Base bike on the SCT

T-run

What a difference a day off makes! I felt like I was back to normal today. My HR on the bike was a little lower than I have usually had on my base rides. I think I was a little worried that I would run into trouble if I pushed too hard. Of course the trail was pretty busy for most of the last 6 miles back to Mavell Rd. The t-run felt more like normal. My HR shot up immediately after I started running but I was able to keep it between 160 and 167 pretty much the whole time (only 15 minutes). I was pretty happy with both my speed on the run and my pace on the bike.

I did better with hydration today but I didn't eat nearly enough.  1/2 of a Clif bar and 24 oz of accelerade do not provide enough calories for 4 hours of working out. 

In the interest of trying to remedy my calorie deficit for the week my co-worker and I went to Fellini's and had calzones for lunch.  Mmmm good!

Today's workout was 10k step-ups 6k give-ups.  I hit a wall at the beginning of mile 3 and struggled to get back to the start.  When I got back to Mavell Rd I layed on the grass for 10 minutes before I could face the drive to work.  I'm going to throw in the towel for the rest of my planned working out today.

I think my problems this week and especially today boil down to:  never fully recovering from Sunday's ride, getting <6 hours of sleep every night this week, and not eating enough given my increasing workout load.  I have been taking in around 2100 calories per day, which probably isn't enough right now.  I've been trying to balance my desire to lose weight with my desire to have successful workouts and I think I went a little too far in the lose weight direction.  I definitely need to pull it together because training is only going to get tougher.

I am encouraged a bit by the fact that for the first two miles my pace was under 9:00 and my HR was at the bottom of Z2.  Maybe on the 21st I can hit a time that will get me into corral 1B at the Peachtree next year.

I am thinking about going to Dynamo Masters once a week or so.  A friend of mine does the morning masters, though she is a swimmer rather than a triathlete.  I may try it out next week to see how I hold up.  Of course, this is pending coach's approval.

Build up to 10k time trial at end

T-run supposedly at 10k pace

Swim at Dynamo

Today I got to swim in the 50 meter pool.  Yippee.  The problem is that I was exhausted before I even started so I wasn't really able to enjoy it.  And since the clock was not working I don't have times for my sets.  Oh well.  At least I felt like I was working hard.

Sometimes something happens at work and it puts you in a good mood for the rest of the day.  This morning I got up to head to a meeting and groaned a bit due to pain in my legs.  At the same time, a finance director from Australia walks by and says "Sounds like you need to Harden the F*** up!".  I burst out laughing as my co-worker looks at us like we are crazy.  I really needed that today. 

My legs felt dead again today and I had a very hard time getting my HR up to where it should be.  The ~10k time trial at the end was actually 6.3 miles at 21.7mph.  My avg HR was only 164bpm compared to the 183 at the Tundra Time Trial.  The t-run was the worst I have felt running off the bike since the time I tried to keep up with Leslie and David O'Rear after a Roswell ride.  I was supposed to run at 10k pace (HR around 180) but my legs just didn't have it in them.  I hope that I got some benefit from it anyway.

CALORIES:  1928

Base run in Midtown

I could barely keep my HR in the base range (146-159) this morning.  My quads were hurting and I kept having heartburn\indigestion issues.  Hopefully I have gotten all the crap out of the way so tomorrow's brutal tempo brick will be as smooth as silk.

CALORIES:  2215

Back to Mavell Rd. at recovery pace

Intervals on the SCT

Oh no!  The big family reunion at Indian Springs (our family has had a cottage at the Methodist campgroud for 100 years) is always at the end of July.  Except for this year.  This year they (the campground directors) decided to have camp meeting two weeks earlier.  That means that the big reunion is the same day as Chattanooga.  I COULD miss the reunion for the race but, given that my whole family is coming down, that might cause some problems.  It looks like another race is biting the dust for me (ING, Gulf Coast, Chattanooga).  At least I got to do the Tundra.

Boy am I beat.  I did increasing HR intervals on the SCT this morning but miscalculated my turn-around point and finished the workout before I had even gotten back to Floyd Rd.  So I road the rest of the way back to Mavell at a very easy pace.  My glutes and quads felt sore before the ride and it was very difficult to keep my HR up on the first 3 intervals and impossible on the last interval, though it was (barely) in the target range.

I had one annoying/fun episode on the ride this morning.  On the way from Floyd back to Mavell I stopped at the crossing at Hicks Rd and hit the button for the light.  A car blew through the light at least 2 seconds after it turned red while honking the horn and giving me the finger.  I had already unclipped seeing that he wasn't going to stop but I guess he didn't like the way I looked.  The fun part was that there was a cop on Bates rd (it runs right next to the comet at that point) to turn right on Hicks.  Instead he hit his lights and roared off after the guy.

CALORIES:  2180

Yesterday I kept to tradition and did not drink or eat nearly enough on the ride.  From the time the ride started at 8:00am to a couple hours after I got home ~3:00pm I only needed to pee once.  In the first 3 hours after the ride I drank 2 cans of soda, one bottle of water, and two 32oz bottles of Powerade.  I still only had to pee once.  I really need to convince myself to drink (and eat) adequately on the bike.  On Sunday I have a 3:45 base ride on the schedule.  I intend to finish at least 5 bottles of fluid. 

A ride like the one yesterday really hammers home that I need to lose weight.  Sure it's fun to coast downhill and pass a bunch of people who are pedalling hard, but it's really tough to have to climb any substantial grade in my granny gear.  I try to imagine what it would be like to bike with 30 less pounds dragging me down.  It's gotta be sweet. 

Today I was supposed to do a Steady Run (HR 161-174) but my legs just didn't have a steady run in them.  Early on I had some pain in my heel and I wasn't able to keep my HR up.  I got pretty discouraged and considered bagging the run altogether.  But I decided to do the best I could and at least get the time in.  I ended up with a base run. 

My quads are sore and my glutes are really sore.  My left knee hurts going up and down stairs and my right heel hurts when walking/running up an incline.  Otherwise I am alright after yesterday's ride.

Yesterday my 7-year-old had her first swimming lesson where she was learning strokes.  She came home and immediately demanded that we go to the pool so she could show me what she had learned.  She was soooo proud of herself.  I was proud too.  She does not side breath but she was doing a recognizable freestyle.  Kids are fun.

This week's plan:

Calories:  2020