Sunday, April 8, 2012

98 Days Remaining - 2 Days Rest, >100 Until Race, BIG Brick Workout

Holy Moly Everyone!

I leave for the Dells for two nights and I feel like I was in a time warp.

My last post was from Thursday when when we had a huge CRAZIES turnout. I was 102 days away from race day.

Today I stand at 98 days. This number makes my palm sweaty with nerves knowing that in less than 100 days I have to have my "A" game for my "A" race. I have so much to work on and improve to be ready and now that the number is double digits it really spikes my nerves.

I ended up taking two days off from any exercises. Thursday night I had a date with my wife and we went to Lady Antebellum with Darius Rucker and Thompson Square. It was an excellent show, but I was so tired all day and that night I felt so tired I felt sick. My body was worn out.

Friday morning I had plans to ride and also swim all before 7 am before packing up to leave for the Dells by 9 am. That did not happen. I chose to sleep in and let the body rest. If I felt this worn, then pushing my body through two workouts would come back to haunt me. It was a great choice because I felt so much better with a few extra hours of sleep.

Saturday morning I wanted to get up and get a long run in of about 11 miles, but that did not happen. Ava threw up during the night, I was tired, and as I woke up to get ready to run Aiden woke up and was full of life. Instead of leaving him to bother the three Maurer ladies who needed their sleep I opted to take him out and we just walked around for an hour and talked and messed around the resort for over and hour. It was well worth. Yes, I missed my run and it did bother me that I was three workouts short, but it did not outweigh how important this bonding moment was for Aiden and I. I drank coffee and he drank OJ and we just walked all over the entire complex. It was a blast.

Saturday night was another rough night of sleep. 5 people in a hotel room with one being under a year old just does not lead to proper sleep. Sunday morning I was in no mood to run early. I just decided to take the two day rest and enjoy it. My body felt so much better from a just a few days back. Despite eating like a slob(I forgot all my health food) my body felt ready to fire at full capacity. I will be really surprised if I hit my weight goal this week after some of the junk I fed my body, but the rest was just what the doctor ordered.

Sunday we got home around 11:30 and Ava crashed right away. I headed out on my bike to make sure I got my long ride in. I could not neglect this ride. My bike needs serious training if I want to be good come race day. I headed on Forest Grove and I was killing it. I felt like I was just blazing the roads. Little did  I know that the 20-30 mph winds were to my advantage. When I turned out by PV Junior High I hit smack dab into the wind and was cranking hard to get 12 mph. I hit my new favorite road when I turned left at Argo (County Road something) and felt good. I was mentally frustrated with the wind and tired legs so this was needed. I stay on this road and did not turn on Indiana Ave. and tried to take a new route. I hit a huge hill and I could not shift my gears down while pedaling(stupid shifters are not on the handlebars) when I heard a huge POP! and my chain snapped off. It did not break, but once again I was learning more about bikes. I flipped my bike over and figured out how to put it back on. I wanted to hit that hill again so I turned around and headed back on that road. I kept on it until I was past Leclaire Rd. I turned back around gain and nailed the hill. I stayed on that until somehow I hit Valley Dr. I had no idea how to get back to so I cut up Crow Creek Rd. and finally found my way to Devil's Glen where I jumped on the bike path to finish up. My legs were dead. I had to really crank hard on this ride, but it was a good push.


I came home, unloaded, put on running shorts and my new Tri racing shoes and headed out for a run. I decided to brick this workout to see how my body would respond after a long ride. I did three miles. My legs felt tired and goofy the whole time. They never bounced back to normal. About mile 2 my stomach started cramping. I need to work on fueling on the bike to keep this from happening because there was no way I could continue on for a half marathon pace with this ache in my gut. I ran by feel and was very happy to see my time.


It did not feel like I was running 7:00 pace, but more like a 10:00 minute pace. I was happy with this. I need to continue to work on this and figure out a good pace. It has me worried about how tired my legs felt after 43 miles. I would still have 13 more miles and still 10 more miles of running after my 3 miles today. This was a wake up call. I need to really get the ball rolling. I don't feel ready and in 98 days I won't have any more time to get ready.

This was a great workout to end the week despite missing out on some key workouts, but I think it was well needed. Time to enjoy what little time I have left with my family before school tomorrow. I look forward to a good night of sleep to help my sinus infection go away. Happy Easter.

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