60-65 degrees and sunny. 822 feet of gain.
This was supposed to be a nice easy ride, what with yesterday's LT test. I decided to head east on the W&OD, and, on a lark, thought checking out the Custis Trail where it intersected would be fun. I had heard that it had very few at-grade crossings, and that's always what's annoying about W&OD. Well, it turns out that Custis has a lot more climbing. There are a few blind curves, and suddenly you're going up up up. More than once I got caught in the wrong gear, and found myself muscling my way up. In the beginning I couldn't even appreciate the downhills, because I was riding into the rising sun. Since I was doing an out and back, that wasn't a problem after the turnaround, and it was a lot more fun. There was a moment of sheer panic as I found myself heading down a very steep S-curve. I've never done anything like that before, and I thought I was going to eat it. I arrived at the bottom safe and sound, though! Coming back up it was tough, but not as hard as I thought it would be. On two occasions I had to walk my bike, which I've never had to do before. One hill was just too darn steep, and I ran out of gears. The second was when I dropped my chain and couldn't get going again on the uphill.
I actually dropped my chain twice, and I'm starting to think it is absolutely user error, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Each time I've been shifting from my middle ring to the tiny one up front, and the chain drop down next to the frame. I need to figure out what I'm doing.
My return trip was uneventful, although I did find myself amidst a large group of families on the W&OD as I approached Falls Church. Maybe some kind of family fun race? There were a lot of people, and since they were taking up most of the trail, those of us not participating had to slow way down. Not that I minded...it was supposed to be an easy day.
Nutrition: What with the climbing and blind braking, I didn't really get to practice drinking the way I wanted. Maybe once or twice? I did get down most of a bottle of Skratch lemons & limes (yummy and not too sweet) and a strawberry cereal bar (generic brand Nutrigrain) when I paused at the turnaround.
Overall: A teeny bit of back pain, some slight undercarriage soreness, two dropped chains, and some unexpected climbing = still a fun day in the saddle. Well worth the early alarm clock to get out and beat the heat.

LT field test. I didn't puke. I did get a max HR of 193, which sounds kind of freaky high, but I feel fine. To each heart their own, right? I can only see lap speed and distance on my mobile app, not average HR, so I'll have to wait until I'm sitting at a computer to figure out my zones.
I think I paced it okay. I may have started out too fast, as I felt myself fading in the last few minutes. I had to walk for a couple minutes after the test was done, then ran (jogged? trotted?) The final few blocks home.

300 warm up
4x75 :30 (kick, drill, swim by 25)
6x50 : descend 1-3, 4-6
200 pull :20
150 build :30
100 fast :60
50 sprint
100 recovery
400 (kick, swim by 50)
100 cool down

Forgot my nuun bottle on the counter when I left the house, so I did this swim, showered, and drove to the office before I could have anything to drink. Do not recommend!
I had a bit more leaking from my goggles, but none of the headaches from earlier in the week. So headaches are likely tension from work. Leaking...I was fussing with adjusting my straps a bit, so perhaps once I get the fit dialed in, I'll be okay. It is mostly when I push off the wall. And finally, my swim cap kept coming off. Such a comedy of errors. At least it was a shorter/recovery swim. I haven't even analyzed any of the data...not sure I'm going to. Just getting it done!

Full body, lots of attention on calves and thighs. I'm happy to say that it didn't hurt as bad as last week. I need to keep this habit up!

Quite steady rain. There was a band of thunder and lightning on the radar, so I did apt complex loops in case I needed to bail. Fortunately, I just had rain and a few far off flashes. It was a bit of a blessing, I think, as the temp was lower and I was able to keep my HR low easily than previous days.
Z2 run, walking it back down to the bottom of the zone when it buzzed too high. My right hip started feeling a little bit cranky towards the end, but nothing bad. Besides being super slow, and sopping wet, this was a good run.

1/4 mile walk warm up
ankle/foot routine
pedestal 1
myrtls
1/4 mile walk cool down

The one legged ankle/foot stuff is so hard! My balance is awful, no wonder I fall down all the time. I think the pedestal (planks) routine may be getting ever so slightly easier? Not so much violent shaking in the side planks.

400 warm up, kick every 4th 25
8x50 :30 (drill/swim by 25)
4x25 :20
4x50 :30
4x100 :45
4x50 :30
4x25 :20
6x75 pull @1:30
1x150 (100 ALL OUT, 50 EZ)
100 cool down

New suit today, new goggles, and a very tired me. The suit is a new TYR polyester grab bag suit, and I lucked into some decent looking red flames. For goggles I splurged and got some ROKA R1s. They feel pretty good. Nothing magical...I was having some headaches and jaw pain during my swim, but I've been feeling that for a couple days, so not sure if they're related. The visibility is incredible with them, though! As for being tired, I don't know. I'm tossing and turning a bit, so maybe I'm just running a bit on empty.
For drills I did half catch up and half fist. Right around the 75 pull sets is when my shoulders started to complain, and I was losing my form trying to get enough rest on 1:30. I switched it to 1:35 to I wasn't getting sloppy. As for 100 all out, right at the end of the workout....no. That did not happen. Is anyone surprised?

Katie Archibald's Points Sprints workout
10 min warm up
4x (30 sec Z5, 4 min Z3, 30 sec Z5, 5 min Z1)
10 min cool down

Getting the HR up in 30 seconds is tough...it's more like a 9/10 effort, then float into a sustained pace before the next sprint. It starts out okay, then by the last set I was really cooking. Tough, but I would enjoy doing this workout again. An hour flew by!

72 and quite humid. I thought it was going to slay cloudy, so I didn't bring my sunglasses, and then of course the sun started peaking out. Zone 2 running is humbling. I turned the alerts on my Garmin, and got buzzed at for every hill...so I walked my HR back down. This weekend I'll do an LT test and see how far off these estimates are. With the humidity, I'm not actually surprised at my pace. It can only get better!

1/4 mile walk warm up
ankle/foot routine
pedestal 1
myrtls
1/4 mile walk cool down

By the time I get to the end of the ankle/foot routine, I am really feeling it. My balance needs some work.

Imported from Garmin GarminConnect

500 warm up
5x100 (kick, swim, thumb drag drill, swim by 25) :15-:25
3x100 pull @2:00 (negative split 50s)
6x50 @60 pull strong
4x100 swim @2:00 descend
4x50 @1:05 (3/5 breathe by 25)
4x25 @60 shooters (streamline and kick, then easy)
200 cool down

First swim of 2500 yards, and first swim of over an hour. Milestones: I'm checking them off! This workout was very challenging, as it also marks the first time I had a series of sets where I left at a particular time, rather than specifically counted out my rest. By the time I was getting to the last sets of 100s, I was getting barely 5 seconds of rest.
I did get my negative splits on the 100 pulls, but didn't have success in descending my 100 swims. Guess I need to file this workout away to try again sometime!

Trainer - 20/40 Sprints
10 min warm up
3x (5x 20 sec all out, 40 sec rec) + 5 min easy pedaling
10 min cool down

These sprints started out deceptively easy, but the longer you go, the harder it gets. Not as big of a sweatfest as the LT or even Aerobic Intervals, but still working hard all the same.