Day 140, Week 20, Long Brick [55/3M]

Great workout today.  I did several things different.  For fun, I stretched the bike to 56 to say I did a half bike distance and the run to 5K because it's so close anyway.  I planned my hydration and nutrition well.  I still came up 2 lbs down afterwards, wait, no more than that.  My weight was down 2 lbs, but I'm not sure off the top of my head what that translates into down on my water.  I'll figure that out later.  Suffice it to say, I still more water, but I did all I could today.  Filled my two bike bottles and wore my bottle belt on the bike and refilled my belt for the run.  I'm on my way later to Dick's to look for a camelback.  When I got down, though, I wasn't completely debilitated like I was last week.  Yeah!  I think the hydration really helped and also deciding to consume half my burned calories.  I did mostly GU, but 150 calories worth of jerky.  I really like jerky on the bike.  Getting more sodium I'm guessing helps me too. I was faster on the bike, 13.2 vs. 12.9 last week and I didn't have to walk at all on the run.  It was a real confidence booster today.  I went back to my old seat for comparison with the demo John gave me.  The demo is definitely better.  But, the question is it worth $275 right now?  I survived and wasn't miserable just a little uncomfortable.  Will that additional comfort help me be better for the run?  Needs some thought.  My recovery was really good.  No soreness of significance 4 hours later.  We'll see tomorrow.  My back had some discomfort coming on during the ride along with my shoulders and neck.  However, right now, I'm doing fine except maybe just a little discomfort here and there.  We'll see how I am tomorrow.  I did take a naproxen just before starting, so that may have helped.  But, at least no need for any Ben Gay.  Also, I didn't attack the hills as vigorously as I have been.  I'd been proud of myself able to go up more hills not in my lowest gear.  But, this time I nearly always did, but I also tried to pedal going down hill as much as I could, whereas the last couple of weeks, I'd been having to rest going down hills.  I think my approach today helped a lot.  John at 90+ suggested I do that to help train for the flats of Waterman's where there is no "recovery" periods of down hills.

Day 139, Week 20, Long Swim [2650y]

Started out strong, but slowed through out.  It'd not been since the 5th at Ft. Ritchie since I swam last, so I think that's okay and good I finished 1.5 miles.  Also, it was before watches rest period was done.  Probably won't ever be fully rested per Garmin until I start tapering. After North East, I'll swim instead of doing a short brick like I did after Ft. Ritchie so as not to go so long without swimming.

Day 138, Week 20, Long Core [34:00]

Just fine with elliptical to get 300 calories burned.

Day 137, Week 20, Short Core [8:30]

Just fine. Added elliptical as usual to get 300 calories burned.  Now using cardio on watch for the core to capture heart rate.

Day 136, Week 20, Long Run [15M]

A grueling 15 miles today.  Dog slow.  Probably 'cause still recovering from Sunday bike ride.  Real dizzy afterwards.  Probably need to try and drink more water.  I drank the same as the week before, but went a lot slower, so I consume a lot less water per minute this time.  I need to figure out the rate for today and make adjustments and plans accordingly.

Day 135, Week 20, Short Core [8:30]

No problem.  Got calories from biking from and to mechanic to get work done. Had a small number still needed with the elliptical, or so I thought.  Elliptical was in between the bike rides, the first burning 87 calories.  The return burned 125 calories, so I did about 40 more calories than I needed on the elliptical.  Ah, c'est la vie.

Day 134, Week 19, Long Brick [50/2.75M]

Boy, that wiped me out.  Toughest workout ever.  The Bike ride was incredible. My first 1/2 century!  I couldn't quite run the whole run.  Sun came out the second half and beat on me.  I had one last up hill, well, really more a rise that forced me to walk for a quarter mile.  But, I finished and that was great.  I think the bike was much harder than what will be at Waterman's and for the run, the climb rate is significantly more than Waterman's, so keeping confidently hopeful.  The center of my back tightened up, different from Ft. Ritchie where it was the outside of my back.  I think riding lower is a strain from my core not being a strong as it could be.  I think the 90+ seat works well when riding lower, but when up, and presumably, with less strain on my back, I tend to feel like I'm slipping forward and wanting to push back.  The butt cream and glide worked well.  I just decided not to use it all the way underneath and back and had some irritation, not, bad, but avoidable next time.  I'm still not sure I'll back it at Waterman's, but there's nothing happening that convinces me I won't finish.  So, keep on trucking.  I also am having trouble with my upper arms, my triceps I think.  I'm just ignoring them and will keep on working hard on my core workouts.