Friday: 112 mile bike; 12 mile run; abs

Back home. The trip worked to my advantage this time as I got to come home early and now have an easy day.

a.m. 3 mile run. 27:25. 9:08 min/mi. Shins (right in particular) are just messed up. I had to stop after 3 miles. I don't know what to do about it. How can this be? I am not even running a lot, nor have I been. It's frustrating to say the least.

lunch. 6 mile run. Can't give up yet. I stretched a little and loosened up my shoe a lot to make sure that I wasn't restricting blood flow. Felt good. 8:45 min/mi.

p.m. 112 mile bike. 3.33 mile brick run. This is probably the best workout I have ever had.

I felt incredible. My quads were a little tight until 2 hours into the ride when they loosened up. Even still, I felt great from the get go. Heart rate was back to normal which means the day off yesterday served its purpose and was a good choice. I did have some cardiac drift once I hit the 80-85 mile marker, but I still felt great. I think that may have to do with the fact that I haven't ridden past that point enough times yet. I will. Total ride. 112 miles. 5:02:37. 234w. 135bpm. 81rpm. 22.2mph.

I then followed the ride with a 3.33 mile brick run as I wanted to test my legs out after the ride. I really felt great and as if I hadn't even ridden. I got inspired by watching the Olympic opening ceremony during the bike. 24:31. 7:21min/mi. 158bpm. My splits were as follows.

7:28
7:16
7:18

While 158bpm falls within my Ironman heart rate range, if I am honest with myself, I don't think I could hold that pace for an entire marathon at my current fitness level, even after biking easy. I haven't run that pace long yet--actually I haven't even run long at any pace yet. Quite simply I don't have the running endurance right now. I have 12 weeks to build it up. Nevertheless, I felt great throughout the run.

For the bike, I drank 3L of water and 2 x 32oz bottles of Gatorade and I ate two Cliff Bars. For the run, I had nothing. Following the workout I had a Special K protein bar and a large glass of milk. It's funny but after a workout like that I used to go pig out on whatever I wanted. Now, I barely get hungry from it.