T82 - The Problem With Miami Workouts- Swim, Run

Miami

I went down to Miami for the UM - Georgia Tech football game which was, hands down, he most fun I've had a sporting event in a long time. Definitely an experience worth the five hour drive. That being said, the 3-hour tailgate followed by the 3 hour game followed by a night out at the Tavern led me to feeling a little on the dehydrated and awful side when I woke up Friday morning. I took some Advil and drank some Vitamin Water, and by the time I decided to hit the beach at 2:30 I thought I felt alright. But Miami workouts, they're rarely that good.

Swim - 40 minutes (out of 75 assigned) Open Water

2 Lipodrene
Since I was going to be a place with ample opportunity for open water swimming, I decided to switch around the workout order this week and do this open water swim first. Made sense. So I went over to Key Biscayne with Lindsay, Lauren and Nat, who were nice enough to watch my stuff while I went to train in Biscayne Bay. It was a pleasant Friday, so they got a nice beach day, while I got in my open water swimming.

The problem with swimming off Crandon Park is that the water is so damn shallow. It's great for going to the beach with your family, shitty for open water training. Like I'd go for about 100 years or so, and then all of a sudden I'm grabbing sand on every downstroke, It didn't help that the scab on my right forarm was burning or that my shoulders were still feeling jammed from the accident three days prior. So the strokes were tough, I was constantly having to get up and walk to deeper water, and the water was fucking hot.

Eventually, I got out to water that was deep enough to swim pretty far. The training card called for me to practice sighting, which I did none of, constantly ending up swimming in towards shore because that is where the current was going. I fought the current pretty well for most of the swim, until I hit the end of the park. The end of the park was about a mile from where we set up on the beach, and I thought it would make a good turnaround. But as soon as I decided to turn it around, I started to feel like yacking. Not like on the bike, where it lasts a few minutes and goes away. I mean I seriously felt like sitting down and ralphing for a while.

Sadly, I was out way too deep to do so, so I swam in towards shore to a spot that was shallow and tried to puke. Almost did it, but not quite, so I just sat there hoping it was just the Lipodrene hitting my stomach and that it would wear off. I started feeling better, but as soon as I started swimming again, I wanted to yack. I'm not sure if it was the saltwater or the motion of the waves (the current wasn't bad, but it was definitely knocking me around)or the hangover or the fact that the water was hotter than the air, but I was not feeling up for the rest of the swim. So after a few more attempts, I decided this was now officially counterproductive and swam in to shore and walked the just-under-a-mile back to the towels.

As it was I ended up doing about 1.2 miles, I think. Which isn't bad. but was just over half what the workout called for. I ended up swimming for about 40 minutes, which again is a decent training value, but I wish I'd have done more. Really, the alcohol and lack of sleep in Miami make for some shitty workouts here. Like I'm just trying to get them in instead of focusing on the training value.

Run - 60 Minutes

I was out of gels, and didn't really feel like having a Cliff bar before running, so all I was working off was the Tropi Chop Max I'd had for lunch. Which was enough. Lindsay was nice enough to give me her 3 mile run route in Coral Gables. Which of course completely confused me. I had done a run by their house last time I was down in August, just for fun, and remember not being able to see which street was which because of the fucked up Gables street signs on the ground. I also remember them living in a numbered section where the numbers turned to names, making it doubly confusing.

So I hit the road with no iPod and no nutrition or supplementation, and spent most of my time trying to figure out which street was which so I didn't get lost. In other words, I couldn't really focus on going fast, just on knowing where I was going. And I hate doing runs where I don't really know how far I have to go or have any landmarks, because all you can think is "Where am I? How far have I gone? How much time have I been out here?" And, honestly, I wasn't feeling my best anyway.

The first lap of this course I felt like I ran ok, aside from having to stop a lot to look at street signs and figure out where I was. The second lap was pure apathy. Just getting it over with so I could hurry up and get to Happy Hour. Yeah, I know i said I had to prioritize training. And it's easy to do in Gainesville because I'm not seeing people I don't see every day. And it wasn't so hard in New York because I scheduled it in, and visited people around that schedule. But in Miami, I guess it's tough. I not only have a lot of people I want to see there, but a lot of old habits that I'm used to insofar as going out.

So that all being said, I think I'm going to only have one more Miami trip before the Ironman. Probably for a half-marathon in October. I just can't stay disciplined enough when I'm down there, are I also end up spending too much money, even when I barely go out. Sad, but then again I'm moving back in December. After the Ironman, and plenty of time to slip back into old habits then.

T75 - Cruisin'...On a Sunday Afternoon - Swim

Gainesville

The school year has presented a whole new set of challenges. This week has gotten totally fucked by 1) Having to get up early on Monday and Wednesday to teach, 2) Various social invitations that for some reason are harder to turn down in Fall than in Summer and 3) The Football Games. Now, I am no big Gator fan, but it seems as though if you are in Gainesville, and have access to a ticket, you should go. So I do, and this of course involves standing for at least 2 hours, which is not the best thing when your legs need to recover from a 13-mile run. Yes, a full night of drinking followed b a football game (I only drank water at the tailgate, though) does not really make for ideal recovery time.

So I decided to take a 3rd rest day this week (Saturday) leading into a long swim Sunday and the long bike Monday. I still have ten extra days to spend in the next 2 months, so it's not a huge deal, and with the holiday Monday this makes some sense. But I am going to need to figure out what I'm doing with Mondays and Wednesdays as both require and early morning and a full day of work. Meaning, of course, I didn't train on either day this week, and really won't be able to do bikes on either of those days at all. Fucking Fall, I don't know what I was thinking saying I would teach early classes. At any rate, Sundays are still free and clear, and I took today's to do a nice, long swim.

Swim: long day
wu: 200swim, 200kick, 200pull, 200swim
main: 2 x 1200, RPE 3 , even pace on both

1 Gel
2 Lipodrene
I took the gel early because of how ridiculously hungry I'd gotten on the last swim I did with only breakfast in my stomach. I took it on the way to GHFC, then got in the pool for the long workout. I really do like these long warmups because by the time you hit that second set of 200 meters, it's almost full speed ahead. Today was no different.

I kept my stroke pretty consistent today, as instructed, and just felt like I was cruising the whole time. The swim was not overly difficult, nor did I feel like I was going slow. I was just cruising along at a nice clip, and kept the effort strong through both sets. I took a chocolate gel and even took a little bathroom break between the two swim sets, so the long rest may have helped that. But it was nice to give my legs a little break while still getting in a solid long workout day.

Tomorrow is going to be my longest bike ride ever, and my longest training day thus far. So I am glad I am pretty rested up.

T71 - Hammerhead Olympic Triathlon - Swim/Bike/Run

Camp Blanding, Florida

The training card called for a 15K run to finish off recovery week, but since this race was close to home, and, let’s be honest, probably a lot tougher than a 15k, I figured it would be a sufficient substitute. It was my first race since the abysmal Half-Iron in Orlando back in May. Three months without a race is a little long, I think. This was to be my first tuneup race for the Ironman, and I’d hoped to give in a personal best showing. Especially since training has definitely upped my speeds. In the swim and bike at least.

This had all been my intention. But sometimes in life we make some choices that derail us from out goals. After my phenomenal workouts Friday, I decided to celebrate by going to a party over at my friend Kirks. I figured I’d slowly drink some beers, leave by 2, take Saturday off to recover. Well, a few beers turned into large amounts of beer, jungle juice, and then – my personal favorite – straight vodka out of a plastic cup. Long story short, I drank way more than I should, and did some things I probably shouldn’t have. The accompanying hangover and stress allowed me to sleep all of about 3 hours Friday night. Which, for those who are familiar, is the most important night before a Sunday race. I spent the next day stressed out and nursing a hangover, and even though I went to bed at 8:30 for the 4:30 wake up, I only ended up sleeping about another 3.5 hours.

Point is, I didn’t get much sleep. But the 8th season of South Park, pretty good shit. I drove up to Camp Blanding Sunday morning hoping that my improved conditioning could make up for the lack of rest my body had gotten. I took 3 Sudafed on the way, just in case.

Swim - .9 miles – 30:41

2 Lipodrene
I was once again in the last wave, as is customary in the Fat Boy Division (they call it Clydesdale, but we all know). After my encouraging time trial, I decided that I would line up near the front and try to actually compete in this part of the race. The open water swim starts are always a cluster fuck, but since I’d decided I actually wanted to try and get ahead here. I didn’t mind. It was kinda fun pulling and kicking people as I went past them, and pretty soon I found myself with no one I could see in front of me except the green-capped ladies from the wave before. There may have been some other guys way out ahead or off to my side, but otherwise it looked good.

The outdoor goggles helped a lot, and though my sighting still needs improvement, I kept pretty far left so I wasn’t having to swim back to the buoys. At about the end of the backstretch, which is about 500 meters to go, this blue cap (that was the cap assigned to my wave and, consequently, my division)passed me on the inside of the buoy, and inched ahead of me. Usually I would just let this go, but fuck it, no, not this time. The guy was swimming at a pretty solid pace, and I had to really push it to keep up with him. I even got in front of him a few times, and we stayed pretty even all the way to the finish. I was proud of myself for actually pushing the swim and going fast, and learning to breathe enough to have the oxygen to do it. The guy ended up finishing the swim just ahead of me, as this is probably a result of my still not being competitive enough to give it the extra push at the end like he did. But I mean, I think he crossed the swim finish 5 seconds ahead of me, so I’m not too broken up about it.

T1 – 4:42

Bike - 24.9 miles – 1:13:37

1 Lipodrene, 3 Advil, Salt Tablet, gel
Transitions today were slow. I’m going to go ahead and say they were probably the only area that were slowed by my lack of sleep, but my brain was just not all there. Whatever, I got my shit on and hit the bike course determined to continue my solid performance from the swim. And the first mile, it looked as if that may not be the case. I couldn’t get up over 18, and while I wanted to blame a lack of warmup, I also realized this might be where my unrested muscles might not respond how I’d hoped. Now, the bike course at Blanding had a few pretty good sized hills, and by the time I finished climbing the first one (at mile 2, I might add) I was doing about 15. Things were not looking good.

But a funny thing happens when I hit the flats. Trevor told me during our last ride that on the flats I could pretty much keep up with anyone, and I repeated this to myself as I got down in aero and passed bike after bike after bike. I was going a solid 25 through most of the flats, and even ended up muscling up some hills at around 18-19. But not all of them. This course was a lot like Hawthorne in that it had some inclines and inclines that looked like flats, so much so that you’d be going down one on the way to the turnaround going 27, thinking you were the shit, only to be slowed to 16 on the way back. I didn’t feel a headwind, so I’m blaming optical illusions. I took a gel at the 45 minute mark, figuring a Cliff Bar would probably slow me down. I did notice though that I lose time on tight turnarounds like this one where I have to unclip because I feel like I’ll fall over, and when taking a drink or eating. These are things which require coordination, I suppose, and really my bike speed is not due to that at all. Not sure if this is something that will get worked out before the Ironman, but really, I’m not terrible concerned.

At any rate, I was only passed by two people on the bike, both of whom were going well over 25 and had bikes that cost more than a new Saturn. So I didn’t feel too bad. I passed a lot more than 2 people, and was averaging 20 right up until the last 5 miles, where the subtle inclines and wind got to me. And by this I mean I was doing about 17 until I hit the final few straightaways , where I ended up doing about 21-22. I looked at my computer at the end and my average speed was 19.8, which, if you do the math means I would have had to have finished in a lot more time than this. Later I looked, the course was only 24 miles. But whatever. I’ll just call it a confidence booster.

T2 – 3:17

Run -6.4 miles 1:09:02

1 Salt Tab, 1 Gel
Again, transition was slow, as I sat on my ass to put on my shoes and took my time getting on my running shoes and having another gel. I also downed another Vitamin Water and hit the road.

Well, I have come to realize that though I have learned to push it and be competitive when swimming and biking, running I just do not give a fuck. Maybe it’s because I’ve been miserable on so many runs over my life, but I just make no effort to run fast at all. The only people I passed on the run were either walking or puking, and I lost count of how many people passed me. Mostly thin, older women working off their child birth weight, I would guess. And then some older guys I had passed on the bike. Justin once told me watching me on the bike and run was like night and day, and today I fulyl understood it. I held to my 10-minute mile pace, even knowing I only had to run 6. The course had a couple of serious hills, which was not cool, but it was not impossible.

I took a gel at the 4-mile mark, and drank water at every aid station, although I only stopped to allow myself to drink the whole cup without spilling. I never felt tired or overheated or sore at all on the run. Maybe it was the Advil, or the adrenaline from all the supplements, but this was just like a nice late-morning jog. I thought about pushing it like I had on the other 2 events, and just couldn’t do it. I’m not sure why this is, but I think my focus during the last 8 weeks is going to be pushing the run a little. I’m not sure why, though, given that the run on the Ironman is more about survival than speed. But maybe I can make it a goal for my next tuneup race.

Final Time – 3:00:57 – 1st in Division (Clydesdale Under 39)

All in all, I was happy with how this race went. Shit, I mean I won my division, even though it only had five people. My events I felt strongest in, I did strongly, and I totally blew the run. I’m not a good runner. Weighing as much as I do will do that. So I guess today I just focused on doing what I do well really well, and saying fuck it to the rest. My final time was not a great improvement over the Escape t o Miami last fall, but my bike and swim splits were. Aside from someone inadvertently taking my right bike shoe, the event was pretty good. I’ll have to get new shoes and cleats before Tuesday, so we’ll see how that goes. But a satisfying tuneup to be sure. Just kinda scary to think it takes 4 of these to make an Ironman.

T63 - I'm in Kona, Bitch - Swim/Run Brick

Kona

I’ve been in Hawaii for a day now, and since my first day I couldn’t find an open pool that fit my swim schedule in Kailua, I instead opted to go out with Cousin Jill and Eric and their friend Rich and get completely hammered at the bar Jill works at. Which might not have been so rough on training had I known that Hawaiians are not at A/C addicted as Floridians. Cousin Jill and her husband included. So instead of downing some water and being fully recovered when I woke up, I instead continued to sweat and lose water until I woke up at 7 feeling like a jackhammer had been taken to my head while I was roasting in a fire. I took some Advil as a cure. It helped a little as Jill and I flew to Kona arriving early afternoon.

Swim: 500, 5x100, 400, 4x100, 300, 3x100, 2oo, 2x100, 100

2 Lipodrene
The Kona aquatics center is a lovely municipal facility located right next to the old Kona airport in Kailua-Kona. Basically, it’s the city pool for Kona locals, and best of all it’s free. Gave me a little local feel and provided a pretty empty swimming course.
The hangover was readily apparent as the first ten laps felt like they took forever. This isn’t terribly uncommon when I don’t do a warmup, but the lackadaisical swimming continued into the 100s, which all felt really labored. It was about the third 100 where I decided to just go at the pace where I felt comfortable to get through them. The one saving grace of this swim was that I limited my intervals to ten seconds between 100s (really, because I wasn’t going that hard), but I was still doing 100s in lke 1:50. Which is faster than I had done in previous cycles, but is definitely too slow for me now.

So cool as it was swimming past a sign that read “Kona Aquatics Center) and seeing the fog-veiled mountains behind the far side of my lane, most of this swim pretty much sucked. I was not pleased, but was glad to at least get in some extra training in Kona.

Run – 1 Hour

1 Lipodrene
I took an extra gel, changed over in the Aquatic Center locker room, and ran out to the old airport for my run. The airport looks like it should serve as the Ironamn transistion area, as it’s about ¾ of a mile of black asphalt right on the shoreline. The view was amazing, and motivated me a lot to run well. I later learned that the airport neither serves as the transition area, nor is it even on the Ironman run course, but whatever. Running on the shoreline, and then through the town of Kailua-Kona was cool enough as it is. The iPod didn’t hurt either. Shitty as the swim had been, this run went very well.

Although whoever the asshole was who told me I’d love Hawaii because it was like Florida without the humidity was full of shit. I do love Hawaii, but its is humid as fuck here. It’s like Miami in the Spring and early Summer. So I was pretty dehydrated at the end. But all in all a very solid run.

T57 - Body Buzz - Run/Bike Brick

Gainesville

Well, you knew it was gonna happen eventually: The Hangover workout. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to stay out until 4, going hard the whole time up to and including chugging White Zin out of a plastic bag. And in addition to several drunk texts to various people, I somehow managed to text Justin "Hey, I'm pretty fucked up and going to bed now. So if you wanna go later than 10:30, that's cool." He was hapy to hear it, and showed up around noon for the workout. I drank a ton of water and Gatorade, and did my Advil/Sudafed/Lipodrene stack with breakfast, so I actualyl felt pretty good heading out to run.

Run - 60 Minutes

2 Lipodrene
2 Sudafed

I like running with Justin, because while he runs faster than I do, he keeps his pace with me as one I can keep too. I'm not sure if this is the case, or I"m just getting to be a better runner. Justin had to be at work at 4, so we opted to cut the run a little short. We didn't do the whole campus loop, instead running down University to 2nd past the Law school. This is usually my 45 minute run, but when we got to my usual turnaround, we had only been out 20 minutes. So the pace he kept it at was defintely a faster clip. As he said "I bet I save you a solid 2 minutes on the Ironman." If I keep up this pace, it'll be a lot more than that.

And the hill was tough going back up 2nd, but I didn't chop my steps at all so I could keep up. The heat wasn't feeling nearly as brutal as it has in the past, although the weather said it was just as hot. (Except that day it was 104). All in all the run went very well, and we got back in under an hour to do a quick bike transition.

Bike - 2 Hours

Took a gel and drank a bunch of Gatorade while we transitioned at the apartment. Again, because Justin had to be at work at 4, my dream of a shady, car-free Hawthorne ride was shot because he had to drop his shit off at Campus Lodge on the ride. Basically, we ended up riding Williston to 34th, then back to our old friend 441. After being off the bike since Monday, I felt great pedaling down. So great, in fact, I let Justin pull the whole way down to Micanopy, which made for a very pleasant ride. But I started feeling a little light-headed about 5 minutes into the ride.

First I though dehydration, but that wasn't it. Then I thought maybe it was my being a little sick, but I had no other symptoms. Then I started feeling a burn in my quads as we went up a hill, but oddly the burn felt good. The only time my body ever feels like this is when I'm on massive amounts of stimulants, or ecstasy. Serisouly, like every sensation just feels awesome. The wind on the bike course felt awesome. Any time my leg brushed the bike frame, it felt awesome. And let me tell you, biking with a body buzz is pretty fucking cool. We turned it around at Cafe Risque and here I took the lead.

Now my computer is broken, but as Trevor has told me you know your body and how certain speeds feel, and with my quads having orgasms every time I pushed them harder (kinda like those girls who get off on being smacked around, but slightly less fun)I'm pretty sure I was doing a solid 23-25 a good part of the way back. Really, it was incredible. Just pushing yourself faster every hill and every straightaway, and feeling great while you did it. It didn't hurt I got a good 50-minute warmup drafting behind Justin, and had enough energy to just go balls out for the ride back. I also might have had a little ephedrine in my system, I know. Justin kept up with me, which I have to say was a little surprising. I've dropped him on bikes before when I've pushed it, but he was right there behind me all the way back to 34th. He did tell me, though, when we turned "I don't think I've ever worked that hard drafting before." I felt a little bad, but I'm not gonna lie, I kinda smiled.

The slowdown actually kidna killed the body buzz, as I think I wasn't flooding my brain with adrenaline as I had been for the previous hour and a half. Still made it back from Micanopy in about 8 minutes less than it took me to get down. The whole ride ended up being slightly under 2 hours because of it, but whatever. If you're out there less time because you hauled ass back, you deserve it. Dare I say, this ride was up there with that hour I keep up with Trevor as my best ride of the cycle. And it came after an hour of running in the sun. Hungover.

Yeah, I'm definitely getting there.

T48 - Knowledge is Power - Swim/Bike

Gainesville

Swim: speed day
wu: 400 continuous. last 50 in each 100 is kick
main: 10 x 100 EBEH (each 100 = 25Easy, 25Build, 25Easy, 25 Hard)

2 Lipodrene

It seemed that the Monday illicit activities were not hampering me today as I managed to get up earlier than normal, and was at the pool before noon. That's two days in a row of starting before noon, if you're counting. This workout today was nothing new. But I made it through with good power and felt great the whole time. I mean, I think set 4 or 5 I slowed a little on the "Hard" lengths, but I had to marvel at how these used to kinda kick my ass. Like even during the last cycle, I often used the 3rd length to totally slack and take it easy. Now it's probably a similar speed to the old "Build" lengths. Also, my intervals in between are getting a lot shorter, which has to be a good sign. Like I'm generally ready to go again in 30 seconds, and can generate the same speed and power as I was in the last set. Improvement is always fun.

Bike: 1.5 hour with some climbing or low cadence work if you're on the
trainer. RPE 3-4 on the flats and allow yourself some out of the saddle work
of RPE 7-8 on the hills

2 Lipodrene

I took a solid 5 hours between the swim and bike today. Didn't see much point for a brick with the "Escape to Campus Lodge" tomorrow. More on that tomorrow. Anyway, I decided to go at the suggested RPE on the flats and then balls out on the hills in the Hammock on Hawthorne. But when my computer went out 3 blocks into the ride, I got a little pissed. There's a sensor on the wheel that I guess gets misaligned, and it had been fine since I brought it in in June, but after I washed the bike it has been fucking up again. And I realized on the course in Orlando that not knowing how fast you're going, or how much time you've been out there, makes it hard to push it on the bike. At least for me. So after I stopped for like 5 minutes to try and un-fuck it, I gave up and decided to just use the clock on there as my timer.

On a ride where you're supposed to take it easy, not having a speedometer to make sure you don't go TOO easy makes you slack. Unfortunately, I have no idea how bad I was slacking, but I was definitely taking it easy. My quads were a little sore, presumable from Sunday's run and lack of any viable nutrition since then (that munchie-induced large cheese pizza from Mellow Mushroom was probably not the BEST idea)so I really had no reason to push it. When I got to the hills, though, I floored it, going as hard as I could and ignoring my throbbing quads as I did it. I feel like the first hill went well, although I'd been doing it at 20 or higher the last tow rides. This felt about similar.

My computer decided to start working just after nigbridge, so once again I'm not going to take it in to be fixed. Maybe when I get my rear wheel unfucked next week. At any rate, I decided to keep a solid 18-19.5 the rest of the way, which worked out well with the RPEs for today. I didn't make it that far, though, as even lame 90 minute rides I'd had previously got me further on the trail. But the way back I hit the tough hill in the hammock (the way back is steeper) and stayed at 16-18, which is about 7-9 MPH faster that I do some parts of it on long rides. So that was a bright spot.

Not sure what I'm going to do about this computer. I can't have it go out during the Ironman, but at the same time would getting a new one even fix the problem? Definitely a question for Tommy when I take this think in next week. Tonight I had some Muscle Milk a big pasta dinner as tomorrow morning's workout will be tough.

T47 - Worst/Best Recovery Meal Ever - Swim

Gainesville

Got up early today to get everything I needed to get done done before I headed to the pool for this long swim at about 11. Why so early? Because my Monday afternoon was to consist of drinking beer and smoking weed by the Gainesville Place pool, and I knew once I did that the day was shot. Good for training? Absolutely not. What you should do immediately post-workout? Not unless you are a professional basketball player. But fun? You bet your ass. I'm not sure how many of my friends could spend Monday getting high and drinking beers by the pool, but my guess is not many. And I don't know too many who wouldn't have switched whatever it was they were doing on a Monday with what I was. And with Tuesday being and easier workout, this was a good day to be a waste of life.


S: long swim
wu: 4 x 250 (4 x swim, kick, pull, swim)
main: 1950 ladder: start with 300, then 275,250, 225, ….until 25.

2 Lipodrene
The warmup for this swim was definitely one of the longer ones one can do, but I'm also definitely feeling like I'm getting a lot better with the kickboard. Still takes long as fuck, but I'm definitely getting more efficient. And any warmup like this always leads to a stronger swim, and this was no exception.

I still don't really see the point in these ladders, since they don't realyl even specify an RPE on here for the longer sets vs. the shorter ones. So I started out at a medium pace for the 300, and kept it pretty solid until this dude and what I assume was his girlfriend asked to circle swim. And we all know I like circle swimming about as much as I like children. But every lane had 2 people in it, and I couldn't really say no, as once it was pointed out to me several months ago that the rules of the club dictate that's what you ahve to do, I have ceased being a dick about it and refusing altogether. I still made a face and said "I guess," before commencing on the 225 meter set.

Well, once thing about being a dick about circle swimming, it makes you swim faster so you feel like you can at least justify your shitty attitude. And so for the two sets these kids were in the water with me I swam a lot harder, even though the guy was still passing me a lot. Again, I was in the water a lot longer, so I don't realyl feel bad about it. Still, it was motivation. I had a mint chocolate gel after the 200 meter set. Then I started losing count of where I was in terms of sets. Losing count of laps isn't bad, maybe you miss one or two, Missing a whole set? Not as good. I think I did the whole thing, though, I'm not too concerned. And I found myself still able to go hard on the short sets at the end.

All in all a good swim followed up by a solid afternoon of doing absolutely nothing productive. I'm entitled once in a while. And I will say that kind of relaxation after a long swim is never a bad thing.

T32 - Yeah, That Was a Dumb Idea - Bike/Run Brick

Gainesville

Wednesday was a nice off day. I took a long nap once I got home and then decided to go out Wednesday night. Typically I don't do this, but this girl had been texting me the whole week I was gone about all the things she wanted to do once I got back, so I figured what better way to end an off day? Bad decision.

Bike: 2 hours

I ended up meeting up with this girl Wednesday night, but it had been a while since I had dealt with a group of females under 21, and forgot that such groups operate by groupthink. Therefore a 1 a.m. trip to a frat house was the decided upon activity for them, despite the series of texts I had received that day implying a different ending to the night. Oh well, such is life in a college town. Anyway, I would not really have been so irritated had I not used time that could have been spent working or sleeping to go out. Similarly, I had about a pitcher of beer, which while ineffective insofar as getting me drunk, I definitely felt in my legs when I got on the bike. I felt like an idiot for going out, and vowed to start re prioritizing.

The first hour of the bike was very easy, I didn't push it since that's what the training card suggested. I did manage to get to nigbridge in 28 and 30, not a horrible time. But I only made it 17.4 miles the first half. The way back, though, it was like my legs woke up and I averaged about 18.5 on the return trip. I think the night out required a longer warmup than usual for my legs, and therefore I didn't really get going until the way back. I was happy with the last hour on the bike, and the ride seemed really short. I took gels at the :45 and 1:30 marks, and that seemed to work well. I also made the whole ride on only 2 bottles, probabl a function of it being late in the day. Still, nice to see I don't have to do the whole train on a 2 hour ride if I time it right.

Run: 1 Hour

1 Lipodrene
I figured I wouldn't need to take another gel since I'd had so many and the run was only an hour. This was not a bright idea. Not only did I decide to run without music (a good and necessary decision given my headphones don't work)but I decided to run the campus loop, which given that I was going to be running slower than normal since this was a brick, ensured overtime on the workout. Sure enough, I found myself about 20 minutes into the loop going "Yeah, no way I make this in under 1:15. Oh well, better to go a little too far. They don't call it Ironman training because it's easy." I briefly considered just running out half an hour and back, but that wouldn't be in the spirit of this training cycle. So I did the whole loop, although by the time I hit the Publix on 34th I was starving and cursing myself for not bringing a gel along. Finished in just under 1:15 (about 1:12, unscientifically) but the lesson here is on bricks, do the gels every 45 minutes no matter how you feel at the time. your workout will thank you.

And of course, I decided to go out yet again.....

T28 - You Couldn't Exepct Two Good Ones in a Row, Could You? - Run

Sacramento

Much as I"d wanted to run in Reno Friday morning, the power hour me and Graig did the night before combined with the excessive hills and heat made me decide waiting until Friday evening might be a better course of action. And, unlike some people, I'm not obsessed with saying I did Activity X in Location Y, so really adding the glamorous metropolis that is Reno to the list of places I've trained, not enough of an incentive to run hungover in the Reno heat.

Run: 60 minutes, recovery

2 Lipodrene
Given how great my Thursday morning run had been, I decided to do the same thing again, this time in the early evening. It was a pleasent 76 when I set out to the American River trail. But this time my legs were sore, and my motivation was for some reason lower. As I ran, I also started getting this sort of acid reflux that just got worse andworse as the run went on. I'm not sure if it was the ephedra or the burger and fries I had for lunch or the err or what, but it did not feel good.

The reflux caused me to go slower, as did my sore legs. Seriosuly, I gotta learn that binge drinking is only acceptable before off days. This run woulda been a lot better sans the Power Hour, but how often do I see graig? Then, with about 2 miles to go one of my earphones went out, so I had to cut the music after a little bit. Listening in one ear is distracting and more annoying than silence. Which is what I'm supposed to be running with anyway.

The run ended poorly, as the acid reflu got so bad and so frequent I walked the 6 blocks home from the trailhead. Not a good run at all. But, I'd rather have a bad run on a sort of recovery day like this than on a long run day. So I'll chalk it up to poor decision making and get back at it next time.

T23 - Drafting Strangers - Bike

Gainesville

So I had an odd last night. I went and met this girl over at her house, and my boy shows up about an hour later with a bunch of people. They all start drinking, as do I, we play a little Ring of Fire, and I got to bed around 5. Everyone else stays up, my host coming into bed, drunk and demanding, around 6 or 7 (or both, I was a little drunk and a lot tired) but everyone else stayed up drinking. All night. Without coke. I have no idea how people stay up drinking until 10 a.m. without drugs, but somehow they managed. 10 a.m. and both me and this girl get calls on our phones from my friend. We ignore it, and ten minutes later, he calls us again. I figured it must be something important, so she answers. Turns out the guy he was riding out to breakfast with crashed into a tree right in front of Haile Village (ah, memories...)and he needed a ride home. I was hungover, tired, and fucked out and still had to drag my ass out of bed at 10:15 to go get him. I demanded brunch at Sisters' as my incentive for going out there. I was the only one who ate, and I paid, but damn, I think those waffles gave me the energy I needed for the workout.

Bike: 90 Minutes

2 Lipodrene
Given the heat and my exhaustion from the night before, I figured this workout would be quite sub-par. The first half was not fantastic, aside from making it to nigbridge in 26 and 30, but the headwind slowed me down until I turned around. I have a gel, and start to head back.

Maybe 4 miles into the return trip I pass this guy who looked about 40, also on a sport bike. I'm going about 19 or 20, and all of a sudden I hear this voice behind me after I pass him. No idea what it said, but I look back and this fucker is right on my ass. Uh, excuse me bro, but why the fuck are you drafting behind me? I don't even fucking know you! What the fuck makes you think I wanna make your workout easier for you?! But, you know, I don't say things like that unless it involves someone putting mayonnaise on a sandwich or taking too long to make a burrito, so I just decided to try and go so fast he couldn't keep up. I took it up to about 23 and the fucker was still there. Kept it up at 23.5 and seriously started to fell some labored breathing. I really didn't want this old fuck to pass me. Fortunately after about 3 miles he could no longer keep up and I let up a little.

I thought this burst of speed would wear my legs out, but fortunately I found myself still able to have a pretty solid ride back, no slower than usual. What this showed me is that I can probably push my bike rides harder than I have been. I just need some stranger to come and draft for no reason. Maybe he did me a favor, who knows. Trevor told me what he did is actually perfectly acceptable among cyclists. Of course, so is pissing yourself on the bike. So we'll see how long it is before I"m doing either.

T16 - 12 Hour Transition - Bike/Swim

Gainesville

Bike - 90 minutes
2 Lipodrene

This whole "party on hold" thing has been kind of a half-assed attempt. My idea for Thursday night was to head up to Jacksonville for a little AA Baseball, and a dollar beer or two. Well, one dollar beer turned into about 8, $1 beers, and next thing I know I'm out in Jax Beach watching Trevor spit game at a couple of girls whose teeth were worth more than my car. I ended up staying over there, slept about 4 hours, and drove home at 7 a.m. But the time I got back, I figured what better time than then to go on my ride for the day?

Bike rides on 4-hours sleep after a night of drinking typically don't go terribly well. It was not my worst ride, but my brain was not in full effect as I blatantly ran a red light on Waldo that I didn't even see and almost rode off the path at Hawthorne three times. Seriously, I lack coordination as it is, being tired and hungover on a bike probably doesn't help. Not much learned here that I didn't already know, but when I have more important rides I will likely not lie to myself and think dollar beer night is a viable option the night before.

Swim:
wu: 300 continuous. slowly increasing pace each 100
main: 20 x 50, odds at RPE 4, evens at RPE 9!

I got home from the bike fully intending to head over to the pool by noon. Then the Lipodrene wore off, and then I took a long nap, and when I looked up it was 4 p.m. And I don't do the pool between 3 and 9. I ended up hitting the water at 9:30, a full 12 hours after I finished workout one. Took 1 more Lipodrene, and had a surprisingly good swim.

As I may have said here once or twice, I'm not too good at the sprint swims. But today I actually was able to maintain that solid effort on the fast 50s the whole way through. I got in a good amount of rest time, but it was good to see that I am able to do at least that now. Maybe I'll work my way up and do hundreds soon. Although I have to say the rest period followed by the recovery lap probably had more to do with. But as long as I'm improving, I'm happy.

T6 - The Party Must Go on Hold - Run (sort of)

Miami

Run - 90 Minutes

So I spent the weekend in Miami, drinking until 5 AM Friday night, waking up at 11, then drinking again Saturday night only to wake up at 9 for this run. And I had partied pretty steadily through the last 2 training cycles, so I figured no problem, right?

Yeah, notsomuch. The combined 16 hours of sleep over the previous 3 nights plus massive amounts of alcohol and some pre-run sex thrown in didn't exactly make for a stellar workout. I'm not sure which was the biggest contributor, but this was both the first time I'd drank and had sex since this training cycle started. The drinking will definitely be the easier one to cut out.

At any rate, I knew it was going to be a bad run when I got up and found my shoelaces had been eaten by my friend Jimmy's dogs two nights earlier when I left my gym bad unzipped when I was staying at his house. It got even better when I found my awesome new $40 headphones had also been breakfast for his cocker spaniels, forcing me to buy a set of cheap Memorex ones at a Walgreen's in South Beach, which had sound quality on par with a 30-year old AM radio. My new host was nice enough to lend me some shoelaces, but the support pad in the right shoe had also been dogfood, so needless to say the run was off to a bad start.

I parked on 1st and Collins and started out, planning to go up to 25th street and back on the hard pack sand along South Beach. My knee was still bothering me, so I figured this would be a good way to do the long run for this week. While I was not hungover, I was definitely tired and lackadaisical after about the first mile. The Lipodrene was not kicking in and actually making me rather ill, since I had opted to do Lipodrene for breakfast again. I made it up to 25, turned around, and half-ass shuffled it all the way back. Sad ass run, if you wanna call it that.


SO THE PARTY MUST GO ON HOLD....
No motivation, no fire, no nothing. You know why? Because drinking and fucking and Ironman training do not mix. I realized today that doing an Ironman is not simply saying "Hey, I'm gonna do longer workouts now. No biggie." It's not Matt the 21-year-old frat boy going to the gym and sweating off his Vodka Red Bulls and ecstasy from the night before. It's fucking serious shit, and a full life commitment.

I'm not saying I'm going to quit drinking until November 7. That would be near impossible. I'm also not saying I'm going to celibate for the next 5 months. That would just be stupid. But the partying needs to be cut back, and perhaps saved for special occasions.

What I realized is that in every decision I make between now and Panama City, my first consideration needs to be "How is this going to affect training?" Like most guys, my first consideration in every decision up to this point had been "Is this going to get me laid?" But as of now, that needs to change. As of now, before I decide to go out drinking, or go home with someone, or invite someone over, I need to consider whether or not it will adversely affect my commitment to the Ironaman. It may well succeed where so many girlfriends have failed.

I also need to prioritize sleep and eat good meals at night. The burger and fries I had at the Midtown Sports Bar last night does not qualify as a good meal. Again, I'm not turning into a salad eater. That's just not me. But I will make sure dinners and whatnot are substantial if I have a long workout the next day. I'll also be ordering some vitamins this week.

Today, I learned that the Ironman is no fucking joke. It's a life commitment, not just a time commitment. I'm glad I learned this on a relatively-short run in week 20, because now I know that this has to take top priority for the next 5 months. I've partied enough, or at least enough for a while. It's time to do something different. Then, once it's over, if I still want to, the party will rage again.