Long

Long can describe my first massive workout of the year this past Sunday or how long it's been since I wrote a blog or even the pool I was able to swim in when I was traveling on business this week.

Let's start with my pathetic ride part of my mini-triathlon on Easter Sunday. I decided to go long because I was going to be traveling for business starting Monday night and the weather was sunny and a decent temperature. I started off in the pool and proceeded to rock 2200 yards in a new personal best. 40:32 with a 40 minute flat half-iron split. I was using a jammer for a swimsuit since my previous swimsuit was destroyed. Basically no drag at all so I was rattling off 1:50s on the money the whole way. I hoped out of the pool and changed into my cycling clothes and was off. It was pretty cold about 40 degrees but sunny. I went out to this area with some rolling hills. I really didn't have good legs at all. I did a couple of decent climbs but nothing spectacular. I was trying to keep my nutrition up. It seemed that I had a cross-wind the whole way. I forced myself to make it a 73 mile ride even though I wanted to turn around earlier. My overall pace was horrible. It seems ever since that one Friday a week ago I just can't hammer out a good bike. I reached my car and stowed the bike. I changed into my running clothes and I was off for just a simple 30 minute run. I miscalculated my course and only got to run for 23 minutes. I did average sub 7s for just a little over 3 miles. I love running off the bike because at the end of the bike my body just hurts. It feels good to cruise at a nice run pace. I could feel that I was getting hungry so I'll have to make sure I bring nutrition when I start uping the time to 60 or more minutes.

I was pretty tired afterwards so I had a relaxing early dinner with Elena, Amber and Joe. I took it easy in the pool and on a trainer ride on Monday before flying to Rhode Island. I was able to get a list of pools to hit up while I was there. It ended up being a cold 25 meter pool. It was freezing but it just made the warmup a real warmup. I did swim/run bricks for the past 3 days and ate like a pig at restaurants. I probably gained a couple of pounds. I swam 1600 meters yesterday and it was great because I didn't have to worry about converting. My times were slower as I still had a full tummy from the previous nights "endless enchiladas". I had 10 enchiladas plus some community table ice cream cake. I was swimming like a bloated whale and the run didn't go very well but I finished.

Business travel always equates to massive calorie intake. As it gets close to the big events, I'll be more careful. I'm traveling to Germany for a couple days in mid April. I'll probably only be able to run outside as hotels in Europe rarely have gyms and driving isn't going to happen so no just driving to a local pool.

Pretty soon I'm going to have to longer than 2200 yards in the pool to get ready for that full ironman swim distance. The next big number will be 3000. I'll need to figure out a good week to hit that number. Maybe the morning of my flight to Germany, that way I should be so tired I'll be able to sleep on the plane.

4 months 27 days...