Saturday, July 22, 2017

A Week In The Life - Saturday

Today I only had a single workout on my schedule, but it is the hardest workout of the week. It is called a brick workout and involves cycling, followed immediately by a run. One of the reasons that it is called a "brick" workout, is because when you start running after getting off the bike, your feet feel like bricks that are stuck in the mud. The goal of these workouts is not only to build fitness and endurance, but also get accustom my body to this transition during a triathlon. 

With 25 miles on the bike, followed by a 6 mile run, my plan was to get up as early as possible to try and beat the heat. When my alarm went off at 5 this morning I was frustrated to check the radar only to see thunderstorms heading towards  Des Moines. I woke Erin up to figure out what the best course of action would be. I knew that it would be too hot later in the day to complete my workout, but I couldn't risk being out on my bike when a thunderstorm rolled in. We decided that I would wait out the thunderstorm and flip-flop my Saturday and Sunday workouts. I went back to bed for a little bit, woke up, put on my running clothes and checked the radar again. When I saw that the storm had moved further South I decided to change my mind again. I quickly changed into my tri shorts and singlet and headed for Dallas Center. 

All ready to head out on the bike about an hour later than planned
For my bike ride, I rode from Dallas Center up to Perry and back. The ride went very well as I averaged 17.5 mph. Last week I got new aero bars for my bike (I broke the ones I had last year when I crashed), so I spent a few miles of the ride today working on getting used to handling the bike in aero position. I did have 1 scare when I got a little north of Minburn and a doe ran across the trail in front of me. I was going about 20 mph at the time but was able to slow down enough to miss her by about 5 feet. That was a little too close for comfort. 

By the time I got back to Dallas Center, the trails were really starting to get busy with other weekend riders. I put my bike back on the truck, swapped my helmet for a visor and headed out on my run. 

Ready to head out on my run
It had remained overcast for nearly my entire bike ride, but as I headed South towards Waukee the sun started to break through the clouds and I could feel the temps rising. It also didn't help that the air was pretty calm (and ridiculously humid). I decided that I would put a few miles in on the trail, but then return to Dallas Center to run the rest as I knew I would find a lot of shade around town. 

As I was just about to finish up my run, I heard a voice yell my name from a driveway. It was a coworker from one of my teams at work. Dallas Center isn't very big, and I knew that he lived out there, but I thought to myself what the chances were that he happened to be working out in his driveway and look up at the same moment that I ran by. 

For my run, I averaged about 11 minutes per mile, which is excellent for a brick workout, especially with the current weather conditions. If you put the 2 workouts together, I was extremely happy with how the brick went. After a couple weeks of  poor running, it has been a relief to finally string a couple of decent runs together. My pace has been slower then normal, but that is expected with the high temps and humidity. I am just happy at how good I have felt during and after my last few runs. 

I burned over 3,000 calories during this workout, so I knew that it was going to be important to fuel well before, during and after as well as throughout the remainder of the day. Below is a list of what I ate today:
  • Pre-workout/breakfast - banana, 2 banana and chocolate chip muffins
  • During workout - sport beans, energy gel
  • Post workout - chips and salsa (plus a few extra chips)
  • Lunch - 2 hard shell tacos, 1 soft shell taco, grapes
  • Supper - lettuce and spinach salad, fresh green beans, watermelon, homemade pizza
It is hard to believe, but tomorrow will mark my final "A Week In The Life" blog. It also marks 7 weeks until my big race of the year. I still have a lot of hard work and training ahead of me, but I'm well on my way. 

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