Weekly Journal Roundup

Sun 6/10
I slept 12 hours last night. Actually I got up at 6 and moved to the "living room bed", a little later the family came down and I went back to the bedroom bed.

We just hung out as a family, today was a great day.

Mon 6/11
No training today, I feel fine physically, but rest is good. The new bike focused program starts Tuesday.

Tue 6/12
Got up this morning and started the first day of the bike strength program. It was 50 degrees, figures that it would be nice and cool three days after the big race :)

Did an easy run at work as well, still nice and cool. 3 minutes per mile faster than Saturday ...

The race is sticking with me mentally longer than any race previous. I'm pretty sure I'm going to sign up for Chisago, even though I met my goal, I feel like I could have done better.

Wed 6/13
I had a little trouble getting up this morning to go swimming. For some reason after 6 hours of sleep I was still feeling super tired. When I heard my SIL walking around I got up.

The swim was good, I think I'm a little fatigued from the race Saturday or something. I never really felt that strong, but I did the workout without "failure," so that's good.

I went for a run in the afternoon, 6 miles. I was supposed to do 10 minutes starting at zone one, ending in zone two. Then 30 gradually moving from zone three to zone four, then 10 back at zone one.

• After one minute I was in zone one
• After seven minutes I was in zone two
• After 10 minutes I was in zone three
• After 20 minutes I was in zone four
• I peeked into zone five a few times (probably hills) but basically stayed zone four
• Never got back down lower than zone three, I think I was still in zone one after I changed clothes. Which included a walk to the locker room and just standing around. 
• Average HR through the entire run was high zone three

During the run I stopped paying attention to my HR before warmup was done. I had confused myself and figured I was in zone three long before I really was. Now that I've had a chance to look at it closer, I actually did a pretty decent job at it. I'm not sure how to run in zone one, it seems like zone one running is really run/walking.

Thu 6/14
Day off. This week and next I'm doing swimming with our 8 month old, it's a lot of fun. She likes it more than the other kids did, or at least more than they did when they started. I think the other parents are jealous :)

Fri 6/15
Swim today, did fine, nothing special. My swim schedule over the next few weeks is going to be very reduced. Hopefully that doesn't mean I'll be dropping down a lane, I'm guessing no.

Did a set of sprints on the bike. 1:10 total time, with six 20 second sprints in them. They go like this, accerlate quickly to 80/90% speed by standing up, then sit down and finish the sprint at the same speed. I don't really know what top speed is, but I did these at 30 mph, which seems silly fast. My legs are feeling fatigued, maybe from the race? Maybe from the different style bike workouts.

Sat 6/16
Went for a couple of long bike rides today. The main goal was to bike the Waconia triathlon bike course with my friend Jeff. I also had a three hour ride on the schedule, so the plan was to ride the 25 miles to Waconia, ride the 20 mile course, and then ride home. That's what I did, here's the short story

• Get up a touch late, look at the weather. 10% chance of rain all day, so eat some breakfast and head out. I'll text later to update my friend that I'm running late :)
• Legs felt fatigued at the start, it's super muggy, and I got lost. Added about three miles
• Got about 18 miles out and it started sprinkling, send a text, I'm 10 miles away
• The last 10 miles are up hill and raining. So much for 10% rain, maybe I mis-read it, 100%. There I am, biking down a county road where I swear the speed limit is 70, water spraying in my face both from passing cars and my front tire. At one point I look down and notice my previously white socks are now a dark grey, covered with grit.
• Get within a mile of the destination, the rain stops like I've crossed some magical line. It's also no longer up-hill. Waconia is apparently on top of a hill where it doesn't rain.
• Get to Jeff's house, wash my arms off from the grit. Try to dry my socks. We chat a while then head off
• Nice clear ride around Waconia, no rain, no real wind, good temperature. Good ride, good company.
• Get back to Jeff's, talk a while longer, text my wife I'm leaving, then proceed to talk to Jeff for 15 more minutes.
• Start back home, my legs are super fatigued. Thankfully, just like the last 10 miles coming were up hill, the first 10 miles are downhill.
• Get to the bottom of the 10 mile hill and realize that, of course, I will now need to ride up a much shorter, but equally tall hill to get home. My legs feel like they're going to just stop.
• 3 miles from home three more hills that I didn't ride on the way out, at this point my legs are basically numb, oh yeah and it's now muggy and about 85 degrees

The rest of the day the entire family hung out. I washed my bike and lubed my bike chain, that marks the first time - ever - I've washed my bike :) That's also the only day it's ever been wet.