The Agony and the Ecstasy

Well, let me first start out with last Saturdays workout. I decided that since it was two weeks out from my big triathlon I would do a test run as best I could, but I would do it in reverse so I could swim last. Well, I got to Water Users parking lot after dawn and the temperature was nice and cool. I headed out to warm up and run over to where the run would start in two weeks. The legs didn't want to wake up at first but they soon would when I hit the hills. Speaking of hills, Holy Heartrate batman! I was in the 90% zone quite a few times and I was WALKING much of the way! I kept thinking "what have I gotten myself into?". The first hill was rough climbing up to the road. The scenery was beautiful but the climbing was painful.
Ok, now across the road and the wicked climbing resumes. Not only does it resume, but now there is cholla cactus pom poms on the trail and climbing up the back of my leg, and in the side of my shoe. Note to self, bring a comb or a plastic fork on the triathlon to flick cholla out of skin and shoes. Fortunately I am not the fastest triathlete out there so hopefully all the fast people will sweep the trail clean :) ! Anyway, after going anaerobic a few more times I managed to finally reach the top of the climbing and finally get back into a good running rythm. Descending wasn't any picnic either but that was mostly due to keeping the knees happy (being a clydesale and all, happy knees are important!). Pretty soon I was down into the soft sand of the creek bed and making my way back to the car. I ran into a horseback riding group coming up from the ranch just before hitting the road. I am sure these tourists on a horseback ride they paid good money for to see the natural Arizona landscape were happy to see a Neon Orange clad runner coming down the creek in front of them! Anyway, after a brutal hour and 20 minutes I was once again back at the car. I was totally out of energy but drank some sports drink and got on the bike and pedalled out even if I was going to only go to the bridge and back. Well, I found the energy to do the whole bike route including a climb up Kong (really nasty 1 mile hill that barbeques the quads evenly and nicely until you can smell the juices cooking.
By the time I got to the swim I had to refill a water bottle at Saguaro Lake Marina and I figured I would swim for half an hour but wouldn't try for any records, It was hot, I was physically wasted, and not drowning would be an accomplishment at this point.
All in all it was a killer workout. It let me know exactly what to expect next week, and left me stronger (after all it didn't kill me).
Now for yesterday's workout. At Butcher Jones yesterday morning with the later sunrise I was able to finish my mile swim (30 seconds off my pr) before the sun peeked over the hills so I decided I would do a run up the Butcher Jones trail. Well, the first part of the trail I knew and quickly ran through it, after Peregrine cove though, I stumbled into new territory. I say stumbled because this section of the trail was not unlike Saturday's adventure.d That section was quickly over though and this trail turned into one of the coolest trails I have run on.
After you climb over the first point you have a nice rolling desert run on smooth trail. Ahead of you is four peaks and numerous other foothills in the foreground contrasted in various shades of blue gray due to the sun behind them. As you run further on you are in a saddle between a large hill on the side of the lake and a mountain on the left. Past the saddle you arrive at Burro cove and look across a thousand points of sunlight in the lake with four peaks in the backround and endless foothills in front of that. It was a very nice place to turn around on a run. By the time I got back to the car I had run 5 miles and felt energized and ready to face the day.

Yaaaoagh! Broncitis and overtrained?

Well, it all started with a bit of a sore throat on a Friday night over a week ago. Determined to ride with the local tri club the next day I got up and did it sore throat and all and then kept my promise to my son and took him to sunsplash. Well, by Sunday morning I was in pain and had developed a nasty cough that felt like it was tearing my lungs out every time I coughed. Anyway, the unbearable pain only lasted a few days but the cough lingered and the sinus congestion continued, and after 7 days I said enough and went into the doctor who gave me some stuff and told me I had broncitis. Well today I am 11 days into this and going stir crazy as the legs want to do something but the lungs say no. I guess I understand how Bruce has been feeling the last month. Anyway, it seems to have improved a little today so perhaps I will be back into training soon which would be good as I have a rather intense event coming up on the 6th of October and I would like at least a week left of training before starting to taper!

Woo hoo! Look at me, I'm a triathlete!

Well, I got to Sierra Vista late at night and my plans to bivuac just outside of town seemed to be dashed as it was raining and lightening all over. When I found out the cheapest hotel was full and the expensive ones were, well, expensive. I decided to go back to plan a, which unbeknownst to me included getting eaten alive by mosquitos. Anyway, I didn't have a problem waking up in time to go to the race.
I got checked in just fine, I got my bike racked and my stuff in the transition area and then I remembered I needed my waterbottles. Soon I would realize I would also need my keys to get the water bottles as they were sitting in the back of my locked Jeep (Doh!). So, I found a guy that thought he could help and he said we should try the keys on his ring in the off chance that it somehow worked. Incredibly it did work! So I had my keys and water bottles and was back in business.
I saw on the window that I was in heat 2. I thought someone must have made a mistake as there was no way I was a fast enough swimmer to be in the second heat out of 6. Well, it turns out the slower people go first! So, back in my humble old mind again I prepared for heat 2. I missed the warm up as I watched the heat 1 swimmers struggle through their swim (800m by the way). Having been coached by my niece for the last few months and working on my stroke I found myself analyzing the strokes of the swimmers in the pool. It was amazing how many of the bad habits that I had recently trained out of my habits I saw people using and thought if they just worked on form they would likely be swimming in my heat.
My heat, hmmm, well I sat down on the bulkead waiting for them to start us and I find out the lady I will be sharing a lane with is shooting for 24 minutes and she is surprised to find out I am shooting for 18 and am still in this heat. Then we started and I did flip turns for the first few laps before I decided I was not getting enough Oxygen that way and stopped with the flip turns. Somewhere in here I noticed I was getting a lot of resistance from the other swimmer in my lane being slower and creating chop in the water. I ended up lapping her twice before finishing in the first few in my heat (at least there was only one other guy at the rack when I got out there and I didn't see anyone coming back from our heat on the bike leg). I managed to soak up a couple of minutes in Transition (I don't know my swim time since my lap timer reset but it was around 17-18 minutes). I had a bit of trouble getting my tri top on but didn't lose too much time on it.
So, on to the bike leg. I passed a Lady like she was standing still not too far out (I think she was the first one out of the water in our heat). I managed to keep the speed up in the 23-25 mph area most of the way to the turn around. I had been worried about sun in the eyes but it was a nice overcast morning and I just thoroughly enjoyed the cooler temperatures of Sierra Vista. One guy passed me nearing the turn around but I think he just wanted to pass me as I kept on his tail most of the race from here on out. After the turnaround we kept 15-17 mph most of the way back (uphill and into a bit of a headwind). During this stretch we passed most of the previous heat including a 10 year old boy (someday he will be way out of my league, I was no where near doing on of these at that age). The fields were all green and the morning was just gorgeous. I kept checking my Heart Rate monitor and I was keeping it between 82-85% which was sustainable for this length of race. The guy in front of me got into the transistion about the same time as me and we were out together after a quick change into running shoes and putting the helmet and bike shoes by the bike.
We started running and I felt like I had someone pushing me but it was only imagination and muscles transitioning from cycling to running. The guy in front of me would get a little ahead and then he would have to stop and stretch. He was having a hard time transitioning to running. I was amazed that I didn't have so much trouble. After a mile or so my shins started to hurt (muscles), I knew they were just being cranky and wouldn't stop until the end though so I just kept on going. During the run I was passed by 3 people (I expected that as my run is the weakest of the 3 disciplines). I was happy it was only 3 though as I was expecting a lot more to pass me. Anyway, after halfway most of the course was downhill and I found myself nearing the end of the course when one guy passed me and got in behind the guy I had been following. With a 1/4 mile left I looked behind me as I determined I was not going to get passed in the last 1/4 mile and there was a guy 100 yds back so I picked up the pace and threw heartrate to the wind finishing strong and not getting passed.
Grabbing a Bananna and an orange I walked around waiting for them to post my tag on the board. I was happy to see that I was not the last guy in my group, in fact there were several behind me. With the last heats still on the course though I knew my name would move down the board. Around this time I realized that the last heat was still swimming! They were cruising! Some of those guys did the swim in around 10 minutes! I can't even imagine swimming that fast! Anyway, it was a good day for a race and I learned a lot. My time was 1:38:54. Around 33 minutes for the run and 41 for the bike with an average speed of 19.2. I wasn't quite as fast as I had hoped but I was in the ballpark so I am happy with it.

Big swim BIG hill

Well, finally a Saturday rolled around where the Arizona Tri Club had a open water swim workout that I could attend so I was eager to get up there and show them all my new swim moves that my niece had been coaching me on. Of course I was the slowest one there but hey, you can't become a competitive swimmer in 2 months. Well, I guess competing with myself I am a pretty fierce competitor. Anyway, we swam under the bridge pictured above. Between the "no wake" buoy and the rock buoy down the canyon it made for a 900m lap. I was a little intimidated at first wondering if I could do it but 52 minutes later I got out of the water having swim 1900m averaging 2.5 minutes every 100m. Not to bad for a greenhorn I figure. Anyway, it was the first time I had swim that far and interestingly enough I enjoyed it. The swim was just the first part of the day though. The second part of this "little" workout included a ride to the end of the pavement and back via tortilla flat. Well, some of you I know have ridden back to Tortilla Flat with me on permanents. Well, lets just say there is a dirty little secret hill behind Tortilla flat that makes the hill on the way in seem like childsplay. I had a hard enough time getting my legs to pedal after the swim climbing the hill to Tortilla flat but I thought they were on the verge of rebellion upon starting the killer climb of the day. Just a few facts. The ride is a little over 18 miles, the first half of which features nearly 3,ooo feet of climbing. Yes, the ride features 3,121 feet of climbing of which almost all of it is in the first 9 miles. So, lets start in Tortilla flat with the start of the "REAL" workout, never mind the fact that my legs were not happy with the climb to Tortilla in the first place. I had climbed the first part of this before so I knew what was in store. There is a rather scenic little climb around an outcrop.

And then... Could this be the top of the hill? No, it is merely toying with your mind and is but a small dip into a wash and then, the horror of the hill is upon you. Each new corner brings a view of unrelenting 10 degree climbing torture, although torture is not really a word you are thinking about until you are on mile 2 of the hill and your legs are not happy with you and even the triple chainring guys are suffering. Then, you can see it! Is that a flat spot up ahead in a saddle? Is that the top? Can it be? So you climb harder knowing that after three harsh miles of climbing you are at last having the hill letup, but no, the flat spot is but a breath extracted from the unwilling landscape. Expletives are heard as cyclists are informed that there are still 3 more miles of this. Eventually breath is once again used for powering the legs as the backbreaking hill returns with no mercy. About a mile from the turn around another breath of easier grade is enjoyed and not too far later a short flat stretch and then, there it is, the edge of the pavement! After an hour of struggle you are there! Now it is time for the 10-15 minute ride back down hair raising hills and pray your breaks don't fail flight! 3 28 ounce water bottles later my thirst is almost satiated.

Run Bike Swim, rest......

The above image of my finishing the last Splash and Dash. I tink I look like I am doing some sort of Chicken victory dance. Anyway, that was a very tough race for me as I was sick during most of the run (combination of dehydration and yucky powerbar floating around in stomache). Anyway, I had zero energy but I did finish and I did manage to avoid doing my duty of finishing last this time (happens to everyone sometime I figure).

Anyway, this morning seeing as I had done nothing last week due to being up in nthe forest at a scoutcamp last week, I figured I would get a run in before biking to work as there was another race this Saturday and a tri coming up a month from Saturday. Long story short the run was nice but the bicycle ride was very muggy and hot. I did make it in though. At lunch I figured I would go do a few laps in the pool just to get rid of the out of the pool for a week feeling before I do a long workout tomorrow morning.

Look at me! I'm a swimmer!

Couldn't ride in today so I went to the pool over lunch with the car and decided to do my long workout in the pool today so I could taper for Saturday's Splash and Dash. Well, now this may not seem like a lot to you cool and fast swimmers out there, but I did 8 sets of 100m's and averaged 2:02 per 100m! my fastest 100m time was 1:53 which is a personal best for me. Anyway, one has to celebrate these little victories while training.
I also managed to hit the big 200 lbs on weight over the weekend. a weight I have not been at for nearly a year. If I can get it down to 190 again I should notice a big increase in speed and climbing on the bike.

Goodbye my Brooks, for now.

Well, I put a triathlon saddle on my bike today and put the brooks upon my shelf. Feeling guilty I wrote my poor saddle an ode, to cheer it until Randonneuring season starts up again.

Ode to my Saddle.

Oh leather Brooks, betwixt my cheeks,
That would not soften for weeks and weeks,
And hast endured many gaseous emissions,
Hind sweat, assorted balms and other reeks.
Hast always been true though various conditions.

Oh oiled saddle beneath my rear,
My hind quarters in pain did not sear,
Though heavy weight made the racers snear and snigger,
And many a rider thought me quite queer,
I stifle a laugh, their bottom sores are bigger.

Oh cowhide hammock, who holds my jewels,
And as I ride and shift them, he deftly duels,
with one last adjustment, I’m glad to find the spot,
riding in comfort, past poor grimacing fools,
Who bought countless saddles, and great comfort have sought.

Oh Leather brooks, carry me on,
Through darkest night, and bright summer dawn,
And keep not, concentration on things which are down,
Just keep me in comfort, and looking anon,
going forth, smiling away with nary a frown.