My alarm was set for 7:00 yesterday morning and when it went off I had every intention of getting up and completing my brick--just as I have nine other times in the past. But with each successive hit of the snooze button, my resolve melted away like--well--ice in Colorado this summer.
I slept in thinking I would just do it on Sunday. As the morning passed, my energy level came back up a little bit as did my guilt over not having completed a fairly important training milestone. Around 12:30 I decided I would head out in the afternoon despite temps in the mid to upper nineties.
Rolling out a little after 1:30, I was pleased to see afternoon thunderstorms rolling in. The cloud cover quickly brought the temperature down and it spared me from running in the blistering sun. As a result, I felt good (really good in fact) on the ride. My cadence was nice and smooth and the course seemed to go by much faster than it did a week ago.
Coming into my transition, I still felt good. While the temp had gone down, it was still fairly warm so I had my CamelBak ready with ice cold water to take along just as I did on my last brick before the Creek Streak. Unfortunately, my Garmin FR305 hiccuped as it has on other bricks and two steps out of my driveway it showed me having run 2666 miles! Not good. I did my best to estimate my run and ended up coming a little short of the planned 6.0. The Actual was 5.83 miles but that's 97% of what I planned so close enough.
I was pretty fried afterward but that may have had more to do with lack of nourishment (I wasn't hungry at mid day so I skipped lunch) than with exhaustion from the exercise. Still, I felt reasonably strong and still think I'll be able to handle the TriRock in just over two weeks.
Brick 10 Results:
2) Transition: 1:52
3) Run: 5.83 miles, 1:02:02, 10:37 ppm average
* * *
Open Water Swimming Resumes
Today was my first trip back to Grant Ranch since early June. It was a nice return and swimming there was just as enjoyable as I recalled. It was also much warmer than it had been.
Perhaps the most pleasant surprise was that I swam the 1 mile course with relative ease. The last time I was out I did it, but it seemed harder. By comparison, this went by quickly and while I certainly wasn't leaving a foamy wake behind me, I did move at a steady clip of about 54.4 yards per minute. While a little tired at the end of it, I still felt pretty good and getting on the bike would not have been a problem--even after yesterday's brick.
San Diego will present it's own challenges with much colder water and possible currents, but I think I can handle that. Cold does not bother me once I'm in (I've been playing in the waves there for years) and the salinity combined with the westsuit ought to make me nice and buoyant.
Another week of training awaits and then it's time to taper down for the race. After that, it will be time to start focusing on the run in preparation for the Rock & Roll Half Marathon on October 9.
More to come.
Thanks for reading!
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