Sun July 29th

After horrible legs yesterday, I rode 90min at noon (hotter then hell) and felt fricking great! Rode 28 some miles at 18.5 and was able to zip up all the hills. Then I mowed the yard and weedwacked and at 6pm ran 70min, ~7.5 miles. Bec dropped me off at the end of the greenway and took Nick to the Bark Park to frolic with random dogs (no humping was involved), so I finished my run at the park. Worked well. I mixed in 1 harder session (3:30 at 5k race pace) above LT and 3- 30sec walking spots to get HR down. I ran "easy" but it was tough to keep my HR down in the heat and humidity, even though it was shady and cloudy. Basically I ran to keep my HR down as best as I could, so distance wasn't there, but time running was.

Ended up running 3:10 this week, tallying about 20 miles. Mostly because I missed my long run last weekend and ran 1hr on Monday.

Might ride with a local group (just found out about) tonight, but sometimes it is a hammerfest and I need recovery. We'll see.

Saturday Long Ride

In-laws in town, so I started early. On bike by 6:30. Felt ok with the rest day yesterday, much of which was spent sitting in the meeting, 3hrs sitting in the airport, and a bit on the plane. Accelerade didn't settle well again and after 1 hr I stopped and puked on the road side. I felt infinitely better. Legs not good, but then again I had a head wind for the first 3 hrs. I set a PR on the long climb I ride once in a while. Did it in 3:54. Not sure what my record was, might have been 3:56. Couldnt find all my times I've saved in my log. Anyway, rode it well without trying hard.

After emptying my stomach and with 3.5 hrs left to ride, I started eating a lot. Felt good. Stopped 3 times to pick up gatorade/powerade. Drank a lot and took 3 doses of enduralyte pills, but my calves still cramped at the end. I missed a turn and decided to explore new roads. So I ended far from home, but it was nice. I had nothing on the longer hills, but I managed to get a tailwind 3 hrs in and then I tailored the ride for all flats for the last hr.

Ended up with: 81.3mi, avg 17.7 mph, 4:37 total time with 3:45 under LT. I finished strong, so that is good.

Long run planned tomorrow, but not sure when with the in-laws here.

Thursday run

I was in Cleveland Ohio Wed night thru Fri mid day for a meeting. I ran after the meeting Thursday and did intervals. Same stuff I did last week with the speed session, but this time I did 8 sets, rather then just 4 since I was recovering for the tri.

600m (or running max for 2:25-2:30), 30sec rest, run hard 45sec (or 200m), and rest 1:30. Repeat 7 more times. I didn't run too fast at the end and was really wiped out, but I gave a good effort.

Wed swim

Got up early and was in the pool by 6am. Swam a solid 2500yds on the 25 yd pool. Good warmup and drill practice, which got onerous. Then 5x200yds at a consistent pace (2:56-3:12), which is generally faster then I did in the tri the other day. I was pretty tired and hungry at the end.

Flying to Cleveland Ohio tonight for a meeting and will be back Friday afternoon. Planning a good run Thursday and a day off Friday.

Monday into Tuesday

Well my planned run Monday afternoon was halted by hail, thunder, and downpours. So I decided no on the Y and sat on the couch and watched the Tour stage (and napped). I did later go for a walk with Bec and the dog.

So Tues am I got up early and ran 1 hr. Pretty easy the whole. Probably 7 miles. HR never got very high, so that was good. I felt a bonk coming on and had a GU only 20min in. That time from 15-25 min is the roughest part of a run for me, especially on morning runs. I always want to stop and nap at that point. Frustrating. Weather was upper 60's and cloudy, so it was really nice out.

Half hr on trainer as it is raining and thundering again. A bit tired tonight.

Sunday long ride

Rode with a bunch of guys from my team on the state road race championship course (which is being held in 2 weeks). I started early and rode 18 mi to the school where we met. Had a great ride to the school and it held basically all day. I had stomach issues and made an emergency stop at a gas station. I almost had to duck into the woods. The team and another group we were riding with passed the station, but a bunch on my team noodled around waiting for me. I emerged a new man and we TT'd into the wind for a while to catch folks. We all regrouped and then started again. The group split up (some going back to the school for only a 30mi ride, while the rest of us the did the whole course).

We had a small group and a few took off while I soft pedaled a little. Then I felt like I had game and started giving it a go. I had a teammate on my wheel and after a hard pull he was gone. I rode easy, but he never caught up, so I took off chasing the group of 3. I rode probably 8 miles at 20-22mph, but didn't catch them. No surprise, but the guys behind be organized and chased, but I held them off by 90 sec or so.

I rode very well and after another refueling at a grocery (had a coke and a bacon biscuit) we took off back to where I started. We took the shorter route (I wanted a little more), but I took long hard pulls since those guys waited for me. I had to slow up once to wait up for them. They were impressed I had gas in the tank after 70miles. I felt awesome. I pulled the last 3 miles or so and faired adieu since they started a little ways from me.

Ended up with 76 miles, 4:09, avg 18.56mph. HR monitor was all screwy and after 3 hrs it said my HR was 42-58 bpm. Humph. Maybe interference, maybe bad battery. Not sure.

Anyway, stellar ride. All started with blueberry pancakes and one fried egg. Mmmmm. Screw oatmeal!!! I think I had too much Accelerade. I had a bunch as recovery and my stomach was a mess on the way home and still is. Uh.

Saturday Sprint tri

See the somershoe.blogspot.com for race details.

July 16-18

Monday: 45 min easy trainer to loosen up the sore legs
Tuesday: swam 2000m. Followed a good workout, but a can't do kicks for 300m. No way.
Rode trainer 1 hr watching the Tour, cadence good:)
Wed: rest day. Zonked, so I skipped evening crit.

Long delayed update

I finally have time to update. I know, I know.

Here's the rides I did in PA:
Sat the 30th: 32.4 miles, 1:55, 17.1mph.
Sun: 66.2 miles, 3:54, 17.2mph
Monday: ran 33 min, 3.9 miles
Tues: 35.0 miles, 2:01, 17.3 mph
Wed: off
Thursday: 13.3 miles, :49, 16.0, felt like crap, and puked afterwards. Didn't run as planned
Friday: 61.1 miles, 3:46, 16.3mph. Lots of long hills, felt bad for half the ride, but got over it. Major hills.
Sat: 37.9 miles, 2:15, 16.9mph. Went up the 2.25 mile long mountain. Went well.

Chattanooga Waterfront Tri

Here is more detail about the tri. The transition area was huge with 1200 racers. We got bused to the swim start and I should have taken a little more food as we sat around for 90 minutes.
Swimming with the current was good and I was out fo the water in 24:30 or so. We couldn't see the finish from the start and there was no info on what the exit was like. So I chatted with some folks and got an idea, but had a hard time seeing the finish (poorly marked). My chip almost fell off one time, I think, and I stopped to fix it, but got clobbered by someone. Trying to hold you ankle means you sink and getting hit by someone isn't cool. The guy asked if I was ok. I was fine. Tough time seeing since we had NO warm up and my goggles were completely fogged. I got "yanked" out of the water by a bunch of thugs and I managed to get my right shin chewed up. Not cool. Long run to transition area, up a bunch of steps, etc. T1 was slow, but there was a long way to walk/jog and I'm not smooth in T1

The bike ride was 26+ miles, not 25 as it was supposed to be and the course was super hilly. Not steep hills, but at least 6 0.5 to 1.0 mile long grades which wear you out. I passed a LOT of people on the bike. It clouded up and made the ride quite pleasant, for a race. The descents were fun, but I never topped 40mph (max 39.9). A couple descents were cool actually. Much better then hot. 26.2 miles, 1:14:19, avg 21.2mph.

Started run at 1:42:05
Mile 1 at 1:50:15 (8:10 mile)
Mile 2 at 1:58:13 (7:58 mile)
Mile 3 at 2:06:08 (7:55 mile)
Mile 4 at 2:13:52 (7:44 mile)
Mile 5 at 2:21:49 (7:57 mile)
Mile 6.2 2:31:26 (last 1.2 miles: 9:25 finish)

2:31 sucks, but it was a tough course, long transitions, and a "slow" run.