Taper Time

Got my last long brick in today. Put in 3 hours on the bike followed by a 45 minute run. Ended up going somewhere around 55-56 miles and 5 miles. Rode the first hour on the trainer since time hasn't changed and it doesn't get riding light until 6:45. Needed to be finished by 9:45 so I got on the trainer around 5:45. Got off the trainer and got the bike outside and it was freakin' cold. Due to the fact that I had been riding the trainer indoors, I was sweaty and that made the first 20 minutes of the ride outside miserable. Couldn't get warm even with my cycling jacket on. Sun finally came out enough to knock the fog down and it got less miserable.

Finished the 3 hours and took off on the run. Two mistakes, 1. Didn't have enough fluids for the run and 2. Garmin ran out of battery at 3 mile mark. Ran the first 3 at about a 8:30 pace and finished up somewhere just over 5 miles for the 45 minutes. Felt pretty good and hope I can hold 9:00 pace for the entire 13.1 miles in 2 weeks.

Yesterday morning was my long run. It was supposed to be 12-13 miles, but I got derailed. Got up late, had bathroom issues before I left and had bathroom issues on the run. Found a port-o-potty to hit, so no front yard squats this time. Only got in 9.5 due to the fact that I had to be back at 6:55 so the wife could go to work.

Going to go ahead and put some goals for the Half Ironman in writing. 'A' Goal - 5:45, 'B' Goal - 6:00, 'C' Goal - Finish. I am pretty sure I can make 'B', but with my swim, 'A' is going to be tough. I think I can go right at 3:00 for the bike and around 2:05 on the run, which gives me 55 for the swim and transitions. That is definitely doable, but this will be my first half, so I don't want to get over confident. We'll see...

Injuries Suck

Especially when you don't know why!!

My mother in law was in town for mothers day this weekend, so I was able to do my ride on Saturday morning. Hit the road early at around 6:40. Since I am racing this Saturday, I decided to go short and hard and then do a short faster run. Went 25 miles at 19.8 mph (fastest training loop ever, not very impressive I know) which is encouraging since I normally race about 0.5-1 mph faster than my training. Some mental block I have where I can't train as fast as I race. At Galveston, I rode 28 miles almost 1 mph faster than I had ever done a 25 mile training ride. Anyway, got back to the house and put on the running shoes immediately for a real brick. Headed out feeling good at about 8:30 pace. Got about 1 mile in and the rumblin' started. Pace got considerably slower from there. Got to the turn around at 1.25 and had to stop or I would have had an accident. Walked it off and then started again. Did the start/stop thing about 3 times before I finally made it to a port-o-potty at the corner about a 0.5 mile from the house where they are doing some construction. Felt much better after making a deposit, but the pace was already shot. Finished up the 2.5 miles with a 9:03 pace. Not what I am looking for next weekend. Hoping to run in the 8:15 range, we'll see.

Took a nap with the kids Saturday afternoon and woke up with a sharp pain in my right leg. This has happened the last three weekends after my "long" ride. My buddies tell me it is my IT band or hip flexor, but neither of them really fit the symptoms. Hurts the worst when I try to roll out of bed. For whatever reason, that motion puts the most torque on it and causes the most pain. It actually hurts on the right side of my right leg from the hip all the way down to my knee. I thought the hip flexor was more on top of your quad and that IT band injuries were normally isolated to just around the knee. I could be wrong on one of these since there was this one other time where I got something wrong, but I doubt it...Skipped my long run Sunday in hopes of it getting better, but it has been slow.

Swam today at lunch since I didn't feel like getting out the bed with the sore leg. Mornings are worse for me since my arthritis already has me sore in the mornings. Although, it has gotten way better since I have dropped 30 pounds. Lunch swim went great. I love swimming in the sun. Stayed short, 1400 yds, since I only had 30 minutes. Tomorrow is run and spin class. Hopefully the leg will feel better.

Power Bars

Got up early to help set up for a garage sale with three other families. It was at someone elses house, so I just had to help set-up on my way to do my brick. Ended up hanging out for a while and not getting to the ride spot until about 7:45. Ended up cutting down on my time slot for riding. Was supposed to be finished by 10ish to start getting ready for my daughter's birthday party.

So, I only did the 33 mile loop. Ended up at around 18.7 mph for the loop with a headwind for about 10 of the 33 miles. That is the only thing I dislike about the local training spot. There is always freakin' wind no matter what time of the day or what direction you go. It is in a point in the river, so you are always guaranteed to be going against the wind at some point. But you get a tailwind at some point you would think, but think again. It seems like the levee creates a bowl effect and the wind is always swirling if it is not directly in your face. A crosswind is much better than a headwind, but just once I would like to ride out there and not have the wind!! Guess I'll have to ride at night.

Got back to the truck to find my windshield wipers standing at attention on my windshield and my side mirrors "adjusted" slightly. Luke, a friend of mine who was at the garage sale spot this morning, decided it would be funny to mess with my stuff before he and his training buddies started their ride. Loaded up the bike and put on my shoes and visor to get in a 3 mile run to get that bike-run feel. Knocked out 3 miles at 8:23 pace. On the way back in, passed two other training friends, Neil and DebE. They were doing a 3 hour ride. They are doing the Lonestar Half along with about 12 other people from BRTRri. On the last mile, I was thinking of what to do to get Luke back. Decided on making use of my Powerbar that I had ended up not eating on the ride.

Last week on our long ride my Powerbar had gotten soft being in my pouch on my shirt. Being the gross individual that I am, I took the chocolate mass and fashioned what closely resembled a dog dropping out of my powerbar. The Hornet and Big Poppa's wife, Reba, were less than thrilled with my creation. So, that was my inspiration for today. I put about a third of the powerbar in my mouth for about 30 seconds and chewed it up to get it nice and soft. Rolled it into the shape of a doggy turd and plopped it on his windshield under his wiper blade. I was going to put it under his door handle for a nice surprise when he opened his door, but his door handles were the old push button style since he was in his 1985 work truck. Needless to say, I got a phone call shortly after he got back to his truck later in the day. His move next, that's the thing with pranks, the bar keeps getting raised. Hopefully he keeps it clean...