Weekend Allergies

Wow, my allergies are in full swing. I'm taking Claratin and its not helping very much. My eyes constantly feel like they have a bug or something in them when I'm riding because they itch so bad. I'm constantly wiping my nose and attempting to blow it out while on the bike. I can't breath too well when this is happening so I'm hoping this will help make me tougher. We'll see.

I did a major workout on Saturday. I guess I'd call it a milestone workout. I swam 2200 yards basically the full half iron swim distance. I had to drive to the pool because in order to complete the rest of the workout I needed to be able to finish full out on the bike. I drove to this park which is all closed off to motor traffic on the weekends. I ride there on my hard weekday rides as it's pretty low for cars and the pavements not too bad. So I get my bike out of the car and I'm off probably 10 minutes or so after the swim. I decided taking a gel right out of the water is a bad idea as my stomach started giving me problems. I knew I should listen to what Gordo said in his book, "Going Long". The ride will be a 3.5 hour total ride with the first 2.5 hours at comfortable zone 1/2 pace and the last hour in zone 3/4 or basically really hard effort. I planned the ride so I could get the hard hour in mostly on flat roads with little stopping for lights. The final 30 minutes was totally uninterrupted just as hard as I could go. Basically just loading up the legs. The weather was great. It was 80 with 25% humidity. I had executed on my nutrition plan. I was so glad to be off the bike...sense a theme. I grabbed my hat, put the bike away, drank some water and downed a gel. I was off for an hour run at race pace.

I picked the running route to go by a fountain at 30 minutes so I could carry just one gel and down it on that interval. This is my current strategy. 1 gel every 25 to 30 minutes during the run. I went easy on the way out as it was a slight downhill and I wanted to conserve energy just in case. I started pushing the way back and felt pretty good but was glad to see the car at the end.

The details were:
2200 swim 40:58 right on my goal pace
3:31 bike w/ 2:30 at 18.6 avg. and last hour at 21.8, total 69.7 miles w/ total avg. 19.6
58:33 run 8.45 miles, avg. pace 6:55

My run is still my strongest event. It's funny about triathlon training. Everything is just mediocre as far as pace goes. Well my swim is below mediocre and totally plateau'd. I've run fast and felt faster on the bike as well. Mediocre ride + Mediocre run = not too bad of a triathlon time.

The marathon still looms in my head as I rode 98 miles on Sunday at a nice relaxed pace and it took awhile but it definitely doesn't feel the same as running for 3+ hours. Time just slows way down on the run for me and that's going to be one of the hardest mental challenges. Just to keep ticking off miles while suffering. I'm hoping the crowds and being able to pass fast swimmers and cyclists will help distract me enough through the miles.

13 days til Florida 70.3,..

3 months 19 days..