Holy cow, this is actually FUN!

The past weeks have been pretty hard work, and I may have lost sight of how much fun this sport is.
Today was a "brick" workout (meaning two or more sports back-to-back) and I planned to do the workout with my training buddy Mark, who is also doing the full iron distance on the 12th.

For the last few weeks, workouts have been mostly very long, mostly hot, and mostly alone.

Last night, the temperature dropped 20 degrees or more. I awoke to a cool, strong wind.
Perfect.

At 6:30, Mark and I were both at Alum Creek beach, along with someone I was meeting for the first time, Bob Molsberry, who will be competing at Rev3 using a handcycle and a racing wheelchair. Watching this guy drag himself across the sand to swim with us was a good reminder of the ability we all have within to cope with adversity.

We swam for an hour and 15 minutes, and it was my first time in a wetsuit since the spring. It felt pretty good, and also served to remind me exactly which spots on the back of my neck I need to hit with skin lubricant to avoid ugly red stripes of chafing.

Bob headed home to ride his usual route, and Mark and I headed out on our bikes from the beach. It was cool, and with yesterday's rest day under my belt, I felt very strong. I was grateful for the wind, which would prepare me for next weekend. The plan was to do the first half easy and the second half harder. That was easy, since we had a tailwind for most of the first half. Coming back into the wind, I was surprised I was able to hold a pace of 17mph straight into a headwind. I think Mark and I both wanted to prove ourselves against the wind, because we were both restless and kept switching places to be in the front.

The last 5 to 10 minutes of the two hour ride was a climb up the levee at Alum Creek, from the bottom of the dam to the top, and back to the beach. It's about a half mile or 3/4 mile of climbing. It's not the steepest hill, but it is a hill that doesn't let up. When you start to near the top, the wind comes blowing over the crest of it into your face. I've ridden that hill a lot over the past three years. Today I was feeling great, and as I headed into it, I thought, "Bring it on!" I went as hard as I could to the base of it, then switched to the small chainring and kept pedaling on up. I was pushing as hard as I could while still staying in the aero position, because the wind was already starting to reach me and I thought sitting up would really slow me down. I made it to the top and felt great about it. We coasted into the beach and back to the cars to switch to running gear.

Now I may be comparable to Mark at swimming and cycling, but the man is an absolute machine when it comes to running.

So I walked up to him and asked if we should just dispense with the idea of running "together" since he is so much faster. As it turned out, he was trying to discipline himself to slow down his pace for this event, plus he didn't know the turns on the run course. So I figured I would do my best to keep up with him.

We ended up running for an hour at a pace that is normal for him and blisteringly fast for me. At one point we were running an 8:15 min/mile pace going uphill. Our overall average for the hour was 8:35 min/mile. When we were done, I was glad to stop running, but I felt AMAZING. Best of all, my data showed my heartrate had never really gotten out of control. We were talking most of the time, so it seems possible that I was at a normal heartrate and somehow just running really fast.
A guy parked across from me was finishing his run, and he is training for the half-Rev3, so we chatted a bit. I headed home, and for the first time in recent memory, arrived at the house not feeling completely wiped out.

I feel like a million bucks. I guess that's what rest will do for a person. And it was FUN!

I like going fast.
I miss going fast.
I am reminding myself not to go fast in the race until mile 20 of the marathon, should I happen to have something left at that point.

I am pumped up!

Stats

SWIM: 1h 15m (Est:) 4000.00 yards
BIKE:

1h 59m 20s

35.88 miles

18.04 Mi/hr

Avg HR: 104
Max HR: 167

RUN:

1h 00m 02s

6.99 miles

08m 35s/Mi

Avg HR: 147
Max HR: 168