A Real Aquabike

I did a half iron distance aquabike this morning. 1.2 mile swim and 56 mile bike. Felt really good for both despite the last time that I biked anywhere near 56 miles was Buffalo Springs and before that. The two weeks after that were somewhere 40, mid-40s in terms of mileage and since I hurt my knee, the most I'd biked was 35 miles last Sunday in Austin. So I have to say I am proud of myself, especially since I cut off at least 15 minutes from my time last year on a similiar course. There seemed to be actually more hills this time around, and a headwind coming from the north. My Garmin said average mph of 18 for 55.62 miles. I hit the start button a bit late since initially when I started on the bike my chain was in the middle ring instead of the big ring so I wasted time fiddling with my gears. Luckily got it into the big ring and remained there for the ride entirety. Including the hills, er steep inclines. Nothing compared to Austin of course.

Will post official times once they are posted...

Stress

I forgot what it's like. The constant nagging in my brain reminding me of all the work that needs to be done. Becoming irritated and sharp when speaking to people because I feel so overwhelmed. And wtf, it's only the second week! This is going to be an incredibly long semester. I miss my running and swimming outdoors in an uncrowded pool and biking hills and eating healthy. I realized I must already be quite stressed since all I want to eat is junk food. In fact, today my dinner was 2/3 a large bag of peanut butter pretzels with spoonfuls of jelly.

Goal for the semester is to blog once a week. And only check out random people's (note: pro triathletes) blogs once a week. Facebook and friends' blogs once a day. And Slowtwitch only once a week.

Yeah I don't know if that's really gonna happen...

The Best Place in the World

I don't know whether it's the great friends or people I've met there, the city and its amenities, the weather, or just that it's not school, but Austin is my favorite place. And I'm so glad I went back to visit and am already looking forward to when I can next go. I got to stay with my good friend/coworker and his wife in their beautiful house and see/hang out with almost everyone I wanted to. I even got to do the usual Sunday group ride I used to do when I was free. I got to talk to people I had seen before and the ride itself was fantastic. I felt very strong even at the end considering that was the farthest I'd rode since middle of July.

The only downside was that I was only able to do the swim and bike part of the Austin Tri. The swim went okay without a wetsuit and the bike started off decent, but after 2 loops (it was a 3 loop course) my knee was in a lot of pain. I actually almost dropped out then but decided I could suck it up and finish the course. I don't know why it hurt Monday and not Sunday, except maybe it didn't like going so fast and having to push harder on the uphills since my gears decided not to change. But I was really frustrated when I got off the bike and having to turn my chip in was just depressing. Overall I feel pathetic and it's even ruining my motivation to work out and eat well. Not to mention school is awful and I don't really like the house I'm living in and the pool schedules are so retarded.

15 weeks left... I may do a half iron aquabike Saturday. Still debating.

Funny

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/sports/playmagazine/803PHELPS-t.html?_r=1&ref=playmagazine&oref=slogin

Page 6. Apparently Michael Phelps and I have something in common! Being klutzy!

...

I want to go back to Austin. Like, for good. :(

Slowly Does It

I ran 30 minutes on the treadmill this morning for a total of 2.6 miles. 1 minute walk, 4 minutes slow run.

Maybe tomorrow I'll take to the grass.

Indecisive

I need 3 more technical courses to fulfill my requirements. However, due to my dislike of engineering, it is hard to pick anything since I don't really have an interest in much and what I do like I have of course already taken the classes. So right now I am trying to decide whether to take it easy (and have more time to train and maybe join the rowing club) or make the most of my money and take "interesting" classes. Interesting is taken lightly of course. Hmm... I think I may take it easy. After having taken 8 months off from school and just worked, it's really hard to get back into the swing of things. Like what's this homework and exam thing?

I also have a house now to take care of. I'm living by myself and there's a lawn that needs mowing and raking plus general housecare. All the extra responsibilities make me even warier of taking a hard semester.

I'll be down in Austin this weekend for the Austin Tri. I think I am going to do a planned DNF and just do the swim and bike and turn in my chip. Otherwise I will just end up sitting around for 3 days being a bum. So if I wasn't going to race I might not actually go down. I'm just regaining some good fitness now and I don't want to lose it. I'm also tempted to do the half iron aquabike the following Saturday. I'm not sure how 56 miles on the bike will be though since I haven't done more than 30 since the middle of July.

I hate school. I want to go back to Austin!

Digestion

My poor stomach. In the 15 hour (or 14, depending if you count the hour lost to time change) drive yesterday, I consumed:

2 hard boiled eggs
1 entire bag Garlic Mozzarella Ritz chips
1/2 bag sourdough pretzels
1 entire bag caramel popcorn
1.1 lbs trail mix
20 cherries
1 grapefruit
15ish baby carrots
1 purple pepper
1/2 tomato
1 Wendy's Mandarin Chicken salad
1 small frosty
2 green teas
lots of water

Uh, yeah. No wonder I feel swollen today. Not to mention my jaw hurts when I chew anything.