Kickin My Own A**!

You know what happens when you take a month after your last race to get back into consistent training, and then pick it back up exactly where you left off? You SUFFER! LOL! Ok... that's a bit dramatic but I certainly feel the workouts a bit more that I probably should. That's part of the fun though right? I REALLY enjoy being so exhausted at the end of the day that its all I can do to help get the kiddos into bed and kiss the wife before I collapse into bed!

I have to catch you up a bit... I've been so tired in the evenings that I haven't really had the brain power to put coherent thoughts down on the computer!

Last Thursday's training was awesome! I love doing bricks... probably my favorite training session on the books! The thing about brick sessions is that it reminds you that you're a triathlete... and that you're preparing yourself for a triathlon. That may sound odd... but think about it for a second. Is there any other sport where an hour to an hour and a half bike alone wouldn't be considered enough... that the workout would be over after that? I can't think of one. But in triathlon, you recognize the importance of being able to haul a** running immediately after you hammer out a relatively long bike ride. I think that is COOL! Anyway, Thursday was a brick day and here's what it looked like:

• 1 hr bike
• 15.2 miles total
• 800 ft elevation gain in the 1st 1.5 miles
• Avg HR 142

Since there's a HUGE, MEAN, NASTY, GNARLY hill on the course at Escape from the Gorge, I'm doing hills every chance I get. Painful... but fullfilling

• Run 30 min
• 4.2 miles
• Avg HR 150

I definitely felt the 88 degree heat on the run. I planned the route so that I could hit a couple of water fountains so I did ok.

Saturday I woke up and headed for the pool. I don't know if I've mentioned it before but Eugene has a sweet 50m pool! The Amazon Pool has "long course" lanes open roughly 4 hours a day... mostly in the early morning during the week and then from 10:45 to noon on weekends. I feel pretty lucky to have a pool like this to train in during the Spring thru early Fall. Here's the swim I did yesterday:

• 400m warm-up/drills
• 6X200m tempo on 20 sec RI
• 600m pull
• 200m cool-down
• Avg split: 1:45/100m
  
• Total distance: 2400m (1.5 miles)

Felt good. I was definitely wanted more than 20 seconds of rest after each interval... and I probably took a few extra seconds... but overall the workout felt good. I really should invest in some lessons. I'm pretty sure that I could bring down my times by tweaking a few things... but I have no idea what those things are! Bah ha ha!

The heat picked up to the mid 80's and I headed out on my bike a little later than I had wanted. Who cares though... I was out there... and it was great! I took off toward Junction City and thoroughly enjoyed the sun and the scenery! You can tell by the smile! The prescribed workout was 2 hours... here's what I did:

• Total Time: 1 hour 49 minutes total
  
• Total Distance: 33.6 miles
• Avg Speed: 18.4 mph
• Avg HR: 142 bpm

A little short on time but that's ok. I'm happy with the ride overall. Most of the ride was flat with the exception of the last 1/4 mile which was all hill at about a 9% grade... that actually hurt a bit! I had 2 X 24oz water bottles with NUUN in them.... and I lost one off of my rear rack at about the half-way mark! Luckily I carried an extra tube of NUUN with me... so I just found a friendly farmer guy and filled up my water from his hose! LOL... I could tell that he wasn't sure about my "fancy outfit"! I also consumed about 4 oz of Hammer Gel. Energy was good the entire time and I just had a ball being out there... I love this sport!

Today is a 60 minute aerobic run. Ought to be fun although I'm not sure what the heat is going to be like this afternoon... but who cares right? I'll be heading to Bend later in the week and hooking up with Drew for another KMA session AND hopefully I'll be meeting with my potential coach to refine some of the details for next year... i.e. race schedule, annual goals, and of course... $$$!

Breathe...