6.13.14 Swim

It was supposed to be a double with a short recovery bike ride.  I skipped the bike.  100 miles tomorrow and figured the rest would be better than a 30 minute ride.  Thursday evening I went to the bike shop and they refit me.  We made some changes with the seat and aero bars.  I'm a little more stretched out and it felt better on the bike for a few minutes.  I also am going to demo a new seat tomorrow.  I'm hoping to be more comfortable.  The nose on my current seat is not terrible but it the chaffing is problematic after 75-80 miles.  My swim was 3350 yards this morning.  I felt a little better today.  400-500 yard of kickboard so it took the full hour and a half to get through the workout.  No ill effects and my shoulders were not sore throughout the day.  I need to get some open water swimming over the next 50 days.

6.12.14 Tempo Run

Well, the race is 52 days away.  This is the second week of a big build week.  It seems like its starting to take a toll on my body now.  Jeff's plan was for 9 miles today.  2 mile warm up, 6 miles at half marathon pace, 1 mile cool down.  I decided to just run the 9 miles and to hell with how fast the miles were.  It was raining this morning lightly.  High humidity, of course, but it wouldn't really rain.  I really hoped for some sort of downpour to cool me off.  Instead, it was an oppressive thick air that is just hard to work with.  Loaded fuel belt with water and a couple of gels.  Walked briefly to eat one gel.  I did so on a downhill instead of waiting for an uphill.  Nice job on my part.  What was I thinking.  Managed to time my loop out to make the full nine miles.  Most were in the 10 minute mile range.  Mentally feel ok and am starting to come to grips with the possibility of finishing.  Still some uncertainty but I think there is a fighting chance now.  Some of the bad days make me wonder.  Jeff says not to worry about how I feel now.  It's hard not to.  I have everything booked so it's on whether I want to or not.  It's going to happen.

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/519114129

6.11.14 Swim/Bike

Split workouts this morning.  Tired, very tired.  The first 500 yards of the 3400 felt like swimming through molasses.  After a set with the kickboard, I started to feel better and cruised the rest of the way.  I need to find a way to get a third swim in.  Taking Mondays off is interrupting one of my swim days.  The distances are long enough each week that I really need one day off now.  I'll figure something out.  I met Marcel and Shelby at 6:30pm at the FloMo CAC to ride.  We were going to work in 25 miles but decided to ride around the Jeter loop which added some distance.  I think it was close to 32 miles.  Nice little Wednesday evening ride.  I'm not sure how this will affect me for the Thursday run.  I was probably putting in too much effort for the ride.

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/518864529

6.10.14 Track Speed Work

Yesterday was a rest day and I needed it.  I felt beat up from the 100 mile ride and the two run on Sunday.  This morning I went to the track in Lewisville.  I got there at the same time Shelby showed up.  I did the one mile warm up with him and then started my track workout.  It was a fairly simple ladder today to be run at 5k pace.  For me, that usually means mid 7 pace but my times were a little slow today.  I haven't been doing as much speed work and mainly focusing on endurance.  Workout was a mile warm up, 800/1200/1600/1200/800 with 400 recoveries in between and a mile cool down.  Altogether, this ended up being a little over 7 miles.  I think there was one interval over 8 minutes but the rest were under 8 minute pace.  I kept it comfortably fast.  I walked over to the new natatorium built next to the track.  It is very nice in there.  Several lanes of 50 meter length pool, 25 meter pool, and a separate diving area.  It costs $3 to get in and they aren't open to the public in the mornings.  Bummer.  They are open from 7:30pm-900pm.  I don't know if that will ever work out but it would be nice to do a few workouts there.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/517838319

6.8.14 Long Run

Sunday is my long run.  I did not have the Goat Trail crew to run with.  I was out late on Saturday night and got a late start.  Ended up leaving the house around 9am.  It was raining which came as a surprise.  The humidity was going to make a guest appearance for the run along with a little heat mixed in.  I decided to load all four of my bottles on my fuel belt with Skratch and took three gels with me for the two hour run.  I ran down Andy Brown trail to the other side of town, then under 121 and out Lakside Parkway until I reached 6 miles making the round trip 12.  I did not feel great at all.  The miles were clicking off at just over 10 minute pace.  I really didn't want to push it either.  The last four or so were tough but I managed a rhythm and ran the entire way without walking.  The only exception was on the half hour when I would eat a gel.  The rain was coming down lightly for the first 45 minutes and then it went away.  I really was hoping for a downpour on the return but it never happened.  Good to know I could fight through a tough run but it was not comfortable.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/516414762

6.7.14 100 Mile Ride

I rode with Jeff and Doug today.  I met them at Andy Brown Park at 7am.  I went ahead and rode for about an hour before meeting them trying to get as many miles in as possible before the sun came out.  We rode with the DA group until we were south of the airport.  The wind was at least 15mph from the south so we tried to get as much mileage as necessary before turning around to the north.  We ended up at the Ballpark and the Death Star in Arlington but needed more mileage so we kept heading south.  We were blazing new territory for us.  South of 20 and still going.  We ended up slightly west of Joe Pool lake before turning around and plotting a route back to Coppell.  I had 55 miles in at the turnaround but we were making a more direct route back.  Once we got back to the airport, Jeff headed back home and Doug was going the other way around the airport to Grapevine.  I chose to go with Doug because I needed 20 miles to finish my 100.  I lost my shark salts on the way down so I was consuming a lot of Skratch.  I went through four bottles in the heat and humidity.  I also packed a peanut butter and honey sandwich to see how that would work with my stomach.  No problems.  I did not get enough calories and spent some time into the wind working outside my race range.  I never cramped, which is good after 100 miles.  I only lost 6 pounds on the ride, which was ok as well.  Fluids were right but calories were not.  I need to focus for the next few 100 mile rides.  This was my first so that was exciting.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/515713740

6.5.14 Tempo Run

Jeff had an 8 mile Tempo Run for me.  2 mile warm up, 4 miles at marathon pace, 1 mile at 10k pace, 1 mile cool down.  Legs were not responding especially well at all.  I'm not sure why.  I should have been fairly well rested.  The 10k mile was a struggle and barely ran it under 9 minutes.  I'm probably still fatigued from all the travel.  I hope things get better because this is going to be a heavy week.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/514306160