Swimming on tired legs - round 2

I headed out to Titlow yesterday. I must have been a little stinky. There were 7 people swimming laps when I walked up. After 5 minutes, there were only two others left. The main set was four sets of swimming where the distance decreased and the the speed required increased. It didn't matter how much harder I tried, my gearing selection was very limited. My clutch would not shift into fifth. It was still a solid 4.5k swimming. I was exhausted at the end. Afterward, I stopped to let the dogs play for 20 minutes. I wanted to run later in the evening, but my energy levels were non existent. I stayed on the couch and acted like a potato.

Have you ever tried riding your bike fast...

My upper body felt a little tired on my swim yesterday. I mixed it up with almost 2k of IM and finished up with 3.5k.

I jumped on the bike at 2:30. I had another strong ride. The QUARQ powermeter has definitely helped with pacing. After the warm up, I had 10 minute efforts at sprint distance with 5 minutes cruising four times through. I increased my power output every round. On the first repeat, I had issues with sweat running into my eyes. Have you tried riding fast with sweat filling up one eye? I felt like Popeye the Sailor man. I couldn't stands it no more, so I took off the glasses and put them in my pocket. Much better. On the second one, I had a dragonfly get trapped against my chest. I wasn't sure if he heard from the coyote, "He would be some good eatin." I stayed calm and it flew away after 5 seconds. As I was finishing #2, I saw a blur of red. This guy was moving out. I bet he was holding 270 watts. He must have been military because I did not see him again. I finished up the last 2 while riding out to the bridge and back. Then I cruised for 20 minutes. The last hard thing for the day was a 20 minute ride at Half Iron pace with several short bursts of power. The smoke was getting worse in the Time Trial area. Either that or I was starting to become delusional from all the power I was generating. It was definitely smoke. I ended the ride with a little over 55 miles. Not bad for another day of work.

Swimming on tired legs

I wasn't sure how my swim was going to turn out today. My legs were tired this morning just walking around. The workout was 4.5k with the main set of 400, 2x100, 200, 2x100 on a 1:25 base send off three times through. My pacing improved each set for the 400. I am gonna have to start working even harder, if I want a chance to beat Lisa. She was only 17 seconds slower than Karen at their race yesterday. Watch out Lisa, I am gunning for you!

Finally a run 99.9% pain free

I took the dogs out for a 10 mile run yesterday morning. It was the first run in awhile that was almost 100% pain free. I looped around back to the house at mile 7 to drop off Fina. I contemplated leaving Kona too. She was still bouncing around, so I took her for the last 3 of rolling hills. I noticed she was limping around. She limped for almost the rest of the day. If she would've have just said something, I would've left her. This was how they spent the rest of the day.

An article in the local paper

http://www.nwguardian.com/2010/07/29/8219/triathlete-has-sights-set-on-kona.html

There was a misprint. I did not win Cascades edge. I was 5th.

Vineman Pics

Hills, Hills, and more hills

I rode for 5 hours yesterday. The first hour and a half was mostly warm-up. I repeated the hill after the bridge 3 times. The first time was nice, the second ok, and the third ugh. After the bridge I had 4x20 minute efforts at Olympic distance effort. I ended up just past the Texaco for the first effort. I cruised back and refueled. I wanted to keep the ride challenging, so I rode back thru Yelm then Lewis. I refueled at Forza and then finished the last tempo. After all the tempo stuff, I rode out to Solo Point for 8 hill repeats. I could tell the 20 minute efforts zapped my legs during the first hill repeat. It did not get easier. I somehow managed to improve the power numbers. After the last one, I had 45 minutes at Half Iron effort. I was toast, burnt toast. All the work hard efforts left the tank empty. My little leggies had nothing left. Nada. Nil. Zero.  I completed the workout in 5 hours and 30 minutes and only 2 stops.

I took the dogs out for some play time. Kona looked like a major league baseball player. She caught the ball in her mouth, slid into the grass, rolled all the way over back onto her feet, then trotted back to me. It was hilarious!!!