T99 - Relapse - Bike, Swim

Gainesville

Bike: 120 minutes with hills. Solid effort ranging from RPE 3 to RPE 7

2 Lipodrene
441 and I have never been friends when it comes to the bike. I can honestly remember exactly one ride I've had on it that felt good, and I was hopped up on all kinds of Sudaed that day. Tuesday, I opted against the Sudafed, but still felt this was the course I needed to be biking to prepare for the wind on on the Ironman.

Heading down, I was not flying through Alligator Alley as I had been on my last trip, so I decided I would do a solid one hour down and another back. Simple enough. I felt a good combination of headwind and tailwind, meaning that the resistance should be about the same both ways. Even looked like a bit of a crosswind going through Payne's Prairie.

The fucking computer was still acting weird, registering speeds like 10 and 15 when I clearly knew I was going faster. I didn't so much mind, but it was a little disappointing when I saw my average speed on the way down was about 16, and I knew full well I was going faster. But this was only one factor that led to a very sbu-par ride.

It was close to the end of the day, meaning I was getting this ride in as late as possible, and didn't really want to be out there. I have also noticed my effort on short workouts has also diminished, because the long ones seem so much more relevant. I mean, if you're not going to put in any effort, why even bother training? It was sad, really. I also was feeling light headed and dizzy and sluggish again. I thought I'd given my body enough rest, but it appears that that didn't do the trick. I just have no motivation to kick it into high gear (no pun intended) and it showed on the way back.

I'm not sure if it's the realization that I'm going to have to not fight the wind super hard on the Ironman that has led to this, but when the wind kicked up in some spots I just flat out didn't give a shit. I just up-shifted and let it slow me down. then I'd look at my speedometer and see "10" (which was wrong) and not know exactly how much I"d slowed, and cared even less. Just a lackluster effort altogether, and what's worse was it didn't even bother me. This is a bad sign. I've now come to hate being on the bike, where until maybe a month ago I loved it. It's starting to feel like last cycle, and I don't like it one bit. But my body is just not responding and because the only way I can go faster is if my body can do it (as in I don't really push myself much. I need to start responding but I'm just lethargic all the time on bike rides. All I can do is hope I start getting back into it in the next few weeks.

Swim: race-specific
main: 3 x 750,
1 is RPE 3, 2 is RPE9 for first 100 then RPE5, 3 is RPE 5

2 Lipodrene
I figured maybe more stimulants would help make for a better swim. Now I"m starting to think this bottle of Lipodrene is just an ephedra-free knockoff that the ephedra outlet scammed me on. I'm really feeling nothing. Anyway, I headed out to GHFC after about half an hour at home. The first 750 was a little tough, as my lats were still a little sore form the previous evening's 2x2000. Understandable. So my first 750 took about 17 minutes, much slower than the night before, but again I wasn't overly concerned. The second one went well, but I still felt short of breath and found myself dogging it a few times. It wasn't the soreness, but more the tiredness. Again, bad sign.

Strangely, the third one went well and I did it in 15 minutes, which while slower than I'd like to be doing a 750 was still right on my race pace. I got out of the water and was immediately dizzy and wanted to sit down. I sort of dazed through the locker room, slugged to my car, and drove home.

This sickness isn't going away. I've come to realize that it has caused training to regress, and the more I think about it, the worse training gets. I don't know why I feel slower and less motivated now than I did a month ago. Maybe it's the fatigue of training. Maybe it's the cooler weather. Maybe it's whatever this is that makes me dizzy and short of breath all the time (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome would be cool just cuz it was on Golden Girls). But it seems here to stay. Now I have to deal with it.