So, real quick, this was what I did in the week leading up to the race....
I got my new bike seat on Thursday and immediately swapped it out. It was much easier than I thought it would be, just unscrewed the old one, took off the wedge bag, fumbled with the over and under thingamabob that kept the seat in place, and in about 15 minutes it was swapped out.
I also got some emergency kit stuff - tire patch kits and some plastic tire picks. Loaded those into the wedge pack and found the emergency CO2 cartridge inflator.
Beth left town on Friday for the Big Summer Potluck in upstate PA. Whenever she leaves, I can never get to sleep, and Friday was no exception. I worked the Mobtown show, came home and played some Civ, and finally collapsed in bed at something like 2 AM, and slept fitfully all night. Finally, sometime around 9:30, I decided to get up. I putzed around the house all morning, wondering what I should do. Finally, sometime mid-afternoon, I decided I needed to get a long bike ride in. Of course, by that time it was something like 95 degrees out. But I needed to test my new saddle out, so I loaded up a water bottle with ice and a little water and took off for Fort McHenry.
It wasn't a bad ride, other than the construction of stands for the Baltimore Grand Prix - which is over a month away and just totally obliterated the bike path. Ended up going onto the brick walkway around the harbor and dodging pedestrians rather than go out into the street against traffic. Amazing how people are just sorta clueless when a bike is coming at them. But I was out and back in about an hour - 12 miles through all that stuff. Not bad. At some point I might come back and post my MyTracks data.... I drank a ton of water, hung out, and did my Ghost Tour that night.
Sunday I thought I might do another 30-30-30, but it was again really hot. I got up, made it to the JFX Farmer's Market, came home, switched into tri shorts, and took off on the bike for the gym and an early swim. It was brilliant. Quick bike ride down, no one in the lanes, I was in and out in 15 minutes. And I felt pretty good, so I jumped on the bike, and rather than heading home, I took off on a ride. Went out Boston Street, headed southish on Broening Highway, found myself on Holabird, and remembered the ride Beth and I had taken and Holabird. It's a nice long stretch without too many stop lights, so I barrelled down the road, got to the bottom of a hill, and kept going through a major intersection and up the another hill. Went out Soller's Point Road and found myself in Dundalk, eventually passing the middle school. At that point, the day was getting on, I was in full bore sunlight, and hadn't slathered myself in sunscreen, so I headed back.
The good thing about the ride was that it was nice and hilly - a real good work out. I came back and saw that I had snapped off a good 9 miles in around 40 minutes I think - after the swim. So I was feeling pretty good.
The big discovery early in the week was that I found the course maps had been posted. And somehow - I did it again! I was thinking that this was a 12 mile bike ride - 20 km. And my training had been focused on that. I knew the course consisted of lapS. So when I checked out the maps, I was really confused. There were marking for a mile 7, and my mind boggled - 2 laps? Did that mean this had suddenly become a 14 mile bike? I mean, my training was close, but it wasn't there. And it cautioned that there were "steep climbs." I used Google Street View to check out the course, and realized that it was a steady upgrade on the first half of the course - nothing that looked too monstrous, but a steady climb for about a mile as the course went outside the park and skirted its edge.
What was going on? It was then that I realized that - even with the two laps - the total distance of the course was not quite 8 miles! So, once again, I had inadvertently overtrained. I was ecstatic. This was going to be easy!
It was hot that week, but I decided - if it's hot this weekend, I need to be acclimated to it. So Monday evening I got my ass on the street for a little run. It looked dark, but Beth assured me that there was no thunderstorm activity in the area.
I warmed up going west on Baltimore around the park, which had me running up to the corner of Patterson and Baltimore, and then downhill - pretty much flat on Eastern to the far end of the Little Park, then uphill. The C25k program had me running 25 minutes solid - which I sorta did. I was futzing with the watch, which I couldn't get right, so at about 5 minute intervals in the run I'd stop for like two seconds to try to make sure the watch was working right. But I kept going for the most part.
I got up to the top of the hill, and it was an amazing site, but a storm was most definitely blowing in. I took off my iPhone (stowed in my new arm band) and snapped a couple of pics. Strapped it back on and took off. I finished up by heading back towards Eastern on Linwood a little ways, and then turned around with a couple of minutes left and headed back to Baltimore. Got part way up Linwood when the run ended and I had cool down. Walked back home, headed down the alley, and circled around to complete the cool down.
Beth talked to me about tapering, and I was thinking of doing some swimming or biking Tuesday and maybe a 30-30-30 Wednesday, but when Tuesday dawned, I realized I was too tired. So I took Tuesday off. Wednesday I didn't go 30-30-30, but I was out again for a run. Same thing this time - up the hill on Baltimore towards Patterson, down Patterson. At the corner of Linwood and Eastern, though, I headed up Linwood thinking I would do a big figure 8. Up the hill from the opposite way on the north side of the Little Park, and then I ran out of gas.... I kept going to the top of the hill, but I had to stop.... I walked a little ways - I think maybe 30 seconds - to recover from the uphill, and then back in to the run again. Finished up going around the park and going up Linwood, and did my 5 minute cool down walk going home. This time there was almost no stopping except for the little respite at the top of the hill, but I was tired. I felt like I was running slower, I didn't feel like I was covering as much ground, and the recovery seemed a lot slower. Which was okay - because Thursday I had a read through for the show, and Friday and Saturday I wouldn't be doing anything. So this was my last work out before Race Day, and I had a good three days of rest going into it! Nothing to do now but double check my gear and get ready!
IMHOtep
I frequently have no effing clue....
WTF
I'm a gadget head, but not a freaky gadget head; there's a lot of stuff that goes over my head. And when I go looking for information on something, a lot of times it's either way too technical, or just a quick list of features. So this blog is a collection of reviews, tips, and thoughts oriented towards the everyday user.
Aug 5, 2011
Jul 27, 2011
30-30-30
So, I was bound and determined to get a 30-30-30 in - finally - on Wednesday. I took my Magic Pants to work, the sleeve, a Stinger (from Beth's collection), goggles, and shoes and - even though I was supposed to meet Joe for Wednesday Night Baseball, after the swim the previous night, I knew I was just going to do it.
I drove from work directly to the gym, got there at the top of the hour, changed, stretched lightly, and headed to the pool. Hardly anyone was around, so I got my pick of lanes. I stretched a little more, dipped my hand into the water, and then ... started. I dove in and had a few good dolphin kicks, resurfaced, and started nice and slow. One length down then two. My legs felt tired from last night's swim, but soon enough the cobwebs were kicked loose and I was going. Three and four and five and I barely felt winded. Six came, and I flipped over onto my back for a length of backstroke at seven. That done, my shoulders were sore from last night, too - so I flipped back into a crawl for #8, #9, and #10.
I was tired, and thought about flipping into a crawl. But no. Technically, #11 would be my final length come race day, and I wasn't going to end on back stroke. So I kept going. The dolphin kicks on the turns were going pretty well, too, and I was proud of that. So #11 came and went and I headed into the last length. The twelfth was strong. I didn't want to blow it out and die in the middle of my last event, but I was good to go. I put my head down, and switched to 4s, which made me go a little faster to get to the breath at the end. And then I was done.
I bobbed in the pool for a couple of seconds, a little dazed, and then told my self - you prolly can't do this on Sunday. So I climbed the ladder, got out, and made my way into the locker room. Twenty minutes to change and do the swim.
The great thing about the tri shorts is ... no changing. I toweled off and got mostly dry, and put on my shirt, pulled on my socks and shoes and then ... realized two things. One, I had forgotten to put my calf sleeve on, and two, I had forgotten my iPhone with the C25k app. I took off my shoe and pulled the sleeve on, and figured - I had already wasted enough time in this transition, I would run out to the car after the bike and grab my Android.
I grabbed the Stinger, jammed it in a pocket, went up to the video bike, adjusted it, and hopped on. I wanted a better, more life-like workout than the other night, so I chose "Race Day" and cued it up for 35 minutes, and started. I knew it was going to be a little different when the program exhorted me to go up to heavy resistance. I ignored it. Not ready yet. I got into a groove pretty quickly, waited before getting into a standing climb, and then started to follow the program a bit better - standing climbs, jacking up the resistance, etc. By about halfway through, I could feel my legs getting tired. So I pulled out the Stinger, ripped the top open, and gulped about half of it down.
It was interesting. Definitely honey - but something else kinda malty, too. And maybe it was because it had been in the car all day, but it was pretty liquidy, too. The gulp was more of a gush, really. I sucked the rest of the Stinger out, and kept going to make sure I had all of it that I could get, before stuffing it back into my pocket.
Maybe it was psychosomatic, but I felt like I could feel the lift after a minute or so. My legs weren't as tired anymore and things got easier. I was a little disappointed, though, that it didn't last longer. By the time the ride was almost done, I could feel my legs getting tired again, and I started thinking - how am I ever going to do this run? Maybe I need a second Stinger.
I got done with the bike, and then briskly walked out to the car, grabbed my phone, and realized - I had deleted the C25k app because it was so sucky. Fumbled through the process of re-downloading, and realized my calf was starting to get tight. Stretched it out a little, cued up the right week, and was relieved that it was 10 minutes of running, 3 of walking, and 10 running. So I started off on my warm-up, mostly to make sure that leg was good and loose. After about three minutes I thought - screw it, let's just finish this thing up. And started my jog.
I've never been so happy that I was only going 5mph. I think during the run I bumped it up some, but by the end - back down at 5mph. And you know, as I said earlier - I want to so be at 6mph. But maybe 5mph isn't so bad. That's 12 minute miles, and if I do that - especially after the swimming and biking - coming in somewhere over 36 minutes isn't too bad ... is it?
My calf did start to tighten up, but the sleeve kept it in pretty good control. It was a struggle the last few minutes, but not like the other times I ran. I was tired, and I felt it, but I didn't need to call on any inspiration to get through it, like that twenty minute run last week. All in all, it was a great feeling of accomplishment. So I celebrated by going to Fieldhouse and having a couple of beers and watching baseball games that I didn't really care about.
Beth is away this weekend, and I have a Ghost Tour and work Mobtown - but I'm hoping a I get to do this again before the 7th....
I drove from work directly to the gym, got there at the top of the hour, changed, stretched lightly, and headed to the pool. Hardly anyone was around, so I got my pick of lanes. I stretched a little more, dipped my hand into the water, and then ... started. I dove in and had a few good dolphin kicks, resurfaced, and started nice and slow. One length down then two. My legs felt tired from last night's swim, but soon enough the cobwebs were kicked loose and I was going. Three and four and five and I barely felt winded. Six came, and I flipped over onto my back for a length of backstroke at seven. That done, my shoulders were sore from last night, too - so I flipped back into a crawl for #8, #9, and #10.
I was tired, and thought about flipping into a crawl. But no. Technically, #11 would be my final length come race day, and I wasn't going to end on back stroke. So I kept going. The dolphin kicks on the turns were going pretty well, too, and I was proud of that. So #11 came and went and I headed into the last length. The twelfth was strong. I didn't want to blow it out and die in the middle of my last event, but I was good to go. I put my head down, and switched to 4s, which made me go a little faster to get to the breath at the end. And then I was done.
I bobbed in the pool for a couple of seconds, a little dazed, and then told my self - you prolly can't do this on Sunday. So I climbed the ladder, got out, and made my way into the locker room. Twenty minutes to change and do the swim.
The great thing about the tri shorts is ... no changing. I toweled off and got mostly dry, and put on my shirt, pulled on my socks and shoes and then ... realized two things. One, I had forgotten to put my calf sleeve on, and two, I had forgotten my iPhone with the C25k app. I took off my shoe and pulled the sleeve on, and figured - I had already wasted enough time in this transition, I would run out to the car after the bike and grab my Android.
I grabbed the Stinger, jammed it in a pocket, went up to the video bike, adjusted it, and hopped on. I wanted a better, more life-like workout than the other night, so I chose "Race Day" and cued it up for 35 minutes, and started. I knew it was going to be a little different when the program exhorted me to go up to heavy resistance. I ignored it. Not ready yet. I got into a groove pretty quickly, waited before getting into a standing climb, and then started to follow the program a bit better - standing climbs, jacking up the resistance, etc. By about halfway through, I could feel my legs getting tired. So I pulled out the Stinger, ripped the top open, and gulped about half of it down.
It was interesting. Definitely honey - but something else kinda malty, too. And maybe it was because it had been in the car all day, but it was pretty liquidy, too. The gulp was more of a gush, really. I sucked the rest of the Stinger out, and kept going to make sure I had all of it that I could get, before stuffing it back into my pocket.
Maybe it was psychosomatic, but I felt like I could feel the lift after a minute or so. My legs weren't as tired anymore and things got easier. I was a little disappointed, though, that it didn't last longer. By the time the ride was almost done, I could feel my legs getting tired again, and I started thinking - how am I ever going to do this run? Maybe I need a second Stinger.
I got done with the bike, and then briskly walked out to the car, grabbed my phone, and realized - I had deleted the C25k app because it was so sucky. Fumbled through the process of re-downloading, and realized my calf was starting to get tight. Stretched it out a little, cued up the right week, and was relieved that it was 10 minutes of running, 3 of walking, and 10 running. So I started off on my warm-up, mostly to make sure that leg was good and loose. After about three minutes I thought - screw it, let's just finish this thing up. And started my jog.
I've never been so happy that I was only going 5mph. I think during the run I bumped it up some, but by the end - back down at 5mph. And you know, as I said earlier - I want to so be at 6mph. But maybe 5mph isn't so bad. That's 12 minute miles, and if I do that - especially after the swimming and biking - coming in somewhere over 36 minutes isn't too bad ... is it?
My calf did start to tighten up, but the sleeve kept it in pretty good control. It was a struggle the last few minutes, but not like the other times I ran. I was tired, and I felt it, but I didn't need to call on any inspiration to get through it, like that twenty minute run last week. All in all, it was a great feeling of accomplishment. So I celebrated by going to Fieldhouse and having a couple of beers and watching baseball games that I didn't really care about.
Beth is away this weekend, and I have a Ghost Tour and work Mobtown - but I'm hoping a I get to do this again before the 7th....
Jul 26, 2011
The Sweat Factory
So, Friday the plan was to go in early to work, come home and work from home (while simultaneously doing stuff to get ready to go to the beach), and then head down. But by the time Beth made it home, I was nowhere near ready to go. I still had to do two more sets of minutes, and then throw my backpack in the car, and get the bike rack, my bike, and the bike my brother had given me on the car. So Beth took off without me, and I worked a 9 hour day....
The further plan had been to make it down to the beach in time to do something on Friday - most likely, with the heat, a good, quick swim. I finally made it down to Milton around 7:30 or so, and met up with everyone at Po'Boys. It was steaming hot outside, it was steaming hot in the restaurant, and I found out when I talked to Beth, the Usuals, and Matt and Jen that it was a toasty 88 degrees when they had left for dinner. We made it back to the house around 9 or so, and it had cooled off to 84 inside, A/C chugging away. Mucked around, went to bed not too late, and got a solid amount of sleep.
Saturday we putzed around for most of the morning, and had Dogfish Head tour tickets at 12:30. We made it over there, enjoyed ourselves with samples, bought some stuff, and then went to the Broadkill Boat House for a great lunch (I had the calamari boathouse tacos) with Matt and Jen, the Usuals, and Kori and Larry.
We were on the beach by 4:30, I think. Going into the water was weird. It was obvious that the water wasn't really much cooler than the ambient air temperature - it just felt like walking into jello that was pretty much the same as the air. Clearly, the water was 85+. BUT, you weren't sweating your balls off - so who cared? We floated around for awhile in the water, until someone said, "How's the tri training going? Swim down to that buoy. It was one of the buoys that served as an anchor-place for a boat that would come in there, and was about 50 yards away or so. So... I did. Made it back and didn't feel much the worse for wear. I splashed around for a couple minutes longer, and then thought - oh, screw it - might as well get that workout in.
I took off for the far jetty. Now I should say that one of the things about swimming in the bay down there is that I find I have to stop every so often to make sure I'm now about to hit a buoy, the boat, the gaggle of other swimmers, the rocks of the jetty, etc. - and that I'm not drifting out to sea. I try not to touch - just sorta tread water for like two seconds until I can get my bearings. So when I say "I made it all the way down" - the caveat is - I stopped a couple of times to look around. But I made it the 100 yards or so, turned around and backstroked for awhile.
I made it past the boat - maybe 50 yards? - and my arms hurt and I felt like I had a decent breath. So I turned back around and crawled the rest of the way. I turned around immediately, and crawled the 100 yards back down the beach. Again flipped to a back stroke and went past the boat and finished with a crawl. 400 yards by my reckoning, 100 of that back stroke.
We got out and went about the rest of the day. Tony grilled up some good chicken and corn, we watched Iron Man 2. And I had every intention of getting up at 7:30 to try a 30-30-30 (30 minutes of swimming, 30 of biking, and 30 of running.)
But at a little after 7:00 it was already 82 degrees, and by 7:30 it was 83 degrees, and the prospect of doing running 8:30-9:00 as the mercury climbed did not excite me. And indeed, another fairly hot day. We spent it on the beach - and the water was colder - but by a little after 1, there was some strong thunderstorm activity in the area. So.... that was an end to swimming. We ate lunch and wiled away the afternoon watching as two lines of thundershowers blow through. Everyone slowly packed up and left. I was last to leave, and entertained thoughts of pulling my bike off and going for a last minute bike ride as the temperature had dropped to a more sane mid-80s around 3:30 after the storms blew through. But that didn't happen. So, I packed up and went home, never having tried my tri shorts or calf sleeve out, but with a good swim under my belt.
I should mention now that I figured something out in that 400+ yards of swimming. This was getting easy. And I felt like I had a real good power stroke if I made sure I was bringing my arms through and brushing my thighs as I followed through. Maybe it did something for my form, maybe it did something to focus my mind on some repetitive motion. But I really started thinking - I can swim all day like this.
Monday promised to be another scorcher. And I woke up feeling like crap - achey all over, all out of sorts, just not good. There was no way I could even face going in to my 80+ degree cube, so I called in to work from home. Did my work, made dinner, and at 8:00 figured a brick was in order. I grabbed my new tri shorts, put 'em on, pulled the calf sleeve over my left calf and headed off.
Beth had already spurred me to action by telling me that, in her bike ride (executed while she recovers from some muscle strain in her glute), she had managed 12 miles in 35 minutes. I was jealous as hell. "And," she added, "I kept it right in the 130 beats per minute zone." Now, all of my experience had suggested that the 12 miles/20km was going to take me an hour. At the beach - on flat ground, going at it pretty aggressively - it was taking me half an hour to go the 6 miles from Alabama to the park. How was she besting me? "Well," she said, "I'm probably not going any where near as high a gear as you are."
I will admit that I'm most comfortable in 2.5 or 2.6. And - to me - most of the 3 gears feel a lot less taxing than 2.6. So... I'm used to going pretty high. But this was just not ... acceptable. I started to feel bad. If she can get on a bike and DOUBLE MY SPEED, meeting my max speed (22-23mph) - I was kinda screwed.
So I scampered to the gym, tri shorts strapped on, jumped on a bike, and knocked off 20km (a bit over 12 miles) in around 27 minutes. Now, I'm not kidding myself. I feel like there are calibration problems. The exercise bike is also inside, no stop signs, no wind resistance, no inclines.... But that felt pretty good.
I went from there to the treadmill (still too hot outside!), and started week 6 run 1 in the C25K program: warmup (cut short because I was ready to GO!), 5 minute run, 3 minute walk, 8 minute run, 3 minute walk, 5 minute run, cool down. I gotta say: easy peasy. I was only going at 5mph. My calf was feeling tight, but the sleeve really felt like it was keeping things in line. Again - no headphones, just trying to run low and loose. And the tri shorts - good god! I felt superhuman. Maybe it was the sleeve - but it was like wearing armor at +5 CON or something! All in all, a good strong night.
So, Tuesday.... My plan initially was to get home early and swim before going to the Board Meeting for Mobtown. I made it in early, got through a Steering Committee meeting where I asked for a 5010 extension and got it, and left around 4:30. At the gym at 5:00 though, all the lanes were taken. I came home, made dinner, and took off around 6:00. The Board Meeting went longer than anyone anticipated - I got out of there at 8:30, and was in a semi-panic. I double-checked pool times, and Merrit closes the pool at 10, so I was good. I raced down to the gym, pulled on the Magic Tri Shorts, stretched a little, and then headed out to the pool.
I just jumped in and started swimming. And man what a good swim. I crawled two lengths and felt good, barely winded, crawled 3, 4, 5, 6! Six lengths before I was feeling a little out of breath - half my customary twelve! I turned on my back and backstroked 7 & 8 until my shoulders started to bark. Flipped and did two more (9 & 10) before I had to stop. I stood there sucking major wind, and prolly pulled a dozen breaths or so. And that was all I needed. Caught my breath in those few seconds and thought - well, let's go for it. Dove back in (my dolphin kicks were getting a little ragged and shallow at this point), and snapped off the last two lengths.
I FELT GREAT!
As I drove home, I knew there would have to be a way I could do a 30-30-30 on Wednesday....
The further plan had been to make it down to the beach in time to do something on Friday - most likely, with the heat, a good, quick swim. I finally made it down to Milton around 7:30 or so, and met up with everyone at Po'Boys. It was steaming hot outside, it was steaming hot in the restaurant, and I found out when I talked to Beth, the Usuals, and Matt and Jen that it was a toasty 88 degrees when they had left for dinner. We made it back to the house around 9 or so, and it had cooled off to 84 inside, A/C chugging away. Mucked around, went to bed not too late, and got a solid amount of sleep.
Saturday we putzed around for most of the morning, and had Dogfish Head tour tickets at 12:30. We made it over there, enjoyed ourselves with samples, bought some stuff, and then went to the Broadkill Boat House for a great lunch (I had the calamari boathouse tacos) with Matt and Jen, the Usuals, and Kori and Larry.
We were on the beach by 4:30, I think. Going into the water was weird. It was obvious that the water wasn't really much cooler than the ambient air temperature - it just felt like walking into jello that was pretty much the same as the air. Clearly, the water was 85+. BUT, you weren't sweating your balls off - so who cared? We floated around for awhile in the water, until someone said, "How's the tri training going? Swim down to that buoy. It was one of the buoys that served as an anchor-place for a boat that would come in there, and was about 50 yards away or so. So... I did. Made it back and didn't feel much the worse for wear. I splashed around for a couple minutes longer, and then thought - oh, screw it - might as well get that workout in.
I took off for the far jetty. Now I should say that one of the things about swimming in the bay down there is that I find I have to stop every so often to make sure I'm now about to hit a buoy, the boat, the gaggle of other swimmers, the rocks of the jetty, etc. - and that I'm not drifting out to sea. I try not to touch - just sorta tread water for like two seconds until I can get my bearings. So when I say "I made it all the way down" - the caveat is - I stopped a couple of times to look around. But I made it the 100 yards or so, turned around and backstroked for awhile.
I made it past the boat - maybe 50 yards? - and my arms hurt and I felt like I had a decent breath. So I turned back around and crawled the rest of the way. I turned around immediately, and crawled the 100 yards back down the beach. Again flipped to a back stroke and went past the boat and finished with a crawl. 400 yards by my reckoning, 100 of that back stroke.
We got out and went about the rest of the day. Tony grilled up some good chicken and corn, we watched Iron Man 2. And I had every intention of getting up at 7:30 to try a 30-30-30 (30 minutes of swimming, 30 of biking, and 30 of running.)
But at a little after 7:00 it was already 82 degrees, and by 7:30 it was 83 degrees, and the prospect of doing running 8:30-9:00 as the mercury climbed did not excite me. And indeed, another fairly hot day. We spent it on the beach - and the water was colder - but by a little after 1, there was some strong thunderstorm activity in the area. So.... that was an end to swimming. We ate lunch and wiled away the afternoon watching as two lines of thundershowers blow through. Everyone slowly packed up and left. I was last to leave, and entertained thoughts of pulling my bike off and going for a last minute bike ride as the temperature had dropped to a more sane mid-80s around 3:30 after the storms blew through. But that didn't happen. So, I packed up and went home, never having tried my tri shorts or calf sleeve out, but with a good swim under my belt.
I should mention now that I figured something out in that 400+ yards of swimming. This was getting easy. And I felt like I had a real good power stroke if I made sure I was bringing my arms through and brushing my thighs as I followed through. Maybe it did something for my form, maybe it did something to focus my mind on some repetitive motion. But I really started thinking - I can swim all day like this.
Monday promised to be another scorcher. And I woke up feeling like crap - achey all over, all out of sorts, just not good. There was no way I could even face going in to my 80+ degree cube, so I called in to work from home. Did my work, made dinner, and at 8:00 figured a brick was in order. I grabbed my new tri shorts, put 'em on, pulled the calf sleeve over my left calf and headed off.
Beth had already spurred me to action by telling me that, in her bike ride (executed while she recovers from some muscle strain in her glute), she had managed 12 miles in 35 minutes. I was jealous as hell. "And," she added, "I kept it right in the 130 beats per minute zone." Now, all of my experience had suggested that the 12 miles/20km was going to take me an hour. At the beach - on flat ground, going at it pretty aggressively - it was taking me half an hour to go the 6 miles from Alabama to the park. How was she besting me? "Well," she said, "I'm probably not going any where near as high a gear as you are."
I will admit that I'm most comfortable in 2.5 or 2.6. And - to me - most of the 3 gears feel a lot less taxing than 2.6. So... I'm used to going pretty high. But this was just not ... acceptable. I started to feel bad. If she can get on a bike and DOUBLE MY SPEED, meeting my max speed (22-23mph) - I was kinda screwed.
So I scampered to the gym, tri shorts strapped on, jumped on a bike, and knocked off 20km (a bit over 12 miles) in around 27 minutes. Now, I'm not kidding myself. I feel like there are calibration problems. The exercise bike is also inside, no stop signs, no wind resistance, no inclines.... But that felt pretty good.
I went from there to the treadmill (still too hot outside!), and started week 6 run 1 in the C25K program: warmup (cut short because I was ready to GO!), 5 minute run, 3 minute walk, 8 minute run, 3 minute walk, 5 minute run, cool down. I gotta say: easy peasy. I was only going at 5mph. My calf was feeling tight, but the sleeve really felt like it was keeping things in line. Again - no headphones, just trying to run low and loose. And the tri shorts - good god! I felt superhuman. Maybe it was the sleeve - but it was like wearing armor at +5 CON or something! All in all, a good strong night.
So, Tuesday.... My plan initially was to get home early and swim before going to the Board Meeting for Mobtown. I made it in early, got through a Steering Committee meeting where I asked for a 5010 extension and got it, and left around 4:30. At the gym at 5:00 though, all the lanes were taken. I came home, made dinner, and took off around 6:00. The Board Meeting went longer than anyone anticipated - I got out of there at 8:30, and was in a semi-panic. I double-checked pool times, and Merrit closes the pool at 10, so I was good. I raced down to the gym, pulled on the Magic Tri Shorts, stretched a little, and then headed out to the pool.
I just jumped in and started swimming. And man what a good swim. I crawled two lengths and felt good, barely winded, crawled 3, 4, 5, 6! Six lengths before I was feeling a little out of breath - half my customary twelve! I turned on my back and backstroked 7 & 8 until my shoulders started to bark. Flipped and did two more (9 & 10) before I had to stop. I stood there sucking major wind, and prolly pulled a dozen breaths or so. And that was all I needed. Caught my breath in those few seconds and thought - well, let's go for it. Dove back in (my dolphin kicks were getting a little ragged and shallow at this point), and snapped off the last two lengths.
I FELT GREAT!
As I drove home, I knew there would have to be a way I could do a 30-30-30 on Wednesday....
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