Hurry and Write So I Can Watch the Finals!

I can't seem to drink enough water.  I've discovered that the easiest way for me to tell if I'm a bit dehydrated is a quick shake of the head.  If it hurts, drink water...if I'm good, I'm good.


After yesterday's depressing go around I decided to give it another go.  This time I actually poked around for a Y that had available lap swimming and in an area I liked to ride.  Branford, CT it was!


Morning prep:

• Sprouted grain english muffin
• Bacon
• Egg fried in bacon fat
• Pesto
• Sharp VT cheddar cheese (yum)

For those who don't know this about me...I eat this about every morning (weekdays included). I've been doing a variation of this for about 2 years now.

The shot glass is present in case I want to keep the bacon fat around for later.

I might be leaving pesto soon. I'm not sure what to replace it with. I've tried an olive tapenade but grew tired of it quickly.

After the meal I felt a little tired and figured I need to digest a bit before heading out.  Awesome time for some coffee!

The baristas were pretty intrigued by my "to go" cup that I brought in.

Alright, actual prep:

• Handful of clif bars
• Handful of shot bloks
• NO BREAD! WTF?
• 2 squeeze bottles, one sugar, one water
• 32 oz nalgene with sugar
• 750 ml bottle of water (I refill this with tap water, I'm not loaded)
• Bike is already on car. Yay.
• Pump tires
• Pack
• Bike shoes
• Running shoes
• Socks
• Bike/running shorts
• Running tank (no jersey)
• Search for grocery store to pick up some kind of bread...preferably baguette
• I end up getting ciabatta sticks

First workout:

• Swim: 50/50 straight, no breaks, no cramping!
• Yay!  Feeling pretty good.

Second workout:

• Bike: 38 miles / 16.9 mph / 2k elevation gain...not much
• Here's the thing about wind...it's always crappy.  It's not a zero sum thing, you can't think...well a headwind will eventually be a tailwind.
• I'm not going to get fully into it but it's because drag increases with velocity squared.
• If you can't tell...I'm blaming my slow ass on the wind :).

Third workout: 

• 4.7 miles / 8'22" pace
• I'm starting to think I'm having a hard time with transition because I'm eating too much right before I get off the bike and go into my run.
• After getting into the run, I started loosening up and started running a bit better.

So I'm feeling a little better about this.  I have to say that one of the reasons I got into endurance workouts is...it's really hard!  Not in the physical sense.  As I said before, if you do it right, it's not a painful experience...The hard part is figuring out what works.  I think my next step is to eat actual food at the beginning of my ride and then transitioning to shotbloks and straight sugar.

I have to stay on top of my hunger.  Once I actually get hungry, I don't think very well and just start eating until I'm full.  This is BAD when you need to run :).

Oh yesterday's recovery:

Swam well, biked decently and I was able to run.  I'd say beer and sausages are very effective.  I feel pretty alert now too...so thumbs up all around.

Oh I just drank about 300 ml of water in the time of writing this and my head shakes do not yield dull aches in my head.  Success!