Saturday: 88 mile bike; 9 mile run; 2 mile swim; abs

I wanted a bigger day as I am now trying to simulate the race as much as possible, at least the distance, but nevertheless a lot of positives came out of today.

I slept in this morning, having turned off all my alarms last night. I felt like I needed the rest, as I was pretty tired by week's end. So I got off to a late start.

I started with a 2 mile swim. I felt very smooth and fluid. The guy in the lane next to me asked if I swam competitively growing up, to which I was shocked and so sort of chuckled and thought, "Dude, I don't even know how to do flip turns" but I said "No, but I appreciate that and thanked him for the confidence booster." That did make me feel pretty good and hopefully my swim is starting to come along.

I then went to get lunch, digested for 2 hours, and went to go run on the treadmill. This was by far and away the highlight of my day. I was 50 minutes into my run, when the hot chick from about a month ago, got on the treadmill next to me, not to run, but simply to talk. I hadn't seen her since then. Of course, I had no problems cutting my workout short of the 80 minutes I had planned. 50:22. 5.60 miles. 9:00min/mi.

We chatted for a little bit. She told me that she is doing a 5 mile running race in a couple of weeks and that I should do it as well. I casually told her I'd check it out. Meanwhile, as soon as I got home, the first thing I did was sign up for it! So that will be my first race of the season. And I can't wait! The problem though is that she is going to crush me. She is definitely a much faster runner than I am. But what the hell. Hopefully I won't embarrass myself too much.

Then I got straight onto the bike. The plan was to go for 5-6 hours. I felt awesome from the get go. Nothing like a hot chick to motivate you. I was having one of my better rides. 70 miles in though, a thunderstorm hit. I was a little concerned, but didn't want another crappy day so I just kept going, which I normally don't do.

Then 88 miles in, my powermeter shut down. The battery ran out as I forgot to charge it after my last ride. I could have stayed on, but by then I became mentally weak as I didn't really want to continue my ride--which was going to be one of my better ones--if I couldn't record it. Weak! But perhaps the powermeter going off was a sign as the thunderstorm then really hit. So on the one hand I was glad I got off, but on the other hand, I was I little upset because I wanted and think I need at least 112 at this stage in the game.

Total ride. 3:50:12. 88 miles. 262w. 150bpm. 80rpm. 22.9mph. After the first 26 miles, I averaged 270w for 62 miles. I decided to skip the tempo work. This week has been bad so I will start it up next week.

I followed the ride with a 4.12 mile run. 32:40. 7:55min/mi. I gotta admit: despite what might appear to be a great run for me because of the pace, I wasn't feeling that great. And it made me nervous about having to run a marathon.

I had a side stitch as soon as I started and it never went away. The problem I think was that I ate a Cliff Bar at 3:00 into the ride, thinking I would have 2 hours to digest it. That obviously didn't happen and so it was just sitting in my gut. Furthermore, I stupidly didn't bring any calories on the run, and I could feel myself losing energy after 20 minutes. I also felt like I needed some salt as my hamstring was getting tight, though it never did fully cramp up.

In short, it was frickin' tough. This sport is tough. But that's why I love it. And that's what keeps me training.