A new toy for long ride fuel

I have become obsessed with Nutella/banana sandwiches as the ideal mid-ride food.  The problem is, if you stick a Nutella/banana sandwich in a baggie then squish it into the tiny bag on the cross-bar of your bike, along with your cell phone and assorted other snacks, when you pull it out 2 hours into your ride, it is a mess.

That is where this comes in:

I feel like these were all the rage when they came out, what, 15 years ago?  It was like, "Oooh, I can make a grilled cheese sandwich in 2 minutes instead of 3 minutes!"  It seemed a bit over-rated to me.  But, since my goal is to have a sandwich that is sealed around the edges so it doesn't fall apart on a long ride, suddenly this $9.97 investment seems worthwhile.

I tested it out with a peanut butter and jelly concoction (another pre-, post- and during-ride favorite).

The PB&J was delicious.  Then came the real test.  I made a Nutella/banana sandwich for my 80 mile ride yesterday.

It turned out great and I was super excited to eat it during my ride.  In fact I was looking forward to it for 35 miles.  When I finally got my mid-ride break and pulled it out

THIS is what I found.

A sandwich in a baggie full of leaked Nutella.  I mean, it still tasted good, but what a mess.  I had to hold one clean corner of the sandwich and pretty much dangle it in front of my mouth to take a bite.

Final result: Not the best use of my $9.97.

(Still, a heck of a lot cheaper than my new $145 saddle!  More on that later.)

Life in LANE 6

Our time in San Diego comes to an end this Friday.  In a few short days it will be back to runs that must start by 5:20 am and long rides in the blistering heat.  And waking up at 4 am for work, which I haven't done in almost 4 weeks!

Today we went with Karin's sister, Megan, to her YMCA for a yoga class.  The yoga class was great, as was the instructor.  But boy was it hard!  I think yoga is the hardest workout I have done. Every yoga class I take (which seems to average about 4-6 a year) is so hard!  Perhaps because I only go 6 times a year.  I mean, I expect it to be hard in terms of flexibility.  But I am always surprised how hard it is in terms of muscle strength.  I consider myself a strong person.  I lift weights and do squats and lunges and load heavy things onto planes for a living.  But yoga kills me! When I have to stay in a lunge pose I feel like I will collapse; and when we do downward facing dog I feel like all my weight is resting on my arms and they can't handle it!

Lunge pose

Downward facing dog

I seriously think yoga might be the ultimate cross training for a triathlete.  Clearly it builds strength; and flexibility is something that benefits triathletes enormously, but that a lot of triathletes don't focus nearly enough on.

The fact that it is so hard for me seems to prove that it would be very beneficial for me.  It clearly addresses muscle imbalances that are not getting attention in my regular training.  Which is, of course, why I intended to make it a regular part of my training regimen 9 months ago when I started Ironman training.

Today at the Y I tried something new as well.  Masters swim practice.  This is basically coached group interval swim training for adults.  I wanted to try it a long time ago but when I looked it up in Phoenix it seemed that even the slowest level was faster than me.  From what I have read, the way masters swim works is this:  There are several lanes, and each is for a different pace.  So, for instance, everyone who swims 100 yards in 2 minutes (a seemingly unheard of pace at masters swim, mind you) is in one lane.  One swimmer "leads" the lane, and all the swimmers in that lane swim down the right side, like cars on a highway.  A workout is set at the beginning, say 4 x 150, so everyone in the lane does the swim + rest interval at the pace set for that lane.  (For instance, a 2:00 base pace with 1:00 rest would mean that the leader starts a new interval every 3 minutes. See, it sounds like I know things.)  The benefit, to my understanding, is that you have to stick to your pace so you don't get left behind (or worse, screw up everyone else!), and that there is a coach telling you what to do.

Naturally I was nervous to try this, as it was way outside my comfort zone.  But there was a masters swim starting 20 minutes after yoga class ended, so it seemed silly not to give it a shot.  I approached the coach and told him I was a newbie, and an extremely slow one at that.  He told me they used 6 lanes and lane 6 would be the slowest.  He didn't say what pace that was, but I knew that would be my lane.  I went to lane 6 and introduced myself to the old ladies in that lane.  (Yes, all old ladies.  That is who swims in lane 6.)  I told them I was new to masters swim, but beyond that I didn't want to interrupt their in-depth conversation about the new liver the one may possibly get and how high her blood pressure was when she was doing dialysis.  (Yep, welcome to life in LANE 6.)  I assumed our base pace (the pace at which the lane would do intervals) would be established by the coach, or the people in the lane themselves.  I was underwater when the coach explained the rest intervals, so I asked him to repeat it, and when he finished and I turned around, everyone in my lane had already started swimming!  I didn't know what lap they were on and I sure as heck didn't know at what pace they were going!  The whole point is that everyone goes at the same goal pace, and then all rest at the same time.  Everyone does the workout together.  I assumed there would be someone leading the lane so everyone knows when the rest is over and it's time to go again.  So off I went, not even knowing my pace or when everyone else would be resting.  After a couple laps I came back and one woman was resting on the wall, but the others were still swimming and I thought, crap are we resting now??  What is happening??  I had absolutely no idea what was going on!  I was just frantically swimming at an unknown pace without even knowing exactly how many laps I had done!  As this went on, I thought to myself--if I am just swimming intervals at my own pace and just following the written workout on my own, that is exactly what I do when I swim alone in the pool!  I thought masters was coached and structured!  I at least expected basic communication in my lane to establish the base pace and rest intervals.  I didn't even hear anyone say "go."  Maybe lane 6 is just so slow no one cares what happens in that lane!  I had been very worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up at a masters swim, but it never occurred to me that I wouldn't even know what was happening!

So what did I do?  Well, I swam under the lane rope, out of masters swim, through the free lap lanes (which were all full, 2 to a lane), and got out of the pool.  So much for masters swim! Looking back, I suppose I should have said right away, "Sorry about your blood pressure; good luck with your liver; what is the base pace for this lane?"

A long, brave ride

For today's long bike ride, I grew a pair.  Of balls.  (For those unfamiliar with the lingo--and here I am likely referring to my mom--I speak strictly of metaphorical balls.)  On our last long ride I was a Nervous Nellie.  I barely clipped in and I went really slowly on the rough roads.  And I was terrified to spend more than a few seconds with my hands on the aero bars.  Today we did the same route, but today I was like a whole different rider.  I attribute this to 3 things:

1. I got a new bike seat and in the process of installing it inadvertently moved it back just a smidge (seriously, like a centimeter or at the most 2 centimeters).  That slight adjustment apparently made the huge difference between me feeling "just not quite right" on the Fuji (which is how I felt until now) and feeling completely "at home"--which is how I felt on the Cannondale.  It was way beyond just comfort; it felt like more stability and better handling.  It just felt like the perfect fit.

2. I am now familiar with the area and today's route, so I was naturally way more comfortable.

3. Balls

Let's focus on #3 shall we?  The simple fact is that I just got tired of being a Nervous Nellie.  Karin kept bugging me about not getting in my aero bars and about being a wimp on rough roads...and in traffic...and around parked cars...and around corners...and down hills and...well you get the picture.  I was being a wimp.  Now, to be clear, I did not take kindly to her criticism.  In fact, it pissed me off.  After all, she is not training for an Ironman.  She did not ruin her face within minutes of her first experience with aero bars.  What does she even know about fear?! Before I met her she didn't even know enough to be deathly terrified of bears!  Of course she is not afraid of bikes!

Anyway, today I put on my metaphorical jock strap and just rode.  I went fast on the rough roads and didn't ride my brakes down the hills and clipped in for almost the whole ride.  And I spent probably a good 15 minutes (15 minutes total; like 1 minute at a time.) in my aero bars!  15 minutes out of almost 6 hours.  Still, it's a start!

Karin and I rode the 33 miles to the ferry like last time, but then she suggested that instead of take the ferry then try to tack on a random 30 miles to reach my 70 planned miles for the day I turn around and ride back the way we came.  This was a brilliant plan, since it would allow me to get in a lot of miles on the nice bike path, and she could take the ferry back.  (She is not training for an Ironman, after all; plus, unfortunately, her knees were killing her for most of the ride.)

I ended up riding 73 miles.  By mile 40 my nether regions were seriously uncomfortable (the new seat prolonged this agony by a good 20 miles) and by mile 55 my shoulders were killing me.  Oddly enough, my legs felt great the whole time.  When I got back I very quickly changed my shoes and shorts and went out for my 2 mile run to simulate the transition of a triathlon.  I ran 2 miles at a 9:10 pace, immediately after a 73 mile bike ride!  (In case the italics and exclamation point do not make this clear, that is a really good pace for me.)

Today was a great day!  The best part of long ride days is: after the long ride is over, I don't have to do another one until next week!

A little perspective

Okay folks, we can all relax now.  I have gained some much needed perspective.

Upon my discovery* that I had not gotten any faster in 8 months I instinctively slipped into full on panic mode.  I hit the online triathlete forums big time, I Googled swim coaches (and seriously considered dropping $170 for a video analysis and technique lesson), I watched more youtube videos, I read more articles, I reread the swim related posts of one of my favorite bloggers, I went on the Ironman website to check the swim times of every woman in my age group at IMAZ last year.

This morning I went to the pool with the intention of swimming very mindfully to see if I could figure out on my own what I was doing wrong.  As I have said, I felt like I was doing everything right.  I mean, I think I know what I am supposed to do.  I had a theory that I do know the basics of good technique, but it is hard to keep that technique up lap after lap and especially as I start to tire. Unless you are thinking about every single stroke, as a new swimmer it is very easy to just lapse. Veteran swimmers have the movements embedded in their muscle memory.  I also wanted to do some intervals where I pushed myself really hard to figure out just how much I have been holding back (because, you know, my arms don't feel like they are going to fall off after most workouts).

So during this morning's swim I figured out the following:

1. Yes it is very hard to keep proper form if you stop paying attention for even a second!
2. My form deteriorates when I try to swim faster.  Thus my energy would be much better spent
   focusing on making each stroke as efficient as possible, and hoping that will net me the most
   speed gains (this epiphany can be filed under WHAT ALL THE EXPERTS HAVE BEEN
   SAYING ALL ALONG.)
3. When I push myself harder than I have been (mostly by reducing the rest between intervals) I
   end up in oxygen deficit, so my lungs are on fire long before my muscles.  This is certainly not a
   state that can be maintained for any significant amount of time.
4. In light of these facts, the best use of my time in the pool will not be to push myself to the limit
   for a lot more yards, but instead to focus on my form with every stroke.  I already know I can
   keep swimming for at least 2.4 miles, so I don't need to do a ton of long sessions.  I think I will
   gain more from shorter sessions where I don't get tired and let my form fall apart.
5. What all of this amounts to is: THE EXACT SAME INFORMATION AND INSIGHT I HAD MONTHS AGO!

This is an out take from one of my blog posts in March:

There are at least 2 things that everyone does seem to agree on: 1. Swim technique, not general fitness, is the key to getting faster in the pool, and 2. It takes longer to build strength and speed than to build endurance.  What that means for me is that 1. Shorter, more frequent swim sessions focusing on technique are more beneficial than fewer, longer sessions, and 2. I should focus on strength and speed in the early part of my training, and worry about building endurance as I get closer to the Ironman.

So with all of this information at my disposal, combined with my experience of what seems to work best for me, I have settled on the following plan for my training:

1. 3 short (20-30 minute), technique focused swims per week plus 1 longer (60-75 minute) one for stamina.

Hmm.  So what happened there?  Well, I just plumb forgot is what.  Mainly, I forgot to really, really focus on my form.  I just wasn't paying attention to every stroke.  The intervals right after I did drills (each focusing on one aspect of the stroke) were always noticeably smoother.  But I haven't been paying attention the whole time.  Simply put, I get sloppy.  I am beyond workouts as short as 20 minutes now, but I think a 40 minute session that is very focused on technique where I only cover, say, 2000 yards but pay attention to each stroke will benefit me way more than doing 3500 yards but getting sloppy.

Another important thing I noticed during this morning's swim is that when I am swimming correctly, I am seriously engaging my core, and those muscles need some serious work.  I know core strength is important for all athletics, but I had not noticed how significant it is in swimming; likely because I wasn't maintaining proper form!  When your stroke is efficient, you can feel the importance of strong core muscles.  Core strength has always been an important aspect of training for me, in theory.  In reality, it gets pushed to the wayside.  But based on today's swim, core strength is not a bonus but a necessity.

But I think the biggest epiphany was this:  I had never expected to swim the 2.4 miles in under 1:20.  Above average swimmers in my age group seem to swim around 1:10-1:20.  In fact, almost HALF of the IMAZ finishers in my age group swam 1:30 or slower!!!  (That's where my stress-induced "research" actually proved useful!)  This made me realize that:

1. Since swimming is so technique-driven it takes a disproportionate amount of training time to get significantly better.  It's like golf-it takes a lot of time and work to get good.  Considering it is, by far, the shortest part of the Ironman, it's just not worth the time for most triathletes to work too hard on it.
2. I had hoped to improve enough to swim a 1:20.  As of now I can swim 1:38.  Is it worth stressing out and spending a ton of money and killing myself in the pool for 18 minutes?!?!  I think not!

* The word "discovery" is a complete misnomer.  It should not have come as any surprise.  The simple fact is I have been doing timed intervals as the main part of my swim training for 8 months. So I have been timing my intervals this whole time and the average speed was always the same. Yet somehow it never clicked that I wasn't getting faster!

I LOVE RUNNING! Know why? Because I don't suck at it.

Today I did my 12 mile long run.  That is one area, at least, where I am showing improvement.  I am clearly in better running shape than when I was "training" for the marathon in February.  There is, of course, the temptation to focus on running, because I love it and it is my best sport.  That is exactly what a triathlete should not do.

Biking and swimming and stressing Oh My!

I would estimate that the ratio of time spent actually training to time spent reading about bikes and the beginnertriathlete.com forums on the internet lately is about 1 to 4.  I have been trolling Craigslist incessantly which has led me to spend a lot of time on bike brand websites comparing details and prices.  After my reunion with Dale last night I wanted to research that particular model a bit more.  It is a Cannondale 3.0 Aluminum R400, which from previous superficial research I assumed to be a 2003 model.  Well today I finally put all the pieces together and it turns out my beloved Dale is a 1993 model!  That's right; not a 10 year old bike!  A 20 year old bike!  Imagine dating a 20 year old and suddenly one day discovering you have been dating a 30 year old the whole time!  It turns out the 3.0 Aluminum frame was "revolutionary" and "way ahead of it's time," but what concerns me more is that the components (shifters, brakes, etc.) are 20 years old!  They are all original!  This is incredibly ironic as in all my bike shopping I have not even considered a bike with components lower than the Shimano 105 (basically the mid-high level), yet I have been riding a bike with 20 year old components!  The technology of these components has come so far that even the highest level components of 7 years ago are equal to today's mid-level!  Which means:  Even the worst components, at which I have consistently snubbed my nose, are better than what I have been riding!

So that's today's bike news.

In swimming news...

Upon returning from the pool last night I immediately logged onto the forum on beginnertriathlete.com and asked my fellow cyber triathletes:

A few months into my base training for IM I swam a pace of 2:20 per 100 yards. That was my "comfortable, all day" pace. Tonight, 8 MONTHS LATER, I swam 2.4 miles at a 2:20 per 100 yd pace. WTF?! I have been swimming 3-4 times a week most weeks during that time. Started at 1200-1500 yards 3-4 times a week, now swim about 2200-2500 a session 3 times a week. I have watched a tone of videos and read a ton of tips. I have done drills. Almost all my sessions are interval training. So here is my quandary: IMAZ is in 3 months. With NO IMPROVEMENT in 8 months it seems I may as well swim just enough to maintain my comfort in the water, and spend the extra free time on the bike. Or should I try to do longer (3000-3500 yd) interval sessions 3 or even 4 times a week and see if that finally yields speed results?

I will spare you the details of the responses but the gist of it boils down to the following:

1. Your technique is flawed
2. Your technique is flawed
3. Your technique is flawed
4. There is no way you could swim that slow and not show any improvement unless your technique is flawed.
5. You have to swim more yards each week and push yourself harder during each interval.  (You should leave the pool feeling like your arms are going to fall off)

In light of this overwhelming consensus I have decided I will:

1. Increase my workouts to 3500 yards 3 x week
2. Swim harder than I have been till it feels like my arms will fall off
3. Strongly consider at least a couple sessions with a private swim coach 

The last option is not cheap, but it will definitely be worth it.

In the mean time, my training this week has been a joke.  Pathetic.  I need to get off this computer and on to my bike trainer!  I am spending soooo much time stressing over bikes and swim coaches.  Regardless of skill or technique, hours on the internet will not lead to improvement.  My head is swimming from all the information I have gleaned in my hours and hours of internet searches.  It is clearly an avoidance technique.  

And it ends now!

2.4 mile swim!

Tonight I swam 2.4 miles in the pool.  That is the distance of the Ironman swim.  Ironman is 3 months from tomorrow; I have been slacking on workouts the last few days; and I am starting to get pretty dang nervous. So I needed a solid workout that would feel like an accomplishment and give me a shot of confidence.

It took me 1 hr 38 min. to swim 2.4 miles in the pool.  The good news is this is 42 minutes under the Ironman Swim cutoff time of 2 hrs 20 min.  That leaves me plenty of time to accidentally swim off course and adjust my goggles repeatedly when I get pummeled by the arms and legs of strangers.

The bad news is 1 hr 38 min. for 2.4 mile (4200 yards) is a pace of 2 min.20 sec. per 100 yards.

My "all day" pace is about 2min20sec per 100 yards.  I can maintain that indefinitely.

That is an out take from my blog post from DECEMBER 23, 2012!  That is almost 8 months ago!  I have been swimming about 3 times a week (most weeks) for 8 months and I swim the exact same speed I did when I started!  The. Exact. Same. Speed.  Don't worry, I didn't cry.  But c'mon!  Throw an aspiring Ironman a bone!  8 months and no progress?!

Perhaps I am looking at this all wrong.  I swam 2:20/100yd pace after a few weeks of swimming.  8 months has yielded absolutely no improvement whatsoever.  In light of this discovery, it seems that rather than worry about not getting in enough swim training, I should basically forget about swim training, just do enough to maintain my comfort level in the water, and spend those extra hours of free time riding my bike!

Speaking of the bike...

I have vowed to ride my new bike while I am in San Diego (as it is the only bike I have in San Diego) and not make any final bike decisions until it is time to come back to Arizona.  However, I am back in Arizona right now (We went to visit Karin's grandma in New York and couldn't get any flights back to San Diego so we are home in Phoenix taking care of a few things--car, house--before we try to fly back to San Diego tomorrow.) and tonight I rode Dale (my trusty old Cannondale) to the gym.  Man it was like coming home!  I LOVE THAT BIKE!   Seriously, I don't know what it is but that bike and I have a special bond.  I am so comfortable on it.  Perhaps it is because we have been through so much together.  Still, it is pretty amazing that I bought a bike on Craigslist and it is bigger than all of the bikes that professionals at bike shops have deemed right for me, and yet it fits me so well!  I don't want to be unfair to my new bike (who doesn't have a name yet, but is soooo beautiful) because we haven't had as much time to bond as Dale and I, but as of right now, I have to say that if I walked in to my garage and my new bike and Dale were parked there and I was going for a ride, I would always pick to ride Dale.  We are soul mates.  Now, if that is still the case after another few weeks of long rides on the new bike, well it seems silly to have a brand new $1600 bike that will sit in the garage after November 17th because I am out riding Dale.

But, like I said, no decisions till it's time to come back to Arizona for good.  I want to be fair to the new bike.  I finally put tri bars on it (the whole reason I got it), which I have only used for a total of 2 minutes on the open road, because they are so scary, and hard to control.  I use them a ton on the trainer.  The new guy deserves a chance to win me over.  Hopefully I will be back in San Diego tomorrow.  I fear the new bike will know I cheated on it with Dale...

A great ride

Yesterday Karin and I did a 42 mile bike ride.  About 10 miles in I accepted the fact that this would definitely not be a good training ride.  The first few miles of road were in terrible condition (Karin said her feet got thrown off her pedals at least twice; needless to say I did not clip in for that portion!) and a good part of it was on a busy boardwalk-type path, followed by a construction zone.  And then, of course, we got lost, several times.  I estimate we spent a good 30 minutes overall just figuring out where we were and where the bike route was.  So I just treated it like an adventure; a great way to spend a free day.  It really was a great ride.  After you work your way through the coastal city areas you are rewarded with about 12 miles of awesome dedicated bike path that eventually has the bay on one side and the ocean on the other, which takes you all the way to Coronado Island.

Bikers on the path.

The bike path follows this strip of land between the
bay and the ocean to Coronado Island.

Once we got to the ferry dock on Coronado Island we got a seat on a restaurant patio on the water and had beer and pizza fries.  (I would definitely rethink the pizza fries next time.  We still had 10 miles left to ride!) The view was great, but since we didn't have bike locks, I spent way more time keeping my hawk-eye on our bikes than enjoying the view.  After our break and snack we got on the ferry with our bikes, which took us across the bay back to San Diego, where we pedaled the 10 miles home.

Karin on the upper deck during ferry crossing.

Getting ready to disembark with our bikes.

With all our navigational stops, traffic and slow-going on busy boardwalks and sketchy roads it took us about 4 hours of riding to go 42 miles.  Like I said, definitely not a good training ride.  But the bottom line is: 4 hours with your butt on a bike is still 4 hours with your butt on a bike.  So though it may not have been great training for my muscles and my speed, it was great training for time in the saddle, bike handling, and just being out on a bike for hours on end (which, honestly, is the hardest part of a long ride).  More importantly, I can't think of a better way to spend a beautiful day in San Diego!

Too much time on my hands leads to not enough time on the bike and in the water

It's 11:15 am and I am still in my pajamas.  I didn't even wake up until 9 am, despite going to bed well before 11 pm last night.  The problem I am facing is that when I am on vacation for a month, there is very little that I have to do.  As I proved on my first day here in San Diego, I can sleep most of the day and still get in a great training session.  But knowing that makes it a lot harder to get out of bed and get my training done early.

The problem is that not getting it done early often leads to not getting it done at all.

Case in point: Yesterday my family came to San Diego for a Family Beach Day.  We didn't hit the beach till 11 am, which should have, theoretically, left me plenty of time to get in both my 5 mile tempo run and my 1 hour open water swim.  But once I rolled out of bed, I spent a good hour and a half just sitting around drinking coffee and wasting time on the internet.  Reading blogs.  Looking at bikes again.  (Seriously, it's like running shoes all over again!  I spend way more time looking at bikes than riding mine!)  Then suddenly I can barely squeeze in my 5 mile run before the family gets here, and by the end of the day (around 9 pm) I am way too tired to get in any further training.

Since I arrived in San Diego 4 days ago I have completed the following training:

12 mile run
1 hr bike ride (on trainer) + 5 mi. tempo run
15 mile outdoor bike ride
5 mi. tempo run

Clearly this lifestyle is very conducive to running, as I have already gotten in more running in 4 days than I do in a week in Phoenix.  Unfortunately, I am supposed to be training for 3 sports, not just 1.  And running is my strongest sport, and therefore the one I should be focusing on the least.  Running here is easy, because the weather is great and all I have to do is walk out the door.  Biking and swimming require more preparation and effort.  They did in Phoenix too, of course, but I had a routine and familiar routes there, and the gym was a short drive away.

So it seems that training should be easier here due to: 1. Good weather and 2. A plethora of free time.  And yet it actually seems harder due to: 1. Lack of familiar routine/surroundings and 2. A plethora of free time. Once you find yourself still in your pajamas at noon, you also find yourself quite unmotivated to get your day started at that point.  I think I have mentioned before that: If I don't get my day started early enough, it never starts at all.

Now I will attempt to drag myself to the bathroom and brush my teeth and put in my contact lenses and join the living in the outdoors.  The goal is Mission Bay, a mere 1/2 mile stroll down the road, where I will complete a 1 hour open water swim.

But first, maybe a nap...

New Bike, New City, Old Issues

It took me almost 4 months after my bike crash to finally get comfortable and confident on my bike.  Now I have a new bike, and I am riding in a new city, San Diego, and I feel like I am right back at square one! Today Karin and I went for a 15 mile ride.  It was supposed to be almost all on a bike path, but at the point where the path splits and you have to rejoin it from a side street, we lost it.  So then we were just riding on streets without bike lanes with no idea where we were going.  But worst of all, the bike path itself was a wreck!  The asphalt was so sketchy, I was afraid to clip in because there were so many huge bumps and holes and cracks that I was almost tossed off my bike repeatedly.  And a lot of the bike lanes are between traffic on one side and parked cars on the other, any of which could open a door in your path at any time.
So I was back to my old nervous riding self.  I was afraid to ride fast or clip in for fear of every car and every crack in the sidewalk.  Karin said she had a great ride, but I can honestly say that at no point in the 90 minutes we were out there did I enjoy myself.  Not at all.  It was hugely disappointing; especially considering that I have this brand new bike that should make riding so much more comfortable and efficient and I have been looking forward to long rides in San Diego for months.  I feel like I spent 4 months getting used to my old bike and my old routes, and now I am starting from scratch.  But I don't have 4 more months to get comfortable!  Seriously, I thought those days of frustrating, scary rides were behind me!

What a bummer.

Long run

Yesterday our roommate Peggy flew out to San Diego so we could do our long run together.  She is currently training for the NYC marathon in November, and we were both scheduled to do a 12 mile run this week.  12 miles in Phoenix would suck right now (which is why I am here!) so she came out and we did a 12 mile run around Mission Bay.  Then we had a nap, then went out for fish tacos and a beer.

Peggy and I taking a break for photo op.

Our 12 mi. route around Mission Bay.

I arrived in San Diego on Friday morning, at which point I had a breakfast burrito, then promptly fell asleep for a multi-hour nap.  When I woke up, I did a 1 hour ride on my trainer followed by a 5 mile tempo run.  I haven't completed a successful tempo run in 2 weeks; one week was that bad run that I cut short at 3 miles, and the next week a torrential downpour, complete with dangerously close thunder and lightning, started a half mile into my run.  I kept going for another mile until, looking like a drowned rat, I deemed it just too dangerous to continue.  So yesterday's tempo run was a confidence booster.

When I got back from my run there was a note on the table that Karin, Megan and Tyler (her sister and her fiance, our August benefactors) had ridden beach cruisers to Ocean Beach to get fish tacos.  So I hopped on my bike and went to catch them.  I was able to catch up because they were on cruisers, which meant that once we were riding together I would take one pedal stroke, then have to coast to avoid rolling right into them.  It was a great day.  I love the fact that I can sleep half my day away, and still get in a full training workout and a fun ride with friends!

VACATION!

As of 2 p.m. today I do not return to work at the airport until September 2nd!  I am taking off the whole month and spending most of it in San Diego!  Karin's sister and her fiance live there, and they are unbelievably ridiculously kind and laid-back enough to let us stay with them for most of the month!

It is not unusual for Karin and I to take a whole month off.  In fact we do it every year, usually in the fall.  But this year fall will be a little busy (Peak Ironman training!).  And we usually spend the month off somewhere exotic: Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Nepal...to name a few.  But Africa and India are not particularly conducive to Ironman training.  Thus we have opted to take our month off earlier than usual, during the worst month of the year in Phoenix, for both working and training.  It will be such a luxury to have nothing on my schedule but training!  The tricky part will be keeping myself from over-training, because if that is all I am doing, I will feel like I should be doing it all the time.  Just because my schedule will allow me to ride 60 miles and run 15 and go for a swim every day doesn't mean my body will.

On August 31st Karin and I are doing a triathlon in Hudson, Wisconsin, which is where her mom lives, and close to her where her brother and his 3 kids live.  So Karin and I will both be training this month in San Diego!