Take a Seat

I stumbled upon this Docu-series on Universal Sports tonight after my run.  Oddly enough, when I texted Katie to turn it on, she was already watching.  The series is about a guy who cycles across the country on a tandem bike and gives 10 different people with disabilities a chance to ride along.  Tonight's episode was about a guy with Parkinson's.

You can watch episodes online here.  I highly recommend it, even after only seeing on episode.

Revisiting My First Marathon

"You have successfully submitted your registration for the 2012 Chevron Houston Marathon."

Goodwater Loop - Georgetown Lake

Katie and I went out for a 16 mile trail run today.  The goal, get in the miles, keep the pace easy.  Knowing that its going to be hot on race day, I decided to head out when it was still a little hot out.  We should have been more prepared with hydration, as we ran out of water.  We were able to stop and refill eventually, but there were a number of miles run without water.

There's not a lot of elevation change out there, but the footing is fairly technical in places.  I'll definitely be utilizing this trail a lot while training for Cactus Rose.  I look forward to exploring the rest of the trail.  I've only covered about 8 miles of the trail, so there's another ~18 miles out there that my feet need to find.

The work is done, now its maintenance

I got up this morning at 5 am and did my last long ride, as prescribed by the one and only Mr. Cane.

1 hour easy
2 hours at IM race speed (i might have pushed it a little harder...)
1 hour easy

So that's it.  There's nothing I can do to really improve my fitness in the next two weeks, but there's a lot I can do to screw it up, so I've gotta be careful.

Its rides like today that make me feel like I'd be a much better cyclist than I am a runner.  I always feel like I can push and sustain much harder and longer on the bike than I can when running, which I guess makes ultra cycling a potentially scary combo for me.  Anyway, its just interesting to see what I can sustain, especially seeing as how I'm not even in cycling shape, I'm in decent triathlon shape.  Makes me wonder what I could do if I set aside some time and concentrated on the bike.

but for now...IMTX, we have a date...

Swim/Bike/Run

20 min EASY swim

2.5 hours on the bike

20 min EASY run

Ride

Hit WRL for 90 minutes tonight.  Felt pretty good.

New swim distance PR

Nature didn't seem to want me to ride today, posting severe thunderstorm warnings pretty much all day long.  I probably could have made it out, but I was afraid of getting stuck in a hail and/or lightning storm.  I figured instead of missing out on training completely to go hit the pool.  When I initially got in, I had a goal of swimming 2 miles, with at least a mile of that continuous.  Well, as my swim progressed, I felt strong and decided to keep going.  I ended up swimming 5K (3.1 miles) with the last 1.1 miles continues and another stretch of 3/4 of a mile continuous.  The breaks between the other sections were pretty minimal.  I could have used a long ride, but this was a HUGE confidence builder for the race.  I'm ready for the swim and yesterday proved that I'm ready for the run.

Last Long Run, big negative split

Tonight was my last long run.  I had to work today, so I didn't get to start the run until about 7 pm.  When I got home, it was raining with lightning, thunder, and hail.  Luckily, the weather passed and I was able to get out for my run.  It was super humid, but race day will likely be similar.  I decided to employ a similar tactic to race day.  I want to take the first half at no faster than 9 min miles and then see how I feel on the second half.  I'm basing this on how I felt at IMAZ.  When the calf cramp finally subsided around mile 20, I dropped into the low 9s.  I figure if I can keep my run under control for the first half, I might just be able to pick it up a little and negative split.  Anyway, I went out and ran right at 9 min miles for the first 11 miles and then ran whatever felt good for the second 11.  I settled in and put it on cruise control, which ended up being around 7:50s for the last 11 miles. I felt strong the whole time and posted almost a 12 minute negative split.  I realize I won't come anywhere near that on race day, but even if I do 1/6th of that, I'll be having a great race.

Brick!

Knocked out 50.45 miles on the bike today.  For once the winds were calm and I was able to really hammer today.  I did quite a few extended sections at 23+ mph. One thing I really hate is random people jumping on and sucking my wheel when i pass them. So, one of my favorite things to do when this happens is to hammer and drop them like a sack of rocks. Did it twice tonight. The second guy hung on at 27 mph for a little over a mile before he dropped off. One of the reasons I love it is b/c it pushes me harder. I'll sustain the speed for several miles after I drop them if I've got the road to keep hammering.  I felt good today, but I guess I'll see what I lost with the week+ off the bike when I do my long ride this weekend.


After I got off the bike, I did a quick run to try and solidify the transition between disciplines.  I only did 2 miles, so I decided to push the pace a little.  I did the first mile at 7:34 and then came back in 6:25.

Trying not to drown

After not being in the pool for over a week, I was scared to get back in the water.  I thought my arms would most likely fall off.  However, I kept the pace slow (not hard for me) and didn't even bother counting laps.  I just swam for 30 minutes and found my stroke.  A long swim is on the schedule for friday.

Before I got in the pool, I jumped on the spin bike for 30 minutes while I waited on the pool to empty a bit.