Climbing

Went riding with Kebby today. Just did 20 miles but it was after a slowish 90 miler on Saturday, so the legs were a little dead. She wanted to do some climbing, so we headed over toward the Elfin Forest. She had found some climb called double peaks or something like that.

It started off ok with about a 3/4 mile 7% grade. Then she hopped over to the turn lane and I thought she was turning around . But noooo! Rather, we made the turn on to the real climb. It may have been about half a mile but whoa nelly. What a ride. Average grade probably around 10% with spots up to 16%. Thought I was going to stain my shorts from the effort!

Glad to get it done. Rare to get a good workout on a Monday.

Karma

Somewhat decent week of training. Managed to get workouts in six of the seven days and increased the distance on my long run and ride. Speaking of rides, had a lot of fun yesterday on the bike. Headed out early for a 70 miler that started off a little cold. Around 8:00 a.m. the sun began to climb and a beautiful day started to shape up. Seemed like everyone I saw either waved or said hello.

I've got a planned stop at a gas station that is about 20 miles out. When I pulled in, I saw a guy pulling his bike out of his truck. He waved as I pulled in and bought some water. When I was coming out of the gas station door, he asked if I had some sunscreen. Unfortunately, I didn't and we talked about how sunny a day it was going to be. Just then, a woman walked over from the gas pumps and gave us a tube. She said she was a cyclist too and knew what it was like to ride in the sun. That was so freakin nice! And that was the theme for 90% of the rest of the ride. Smiles and waves all around.

One notable exception happened when I was almost home. I turned onto a somewhat deserted section of road and saw a cyclist ahead of me by about a quarter of a mile. I was slowly catching him even though it wasn't intentional. He looked back and saw me and picked up the pace. I wasn't racing him and I'm not that fast anyway. Even if I was...who really cares? In any event, he kept looking back and for the next mile or so. Then a light turned red and he had to stop. As expected, he had to look back one more time to see how much he had "beaten" me by. But...oh...guess who forgot to unclip??? Yep! Bam! Face plant from a standstill!! He quickly picked himself up and made point not to look my way. I know it's not polite to laugh at other people's misfortunes but wow...was that Karma or what?

Ok..it's on

I'm going to do it. Do what? You ask. I'm going to do Ironman Hawaii. What the hell are you talking about? I'm going to do the race. I still don't understand? Ok...let me step back and provide some context. I'm a very average triathlete. I triangulated on this opinion by (1) having my V02 max tested..."the coach called me a "buckhead betty", (2) getting constantly smashed by my wife and her business partner Steph during training and (3) racing four Ironman races over the past three years and having a PR of only 12 hours and 19 minutes. But, right or wrong, I managed to get a slot to the Hawaii Ironman through a program called the Executive Challenge....twice. The first was at IMCDA and the second was last year at Ironman Arizona. While most people would jump at the chance to go to Kona, I was having doubts. First was the question about actually deserving to go (I don't and know one can convince me otherwise) and the second was the fact that I kinda suck in the heat. Actually, I really suck. When I did Kona the first time, I finished over ten pounds lighter and almost deaf. Now, second time around, I know not only how hard the race can be due to the conditions, I also know how much training I need to do to complete the event without ending up in the medical tent. But after several months of reflection, I have not only come to terms with having a slot (I didn't make the rules and a boycott won't change anything) and...I think I'm ready to make a commitment to the training. So, with that as background...I'm going to do the race. Training log and navel gazing ruminations to follow.

Not the brightest idea

The day started off well enough. Dragged myself out of bed and got a short recovery spin in the garage. When I got home from work later in the day, I got dressed for a workout that is supposed to go like this: (1) one mile run to the gym, (2) abs and weights, (3) hill repeats & (4) one mile run home. The hill repeats hurt but when I get home, I generally feel good about the day.

Unfortunately, when I got home today, I changed the process and had a workout that looked something like this: (1) eat fried chicken that was found in the refrigerator, (2) run to gym, (3) start abs, (4, 5, 6) fight urge to puke, try hills, stop and walk home in disgust.

Ouch

Got in a decent long run today. Finished with 16 miles but as with last week, I had to break it down into smaller sections to make it manageable. Did three 4.8 mile loops and finished up the last mile and change on the treadmill. The crazy part was when I got down to less than a mile, I reset the treadmill so that it showed zero miles. Somehow, it seemed easier to do the first 8/10th of one mile than the last 8/10th of 16 miles. Was hating life toward the end but glad to have finished. 26.2 miles...got to be kidding.

Head for the hills

Good ride with Brit today. We got up fairly early and rode the Great Western. It was a good change of pace with climbing on the front side and a relatively easy decent to the car. Ride distance was only 42 miles but the hills made it worthwhile.

Brit and I are going to coordinate our training schedule and I hope that we can ride together at least a couple of times per month. Hopefully, I'll be able to hang with him since he seems to gain fitness very quickly and is pretty gifted athletically.

Rest or Rationalization?

Got up in time for my 6:00 a.m. spin class but didn't quite make it out the door. Talked myself into calling it a recovery morning and climbed back in bed. Then the guilt monster started up and I couldn't sleep. Great. Just great. Finally went to the garage and got an easy 30 minute computrainer ride in.