IM Wisconsin Training Keeps Rockin' Along. I didn't intend to take this long between training updates, but some things just always seem to come up to delay me. So, without further ado, here's a quick rundown of my training since last Wednesday:

Wednesday, March 21

I already mentioned the bike workout today, but I also swam at 7:00 PM. It was a fairly good workout . . . not too hard, but certainly not an easy coasting workout. We warmed up with 800 meters alternating 50 swim, 50 drill, then 50 swim, 50 pull, then 50 swim, 50 kick, all done twice and followed up with a 200 easy swim (for a total of 800 meters). Then, we did a short main set of 2 x (5 x 100) meters followed by 8 x 25 meters. The 100-meter sets were done with one length fast and 3 lengths cruising, alternating the length that was fast. For instance, the first 100 was 25 fast, 75 cruising. The second was 25 cruising, 25 fast, 50 cruising, and so on. The 5th and 10th 100's were done all fast. The 25's were done the same way, alternating which one was done fast. It was tiring! We finished up with an easy 500-meter pull for a total distance for the workout of 2500 meters. Not a ton of volume, but certainly a good workout.

Thursday, March 22

I did a 25-mile bike ride today. The weather was pretty iffy, but I did manage to get out after work with Hao, who was in town for a Continuing Legal Education Seminar. We met down at Hwy 360 and MoPac and rode most of the 30-mile Jack Brown Cleaner's loop that is the majority of the ATC Saturday Morning Taco Ride. We rode pretty easy and with very little intensity just to get miles in and chat a little bit. Although, I will say that my legs were pretty fresh and when we hit the big hill on Hwy 71 on the way up to the Jack Brown's cleaners (the half-way point), I put the hammer down to see how quickly I could climb the hill. My top speed on that climb was abou 19.7 mph . . . and I was climbing out of my saddle for much of the way. No doubt about it, that Colnago is a speed machine!

Afterward, Hao and I had some wings and a beer at Hooter's downtown. We tried Plucker's first because their wings are A LOT better, but the place was packed because of the first night of the NCAA Sweet 16. The wait for a table was 18 parties long and we were starving! We only had to wait 15 minutes at Hooter's, and although the wings aren't as good there, they were good enough!

Friday, March 23

I actually got two workouts in today. I rode the bike at lunch with Jason. We did our 25-mile or so ride down 360 to the bridge and back. We rode fast, but tried to spin out much of the ride since we wanted to save our legs for the Taco ride the next day. The wind was pretty fierce, though. We had gusts that felt like 20-25 mph. When I got back to Pure Austin, I did a quick mile on the treadmill just to keep my feeling for the initial run-off-the-bike transition.

At about 4:30 PM, Hao called and said he was done with the seminar and was going out for a ride. He said I could join him or not. His new bike was being built, but was not done yet because the guy he bought his components from sent him the wrong bottom bracket cups. He needed Italian-threaded, but they sent English-threaded. So . . . he was out there on the Cannondale again.

Anyway, my legs were feeling okay (a little tired, but not bad), so I left work at 4:45 and met him at the same spot as yesterday to do the same ride. This time, we went "slow and low" as Hao likes to say, since we'd be riding the Taco ride the next morning. It was an enjoyable ride, and though it threatened to rain, it never did.

As a side note, after this ride, I was up over 400 miles put on the new Colnago in less than 2 weeks! I love that bike!

Saturday, March 24

Ah, the Taco Ride! I have missed the competition at that ride! Although I'm hardly one of the top riders, it's fairly easy to gauge the other riders comparable to me and I love competing with them! Today's ride was great! There was a huge group because there were no bike races this weekend. Plus, a reporter from the Statesman was there to do a story on the ride. Hao made it there, and so did Jason, as well as a guy named Andrew, whom we met on last week's ride. So, I had quite a few folks to chat with before we got rolling.

Well . . . the warm-up wasn't too bad, but when the lead group hit Southwest Parkway, they took OFF!! I settled in at the back of the lead pack to just hang on until we hit the first big hill, where I knew I'd get dropped. As predicted, we strung out on the first hill and the lead guys dropped about 12 of us who formed into a second pack. All along Southwest Parkway, we kept passing guys fixing flats. Almost the whole first group must have flatted because there weren't many folks at the half-way point when I finally got there. But, before I get to that, I just have to brag a little bit about finishing up the first half:

I gotta say, I was just hanging on to the back of the second group for most of the ride to Hwy 71. There wasn't much of a paceline, so I just sucked a wheel and tried to stay with them. When we got onto 71, I was still right with them and was starting to get my wind back because of the reduced effort I was putting in from drafting. Anyway, right before the big hill climb up to Jack Brown's, there's a huge downhill. So, I'm at the back of the pack, drafting away down this hill. At the bottom, I was in my biggest gear doing a bit over 40 mph, and when I felt a bit of resistance as the uphill started, I got out of my seat and just hammered up the hill as hard as I could. I must say that it was thrilling being in a big gear and just flying past these roadies spinning up the hill. I checked my computer and saw that I went up that hill at a little over 22 mph. Now, there was most likely a bit of a tailwind helping me out, but that's easily the fastest I've ever gone up that hill. I'm usually around 13-15 mph on it, so I was stoked! Really gave me an adrenaline rush!

Now, however, on to the bad part of the ride. I waited for Hao at the cleaner's, and we started back together. Jason and Andrew and some of the others had already come and gone on their way back with the leaders while I waited for Hao. Anyway, we were taking it easy going back, chatting and having a good time, when we came upon Jason changing a flat; so, we stopped and waited for him. However, I really had to get back because Lisa and I had a 10:30 appointment with our pastor to talk wedding stuff, and I was already going to be a bit late because of the ride. So, after Jason fixed the flat, Hao told us his legs were shot and he'd be too tired to gun it home, so Jason and I should go ahead without him. Although we hated to do it, we did because we both had pressing business.

Well, later that day, I was trying to get in touch with Hao, but he wouldn't answer his phone. Around 6:00 PM, he called me to tell me why. Apparently, he got hit by a car again (second time in less than a year) and had been at the ER for much of the day. Thankfully, he's okay, but his bike is shot . . . again. Snapped the fork in half. Seems that he was riding down the shoulder on Bee Caves Road toward Hwy 360, passing the long line of cars waiting for the red light, when a car coming the other direction and turning left into a gas station was waved through the waiting line of cars and pulled right in front of Hao as he was coming down the shoulder. Apparently, the car pulled in front of him leaving him only 5 feet to brake. Obviously, he couldn't stop in time and slammed into the car at about 15-20 mph. Diagnosis is a slightly torn rotator cuff, some major road rash and bumps and bruises, and a slight concussion, but no broken bones or other major injuries. The driver got a ticket and Hao got a ride to the ER in an ambulance, as well as a doctor-mandated 3-week reprieve from biking. On the plus side, at least it wasn't his new Colnago that got totaled this time. Hope you're feeling better soon, Hao!

Sunday, March 25

I rode 30 miles today with a couple of guys from the church. They do a Sunday morning 2-hour recovery ride starting at 6:30 or 7:00 AM. It was an uneventful and slow ride, but was nice to meet Michael and Bill. I think I might try to do this ride on a somewhat weekly basis if I can.

Monday, March 26

Today was a rest day. It rained all day long and I've been neglecting to do an appellate brief I need to work on. I thought about running, but I just couldn't get the motivation to do it. Besides, I think I needed the day off.

Tuesday, March 27

Today was a ride/run brick workout. I rode 25 miles with Jason down to the 360 bridge and back. We took it easy since Jason was feeling a bit under the weather. I had the tri bike out because of potential bad weather, and because I don't want to lose my feel for it. I actually felt pretty good and managed to go almost the whole 25 miles in the aero position with no ill effects on my back and neck. I need to do this at least twice a week to stay with my positioning. When I got back to Pure Austin, I did 2.5 miles on the treadmill at 5k pace. I gotta say, I sweat A LOT! I don't remember being such a sweat hog in the past! I was up to 7:00 minute mile pace and was breathing pretty easily, but the amount of sweat pouring off me was almost astounding! I wonder if that just means my cardiovascular system is getting better because I used to not sweat THAT bad unless I was breathing REALLY hard and pushing myself to the limit. It'll be interesting to see how my recent training affects me at the CapTex Sprint tri this year. I wonder if I'll better my time over last year's when I did virtually NO run training at all. I guess we'll see!

The Weather Gods are spoiling all my fun!! Well, fiddlesticks!!!! The weather in Austin has not been at all conducive to my kind of training fun! Below is a summary of the last few days of training:

Sunday, March 19

After an awesome ride on St. Paddy's Day, Sunday ended up being a day off. It was probably a good thing, though. After I finished the ATC ride on Saturday, I dropped by Austin Bike Shop to see if they had my new stem in. The only guy there said that it had come in, but he couldn't find it. So, I left the bike there and told him I'd pick it up Monday. Also, I didn't have my tri bike because I let a friend borrow it to do a 6-mile time trial race on Saturday (he got 4th place, by the way!!!). So, I thought about running today, but my legs were pretty tired from all the riding on my new bike, so I just bagged it and took a much needed rest day.

Monday, March 20

I went to the bike shop to pick up my bike only to find that the stem hadn't been put on yet. I'm glad I went early because I was supposed to meet Jason for a ride at 11:45 AM. Eric, the bike mechanic on duty, found the new stem and put it on for me. So, I was able to meet Jason for the ride. The only problem was that the weather was pretty iffy. We decided to be on the safe side and just rode down to the 360 bridge and back. I had something for work at 2:00 PM, so we had to make sure I'd be back in time to shower and get back to work before then. We got rained on a bit, but still managed to get in about 20 miles, so it wasn't a wasted day.

Tuesday, March 21

Again, it was cloudy with spotty showers all over the area. I brought my tri bike to ride on Tuesday because I'd had the guys at Jack & Adam's re-fit me on it after my friend had borrowed it. I worked with Richard Freer, a relatively new employee at J&A, but a well-known pro triathlete here in Austin. It was the first time I'd actually met him and he was a great guy. He played with the seat height quite a bit until he got it right for me. Then, we talked about my position and how I felt on the bike. We decided to take out one of the spacers on the stem and get my front end just a little lower. I also talked to him about potentially switching out my current aerobars for some "s-bend" bars. He said he finds the s-bends much better for gripping and power than the bars I currently have. It was good to get a professional opinion, but I'm going to think about that one for a while. Quite frankly, I don't think I have the money to switch out the aero bars at this time!

Anyway . . . the ride Tuesday was much like Monday, only shorter. I did 15 miles on 360 and Bee Caves Road with some wind gusts of up to 25 mph. I had intended to just spin and adjust to the bike, but it ended up being pretty tough with the winds. Afterward, I did a 30-minute run at 5k pace (for me, about 7:30-7:45 per mile), so I got about 4 miles in. The good news is that I didn't have any back issues in transitioning from ride to run. That was very nice.

Wednesday, March 22

Today's workout is a split workout. I started with a bike ride this morning and will have a Texas Iron swim class later tonight (7:00 PM). Hopefully, the swim goes better than the ride. I rode out again with Jason and Jeff from Temple-Inland over on MoPac. I had the road bike out today, and yet again, the weather had 25-mph wind gusts and spots of rain (yes, I got rained on twice!!). Everything was going pretty well. We headed up the MoPac access road, around Barton Creek Mall, and onto Hwy 360 to head over to Westlake to ride some hills. Just after we passed by the exit for Bee Caves Road, I hit something that made my rear tire go instantly flat. Jeff said it was a few pieces of heavy glass that he narrowly missed and I just flat out didn't see. When I checked the tire, it had a 2 cm cut in it all the way through. It's ruined. Luckily, I had a spare tube, some CO2, and a dollar bill I could use as a makeshift patch. I sent Jeff and Jason on their way and then turned around and limped home. It wasn't much of a workout, but I did get 15 miles of saddle time and an easy spin for my tired legs. I'll write more about the swim workout in my next update.

This week has been (almost) all about the bike. Alright, so I've been gushing on and on about my new bike. I know, I know . . . it's like when you were 11 years old and got a new toy to play with. I've just been riding and riding since I got it. However, I have done a few other things this week. As you can see in previous posts, I had a good swim workout with Texas Iron, and believe it or not, I ran almost 20 miles this week. That's up significantly from my previous week's total of about 5 miles. So, it's not ALL about the bike, but having said that, the last two days (including today) are going to be bike entries again. :)

Friday, March 16

Most of you reading this know that yesterday was my (and Steve's) birthday. We're 37 now, so only two more years of being in the most competitive division in triathlon . . . M35-39. I was going to take the day off, since it was my birthday and all, but there was just too much to do. Instead, I went into work a bit late and then took a 2-hour lunch to ride with Jason. We did a 26-mile ride and it was great. He's still killing me on the hills, but I think I'll get back into climbing shape again soon if I just keep at it.

Saturday, March 17

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I did the 30-mile ATC Taco Ride this morning . . . first one on the new bike, and man, was it fantastic!! I wore my Ireland Cycling jersey in honor of St. Paddy's Day. Admittedly, the group went out a little slower than usual, but it was still a great ride. I was hanging on to the tail end of the front pack for much of the ride up MoPac and the first half of Southwest Parkway. I did get dropped on the second hill, but the lead pack got stuck at a stoplight a few hundred yards up. I managed to catch up just as it turned green, so for the remainder of Southwest Parkway, I rode in the main part of the lead group! First time ever! It was great until near the end when my right shoe popped out of the pedal while we were climbing a slight incline up to Hwy 71. That slowed me down and I got dropped again. I finished up the first half of the ride with a second small pack of riders about a minute behind the lead group!

On the second half of the ride, Jason and I rode back with the lead guys. While I'm sure they were "taking it easy," I was still hanging on by a thread. It was a pretty fast return trip for me since I usually take it easy on the return trip. Although I'm beat from the ride, on the plus side, I finished up about 20 minutes faster than I usually do. The group's average was about 21.5 mph, which is pretty darn fast considering all the hills on the course. It was a great, great ride!

Oh Happy Day!!! I'm back to being a two-bike person. Well, the day I've been waiting for has finally arrived . . . . my new Colnago road bike frame finally arrived and the bike has been built up. I went over to Austin Bike Shop yesterday to pick it up and get a professional fit on the bike to make sure it was set just right for me. Austin Bike Shop is a relatively new place not far from my office. Sol and Eric, the two guys that fit me on the bike were great. I'm probably going to see them about most stuff concerning my road bike from now on.

Anyhoo, here's a picture of the bike that I took quickly at home yesterday before I headed out for my Wednesday swim workout (discussed below):

The picture may be a little small, but trust me, the bike looks VERY sweet! Oddly, I didn't even know that my water bottle would match the blue on the bike frame. It just worked out that way! I guess it was just fate! Oh, sorry about the cat that horned in on the picture. That's Abby. She was very curious about the bike from the minute I brought it in the house. I almost couldn't get her out from behind the front wheel. She wanted to sniff the bike all over. Well, anyway . . . on with the training update.

Tuesday, March 13

This was an unintentional off day. I had to be in Houston for a deposition in the morning. My flight home was set to arrive in Austin at 5:00 PM. Unfortunately, the weather in Austin on Tuesday was AWFUL. It rained hard all day and the thunder and lightning was apparently pretty constant. The long and short of it was that my flight didn't leave Houston until almost 6:30 PM. We arrived in Austin at about 7:20 PM, and then I had to drive back to Leander, so I didn't actually get home until a little after 8:00 PM.

At least Reese and AJ didn't have to spend 16 hours with no potty break. Lisa's dad stopped by around noon to give the boys a potty break for me. (Thanks so much for that, Chuck!!) Since I got started with the day at 4:30 AM, and since the boys needed some attention after being left alone so long, I decided not to do the run I'd been planning. That was probably a good plan, because I was beat when I got home. Traveling just does that to me.

Wednesday, March 14

Yesterday was entirely different. I got a good night's sleep and was pretty jazzed up since I'd be getting the Colnago that day. I must admit, when I got the bike and got home, I didn't want to go back out and do the swim class. I wanted to stay home and play with my bike. But, I did begrudgingly go to the swim workout. Here's what we did:

Warm-up:
Easy 300, every 4th 25 was swum with head up (like Tarzan swims).

Main Workout:
6 x 50 kick (25 hard, 25 easy)
6 x 150 hard, working on drafting the feet of the person in front of you
6 x 25 hard on a 45-second interval
4 x 50 (25 hard with no breaths, 25 easy) on a 30-second rest interval

Warm down:
Easy 500 pull, alternating breathing every 3, 5, and 7 strokes each 50.

It was not TOO hard of a workout, and I'm very glad I went.

Thursday, March 15

What an awesome day today was! I got my first ride in on the new road bike at lunch and it was incredible! After spending 6 months on the tri bike exclusively, it was hard to get back into the groove of handling the Colnago. The handlebars felt too light, but I know that's a good thing! I had a little trouble shifting and finding the correct gearing, too. The Colnago is outfitted with Campagnolo Chorus components, which use thumb-shifters for some of the shifting. Previously, I'd only ridden with Shimano components and my Ultegras did not use thumb-shifters. Anyway . . . I did manage to figure it out!

As for the gearing, I'm using my first 11-23 rear cassette, which is generally harder gearing than the standard 12-25 cassette I've always used before. My theory is that I'd use the Colnago and its 11-23 cassette to help strengthen my legs on the hills so that when I actually ride IMMoo on the tri bike, I'll be able to use my regular gearing and not have my legs get too trashed. Maybe that will work and maybe not, but it's the theory. Anyhoo . . . with the harder gearing on the the Colnago, it was an adventure finding the right gears to be on when going up hills. The ones I usually use on the 12-25 aren't in the same place on the 11-23, so I had to adjust my riding until I could find the right combinations for me.

In any event, once I found them, it was off to the races! I rode down Bee Caves Road on the way back to the bike shop and averaged 32 mph on the stretch between Hwy 360 and MoPac! I usually average about 25-26 mph there! It was a sweet, sweet ride.

Oh yeah . . . in the evening, we had a Texas Iron run workout. Not much to say. Warm-up run from Jack & Adams' Bicycles over to the track at Austin High School. Then, we ran 8 x 800 m doing the first 400 at 10k pace, the next 200 at 5k pace, and the last 200 as recovery. Then, we did a warm down run back to J&A's and that was it! Great work out day!

Holy Cow! I'm running again! Well . . . wonders never cease! I have actually run 3 days in a row. None of it long and none of it hard, but three days of running. My total for the week is already higher than the previous five weeks combined, and that's sad when my total for the week is about 12 miles. Anyhoo . . . here's the workout for yesterday and today:

Sunday, March 11

This was an awesome day. Despite the "Spring forward" time change, I decided to get up early and meet my friend Shelley for her group ride with the Team in Training group she hooked up with to train for the Wildflower half-iron distance race. The team is coached by Adam from Jack and Adam's Bicycles, with whom I am on pretty good terms, so I figured I'd be welcome on the ride. I was right!

All I knew before the ride was that it would be a "long" ride starting at 7:30 AM. I still didn't know much when we started out. All I knew is that we were going to head south toward Buda. About 30 minutes into the ride, Shelley told me it was going to be a 65-mile ride . . . about 20 miles longer than I'd gone on any ride since October. In fact, the longest I'd ridden before yesterday was 44 miles with Hao last Sunday, and that was an easy spin ride to recover from the hard 30-miler that Saturday.

Well . . . I must say that some of the folks in the TnT group are pretty darn good cyclists. We rode as a group for about 8 miles to the south part of town. When we hit County Road 1626, Adam turned us loose with instructions to meet up at the "T" in Buda. One of the other guys in the group (Ed) and I took off, taking turns leading each other down Old San Antonio Road. For most of the rest of the first half of the ride, we would ride about 5-8 miles on our own and wait up for the group at various stops. To make a long story short, we hit the half-way point in San Marcos and rested up at a Sac'n'Pac. Then, we turned around and headed back the way we came. After about 5 miles, Ed and I decided to just pour it on. We were followed by two of the faster women in the group a few minutes back. Basically, Ed and I (and eventually a solo road cyclist we came up on) hammered from San Marcos back to the Austin city limits. The two women ended up about 4 and 5 minutes behind us respectively. We cruised back into the Jack and Adam's parking lot about 4 hours after we started.

That could've been the end of it, as my legs were tired. However, everybody else was going to do a short run, so who am I to be a stick in the mud? Besides, since Lisa was out of town, I didn't have anywhere I had to be. So, I did a five-mile run and turned the workout into a brick. My legs were REALLY heavy, especially since I'd done a short brick the previous day. Still, I did it, with a little bit of walking, but I did it nonetheless. Today, my legs aren't nearly as sore as I thought they would be. They're tired, but not horribly sore. Anyway, I'm very pleased with how I feel considering the back-to-back bricks.

Edit: I forgot to mention in the original post that I went over 2000 miles on my bike computer on this ride. So, since August 1, 2006, I've ridden approximately 2045 miles on my tri bike. That's an average of about 291 miles per month, which doesn't sound like a lot, but considering that I haven't ridden much in December, January, and February, I seemed to be averaging almost 500 miles a month in August, September, and October. Yikes, that's a lot!!

Monday, March 12

So, today it was supposed to rain. Couple that with the fact that I had a ton of work to do today and I decided not to even take the bike to work. Turns out, the rain never came and it was a beautiful day for a ride. Since I didn't have the bike (or the time, really, to ride), I decided to run Town Lake again. This time, I ran the six-mile loop between MoPac and Congress Ave. I took it very easy, but did run the whole route . . . no stopping, no walking. The legs were still tired, but not sore. It was a beautiful day to be out there, and I'm very happy with the fact that my running is not painful. I might just get myself in shape for IMMoo yet!

Tomorrow is an off day. I travel for work and won't really have time to do anything. If it's not rainy, I may do more running in the evening when I get home. Not likely, however, as I am usually pretty beat after a day of traveling.

More to come!!

P.S. Two days until I get my fully-built road bike back!

The Rest of the Week . . . After my humbling experience on the hills of Lost Creek on Wednesday, the rest of the week was a piece of cake . . . or maybe not!

Swim practice on Wednesday was not too bad. We warmed up with a 600 that was 50-drill, 50-kick, 100-swim (done 3 times). Then, we did a ladder set of 12 x (50+25), in which we did the 50 and the 25 on the same interval and decreased the interval by 5 seconds for each of the first 6 sets, and then increased the interval by 5 seconds for each of the second 6 sets. The 50s were to be swum steady, focusing on stroke form and breathing. The 25 was to be swum hard. The long and short of it was that we'd have lots of rest on the 25s, but less and less on the 50s for the first 6 sets, and then increasingly more rest to finish up the set. Here's an example:

The lane I swam in swam the first set on a 1:05 interval, meaning that we had 1:05 to swim the 50, and then 1:05 to swim the hard 25. The second set, we dropped to a 1:00 interval, etc., down until we hit a 40-second interval for the sixth set (that was rough on the 50!). Then, we did the seventh set on a 40-second interval, the eighth on a 45-second interval, the ninth on a 50-second interval, etc., on back up to a 1:05 interval on the last one. It was a bit complicated keeping the time accurately, but the drill was good.

Finally, we ended with a 300 pull. I got leg cramps about 175 meters into it (probably from the Lost Creek hill climbs!), but I worked them out and finished up.

Thursday, March 8

Thursday was a double workout too. I did a very easy 20-miles on the bike, very few hills and an easy spin to work out the soreness from my legs. The bike ride was uneventful, except for the wind, so the spin wasn't as easy as I'd have liked. Regardless, it was nice.

The real workout was after work with Texas Iron. Thursday was a run day, so we met at Jack & Adam's Bicycles on Barton Springs at 6:00. Then, we did a 15-minute warm-up run over to the Town Lake trail and followed it over to the Zilker Park soccer fields. Once there, we did our drills and strides to warm up a bit more, and then did a surprisingly tough speed workout. The main set consisted of a very simple exercise. We started at one end of the road and had to run toward the other end as hard as we could for one minute. Then, we got to rest for one minute, turn around, and run back the other way as hard as we could for one minute. We did this 10 times. It was quite tiring, and my legs are pretty sore even today, 2 days later. I'm surprised I could run back to Jack & Adam's, but I did.

Friday, March 9

This was another bike day. I rode out with my friend Jason and we did the route from MoPac to Southwest Parkway, up to Barton Creek Road. Then, we turned on Lost Creek and did half of the hills we had done on Wednesday. It was hard, but not as bad as Wednesday, because we only did half as many hills, and because we had a nice warm-up spin before we got there. I wasn't nearly as tired after this route. It was an additional 26 miles to the weekly total.

Saturday, March 10

Today was a short ride-run brick. After taking Lisa and her mom to the airport for their trip to Pennsylvania, I came home and jumped on the bike for a 20-mile flat ride from home, down to Lakeline Mall and back via Crystal Falls Pkwy and Lakeline Blvd. My legs were still very sore from the previous two days, so I just tried to spin easy and work the soreness out. Of course, since it's March, it was pretty windy, so the effort was harder than I had hoped.

The worse part was the run after. Sadly, because my legs were so sore from Wednesday and Thursday, the run after the bike was pretty pathetic. I only went 2 miles and my back was a bit sore. Even worse, my legs felt like 2-ton weights and I couldn't take normal strides. My last few bricks weren't so bad, but then, I haven't been this sore in a while, either. Perhaps it's all normal, but this is the part of the training I hate . . . the pain before I get more used to it. At least, I'm liking the fact that I'm back on the bike more regularly.

On a related note, I'm closing in on 2000 miles on the bike since August. That's not great, but it's not too shabby either. I expect I'll hit the 2000-mile mark sometime this weekend, as I've got rides planned for today and tomorrow. Today will be a long ride, short run brick workout. Tomorrow will be a long ride with my friend Shelley and her workout group.

One last bike-related note . . . my Colnago road bike frame finally arrived and the bike is at the shop to be built up. I'm told I should have it by Wednesday, and, although I love my Guru tri bike, it'll be nice to have a road bike again.

Another Training Update. Well . . . things are starting to look up for my training prospects. Although I got no training in last week because of the trial, this week is off to a spectacular start.

Saturday, March 3:

On Saturday, Hao came to town and we met down at Austin Tricyclist for the Saturday morning Taco Ride. I hadn't been on the bike for a week, and I knew it was going to hurt. Plus, it was 35 degrees at the ride start time of 8:30 AM. The ride went okay, but I was redlining pretty much the entire first half. The group did its 3-mile warm-up and then the fast guys put the hammer down before we even go off of MoPac. Usually they wait until the group turns onto Southwest Parkway, but they took off early. I got dropped in a heartbeat. I was alone for most of the ride on Southwest Parkway. I kind of like it that way when I'm on the tri bike, though. I can ride the aerobars and not worry about the other people around me.

Anyway, I'm cruising along when I look back to see a group of riders about to catch me. That's not unusual because packs tend to ride faster than individual riders, especially on windy days (and it was fairly windy!!). Unbeknownst to me, Hao was in that pack! I'm riding along and hear this voice as he goes by me saying "Hop on the back, Lone Ranger!" How embarassing! I got caught by a flatland rider on my own turf! Well . . . I had to jump onto the group to keep up with Hao. We stayed together for the next couple of miles taking turns pulling the group and swallowing up other riders as we went along.

The end of Southwest Parkway (at Hwy 71) is slightly uphill. The group split up a bit there with most of us accelerating ahead. At least I redeemed myself with Hao! He was at the back and we dropped him when we turned onto Hwy 71. I got to the turnaround and waited for a couple of minutes until he made it in. Then, we took Bee Caves to Hwy 360 and headed back to the shop. It was a great 30 miles . . . harder than it used to be, but that's because I'm a bit behind on my training. It was great to ride with Hao again, though.

Sunday, March 4:

Lisa is the greatest fiance ever. I'd missed church the previous two Sundays and was all set to go this past Sunday. But, with Hao in town, she graciously told me not to worry about it and to go out and ride with him again if I wanted. Being who I am, I took her up on it! Hao and I met or friend Shelley at Jack and Adams Bicycles at 7:15 AM. Shelley is training for the Wildflower Half Iron distance race with a Team in Training group. They did hill repeats on Lost Creek Blvd. that morning, but Hao and I rode out there with them and then continued on to do our own version of the Dam Loop, a 45-mile ride that goes out past Mansfield Dam. We took it VERY slow and easy since we'd worked so hard the day before. It was a nice leisurely ride and we stopped at the Davenport Ranch shopping center (at about Mile 35) to have coffee and panini at this awesome Italian cafe. It was a fantastic riding weekend, and I finally feel like I'm getting back into the swing of the biking.

Monday, March 5:

I took the day off of work, but had an MRI scheduled at 7:30 AM, so I ran down to the medical center for that and then did a few errands later in the morning. I brought lunch to Lisa and her co-workers at the elementary school and then went home. I was pretty tired from the biking this weekend, but I did get in about 30 minutes of slow running. It was pretty much a recovery day for me.

Tuesday, March 6:

I did a five-mile run at Town Lake at lunch. The goal was to go easy and avoid the pain that's been persistent in my left leg since Ironhead last July. I didn't have any pain during the run, but it was definitely tight afterwards. I hope the MRI shows something.

Wednesday, March 7:

Today was the bike ride from Hell! I met up with my friend Jason and we went out to Lost Creek Blvd. I haven't really ridden a bunch of hills in a while and Lost Creek is full of them. It starts out at Hwy 360 and you follow Lost Creek south. It's a really nice downhill into a valley, but once you reach the country club, it gets hellish. There are three super steep hills. They're not long, but the watts you need to push just to get up them are incredible. I made it up all of them, but I was wheezing like an asthmatic and my legs were wobbly. To make matters worse, rather than follow the easy way out, Jason wanted to turn around and do the hills in reverse. So . . . we did. Climbing up to the top of Lost Creek is agonizing when you're out of shape. The last hill (up to Hwy 360) is not too steep, but it's relentlessly long. It felt so good going DOWN that hill, but going up? Yikes!!! I need to do more of these. I just hope I haven't tired myself out too much for swim group tonight.