T49 - The Escape From Campus Lodge - Run/Bike/Swim Brick

Gainesville

Today's workout called for what amounted to a reverse Olympic Distance triathlon. And thinking the only way to get these transitions in quick was to base the workout out of somewhere that had a 25-yard pool and a good bike course, I figured I'd see if my friend Justin (who live at Campus Lodge, which has both) wanted to train with me. Justin is one of my former students who I'd actually trained with prior to that who did last year's Florida Ironman. He's a good person to train with because he's a tall, lean fucker who runs a lot better than me. But I bike better than him. So we can push each other to a point. He was not too thrilled to be starting at 9 a.m., but I knew doing the run any later would be even more miserable than it already was. Because this was in essence an reverse Olympic Distance Triathlon, I thought I'd give it a cute name. And given every city seems to like to have a race that involves an "Escape," hence the title of today's "race."

Run - 60 minutes

2 Lipodrene

The run wasn't too bad, going from Campus Lodge on Williston out the back way up to the Planet Smoothie on 34th where he works then up Old Archer Road a couple of miles. No shade to speak of really, but because it was pre-10 a.m., it wasn't too punishing. I ran with Justin about 3/4 of the way to turn around before he got out in front, and the heat was definitely slowing me down a bit. We stopped at the Planet Smoothie on the way back and grabbed a quick Powerade out of the soda machine, as I took the opportunity to use the bathroom and have a gel.

The run was tough, but it didn't feel too labored. I was happy about that, but the sun definitely started kicking my ass. Started getting a real bad headache toward the end, and was wishing I'd brought along some Advil. It's hard to stay hydrated on a run like that since there's not exactly aid stations handing you water. I felt strong about the run, but the mild dehydration would not help my bike.


Bike - 90 Minutes

My car, where my bike was, was by this time in the middle of a blistering hot parking lot. So I got no relief from the sun. Changed over while Justin got his bike out of his apartment, and we headed out towards 441 to bike to Micanopy. 441 was the site of many a terrible ride last cycle, which I blamed on a lot of things. The one thing I forgot to blame those terrible rides on was wind. Hawthorne really doesn't have much wind to speak of this time of year. Not the case on 441. Not only that, but it has this washboard shit on the left side of the shoulder to keep cars from drifting into you. Nice for life-saving, I suppose, not so fun when you're in aero and don't see it and end up riding over a series of inch-deep slits in the road.

Anyway, I hit one of said washboards, and what do you know but my fucking computer goes out again. And, really ,with wind and heat, I was like "Fuck. this." The thing came in and out throughout the rest of the ride, but was more or less useless. I had to depend on Justin to tell me when we got to 45 minutes to turn around. The way down, because I had no way of knowing how far I had to go or when I'd be done, was highly unpleasant. Top that off with not a hint of shade and a continually-warming sun, and the first 45 was straight up shitty save for a little Aero race we had going through the "streets" of Micanopy. Justin stated asking me why I would pull harder than he would, but then when it was my turn to draft I would fall back. I had no idea, other than "I'm just getting lazy." Which is not a solid answer.

We turned it around (I had a gel here as well.) and it was like a whole new ride. I think mentally knowing how far I had to go made a huge difference, and the ice water from the Micanopy Country store didn't hurt either (I do need to remember to bring cash on all street rides, though). My speedometer came on intermittently and it was usually between 20-23. So that felt good. But man, the heat was just unrelenting. The air felt like steam the whole ride, and at one point when we hit Alligator Alley, Justin even remarked that it had all of a sudden just gotten much worse. Really, one of the hottest training days I can ever remember

I'm not sure if I'll ride 441 much more after this, I'm really not a fan. Especially with all the fucking cars. But even with the improved speed we got back in the same time it took us to get down there. Which makes me wonder. I think that included our water stop, though, so who knows. Point is, I'm taking the bike in tomorrow before I leave for Miami to get this computer unfucked once and for all. I can't have another ride get ruined by that.

Swim - 30 Minutes

Justin had warned me this swim was gonna suck. And suck it did for about the first 11 laps, but then I got into a groove and my shoulders weren't sore and I just kind of glided along, True, it was harder to push it having just been brutalized by the sun for 2 and a half hours, but when we did a time check at 25 laps it was only 25:44. So I did 4 more laps and got in 1450 in 30 minutes, which is certainly a solid improvement. The swim was even hot, though, as the water would get warmed evey time the sun peeked thourgh the clouds. That outdoor swimming was fun in Sac, not so fun here. But the swim wasn't bad, and while this wasn't my BEST workout, given the heat and the technical glitches, I't wasn't my worst.

I have to say, though, I've been disappointed with my workouts this week. I had hoped to really crush this reverse tri, and instead just had a workout I'd call "not bad." I think last week and even into Monday I got a little too into the old lifestyle of just drinking whenever and then training when I was sober, and that's just not gonna fly for this. I really need to realize that more than a couple of drink endeavors have to be few and far between now. Ice Luge this weekend being one of them, but still.

I also got a late-night text from a lady friend last night who came over at 1. We were done with things by 2, giving me a solid 6 hours of sleep, but I still have to wonder if the sex made me lose my edge a little bit. She was still in my room when I got home, and I was able to go again. I'm not sure if that means I didn't train hard enough, or I just really don't mind cramping muscles and exhaustion when it comes to sex. Probably, a little of both.