It was a beautiful day for a ride and the rain that was threatening earlier had disappeared. The plan was to get in a 100 mile bike ride followed by a 2 mile run. My personal plan was to get my nutrition together for this ride and chopped up two power bars, prepared a shake and packed my Nuun.

We started out the ride climbing Juanita and that offered me very false sense of athletic ability because I climbed it easily and the ride from Bellevue to Redmond and around Lake Sammamish felt good despite CMcC's tude :). I was drinking and eating well and my legs felt strong. Then we hit Inglewood Hill and that completely kicked my ass...at one point I was actually hallucinating about the road that is perpendicular to it to the point where I thought I was almost there and looked up again and I was not even close. But we made it up and had a really nice ride to Carnation.

After Carnation, we re-fueled again and it the road. When we hit Redmond/Fall City road, my goal was to keep up with Ruth as we climbed and I worked my butt off to try to stick to her. She did drop me but I was able to keep her in my sights the entire time even though my breathing I am sure frightened all the wildlife within a mile radius and my HR hit almost 170 (at least that was what I could see between the black dots dancing in front of my eyes). Someday .

The best part of the ride was the descent back to Lake Sammamish -- one where I usually just ride my brakes and hang on for dear life. I remembered the article Ruth had me read a couple of weeks ago and focused on my breathing while descending -- and was able to almost keep up with her! Whoop Whoop!

I was pretty much DONE when we got back to the car and only had the tiniest of a tinge of guilt for not getting in the entire 100 miles. Did a quick run and then caught Ruth's bike when she went out on her run.

86.6 Mile Bike @ 05:35:00
132a

1.9 Mile Run @ 00:19:00
142a

Nutrition: C- (started out well but deteriorated)
Descending: B+

Nice swim this morning even though I entered the water pretty sleepy. Gisela was back this week so it was really nice to have someone to swim with.

2200 Open Water Swim @ 00:45:00

Today's long run was 14 miles and I decided to run home after work to get in the distance. For lunch, I (over) carbo-loaded on some spaghetti but that was definitely a mistake as I felt it in my gut way too long on the run! Ran via the I90 tunnel and Lake Washington Blvd and then took the trail down to Gasworks and up Stone Way to get in the full mileage before Ruth scooped me at Greenlake.

I think it can be best summed up by what I said to Ruth when she asked me how the run went. "If there was a long run pill, I would have taken that instead today." Long runs at the end of a long work day are HARD but I know they are good training for an Ironman...

14 Mile Run @ 02:18:20
132a

Commuted in and back home on the Hindenburg.

25 Mile Commute @ 02:00:00

An 8:30 bedtime helped and I was able to get out of bed and make it to swim practice. It was an IM set and so I trailed in the back doing a lot of 1 arm fly with my good shoulder.

2500 Swim Practice @ 01:00:00

Got in a lift at lunch.

UPPER
3 x 15 Pull Down @ 67.5
3 x 15 Row @ 67.5
3 x 15 Triceps @ 45
3 x 10 Biceps @ 15

CORE
5 x 15 Crunch on Ball
3 x 15 Back on Ball

I had about two hours to get in a hill repeat workout before my board meeting at REi. To make this even more challenging, I could not stage it from work because of a Mariners game at 7 that would have had me trapped in traffic. So I drove and parked at REI and then headed over to a hill Ruth suggested at Roanoke. Even though there was a bike lane on both sides, I was not having any fun -- the bike lanes had a lot of debris, there was a lot of traffic and drivers were cranky. So after two, I pedaled around a bit looking for a better hill but actually ended up on that same hill for the third time. Then I decided to head up Interlakken and found THE perfect hill repeat hill going up past the Hebrew school. It was a beautiful road with enough curves to make it interesting, very little traffic and perfect turn around points at either end. I was so happy that I did 5 repeats before heading back downtown for my meeting.

16 Mile Hill Repeat Bike Ride @ 01:30:00

Bad Hill 1 @ 03:17
127a, 144m

Bad Hill 2 @ 03:23
126a, 145m

Bad Hill 3 @ 03:15
127a, 145m

Good Hill 1 @ 03:46
133a, 150m

Good Hill 2 @ 03:38
137a, 155m

Good Hill 3 @ 03:46
135a, 152m

Good Hill 4 @ 03:46
136a, 152m

Good Hill 5 @ 03:46
138a, 154m

When the alarm went off in in them morning, I made the decision to sleep in instead of going to swim practice because I was just still so tired. I hoped to get in a lift during lunch and then a run after work but my lunch plans were thwarted by things erupting at work.

I managed to escape at the end of the day and run around Lake Union. I did feel pretty much the entire time like I was running uphill and wondered if I have ever felt good and light while running...

6 Mile Run @ 00:57:44
138a, 164m

Today's plan was a 50 mile bike with a 15 mile and 10 mile time trial followed by a 20 minute run. I decided to try this on my new Zipp wheels and wasted a lot of time this morning putting them on and trying to get the brakes aligned. When we finally got the park, I still was having technical difficulties trying to figure out where to put the spare tube tire (ended up in my pocket) and lost one of my handlebar plugs. By the time we started, I was pretty escalated and hearing the rubbing sound of a brake pad against my wheel did not help one bit. I ended up stopping no less than 4 times to adjust and tweak the wheels, brakes and sensor that was not reading mph. Of course every time I stopped a mini-swarm of Team in Training would whoosh by and I was not happy thinking that I would probably have to pass them soon -- and they tend to ride three across with about 5 feet between them.

Reminding myself that this was an opportunity to re-frame my thinking (see Ruth, I do read all those articles you print out) I decided to focus on my goals for the ride and let go of the rubbing noise that I could not figure out how to fix.

My time trials unfortunately had two stops in them but I felt strong albeit a bit slower than I would have liked. My legs were very unhappy about the 10 and let me know about mile 7 as I was climbing that damn hill again.

55 Mile Bike Ride @ 03:13:35

WU @ 01:04:59
124a,

15 Mile Time Trial @ 00:49:15
143a, 166m

Recovery @ 00:11:02

10 Mile Time Trial @ 00:33:17
147a, 158m

I then followed it with a longer run than the plan because I really wanted to get in more running miles this week. The run felt strong and even though I knew I was running on fumes (I got 200 calories max on the bike damn it). I told myself that this run was going to be a mental challenge and that I was going to feel uncomfortable and under-caloried during races. I could not make myself eat any of the bloks but did sip from my gatorade every 10 minutes. Not sure of the exact mileage (I ran from Marymoor to the Bothell rest stop where Ruth scooped me) but I know that I was running a sub-10 pace because I kept gaining on the mileage markers. Even though it completely emptied me physically, I needed it mentally.

7.75 Mile Run @ 01:10:01
146a, 157m

As Ruth said, the swim this morning was hilly. My wetsuit felt better though and I did not run into any docks this time.

1 Mile Swim @ 00:40:00

Then had a really nice social paced aerobic ride with Diana around the South end of the lake.

37 Mile Ride @ 02:45:00

Got in my long run before work and because I do not have the fancy GPS system that Ruth does, I just ran for a 2 hours out and back from work to Alki. Because it was so early, I ran on an empty stomach and got my calories from an endurance drink.

12 Mile Run @ 02:00:00
131a

Another busy day at work but I knew that in advance so I got in my aerobic bike on the rollers first thing in the morning.

13 Mile Roller Ride @ 01:00:00
123a

Was able to sneak out for a lift during a break so I call today good.

UPPER
3 x 15 Pull Down @ 67.5
3 x 15 Row @ 67.5
3 x 15 Triceps @ 45
2 x 10, 1 x 8 Biceps @ 15

CORE
3 x 1 min Plank

Crazy day at work and ended up doing my interval workout at home on the rollers. I did 5 x (5 minutes hard, 2 minutes recover).

Interval Bike Workout @ 00:45:08

Interval 1 @ 05:00
143a, 150m

Interval 2 @ 05:00
144a, 153m

Interval 3 @ 05:00
145a, 157m

Interval 4 @ 05:00
144am 156m

Interval 5 @ 05:00
148a, 159m

Finally got in the right lane today but they made me lead! I did lead a set of 3 x 100 on the 3:35 and it nearly killed me :) But I did it twice...

2250 Swim Practice @ 01:00:00

Got in weights at lunch.

UPPER
3 x 15 Pull Down @ 67.5
3 x 15 Row @ 67.5
3 x 15 Triceps @ 45
1 x 10, 2 x 8 Biceps @ 15

CORE
5 x 15 Crunch on Ball
3 x 15 Back on Ball

Then picked up Janarah and her bike in West Seattle and took her to Greenlake where I ran and she rode. Did hill repeats while Ruth walked down and caught up with her -- then we had dinner together before taking her home. But the most exciting news is that she ate broccoli!!!

Hill Run @ 00:37:27

Interval 1 @ 01:55
141a, 150m

Interval 2 @ 01:50
136a, 152m

Interval 3 @ 01:51
136a, 151m

Interval 4 @ 01:49
137a, 151m

Interval 5 @ 01:49
136a, 153m

This morning promised rain later in the day so I went with my tentative plan to ride the Flying Wheels Century. The start time for the century was 8 AM and I was surprised by the line of cars turning into Marymoor. I chose not to ride with Ruth because she had to start super early and planned to ride a fairly flat route. I wanted to test out my new crank on a hilly ride.

My first 25 miles were absolutely THE BEST. I was completely in love with my new crank and all gears I knew I had been missing were right there. I could accelerate and cruise easily at speeds I had not been able to before. I did mentally gasp for mercy going up Inglewood hill but it was not as hard as last year when I did it on Ruth's ride on the Hindenburg.

By the time I hit the rest stop at 55, I knew I had not done as good a job with my nutrition and spent a bit of time there catching up, re-filling my bottles and talking to Ruth for a few to hear about her workout. Then off to the 2nd half...the one with the real elevation. The climbing was definitely harder and I quickly maxed out my gears but made it. I figured it was nothing a little more hill repeat work and a little less beer couldn't fix.

During the last 12 miles, I passed a woman who was an amazing descender and told her so. She replied that I was really strong rider and let me know that she had been keeping my Starbucks jersey in her sights throughout the ride. I was really surprised to hear that as I really view myself as someone who tries to keep up with everyone else. It was a flattering alternative perspective and I got a bit puffy chested for a few miles :)

My plans to run after were thwarted when I went back to the car and learned I forgot to pack my running shoes. I had packed two types of running shirts and hats, had worn my running bra the entire ride (not the most fun to ride in) but neglected the one thing I could not run without. So I decided to put on my regular shoes and walk briskly over to the festival area as a really lame substitute for a run.

99 Mile Ride @ 06:09:00
>3500 Elevation Gain, 16 mph ave (proud of this because I did not draft at all)
133a, 171m

PS: I am writing to remind myself to NEVER do this ride again. It was a complete clusterF*%#$ -- the lines at the porta's were ridiculous and I spent a lot of time trying to ride around people who were completely oblivious to others. Aside from the people who would just swerve and STOP when riding uphill, my two favs were the two girls who took up the ENTIRE bike lane and would not budge when I said "on your left" and I almost got hit by a car trying to pass them and the dude who loved to ride in his aerobars down the yellow line with his iPod blaring. However, I should not have been so cranky about the last one -- it was my opportunity to see Darwinism real-time.

Had my first open water swim in my new wetsuit -- the first time I have ever swum in wetsuit with sleeves. I felt a bit like a princess and the pea finding all sorts of uncomfortable things with it throughout the swim. But I think it will be good with more practice.

1 Mile Open Water Swim @ 00:40:00

Then came home and cleaned Wenatchee off my bike. Because it was raining this morning, I test drove my new grown up crank on the rollers and LOVE IT. It offered me exactly the gears I needed and this was the best ride I have ever had on the new rollers. Hopefully my experience will be comparable on the road.

15 Mile Bike on Rollers @ 01:00:00
17a, 148m

Chose sleep over swim this morning and slept in until 6:18. Had another busy day at work but was able to still fit in a long run after before coming home to have dinner with our friend Dave.

10 Mile Run @ 01:40:48
140a, 201m

I decided to go for a bike ride around Mercer Island in the morning to get another bike in this week. Unfortunately, I only had the Hindenburg but it was a good ride anyway.

19 Mile Ride @ 01:20:00

Then got in my weights later in the afternoon. Did my PT exercises too!

UPPER
3 x 15 Pull Down @ 67.5
3 x 15 Row @ 67.5
3 x 15 Triceps @ 45
1 x 10, 2 x 8 Biceps @ 15

CORE
5 x 15 Crunch on Ball
3 x 15 Back on Ball

I was supposed to commute in and do a tempo run at lunch but I remembered that we were supposed to have a good-bye lunch out with the team so I ran in the morning and decided to get in a bike ride after picking up my bike from Speedy Reedy.

The run was awesome! I ran easy down to Greenlake and then ran hard around the lake and finally easy back home. I hit my HR monitor and lost my stats but I remember the tempo part was 26:?? so I will just assume it was 26:30 that puts me at a sub-9 mile.

5.75 Mile Run @ 00:52:00

CORE
3 x 1 Minute Plank

Unfortunately, Speedy Reedy called and one of the parts they needed to put the new crank on my bike was not delivered so I cannot get it until tomorrow. I really did not want to ride the Hindenburg and decided instead to commute in another day and spend the evening with Ruth. Good decision :)

This morning, I learned once again that I was in the wrong lane. I kept up pretty well last week but today, they were zooming along. Fortunately we started with some sculling ( I can do that) and some kicking ( I can do that too) but then the set got hard and we had to do 100's on the 1:30 (1 x 100 fast, 200 build, 2 x 100 fast, 200 build, 3 x 100 fast, 200 build, 4 x 100 fast) Once I learned that, I looked around for another lane to escape to but the next one down (the one I SHOULD have been in) already had 6 people. So I was the caboose and hung on for dear life. I made it through and am pretty proud of that.

2900 Swim Practice @ 00:55:00

Work was INSANE and I guess that is the standard for Mondays. After work, I got on the Hindenburg (the Orbea is getting its new grown up crank set) and did some hill repeats on Roosevelt.

Bike Hill Workout @ 00:42:00

Interval 1 @ 04:17
140a, 155m
Interval 2 @ 04:13
143a, 157m
Interval 3 @ 04:17
145a, 158m
Interval 4 @ 04:20
146a, 159m
Interval 5 @ 04:22
144a, 156m

This morning, Jeff met me at 5:00 AM and we drove to Wenatchee to ride the Apple Century thinking that we could avoid the rain in Seattle.

The ride started off well and even though it was a bit overcast, the temperature was quite pleasant and I rode in shorts and a short sleeve jersey. At the last minute, I put my light jacket in my back pocket to ensure that there would be sun.

It turned out to be an out and back ride but what I did not know (and I did not read the ride information ) was that the out was actually up a mountain pass. We spent the first half of the ride riding uphill but the first 15 miles offered us a nice tailwind. As we rode to the rest stop at the top that was a few miles away from the turn-around point, the temperature continued to drop and the light sprinkles we felt throughout the ride turned into steady rain.

We pulled into the rest stop and got some food and water before heading back down the pass. I vetoed continuing the extra few miles to the turn around point because I was soaked and cold and at that point, my crankiness over-ruled my ego.

I pretty much freaked on the descent. It was steep and winding. I was cold and the road was wet. I lost a lot of speed and even though I talked to myself the entire time to calm down, I rode the brakes.

But the ride ended well despite my not making the best choices about hydration and nutrition. I spent some good time in my aerobars and visualized riding the Ironman course. We had a terrific time and it was a wonderful way to spend the day.

94 Mile Ride @ 06:00:00

Really nice swim in the lake this morning and it felt good. Of course, swimming back was a bit upstream but the toast, coffee and conversation was worth the tiny bit of extra effort.

Open Water Swim @ 00:45:00

Was in training all day and then rode my bike part way home before Ruth scooped me because I was just so stressed out from some ridiculous BS that had gone down at work.

10 Mile Ride @ 00:40:00

Had a really nice bike commute in on the Hindenburg. Did not get in anything else because of an all-day training and then baseball and pizza with Janarah after work.

12 Mile Ride @ 01:00:00

CORE
3 x 1 Min Plank

Had a decent swim this morning but still trying to figure out what my place in the lane should be.

2300 Minute Swim @ 00:50:00

Then went for a run and turned it into a bit of a stair workout by running to Quest field and doing the stair/agility workout I had done a few weeks ago. Did the stair/agility circuit about 3 times before heading back for a lift.

4 Mile Run @ 00:42:00

UPPER
3 x 15 Pull Down @ 67.5
3 x 15 Row @ 67.5
3 x 15 Triceps @ 45
3 x 8 Biceps @ 15

CORE
5 x 15 Crunch on Ball
3 x 15 Back on Ball

Did a tempo-ish ride on the rollers this morning with 10 min WU, 20 minutes hard, 5 minutes recovery, 20 minutes hard and 5 minutes CD.

13 Mile Bike Tempo Ride @ 01:00:00

Tempo Interval 1 @ 00:20:00
127a, 137m

Tempo Interval 2 @ 00:20:00
134a, 145m

Was hoping to get to the gym for a lift but my day got too crazy.

This morning, I got up at 4:42 and went to Greenlake to swim with the AquaDucks. I got in the far lane thinking it was the slowest one. I was in there with two other guys and almost kept up with them during the kick set but once the real swimming started, I got dropped very quickly. It turned out that I was actually swimming in the 2nd to fastest lane :) and will probably not swim with them ever again even though they were super patient with pokey me.

Swim Team @ 00:50:00 (not sure of yardage)

Did not get a chance to get in a lift during work but did make it to Greenlake for a run. I planned a double loop around the lake and made it! whoop whoop. I am BACK. My HR was pretty high but I did not care. I was RUNNING again. My first loop around the race, I thought "only 52 more miles to go if I were running the Comrades Marathon" Yes, I am thinking about it... Ruth said that I could do Boston, and then run the course backwards again as a training run for it.

6.4 Mile Run @ 00:56:00

I had an ambitious brick planned but Ruth was wise enough to talk me out of it. Just because I felt better did not mean I necessarily needed to take on the world in one day. So instead we did some household stuff and then went to Madison to lounge in the sun. I doubt that dipping in the lake counts on my log even though we both learned that it is so much harder get in the lake on Sunday afternoon than 6 AM on Friday Morning.

Today was the first day I have felt better since getting sick 2.5 weeks ago. Not well enough to try to ride with Ruth and do her workout but decent enough to get in a long ride without feeling like crap the entire time.

I parked at Log Boom and planned to ride south around the lake. But the Leschi road was closed after coming down the S curves after the I90 bridge so I turned around and rode across the lake and did the long way of Mercer Island. When I got to the Bellevue side, I turned around again and rode the long way back again this time circling the whole island. I worked on keeping my pace, cadence and shifting up and even though it was not exactly a time trial, I did get in a decent workout. Finally, I finished the north end of the lake through Kirland and over Juanita.

The best part of the ride was running into Jeff on Lake Washington BLVD and getting a chance to chat for a bit :)

I am not feeling 100% but I am pretty close to 85% and that is so much better than a pretty long time...I call it good. Very good.

60 Mile Ride @ 04:00:00

CORE
3 x 1 Min Plank

The first dose of the anti-biotics did not heal me completely as I wished they would but the pharmacist let me know that if this dose works, I will start to feel better in about three days.

Earlier in the week, Ruth and I declared Open Water Swim season has officially started. This was when I was thinking I was on the mend but I went to the lake anyway this morning to give it a try. Once I got in the water, I actually felt good and got in a good swim. Perhaps the numbing effect of the cold water was exactly what I needed. And coffee and toast after and catching up with friends was precisely the healing needed!

1 Mile Open Water Swim @ 00:40:00