Ouch...that hurt!

Well, it's been a few weeks since I last posted.  Last weekend my my tri team's training weekend up at Waterville Valley, New Hampshire.  It was a fun weekend.  But, I was a little disappointed w/my riding.  I had intended to do an overdistance day on Friday, but I just didn't dress correctly (or undress correctly).  It was fairly cold and wet out...so I was wearing some warm weather gear.  But, once you start climbing....you really begin to sweat.  The problem is, once you get to the top....it's freezing again....and the downhills are even colder.  The key is to strip down the gear before the climbs...which I didn't do.  So, after the first major climb, I had to bail....I was bordering on hypothermia.  All in all, I got 160 miles over 2 days and some decent running in.  So, it wasn't a wasted weekend by any means.  And, the two rides that I did get in were my 2 longest rides of the year.  Saturday night was another epic team dinner and party.  I drank waaayyy too much and paid for it on Sunday.  That's it though.....last night over over indulging in the drinking.  Time to buckle in for the season. 

This past week has been extremely difficult for me....juggling work, workouts and life in general.  I'm getting completely slammed at work.  Typically this would be a good thing.  But, as I've pointed out, this is my last year...and I don't want to leave anything on the table.  This past week I had trouble getting out of my office to get the workouts in.  I'm really going to have to make an effort to be efficient with my time to make sure I get all of my training, rest, recovery in.  Fortunately, Jenn is very understanding when it comes to this and takes a lot off my plate, when she can. 

Yesterday was a tough day of training.  I had 3 hours on the bike and a 75 minute transition run on the docket.  The 3 hours doesn't sound too bad...but for the fact that within the ride I had a 60 and 20 minute hard tempo to do.  20 minutes hurts....but 60 minutes is really, really tough.  I hit my nutrition pretty well on the ride...but I have to keep my hydration up a little better.  I suffered on the second half of my run.  The run was an easy effort.  But, I was typically running around a 160 HR....probably between 6:45-7:10 pace.  Today was really tough (and I'm not done).  I had a track w/o scheduled (6x 1000).  I knew this was going to be tough as I did a 20 minute warmup run to the track.  I was struggling from yesterday's w/o.  After some stretching and strides I got into the 1000s.  First one was a bit slow....3:22....and it hurt....OUCH!  Ok, time to buckle down and get moving.  Second one 3:16.  Then 3:13; 3:13; 3:16; 3:14.  Overall, I felt really strong (once I got going).  Now we get to see what kind of running speed and strength I really have next week when I go back to Pineland Farms, Maine for the 25k trail race.  I won the race in 2008, but couldn't go back last year due to the fact we had just purchased our house.  Looking at last year's winning time, it would have been tough to repeat.  However, when I won in 2008, I ran solo, unchallenged from 3 miles on.  Then again, I doubt most of the other competitors have a 4 and a half workout scheduled the day before:)

Here are some pics from 2008.

-P