This morning I slept in a bit. That's unusual for me. There is many benefits working from home developing and launching an app, one is it's not a 9 am - 5 pm job. Work can be done day or night and that creates great flexibility which is helpful when training for an Ironman. Being able to sleep longer aids recovery big time.
That extra 2 hours of sleep this morning made a big difference. My body felt more recovered and mentally I was somewhat ready for today.
I say somewhat because I went back to an old training schedule that has me doing a moderate bike and moderate run on the same day. That's close to 5 hours of training on a weekday. I did this routine in 2009 when I made it to the world championships. Then I started splitting the days and doing a moderate run on one day and a moderate bike on a different day. I always felt I got more benefit doing them on the same day, it was just hard physically and finding the time.
This morning I got caught up in work, I was preparing and application to go on the TV show Shark Tank. Then I had a dentist appointment. It worked out okay as it was raining most of the morning and I'm not training in the rain anymore. Those days are over.
Finally it stopped and I got out the door around 2:30 pm. It was hot, humid and super windy out. It was so windy that branches were breaking off trees and the road was full of leaves. On branch almost landed on my head.
It was hot and humid, around 32 C. I like the head and I love humidity. It was still tough to ride in I went through 3 - 20 ounce bottles of Gatorade. It was a very slow ride into the wind. However my legs don't know the difference. If I didn't have a speedometer I wouldn't have guessed how slow I'm now riding. I ride by keeping track of cadence and heart rate. That's it. Fitness and speed will come over time. I keep my cadence at 90 revolutions per minute and my heart rate under 138 bpm.
I was trying to research how weight effects cycling speed. The only thing I found was that for every 5 lbs extra over a 5 km climb at 7% you will lose 30 seconds. Which means I'm about 2.5 minutes slower than I used to be. Another article said my ideal cycling weight would be 166 lbs. I haven't been 166 lbs since I was 19 years old and got into triathlons. To get to that weight I'd have to lose 40 lbs. If I were to get to 166 lbs I for sure be insanely fast on the bike. My legs are getting strong regardless and I can't imagine if I lost the weight and kept the leg muscle gained. Like I said it would be insanely fast.
When I returned from my ride I got home just in time. I was fading. All I could do was drink liquids. My body is craving liquids. I follow my standard routine of having recoverite and a protein drink or shake and beta Alanine after every session. It definitely aids the recovery. In just 2 weeks I've went from feeling like I was in the worst shape of my life and every session hurting to now feeling back to normal and not feeling leg pain or cramping.
I got home around 6 pm. I still had a 90 minute run I needed to get done before the end of the night. I was so tired I needed to lie down and I fell asleep. It wasn't a normal nap. It was one of those naps that you can't open your eyes if you wanted to naps. It was coma like.
Eventually I was able to open my eyes and the last thing I wanted to do was run. I had all kinds of reasons why I shouldn't in my mind. In the end I just figured it's best I run. I only have 6 weeks of training left for Ironman Boulder and its' moments like this that prepare you for doing Ironmans. Why pass up such and opportunity to push your body beyond where it and your mind wants to go. This is an example of why being an Ironman is when you push yourself out the door to train. To me the real Ironman event is the training. The race its self is just the victory lap.
A big concern I had about the run was my pelvis and the soreness I've been having. This run was going to be a test. I find if I do leg raises and crunches after training it helps repair it and it's better for the next run.
Tonight's run I adjusted my running style and spread my legs out a little and focused on putting the pressure on my front hips and not the pelvis. It worked. It was a much more enjoyable run with no pain or pelvis discomfort.
Most of the run was in the dark. It was still humid out. I enjoy mixing up my training times. Training in the dark every once and a while is like finding a new running route. It creates a different ambiance during the run. I find on night runs I really get into my own head. Tonight I was there. The more you can get into your own head the more time flies.
When I got home Alice said if felt to her that I was gone 2 or 2.5 hours. To me I was gone 90 minutes and it felt like an hour or less with me thinking through things. Running and cycling definitely makes me a better business person and leader. It is a great, non pressure way to just think through a situation and options. The less you focus on it when you run the easier the ideas and solutions just come to you. I don't concentrate on problems or formally set aside time, I just run and "boom" a vision will appear in my minds eye.
I got back home at 10:45 pm. Did my stretching. It feels great to not want to train, then do it and do it so late at night and get it done.
Today I completed Day 4 of my 7 Day challenge to eat healthy, no snacking and no beer. It was definitely easier than day 3. Day three was the hump day.
For shits and giggles I wanted to check my training diary to see how far I've trained since May 2007. It turns out it was 66,870.18 km or 41,459 miles. That's swimming, biking and running 1.5 times around the circumference of the earth to put it in perspective.
The unfair thing is that with all that training you would think it's impossible to gain weight or to get heavy. Unfortunately not. Only diet will keep you trim. I also figured out in those same 6 years I've probably had 1200 beers (conservatively) per year. That's 7400 beers over that time span. Non conservatively I think it's closer to 11,000. Could you imaging what I'd look like if I didn't train.
I did get some hope today that I might be start to lose weight. I came in at 203.8 lbs down from 206.4 lbs two days ago. My goal on this 7 day challenge is getting down 7 - 10 lbs.
Mod Bike - 3:12:50 / 76.42 km
Mod Run - 1:29:35 / 15.33 km
P.S.Looking for all the support I could get as I fundraise for Doctors without Borders. Big our small donations welcome. Support a great cause. http://events.doctorswithoutborders.org/participant/bryanpayne
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