Damn wind

Another "character-building" bike ride. Left work and weather.com said SSE wind 16 mph gusting to 22 mph. When I got home after biking it said SSE wind 13 mph gusting 23 mph.

24 miles 1:26 - 16.7mph average (Close to 20mph on backside)
6-7 mile warmup/cooldown
Total time: 1:57

The Secret to Success Is

Eating a lot of ice cream the night before a big workout. At least that's how it's been working for me. It was a rather off week for me - lack of motivation, energy, appetite - all signs of overreaching/overtraining. But the night before the two big workouts for the week (Wednesday and Saturday) I had ice cream and the workouts went well. So I had two good workouts this week - Wednesday morning and Saturday. Saturday especially. I was worried that after Thursday and Friday going very slow I was going to blow up on Saturday during a 50 mile bike that turned into 60 miles. Average pace by someone's computer was about 17.8 mph. We did some pacelines and there was one when I got to the front, took off, counted my 30 seconds, slowed down, turned around, and no one was behind me! They were all in a big pack far behind and I was like WTF. Turns out I had taken off and no one caught me... ? It was me and 5 guys from work. After the ride, which ended with me and another guy pulling everyone else, I did a 3 mile run with 2 others. Felt good, along with the swim I did afterwards.

Other than that, it was a fairly blah week. I think I'm having problems adjust my nutrition versus my training, which is a big part of my slowdown.

Week of 03/17 - 03/23
Mon - 7mi run am, 2500m swim/strength training pm
Tues - 30 min trainer am, 1 hr trainer pm (weather was icky and there was no motivation for a swim)
Weds - 2000m swim fast/1 hr strength w/ trainer (Crossfit/Tabata-type workout) am, 9.5mi run pm
Thurs - 30 min trainer am, 5mi run lunch, 3200m swim pm
Fri - 7mi run am, 2800m swim pm
Sat - 60mi bike (~17.8mph avg), 3mi run, 3200m swim
Sun - 45mi (or 42) bike, 2mi run, 3100m swim

Two weeks 'til Spenco...

The Key to Happiness Is

knowing what makes you unhappy and avoiding such things. I think I initially figured out this life lesson back in senior year of high school when I began to emerge from 5 years of depression, however I didn't necessarily follow through on learned lesson until last year. And even now I can't avoid everything, but I've gotten better at it. So last Tuesday was my birthday and seeing as I don't really hang out with anyone here (aside from biking/bricking/training) I was just assuming there was not going to be a celebration. Which I was perfectly fine with, since I could just get myself a cake and eat it and sit on my floor and watch tv and chill, which may sound boring, but to me it's the best. But instead the few friends I do have made plans to get dinner and go downtown. And it was fun, definitely, but there were also some of those awkward moments where despite being intoxicated I could still think about how out of place I felt. Overall of course it was a good night, but being the only single person in a bunch of relationship/married people just feels uncomfortable.

Not to mention I never got myself a cake... but in other news, this week was a very good training week. Monday good, Tuesday excellent, Wednesday good, Thursday slow, Friday slow, Saturday excellent, Sunday good. Did a brick on Saturday with some friends and managed to stay with them for half the time on the bike, and the entire time on the run. In fact I may actually have been setting the pace for part of the run?

Week of 03/10 - 03/16
Mon - 7 mi run am (thunderstorming), 2000m swim/lift pm
Tues - 30 min trainer warmup am, 4.5 mi run lunch, 30 mi bike pm (see below post)
Weds - 3700m swim am, 11 mi run pm (oops I can't do math)
Thurs - 30 min trainer am, 2500m swim/lift pm
Fri - 30 min trainer warmup am, 2500m swim/6 mi run pm
Sat - 25 mi:6 mi brick, 20 mi bike, 3300m swim
Sun - 44 mi bike, 3100m swim

Biggest volume so far (17100m swim, 1.5 hr + 119 mi bike, 34.5 mi run) and not so bad on intensity (Tues run/bike, Weds swim, Sat brick/bike), which is kind of reassuring considering I just signed up for Buffalo Springs 70.3. Now to get a hotel room...

Coming week may be a rest-ish week. Weather looks iffy for the beginning of the week so far.

Endorphins

24 miles in 1 hour 22 minutes for an average speed of 17.6mph. Plus a 6 mile warmup. All after work.

Random Conversations

So I had THREE random conversations today. First was with this guy on the Mopac/45 loop while biking. It was super windy and I was telling him my theory of how it was a southeast wind since it would be really bad going south initially on Mopac and then after the turnaround, east on 45. Second one was with a woman at the end of my ride going up the hill before turning onto Lacrosse. She recognized me from swimming at the Hills and was telling me I have a "beautiful stroke" but I take way too many strokes. First I'm not sure about but second is definitely true. It usually takes me 27-30 strokes to get across the pool. She suggested drop shoulder so I was trying that today. Going to keep working on that. Third conversation was with a couple at HEB. I was wearing my Scotia-Glenville crew sweatshirt, and they came up to me to ask if I was from Scotia Glenville, NY. I was like yeah, and they said they were from Saratoga Springs. Small world no doubt.

Now onto training. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and today were good. Other days were shitty. Thursday had potential to be good but we all know how that turned out. Thursday though I was walking around feeling like a bow-legged gimp due to Wednesday's leg workout. Today's bike finally felt good. Going yesterday at 8am with friends was not a good idea, seeing as I was too cold to really try very hard. And so then I bailed on the run and went to get breakfast tacos. However, to make up for not running, I went back and biked some more after eating said breakfast tacos. But today, despite the horrible wind, I felt much much better. Especially the last 19 miles. The last 2 8-mile loops I did were both 30 minutes with half of the riding against the wind. It was like there was a crosswind and a headwind at the same time. And then the last 3-mile loop on the Veloway was maybe 10 minutes or something. So very good. Hopefully it holds until next weekend so I can start kicking some asses again.

Week of 03/03 - 03/09:
Mon - 1 hr upper body lift am, 8mi run pm
Tues - 30 min trainer/1 hr run am, 1200yd swim lunch, 2500m swim pm
Weds - 1000m swim/1 hr legs lift am, 9mi run pm
Thurs - 1 hr trainer am, 1200m swim pm
Fri - 7.4mi run am, 4000m swim pm
Sat - 24mi ride, 28mi ride, 3300m swim
Sun - 49mi ride, 3200m swim

So I went over my 20.5 hour training time, but I figured it's okay since a lot of the bike time is junky. But junk and good combined, I got 101 miles on the bike in a weekend. It was maybe 6.5 hours total.

AND also thinking about doing this: hB-Fit B-Day on Tuesday.

Record

Making a training plan is hard. That's all I have to say. I am registered for Danskin so far, but nothing else yet... may need to work on that.

Week of 02/25 - 03/02:
Mon - 1 hr lift arms am, 9mi run pm
Tues - 35min run am, 3000m swim pm
Weds - 1000m swim/ 1 hr legs am, 6mi run/ 1000m swim pm
Thurs - 1hr run/ 2700m swim before flying
Fri - OFF
Sat - OFF
Sun - 3000m swim after getting back

My watch apparently was not programmed to account for leap years.

Content

Yes folks, you heard right, I am happy. For the first time that I can remember, I am absolutely, completely content with who I am and what I can do and my place in life right now. And happy for myself because of myself. Not for anyone else, just me.

I have been back visiting people in Champaign since Thursday night and even though I haven't done much, I've seen everyone I've wanted to see and also realized how okay I am with being in Austin and working and living my life. My friend at dinner was telling me about all the drama he has in his circle of "friends" and I was just like, wow, I am glad all the friends I have at work are drama-free. No one hates each other, everyone mostly gets along.

I am also taking a couple rest days - yesterday, today, and maybe tomorrow depending on the weather when I get back to Austin. It's kind of refreshing and I don't think I'm losing any fitness. Wish I had more time to sleep though.