lastly the bike. This wasn't a focus workout, it was a preview ride of an upcoming event. I was on the Bird again but unlike yesterday I was on flats and in aero. It's comfy, but not Frea. But that's not the goal here. I didn't love this ride, I just did it. But I'm glad I did it.

NUMERICS: planned for only 5-6 hours, but actual was closer to 10!
SWIM 2000y in 1.25hrs
BIKE 97.3 miles in 7hrs
RUN 12.5 miles in 1.78 hrs

Babler Butterflies!

BIKE: 50 miles in 3:55. 5900ft climbing according to the Garmin.

After 5 days of fatigue and feeling like a weak noodle I set off for some Babler hills--doing the 8-something mile loops in a butterfly ish pattern. I wasn't sure just how many miles I'd manage, but I was out to try for the most.

On Thursday, I had the Bird re-fit for SM. My fitter took a look at the bike profile and a look at the bike, and had a plan. Seat back, new handlebars, wider aerobar pads, new bar tape. More climbing power, wider stance for stability, and finally drops I can use. So I was excited to try this new fit!

The Bird was a whole bike bike. Seat is definitely further back, it's more like sitting with my knees out front. The drops are sweet and powerful. The wider aerobars make a great feel for cornering. And my fear in descending? Gone on this bike. Grabbing waterbottles-easy. Sitting up no hands-easy. And then I remember that this bike was how I fell in love with biking!! The easy rolling feeling of the Bird. :)

Up and down the hills, so easy and so fun. No scrubbing speed off on the down hills like I did on Frea. A nice stable ride, I could have done this all day. I tested different gears, seating positions, hand positions...all good. I could have kept going! Here I did 50 miles in Babler, a personal record, and I felt great.

But I couldn't stay all day. The plan for the day called for 1.5hrs of riding and here I was at 4hrs! My legs still felt fresh, sure I was tired but not wiped out. And I still managed to get a lot done at home--vestibule light and medallion work.

Piggie Recovery Week

Apparently when I'm tired it's like when I'm busy--I don't log in.

Monday: REST.
Tuesday: Lazy 1hr on the bike
Weds: tried to swim, got only 700m in before I just gave up. At 225m I didn't care anymore and just wanted out. CHG encouraged a few kick laps. Was it really 700? Maybe 600? I skipped the run to stay out of the heat, did a lazy hour on the trainer.
Thursday: 56 min run in FP, 6.5 miles, surprised to find I did 8:30's with LC and DC. Felt ok but tired in the run, but then exhausted the rest of the day. So damned tired I could barely function.
Friday: rest

It's sort of a relief to be so tired. It tells me I did all I could in the race. Or does it mean I'm not eating well to recover? Is there something else I can do? I just ate a bunch of fruit after the race. Hours later had protein. Maybe getting so low on fuel and water in race wears on me more, and that's the day.

I've had some more time to think about what happened at the Piggie:
My training is not like my racing. In training rides we stop at the gas station, we wait at the corner, we stop, we wait, we eat. In my races I don't stop and the pace is faster. There's no break or moments of recovery. So now wonder my racing doesn't reflect my training!

Pigman moon

Pigman 2011 race report: Coach's version

Pigman Race Report—Coach’s Version
(cuz I don’t think I pay anyone enough to read the mental ramble in my other race report)

Pre-race week: physically tired but mentally great. This is a bad combination, leads to delusions of PR’s and fast times. Pre-race goals: swim PR to reflect recent improvements in my swimming, steady bike that sets up a good run, a run PR to reflect run improvements. I’d like to see a 5:40-ish time. And I’d like to address the demons from Cutting Edge (CE) in June.
Race morning: slept well, had a good breakfast, no pre-race anxiety or worry. In fact, I was so calm that I was sure I was missing something. Weather: sunny, no wind, 80-83F peak.
Swim: 77F, water was a sheet of glass. Full wetsuit. Clockwise triangle swim. Short out to first buoy obscured by the sun, long backstretch, then short into finish arch with sun to the right. Couldn’t see the first buoy until I got pretty close to it and kept swimming right into the triangle. Had form problem early on, but identified issue and corrected—I was wearing my arms out moving the water and not moving me. Settled into good rhythm in the long backstretch, but kept swimming to the right ever so slightly and had trouble seeing the turn buoy (it was a faded orange color against dark trees). Got terribly distracted on the inbound to the finish arch. This has happened before—maybe I start thinking about getting out of the water, or start thinking about the bike, and instead of keeping my rhythm I lose it all and this last stretch takes forever!

Swim summary: 46:24 23/27 in AG. 108/139 OA.

1. Might have improved speed but lost it to being off course?
2. Saw improvements in how long I could swim without stopping to sight, and how I reacted to swimmers bumping into me. Last year it seemed I was always stopping in my swims..
3. Need to straighten out the swim, I swim to the right in the pool too so this can be worked on there.
4. Need to stay focused in last few 100 meters and not forget that I’m still in the swim portion.

T1: 3:37 While the swim time was disappointing, I was happy that I wasn’t dizzy upon getting out of the water. I took my time getting the wetsuit off, I often pull too hard on my legs and cramp them or I hurry and just get all jumbled up. But it took too long, could be improved. After the wetsuit, buzzed along pretty quick. Didn’t leave shoes on bike.

Bike: Bike started off great, but did 20mph in first hour and purposefully dialed back the speed at that point. One of my goals was to keep a higher cadence, I did this by selecting one easier gear than I would normally select on each hill or flat. Realized after 15 miles that there was no wind at all, just the wind created by me moving, so I dismissed all thoughts of a tailwind. Did much better this time not worrying about the athletes around me, I had a few moments of get ‘em but it was very controlled this time. No girls passed me, just guys and some of them were damned fast! Around mile 23 my mind fuzzed—started thinking really fast, confused, lost track of time, lost some control. I ate a gel and felt better within minutes. Hit the turn around right on schedule—1:25. Return trip felt great, but there were less riders around me that before and that slowed me a bit. I was still passing people but had less sense of my pace. Miles 45-55 were a bit of a mess, I don’t remember them all that clearly in part because I was getting negative. Realized around mile 47 that I didn’t want to run, I just wanted to quit. Another gel helped. Miles 50-55 I think I really slowed down? Just wasn’t focused. Was I thinking about the run? Don’t think so, but it was part of the distraction. Did I achieve my goal of a steady ride? Not sure. Honestly thought I was going to have a 2:50-ish ride but upon seeing results after the race I found I had a 2:56. Where did that time go?

Bike summary: 2:56 13/27 in AG. 56/139 OA. 19.1 mph

1. Nutrition: 500 Infinit calories, two gels, Lara bar, 3/4ths powerbar = ~1050 calories. Also another bottle of water. Nutrition was either low or uneven given my mental status changes.
2. My feet never hurt! Earlier this year I was having some toe issues, they seem to be gone with improved riding form.
3. Leg muscles were tired, and had some not-cramping somewhat painful leg feelings. Like the muscles had just done this ride yesterday and were whining for some rest. I was aware of my quad muscles in a somewhat painful sort of way.

T2: 2:47 Left my shoes on the bike but didn’t get a smooth rolling dismount due to congestion at the line. Immediately felt some pain in right thigh where saddle contacts—felt this during ride—one of the tendons or muscles (not skin). I jogged to rack anyway and had a smooth T2 with a biobreak.

Run: Unlike CE, the run started off great. At CE I knew within first mile that something was off. Here I took off clean and strong. Up the hills, round the corner to the highway, down the big hill, and to the flats. The run was visually boring and it let my mind wander. Glances at the Garmin showed a little too fast in the first mile (8:19 slow down) and a better pace later (8:30-8:45’s) out to mile 6. Took ice at aid stations and some water, and a gel round mile 2 that really improved my mood. Turn around at 6.55 miles and 58 mins was depressing, I was hoping for 55 mins, but reminded myself that a negative split was a better goal. Did great until mile 7, at which point I started to lose interest. My heart rate was high, I’d slow a bit to let it fall but it wouldn’t. Another gel, more water, and I realized I had an insatiable thirst. It’s not a dehydration thirst, it’s a “want something really cold thirst” so I kept eating ice. At one point I hated ice. Form just disappeared around mile 10. Mood continued to decrease as time went on. The hill from mile 10.5 to 11 was a mess, but I was determined to not walk! Last mile was just hell, started wondering why I enjoyed this so much.

Run summary: 2:02 14/27 in AG. 47/139 OA. 9:20 min/mile
-Feet started to hurt a little at mile 3-4, but then went away. At CE the pain stopped me, so either my run form and/or minimalist shoe running is paying off.
-As in bike, I think nutrition was uneven based on up/down mood swings.
-Really hated parts of this run. Mood really tanked.
-Water only (hate HEED for running) and only 2 gels. More might have helped.
-Outbound didn’t feel fast, so I don’t know if I went out too fast? Or just got tired? Or overheated?

Overall summary: 5:50:56 13/27 in AG. 58/139 OA

1. Disappointed that I missed PR times for swim and bike, but this is offset by the fact that both saw improvements from CE.
2. Think my nutrition needs more work, will look into another energy source this week.
3. My swim is a huge weakness. Bottom third in terms of swim placement, but top third in bike and run. Merely upping to a top third swim average meant in this race a 38 min swim (8 mins faster!?) which is a LOT of time. I know this isn’t the right way to look at this…but I can’t help it.
4. I came into this race tired. That didn’t help any. I tired out way too quickly.
5. I’m glad I didn’t qualify for Worlds. I would have been so burned out come November.
6. Didn’t race with heart rate since I didn’t have it in training. But I hope to for Savageman.
7. There’s a local Olympic/half race coming up in two weeks and I already want to race it. While that sounds like I’m excited to get back out there, I need to distinguish between being excited and looking for some redemption.
8. How did this race compare to others? This was my 6th half, and the time is pretty much the same as all the others. I still think Kansas 70.3 in 2010 was my best half, not in terms of time but in terms of effort, mental energy, and feelings. I need to start thinking—what do I need to do to build on this. -I had many moments of “what would Coach say to me right now” and it helped to have that strategy in place.
9. Next race is Savageman. I want to have goals in place by end of week. Already thinking about what I’m hoping for.

Dig The Big Pig Gig: Pigman 2011

Race song: Mr. Jones, Counting Crows

This race wall just full of miscalculations and lost minutes and "where did it go" time. So the time will be listed at the end, to keep you just as confused as I was :) I thought there were 33 peeps in my AG, I thought my bike was shorter, etc. Well, I'll tell it all below.

Pre-race morning went great--up at 4:30. Had a yogurt,chia, banana, fake peanut butter concoction of 600-some calories (that was good) for breakfast. I only mention it because it didn't work and I was very hungry later (that was bad).

Arrived at 6am, set up TA with what seemed like a pretty minimal amount of gear then had time to relax. But I kept going back to check TA, seemed like I was forgetting something but -- no -- it was all good. The weather was remarkably PERFECT--high 70's, sunny, no wind.

SWIM: The water was 77F so wetsuit legal! This was unexpected, all summer I'd planned nervously for a wetsuit-free swim. Not that I'm complaining. I had a few minutes to warm up and stretch out, but otherwise didn't do much to getting moving. Something kinda funny as a WU'd--the wetsuit filled with water and when I stood up the weight of the water stretched the suit out and pulled it down. Thought for sure it was doing to just fall right off me!

Anyway, it was a TT start in 3s intervals. I seeded myself almost last in my AG, figured I'd be near last anyway getting out and the fewer to swim over me the better. The swim was clockwise in a triangle, with the first buoy positioned under the sun. While waiting to jump in, some of us noted the swimmers going off course to the right. I made a mental note to not do that (but guess what...!). Did a half jump-half dive in and off I went!

First thing I noticed-- the first buoy was NOT visible! Couldn't see it. Just saw sun on the water!! OK, no problem, follow the other swimmers. Second thing I noticed. My triceps were tired in just the first few 100's....I could hear CHG in my head..."notice how hard it is to push all that water back into the wall?"....OK I can fix that. Move me, not the water. Big improvement.

Still can't see the buoy. I could see other swimmers near me, but the field was pretty thin. This can't be right, all those other swimmers had to be coming up behind me! 800 athletes and only Elite, C and A, and 45+ males ahead of me....stop and find that buoy!! Look...look...there! Off to the left?!?!?! DAMN. Took a long time to find get to this first buoy.

Turn to the long backstretch....where's the next buoy. WTF with these buoys, why few guide buoys, why the faded orange colors. OK, one at a time. Piecemeal. Follow to the next one. This long backstretch gave me time to find a rhythm and I found that a faster turnover kept the arms from getting tired while I felt like I was still moving. When I passed a nav buoy (all 3 of them or so over 1.2 miles) it glided by. The field was still pretty thin around me, and it was because I was inside the triangle--I was swimming to the right. Just as in the first stretch of swim I was out of the main field of swimmers.... nuts. Correct, swim, still going right. Correct, swim, still going right. This was frustrating. On top of that, it seemed like the nav buoys in the long backstretch didn't form a straight line...but this long stretch was OK.

Last turn towards home and wouldn't you know it, the sky was full of sun. Greenwater-sun-repeat. Closing my eyes didn't help much. Looking higher in the sky did. Now the I was in the main stream of swimmers. The finish arch was this tiny red speck, but I found a feature in the treeline that I sighted instead. In previous races the last 400m or so of swim is a mess for me. IMWI was like this. It just takes forever to get to the arch. My form goes to hell, my head thinks the arch is just arms-reach away, all of me is ready to get out of the water. This last few mins of the swim was looonnnnggggg. That and I was still swimming to the right. I'd found that if I swam with my "correction" stroke that I kept straight. This really has to be fixed. It happens in the pool too, so it's not limited to OWS.

Piggie Pre-race week

The busier I am, the shorter the posts for each day...

Mon rest
Tues 1hr ride on trainer, easy
Weds 50 min swim breastroke day, only maybe 1500m, then 6.75 mile form run in 1hr
Thurs 45 min run, 4.75 miles easy
Friday rest and travel to Iowa
Saturday rest!

On Monday morning I could barely move my upper body. Must have been the xfit I did Friday :) So I skipped Master's swim and rested.

Tuesday more of the same--tired. Sleepy. Got the bike ride in but it was uninspired.

Weds I went to Masters for a sloppy, slow, breastroke-focused swim. The water was getting cold, and I walked out feeling dizzy. The run was later in the day before the club meeting. I managed OK considering my stomach wasn't up for it.

Thurs was supposed to be a "fast" 30 min run. Seemed easy enough, but I knew it'd be hard to stop at 3 miles! Surprisingly it felt awful. I was sweating a lot more than expected. I wanted to finish the loop but knew that if something didn't feel right come race day I'd have no good explanation for running long. So I wrapped up with the 'zoo loop', went home, and continued to feel awful and remarkably tired the rest of the day. I was useless come dinner time, no energy and stomach upset. What gives? Went to bed early.

Friday--slept in until 8am!?!?!?!?! What?!?!?! I was still tired, climbing the stairs wore me out. What happened Thursday?! We drove up to Iowa in the afternoon after a short but productive day at work.

Saturday, realizing how far behind I am on this, lounging in the hotel room, trying not to eat all the peanut butter I have at once :) My fatigue is better, hopefully I get the day to fully recover yet stay sharp for tomorrow!

Pre-race feelings? A few months ago this was my A race--the big race of the year for me. Now? Still a big race but I'm much calmer about it. I feel ready, let's get it on!

Full Moon after Louisville

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: TJ Pasieka <tjpasieka@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 9:05 PM
Subject:
To: TracyJo Pasieka <tjpasieka@gmail.com>








Sent from my iPhone

Numerics!

Swim will be low this week...

Planned 11:25
Actual 12:28

SWIM 1969y in 1hr
BIKE 123 miles in 7:13
RUN 29 miles in 4.3 hrs

I had no idea I was doing 30 miles this week!

Next week starts the taper--take it seriously!

All My Friends Say...

RUN: 14 miles in 2hrs 11 mins on the IML course.

I've done this run before, almost a year ago in fact! This time I wasn't looking for friends in their race, I was sharing the run with friends preparing for their race!

I'll back up a bit and quickly review dinner last night. I was so tired I was falling asleep, so hungry I was ready to eat the grated cheese soaked in olive oil, yet having fun and enjoying the high-five atmosphere our group had. Everyone had bonded on today's ride. At first we weren't a cohesive group, but by the end we were. I had more of a chance to talk to LR from Cincity. I was his "date", haha. He was such a serious athlete yet had a fun sense of humor and was so normal and down to earth. To me, he was like a pro!

I'll back up a bit more to say that the camp meeting Saturday night was a great bonding hour for us. The veterans helping the rooks. And all the veterans just normal people, no attitude, no entitlements, no snobbery. Triathletes are just awesome people :)

I thought I ate too much for breakfast and had some worry there. We left the hotel under a beautiful sky and more of yesterday's cooler weather. A storm blew through last night and made a mess of tree branches, though. We viewed the bridge, turned around, and headed back towards town. Previewed the tent site from last year, previewed the 4th St Live area, then headed out on the course.

We split up into groups a lot, but still stuck together. For a while, I was running with LR. I had worked to increase my cadence in the past few weeks but running with him I realized I had a ways to go. His run was smooth, fast, easy, effortless, and had a quick turnover. While running with him I tested it. I couldn't maintain it since it was so different, but I liked it. I fed off his technique a bit, his effortless experience and loved the energy. Like I said, he's like a pro to me and here I am running alongside him!

Well I didn't last long aside him, but I had a few miles. I'm looking forward to seeing the pace through that section! We turned around and headed back. LR took off (there was no question that our pace on the outbound was slow and easy from him) and the group reformed more tightly. I was flying along. This felt great, my run form still strong but slowly unraveling as we approached mile 13. By this time, I was starting to flag a big. But we reached 4th St Live and I heard the Luke Bryan song "All My Friends Say". I started dancing to it just a little, and realized the lyrics were kinda fitting to this weekend:

And all my friends say I started shooting doubles when you walked in, all my friends say I went a little crazy seeing you with him, ... I was a rockstart party-hard gettin' over you comeback kid, yeah I must have did, what all my friends say, yeah yeah yeah.

Yup, I must have did. The ride home went by fast. Once home I just crashed energy wise, but woke up enough later to talk 90mph about the weekend, the friends, and the sudden urge to do IML and Triple T and 50M ultra's next year.

I was alive! I love this stuff! Piggie is just 6 days away and it's going to ROCK.

How can I go back to work tomorrow?!?

The Filly goes to Louisville

BIKE: 83 miles in 4:38-ish at the IML course

Camp Louisville, bike course preview day. Yeah, I'm not doing the race but after this preview I might!!

The ride started early at 7am with previews of the swim in/out areas. We had an awesome group, some new and some old: fellow taters PS and TB, fellow IBers TE, JP, and BG, fellow SLTCer RE, and a Ohio guy racing this year LR. IMK will be his 33rd IM!!

I'd seen the IML swim and run in 2010 but not the bike. I had only a vague idea of the course but no details. How long was the stick? How long was the loop? Hills? Towns? I had looked at a course map and profile. I saw one out'n'back and lots of hills. Yippee!

At first I felt awful, but that's not new lately. Last few rides I'd feel awful but would improve as the ride went by. Same thing here. Weakish. Tired. Not a lot of will to ride. But knowing it gets better kept me going.

The ride started flat and along the river. This should have been easy. I kept envisioning what athletes would feel riding here: the swim is done, shade, flat road, soft curves in the road, the start of 112 miles. I'd had it in my mind that this would be a 60 mile ride, and this first few miles had me thinking it would be not easy but a refreshing ride. CP promised a few weeks ago while I was deciding whether or not to do this that this ride wouldn't be a high effort leg-burner. After all, Piggie is only a week afterwards!

Was I wrong? I'll get back to that in a few. First an overall summary: lotsa hills, lots of turns, horses, farms, open road, good traffic. The hills rolled in fast. Short, long, all types of hills but nothing needing a granny gear. That fact distinguished this course from IMWI, which had slow grinders that brought my speed to a crawl. Nope these just needed a patient turn of the cranks. And for the first 50 miles, that's what I did. But sometimes this patient turn wasn't enough to keep up. I'd lag behind the group and feel that old familiar fear creeping up: The Slow Zebra. Oh man, not that again.

The Slow Zebra: the fear that I was the drag on the group. The rise of the heart rate that didn't serve to speed me up, but instead only helped to draw out more adrenaline. That adrenaline dropped a hammer on me but not the hammer I needed to go faster. I just got worked up, focused more on the growing distance between me and the group ahead. I'd felt this on other group rides, but most recently I felt it at my recent CE race in June. Oh yea, we're feeling that again.

I saw what was happening, and I tried to rein it in. It's a mental thing--it's all in my head really. Calm down, I think. Just keep it turning. The group was moving fast, or so I thought. And now back to my previous thought above about whether or not I was wrong about the pace and effort. Prior to this ride, in the comfort of my kick-back clothing and off the bike, I was thinking to myself that "man I want to get fast, I'm going to do all fast rides, ride with people faster than me, really work myself up and go fast". But in the saddle the mindset changes. And that's where I'm going to focus for now, I have a feeling there's a learning experience in here somewhere.

I was working hard on this ride. But I wasn't in Z4/5. High Z3 maybe. It seemed like race pace. HIM pace or maybe even olympic pace. In my head I'm complaining about it, why are we going so fast? Who is setting this hard pace? I wanted to say something to CP about the pace, but at the same time I didn't want to be the complainer. The whiner. The Slow Zebra.

I kept my complaints to myself. I did the math and realized we were averaging 17-18 mph. That's it. Ok, there's lots of hills to slow us down, right? Excuses! We stopped at a gas station before La Grange and decided while resting that I would keep quiet. The line of thinking I'd had was contradictory: I wanted to go faster in races, but I was going to complain about a fast pace?? What?? Really? HTFU!!! I'll come back to this again later.

Into La Grange for another pause. I was starting to fade. Not talking much. Losing excitement. I know this feeling--I need to eat. I re-evaluate my nutrition and I measure it against the miles remaining. And thus born another mental fight: did I have enough nutrition? How many miles were left? How much longer? Hoo boy, here we go again. Instead of focusing on a great ride, wonderful weather and company, instead I focused on the question of How Much Longer?

Into the next town at which I learned how much more: 35 miles. We were already at 50!! Into an interesting c-store (they sold 2ndhand dinner sets along side goat soap and c-store snacks) to buy more water to mix the backup packet of Infinit and some honey roasted cashews.

And thusly the ride turned around. This was a long break, but I don't think the long break turned it for me. It had to be the nutrition. I thought I'd eaten too much for breakfast, so then did I scrimp early in the ride thinking I was OK in terms of fueling? Something to look into.

Back to my Slow Zebra story. Feeling good for maybe the first time during this ride, I took off. For once I wasn't drafting but pulling. Sadly I picked the section with the nice headwind. I held onto it and felt fast. Was I going fast? Haha, probably not. But I was out in front for awhile and I enjoyed it. Even when I got passed I enjoyed it. I just loved the thrill.

During this ride, thinking this over, turning it around, I came to accept that I am competitive. I keep saying that I'm not. Or that I just compete with myself. But no, I am competitive. I don't want to be slow. I don't want to be last. I don't want to fall behind or drag the group.

We closed the ride back on the flat river road. A fellow ride was flagging a bit and I hung back with him to be sure he was OK. He was, but I didn't mind slowing down. This was my longest ride so far this year, and I didn't see a need to keep pushing. Nor did I see a need to join the group on a ride preview of the run course.

The Filly on the IML course. She did wonderful past all those horse farms. And I just have to save this story. I love the RotK movie, especially the Ride of the Rohirrim. There's a particular couple of seconds in which a rider is charging at full sprint towards battle. Barely moving on the saddle, one with the horse, reins high, yet full speed and screaming.

After years on this bike, thousands of miles, hours and hours or riding, I finally found that feeling. I was charging into battle, arms outstretched in the aerobars, lungs heaving. Oh, gawd, I love this.

The Filly and I loved Louisville. We just might be back to race.

Friday night to Louisville

XFIT: 13 minutes of 100 squats, 100 crunches, 100 pushups and 25 halfway handstand pushups.

The drive to IML was fun! JP is great. She's done 13 Ironmans, has a great positive attitude, lots of energy, and inspired me. Could I ever do 13 Ironmans? She makes me think so! I learned so much from her, I could have asked questions for hours.

Xfit was just before our first camp meeting. It was all good until 47 pushups in. I dropped my knees and continued 10 pushups at a time. The handstand pushups were done with my feet up on a treadmill, the best option I had. Not so good. But I finished.

Busy week, behind again

Monday: swim 2000y in 1 hr
Tuesday: bike on trainer, about 25 miles in 1.5hrs
Weds: form run, 7 miles in 62.5 minutes
Thursday: 8 miles in 66 minutes
Friday: easy spin on trainer, about 14-15 miles in 1hr.

I'll discuss only a few things.

I skipped the Weds morning swim because my back and shoulder muscles were weak and sore. I also woke up with calf cramps that morning. I got out of bed, prepped for the swim, then decided not to go.

The Weds run was a surprise. Last week in a tempo run I did 7 miles in 62.9 minutes and counted that as fast. This Weds run had 10 total mins of WU and CD, and I still beat my time!

The Thurs run I thought would be a PR, but in checking I found that in Nov of 2009 I did a 6.5 mile loop in 51:40. So my pace of 7:51-7:53 yesterday was matched back then. Either way, I'll count this week as a running PR! Early in the run I stated that I was supposed to do a fast run and was NOT going to lose DC's shoulder. I opened my big mouth and now I have to live up to it. I'm glad I did, cuz otherwise I think I would have dropped off around mile 4-5. My legs were burning! I was tired! But I did it!!!!

I leave later today for Louisville camp!

Mega Tough Day 3

BIKE: 38 miles in 2:40

The rain overnight was wonderful--the temps cooled off to 74F! But the roads were wet, so there was some uncertainty with that. We had a route picked out called The 5 Ugly Sisters. It didn't take a lot to realize that the Sisters = Hills. Really, what else could they be referring to?

We packed up and got started around 8am. Turns out that even though there was no shoulder the roads were freshly paved (like in Brand New paved) and incredibly lightly traveled. There were so few cars...I've never seen so few cars and so few stop signs! Combined with the foggy conditions, clouds, light rain....sort of like a dream. So quiet... :)

The first 15 miles or so were pretty flat. We kept wondering where the sisters were, in the meantime we formed a fast paceline varying between 18-28mph. Couldn't have picked a better group to share this ride with--everyone was strong, confident, loving the challenge, and just buzzing along.

Then we hit the hills. And OMG the hills. Beautiful! And amazing! And OMG Steep!! And I think there were more than 5! I grabbed this pict at the top of one that shows the valleys under a long winding road through the trees.

As much as I love climbing, I'm a descending chicken. If I can see the road out in front of me then I'm OK. But a winding, turny, unfamiliar road scares me enough to keep on the brakes a bit. So I was dropped on the downhills, continuously scrubbing off speed until I got a clear shot of the roadway. And for the next 12 or so miles, that's all it was. These weren't like yesterday's climbs of the long slow variety. These were Babler x 10. Long, steep, Standing-In-The-Granny climbs. Wonderful for SavageMan! Over and over and over :)

My legs were taking this all OK, they had lost a bit of snap after yesterday but still managed to rock up these hills without failing. But I was getting tired. I could tell too that I wasn't eating enough--at one point I just didn't care. Gel! With Caffeine!

We ended strong and just in time before it just got painful. EK and MK went for a 2hr run, while LC AG and I went for Fro-Yo. I knew I should run, but I didn't want to or need to.

What a whirlwind of a weekend! (and I get to do it again next weekend in Louisville!). Things I learned:
1. Recovery is a lot different for me than it is for the others. They eat, shower, nap. I tend to eat, shower, work. Really, I don't rest after a big ride. I work, either at lab or on the house or on club duties. Resting is nice, but I felt like I was being lazy. This was good for me to experience!
2. I need more food variety. Even over this weekend I tended to stick to my same 20 or so favorite foods. I think I'd like food more if I had variety.
3. I'm capable of some pretty vicious hill climbing on Frea. So am I taking Bird or Frea to Maryland?
4. I'm no more or less crazy than my training buddies. We all have our limits, goals, strengths, and weaknesses. And they are all different and just taken in stride. I loved that part of this--that we can all do something different (distance or time or sport) but still be strong and comfortable with ourselves. No comparing or whining about it. LOVED that.
5. I'm in a good spot training wise. I'm tired but still buzzing along. It really helped to leave behind work and club duties. I'm amazed at how caught up in those activities I can get, how diverting and draining it can be. I learned that I can focus on what I'm doing and enjoy it.

And so now I'm finally caught up on last week. Wish I had put more time into some of this week's logs, but just busy.

The numerics:
Planned hours: 13:40 Actual hours: 12:32
SWIM 4001 y in 2.08 hours
BIKE 94.12 miles in 6.7 hours
RUN 21.1 miles in 3.4 hours

Mega Tough Day 2

BIKE: 41 miles in 3:20! Feet climbed:
SWIM: about .4 miles in about 30 mins
RUN: about .4 miles in...oh...who knows

My goals for this weekend: forget about work. forget about the club. forget about some other underlying personal issues. relax. train.

We woke up in Branson to more heat and lots of hills! We spent the first few minutes of the ride tooling around the Village the condo was in. I had Frea, not really a climbing bike, but I still had the climbing cassette from IMWI. So the Filly could climb, just not always easy.

The end goal was to get on the IM Branson course, a highway just outside the Village. By this point, 20 mins and 4 miles had passed. I wasn't feeling too hyped about the ride just yet. I was tired, a bit down, and already burning up from the heat. EK found the hwy on the other side of some trees, so we 'bikewacked' (is that a word?) across cyclocross style and found the hwy: 2 lanes each way, divided highway, big ass shoulder! Hey ho, let's go!

Let's go, alright. UP hill. A big hill. A big sloooooowwwww climb that required bottoming out the gears to the Granny setting. Oooof. The day had heated up and there didn't seem to be much wind. So all sweat just dripped on me. Over the next 15 miles, I was very aware of just how much water I'd lose in the climbing sections.

But with every uphill, there's a downhill. And oh DAMN the downhills! Big, long, slow downhills. I was thankful for the shoulder and great road conditions. A pothole or bump at 40mph could be dangerous.

We'd descend at 25-35+ mph then climb at 5-10mph. The difference was striking. A rush, then a hill. A rush, then a hill. HOT hills. It didn't take long before the iced water in the bottles was hot on the tongue. Luckily Infinit still tastes good at that temp. Nuun'd water...not so much. Frea was fully loaded with all 4 bottles, and after the 1st loop (~20 miles) I'd emptied 1.5 of them. Not enough!

EK and I took on the 2nd loop. The first time around my confidence on the descents was low. A crosswind buffeted the bikes and caught the aerotubes a lot. This time I was more ready for it and more confident. The 2nd loop wasn't as bad as the first. We found some warm water from fountain at the turnaround and headed home. I didn't mention this yet, but there was also a stiff headwind on the return trips. Funny to be looking down a really big hill yet be only moving at 20mph. It took 3.4 hours for 41 miles!! I was pretty heatsick by the last 10 mins but recovered OK. I think the heatsick was in my head. I was craving ice water!!

Later EK LC and I swam in Table Rock, practicing OWS drills, drafting, swim starts, and other goofy things. Although we didn't swim much, this was a great confidence builder for me. Pigman will be my first long course race in OWS without a wetsuit. A 400m swim in a sprint not being counted.

Then even later the 3 of us went for a run, but by this time my tummy was upset and lunch wasn't settling well. We shared running drills then I cut short for home.

I stayed hydrated and fed (maybe overfed) and slept OK that night, even with the thunderstorms!

Mega Tough Day 1

SWIM: 45 mins, only 1500y

The start of the Branson Mega Tough weekend! I had rested since the xfit Thursday morning run, and starting Friday afternoon the big weekend began.

I was planning to swim outdoors but a storm rolled through and closed the outer pool. I wasn't feeling all that great, my stomach was upset and I felt like I swallowed a lot of air. I had eaten too much for breakfast and was paying the price for it :(

I didn't take a workout with me, that was my next big mistake. So I ended up at the pool not feeling good and without a plan. EK was doing a big swim set, it inspired me to keep swimming but at the same time brought me down a bit. Why? I dunno. Guess it was frustrating to see someone having a good workout while I wasn't. But it did keep me going.

I did 200y sets, focusing on drills. ABC drill. Bilateral breathing. Wide entry. It kept me going, but I just wanted to quit.

Fatigue!

We left around 530pm (after having to get a bag I FORGOT--DUH) for Branson! :)

Long run after a day off

RUN: 1:45 11 miles, pace about 9:38m/m
XFIT: 20 mins AMRAP: 25 box jumps, 20 crunches, 1 min plank, 10 burpees, 5 pullups (plank sub'd in for 15 KBS)

It's a rest week, and I don't feel rested just yet. This run was planned as an LSD, no big efforts, easy pace. LC and I started early and enjoyed a cooler morning. I thought about putting a t-shirt on! But I didn't :)

Xfit was refreshing. I thought the box jumps would be harder, OK yeah, they were hard, but surprisingly I wasn't sore from this workout.

It's a rest week! Rest!?

Weak Wednesday

SWIM: Slept in!!
RUN: Nope!!

Late afternoon brick yesterday, heat, and cumulative fatigue--took a day off. Also needed to rearrange my schedule due to the Mega Tough weekend planned for this weekend!

Hot Brick with Iron Brick

BIKE 60 mins for 14.5 miles
RUN 21 mins for 2.1 miles

Yowza. HOT. I drove farther to get to the park than I rode once I got to the park. Boo.

AUGUST!!!!

SWIM: 2100m in 60 mins
RUN: 7 miles in 62:53 mins (squeaked in under 63)

Back to back swimming is not something I do very often. But I run or bike back-to-back, so why not? Answer--because my form falls off faster in the swim when I'm tired. But today wasn't so bad, compared to yesterdays 2000m in 75 mins, and today had 300m kicking. Maybe I miscounted yesterd?

I felt sloppy and slow. I captured the time on one 100 and got 2:27 :( but they weren't all that bad. I'm finding that my form fades off in longer sets. And no cramping--yea!

The run was right after the swim. My body does not need a run in 107F heat index. Plan was 10m WU then 40 mins of 5 mins half-mary pace, 5 mins cruise, then CD. I wasn't entirely sure what cruise was. Should have asked. So I did a "what I'd like to do for half-mary" then HIM pace. I programmed the session into the Training Center, and TC said it send the workout to the garmin...but it wasn't there this morning. nuts. So here's how it went:

Lap Info: shown is pace min/mile (HM=half mary; C=cruise)
WU 9:45
HM 8:09
C 9:05
HM 7:44 on flats--WOW
C 8:52
HM 8:39 up Skinker hill
C 9:04
HM 8:04
C 10:22 had to walk 3 times, getting sick to stomach
HM 8:27 one last effort, but fading
CD 10:12

My best half mary pace is something like a 8:50-8:55 pace. Today's paces were probably closer to a 10K pace, or who knows they could be what I could run a half-mary at if I kept training like this? Too bad to HR data, but I can say by the last 8:04 and 8:27 intervals my HR was HIGH. I was probably going to fast, but as for form it felt really good. And the run was in the Kinvaras with no foot pain at all, used to be 40 mins in my toes would start to go numb. Interesting finding! Is it the new running form, the shoes, or have my feet strengthened?