Eagleman

Eagleman was sweltering - 95 degrees and 75% humidity. That compared to the 90 degrees, but only 13% humidty in Colorado today.

Ragbrai has days like that. Cross country in high school had days like that... It was pretty rough for me. Normally I'm bad about hydration, but at Eagleman there was no choice. 28oz/hr on the bike and who knows how much water on the run. I'd grab two cups, drink half of one, pour the other one on my head and slowly pour and ounce or two every hundred yards or so to the next rest stop. After I figured out that I needed to carry water from stop to stop, I probably was 30sec/mile faster than the first 6 miles.

Didn't figure out any was to cool off on the bike. Just no where to go. Every time I tried to push the pace - just started to get nauseous and had to back off.

Anyway - disappointing time 6:01:24. Master's swim - here I come... Need a bike fit and some racing flats that won't get as waterlogged as normal running shoes do.

bad riders, bad drivers - be careful

There have been a lot of blogs, news, articles - whatever about spring, cyclists and what the law is for riding a bike...

Today I went out for a lunchtime ride. No big deal, just getting a little exercise. County road 5 is always kind of stressful for all of the dumptrucks and traffic coming to and from Windsor (I-25 is a mile away, but many choose to take the local road). There was a guy in front of me on a felt tri-bike. One of the aluminum ones, think it was yellow and he was wearing a NB Winderful jersey. I'm maybe fifty feet back watching him come up on a couple of kids riding side by side on the shoulder. There's a dump truck approaching us and so I slow down (too many bikes in one spot on the shoulder) and wait for him to pass. This yahoo on the felt lurches past the kids and into the lane... The guy is lucky he didn't get hit. Even though the dumptruck driver didn't give much space, he also didn't run over the idiot on the felt. Good job - dumptruck guy!

Now just when I'm starting to think that drivers are looking out for cyclists on this road - there's a small hill with no shoulder before you get to the intersection. One of those roads where the white line curves away from you because there is no more asphault - only a shallow ditch. Double yellow line on a narrow road. I'm as close to the side as I can get and am almost blown off the road by a semi (probably same company as Mr Dumptruck) that passes me with no space while there is oncoming traffic. Seemingly gunning his engine to speed up the hill and not have to downshift.

I kinda wish I would have yelled at the guy on the Felt for the sake of Mr Dumptruck. I also wish I had something bigger than a semi to put some fear into the other driver.

Be careful out there folks. There are idiots on both sides...

this week

This is maybe my 3rd first week of training? Too many life things going on and having trouble really getting started.

Saturday swam 1100 meters total. Not at one time, in 25, 50 and 75 meter chunks. Hopefully I'll be able to swim 5x400m before the next half-ironman.

Sunday rode for three hours. Pretty slow, hung out with the second group and would slowly chase down any people that rode off the front of the group. I actually got too hot at the end of the ride and coasted in...

Monday swam 750m. Was still feeling it from Saturday. Combination of kicking, pulling and swimming. Just trying to get my endurance up...

Tuesday it snowed a little bit and unmotivated to throw the bike in the back of the truck. So I putzed around and finally decided to go to a spin class after work. Always go too hard in a spin class... I don't really know why, maybe it's the music or just wanting to get done, but halfway through the class I suddenly realized I was breathing so hard I was getting a little dizzy. Easy, easy!

Swim and run Wednesday, Friday. Bike Thursday and Saturday...

Gettin back into it...

Time for the season to start. I'm moving pretty slow these days and need to get motivated. Waterboy is thinking about coming out in a couple of weeks for some riding and to see Buckethead (the guitar player). Then him and Timmers are looking at Memorial Day weekend for a painfest. Both those guys are an order of magnitude stronger than me, so it's time to get to it...

Base fitness? Can ride at 150W for 45 minutes on the trainer before getting bored. 30 minutes on the treadmill with the last mile at 7 minute pace. Swimming - maybe 700 meters/workout. Like I said, not really in shape yet, but it's more motivation and getting a base going than anything else.

So far no races yet, but signed up for triple bypass... Thinking about taking some exercise physiology or sports medicine classes at CSU just to pass the time. Something...

Also saw a cyclist, probably a commuter, that was hit by a car early this morning. Just makes me a bit upset - watch out on the road people!