Radio interview

WOW!!! What a super crazy week this has been! This week has been full of training and long days at work. I've had some sleepless nights both at home and at work, and it's definitely taken it's toll. But such is the life of working a 24 hour shift and having young kids at home. A while back my buddy Frank and I were talking about our performance and how it suffers because of our schedules at home and work. Frank talked about how much better he can do on the wod's when he's gotten a good night's sleep, and how crazy it is that we can perform at a fairly high level based on the relative exhaustion that we have because of work and home. I got to admit, I didn't get nearly all of the wod's done this week, and I'm actually ok with it. Probably because it was based on being busy, and not just laziness on my part. One day at work, I did do a triple. I swam in the am, got my run intervals in in the afternoon, and then lifted in the evening. I was planning on doing the run and lifting together, but we got a call and then another, and then there was dinner, and so it went almost 4 hours before I could get back into the weight room. I have made my decision on what I will be using for the event, so long as the testing doesn't bring about any bad results. But I will keep my choice until hopefully next week when I get my trial shipment in. I also ordered a new seat for my bike. Todd wants his seat back, so I had to get one for myself. After being on the ISM Adamo seat, I don't think that I could go back to my old seat. I can get off the Adamo and not be sore down below for a day and a half, which is always nice. Hopefully, the seat will be here either tomorrow or Tuesday, and I've been holding my breath ever since.


On Friday, I got to do another radio interview for a local Rock station here in Boise. It's 100.3 the X, and the morning radio show is AWESOME!!! This is the second time that they've let me into the studio to talk about a fundraiser that I'm a part of (last year it was the race to Robie Creek w/ a weight vest). I was running super late to the studio because of a late call that held me over at work. In the madness of being rushed, I couldn't find the camera to snap a few pics of the studio, so instead I have posted a generic pic of Nic and Big J. Both of the guys are great and are awesome at letting me plug my stuff. They are very nice and totally cool.

This week was also the week to register for the Robie Creek half marathon. To make a long story short, I was unable to get a ticket. Now I have the task of deciding how bad I really want to run this event 9 weeks before the Ironman and chase down a ticket from someone else, or just call it a day and do it next year.

Another 4 day started today, and it seems like the daughter is healthy, so we will try once again to keep her in her bed and not wake through the night. So with that, I must bid adios and get some sleep. She'll be waking soon.

Making Progress

             This last week has been good, and I feel like I've been making progress, even with the sleep factor. A quick note on the sleeping through the night, it was discovered that our daughter has yet another ear infection. This is the second bilateral (both sides) ear infection for her in just over a month. Before that, she had gone probably 6-8 weeks without an ear infection. So needless to say, we have an appointment set up for her with a specialist once this new round of antibiotics is over. The boys are doing good and haven't been sick in a while (knock on wood).

                            Onto the training front. The swimming this week has progressed well I feel. The other day when I was at the pool, I posted my first consecutive 500yd swim. Before that, I had only gone as far as 350. The last time I tried for the 500 mark my lack of sleep really played a factor and the water just sucked the life out of me. But this time, I was determined to get the 500 done. The biggest thing that I needed to remember was to slow down and pace myself. My first 100yds went faster than it should have, and it took a little bit to get into a grove, but I got the 500yd done. After a few minutes of rest, I went after it again. The second 500yd set actually went better than the first. My first 100yd was slower, like it needed to be, but my overall time was faster by something like 5 seconds. Most importantly though, was that I felt better after the second 500yd. I was not nearly as tired or winded. I'm still continuing to work on my form, trying to lengthen the body, get good entry into the water and a good pull from my left side, and time my kicks with the rotation of my body. It's coming along, but after that 2x 500yd I am pleased with the progress I've made so far.

                        Biking is sporadic for me right now. I've had some good training rides, and some not so good training rides. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with using different trainers either. Between my magnetic Cycleops at home, the Kurt Kinetic fluid trainer at the station, and then the occasional Kurt Kinetic Rock and Roll trainer that my friend's at work have, I've been on a ton of different trainers. I'd like to say that the bad days are just because of fatigue, but I haven't completely come to that conclusion when there are too many other variables. So for now, I'm just continuing to grind the gears knowing that every little bit will eventually help. Today was a great day on the bike for me. I finally got an uninterrupted 40 miles done. Not only that, but how the ride went was also exciting for me. The first 20miles went a little slower and harder for me than I was hoping for; but the second 20 was a completely different ball game. The second 20 went by very quickly and felt easier than the first 20. Not only did it feel easier, but I was also faster too! I've never been able to sustain a 20+mph on the bike for that distance, but today I was. I'd like to say that it was all me, but I doubt it. I think that the biggest thing was that I was being very conscious of my fluid and nutrition intake. I read about another triathlete who only keeps water in the front aero hydration system, and then the liquid nutrition in the water bottle on the down tube. Well, I haven't gotten my liquid nutrition picked out yet, so today I had just water in the TorHans, and Poweraide (electrolytes and extra sugar) in the water bottle on the down tube. Then I used 3 gel packs from both Hammer and Powerbar. Just stuff that I had bought to try. There was also an extra water bottle of just water to refill the TorHans. I didn't have any cramping during the ride, just a little stiffness of my left calf at one point though. Overall, a really good ride. The only problem I had was that I did run out of water with about 5 miles to go. I ended up biting the bullet and jumping off the bike to refill my bottle and then ran bike onto the bike to finish it up. I did have some spillage on the refill of the TorHans, and think that I will cut part of the inside baffle out to prevent it from happening again.
                          With the running, last Sunday I did a 10 mile run on the treadmill. It sucks having to run that distance on the treadmill, but it still helps me to feel how to pace myself. I was at work, and was glad that the run went off without a call interrupting me. I managed an 8mph for the 10 miles, putting me at a 7:30 pace. It was a nice, solid training pace for that distance. No problems with cramping or side aches or anything like that. It was a great run, for being on the treadmill, and really helped boost my confidence about my distance running. I used a combination of a Honey Stinger gel pack and Poweraide for that one.
    I'm feeling good about my progress, and will continue to push the distances and training, remembering to ride that fine line between enough and over training, with recovery being an essential component too.

TorHans Aero 30 review

So I finally got the TorHans Aero 30 in the other day, while I was at work of course, and slapped it on my bike last night. I tried to do it while the boys were distracted with playing, but once the bike made it inside and I started working, they were all over me and the bike. Needless to say, the install to a little longer than it should of because of the kids, but it's all good. Even with their distractions, it took all of 25 min maybe. Half of that time was on the bike trying different positions to see what I might like the best. So here's some pics of before, during and after. Enjoy!

So here's what I bought. The aero tray to hold my computer, the aero30 bottle and then the aero mounting bracket (from left to right)

My bike before.

Top view of the cockpit with the computer.

Working on the bike, taken by the oldest, he's actually pretty good with a camera (thank God for digital film)

In process. I used masking tape as marker points on where the mount would go before placing the sticky pads on the bar. A couple of slight adjustments and we were set.

The finished product (don't mind the messy counter top in the back ground).

Top view of the new set up.

Ready for my trial trainer ride with the new set up. Still a few tweaks in placement to workout, but otherwise this is a super sweet set up and I'm stoked to have it up front.

This last pic I took while at work today. It shows something that is half way typical for the station this time of year, bikes littered everywhere. We only had 2 trainers today, so I had to wait my turn.

All in all, I am very happy with the new hydration system from Torhans. I opted to go with the slightly larger 30oz bottle just because I am paranoid about running out of fluid before I get to an aid station during the event. I did do a shake test and refil test last night, and have to say that there was very little, if any issues on either of those test. Water did come out on the shake test, but I was violently shaking the bottle to the point where I wouldn't be riding if it was that bumpy. The refill test went off without a hitch. I first tried my camelbak bottle that has the jet valve, and can just dump the water through that valve. Refill went off without a hitch. The seond test was with a standard cheap-o water bottle that I got with my bike. There was a little over spill on the first test, but then I could never get it replicated on the 3 or 4 other tries. I'm going to call that good enough for me on the refill factor. Now if only the weather would cooperate, I'll be able to get some road time and see how the system works in the real world, but I'm very doubtfull that I will have any issues.

working through the fatigue

My four days off has come and gone. I was REALLY hoping that we had made some serious progress with the daughter during the 4 day. It was looking like we had when she slept the whole night through on night #4. I didn't want to jinx it and talk about it too soon, but it doesn't really seem to matter at this point. She has yet to replicate that night #4 of sleeping. It didn't help that the next night I wasn't there, and we had 2 other kids sleeping at the house with their mom in labor. Understandably, Shawna didn't want her crying to wake them, so she was with Laney during the night. The following night when I was home, she was back at the crying, only I got up twice with her, and then once with boy #2 because he woke at 430, and told me he wanted to watch cartoons. Needless to say, I didn't let him, nor did I get out to the pool early yesterday am before work to get my swim in. With the sleepless nights, it's definitely taken it's toll on the performance. Case in point, the swim. On day four I went out to the pool. I was feeling ok, not super tired, but not refreshed either. It only took a couple of laps for my fatigue to set in and really remind me of what I had been doing the last 3 nights at home. I then had to quickly adjust the workout for some shorter intervals with more of them to get the same distance out of the day. While on the bike and during the run, I was really working on my pacing this last week. It's a hard thing to do though; not go too balls out on the first couple, so you're last couple of rounds are still almost identical. But pacing is important for when the race day does come around. I think that I will either borrow a friend's Garmin for the big race, or maybe try to find one at an REI garage sale that I can get for cheap and have Garmin fix for me. It will really help during the run so I can gauge my pace at any given moment, instead of when I hit a mile marker.
I'm still in total shock about my friend Gabby and her cancer diagnosis. I can't stop thinking about it, and it just seems like a bad dream. It has made me more determined to get to Seattle though. My training for the stairclimb is not what the rest of the guys are doing. Seattle is not a main event, in racing terms, for me. I'm going to go, have fun and do the climb for Gabby. My biggest goal is to complete the event and not get injured. The triathlon training has to continue as that's the most important race for the season. To get ready for the stair climb, I'm continuing with the Crossfit Endurance, but for the Strength and Conditioning parts, I've added my weight vest. This is the same weight vest that I wore last year for the Robie creek run, only this time it has 20# during the workout instead of the 40# that I had for that half marathon. So far I've done 2 workouts with the vest. One had a 1/4 mi (400m) run, chest to bar pull ups and double unders with the jump rope (2 passes of the rope for one jump). The other was a 1/2mi (800m) run, 30x 115# thrusters (front squat to overhead press as one movement) followed by another 800m run. The vest definitely adds another dimension to the suck factor, especially when I use it right after I did my endurance work like I did yesterday. But this is for Gabby, and I am going to finish the event and not let a little discomfort stop me from completing a workout or getting to the top.
I am continuing to research the nutrition for the event, and have finally gotten all the nutritional info that I think I need. Now, it's just a matter of finding an hour or two, comparing it all and making a choice. Then there will be the fun of the trial and error to see how well I feel it works. On a related noted though, I did buy the TorHans aero hydration kit, and Shawna told me yesterday that FedEx dropped it off. So I can't wait to get home and mount that thing! Pics and reviews to come shortly, but I'm anticipating a really good outcome. I will probably have to mount it when I'm at work tomorrow, but we'll see how today shapes up. I got up around 2 this am for a call and there was snow on the ground! I know it's winter here, but this has been an extremely mild winter for us, and only the second time that we've had snow like this in the valley. I was hoping to maybe get outside on the bike today, but that's not going to happen. Hopefully, the snow will melt away and clear out by Friday so I can take the bike, with the TorHans, out for a road spin.

CANCER SUCKS!!!!!

Hey there, so I didn't think that this next blog was going to be about cancer, but wow, things can change quickly. Up until 2 days ago, I was seriously considering backing out of the Seattle Firefighter Stairclimb Challenge. No real reason for backing out, it's just that it was going to be a lot to leave the kids, were trying to save some money for a trip to California to visit family, etc, etc, etc. All it was, was just excuses. Then I got some news that changed everything. A close family friend has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The Seattle stairclimb is to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) to find a cure. How can I back out now??? So, it is for Gabby that I will be doing the stairclimb. It's late and I need to get some sleep, but this has been on my mind for the last couple of days and I wanted to just get it down. If anyone is interested in donating to the cause of raising money to help Gabby and others like here just click HERE to be directed to my donation page for the LLS. Thanks!

4 Days off, lots to do

So I thought that I'd start this blog off with a music video. If this works like I hope it will, then every so often I will post a music video of something that I have been listening to that helps keep me going, or something that I'm just really loving at the moment. So here's the first installment. It's from a band called Volbeat with the song A Warrior's Call. Enjoy

                 Pretty rad huh? Yeah, I think so to. Today saw me do something that I will probably have to do more of when I'm at home, and that is doing my endurance workout and my S&C back to back instead of a couple of hours apart. While I'm at home, it's hard to get out to the garage, or outside in general to get my workout in. So right now, I figure that I'm all dressed up and ready to go, might as well just hit both and get them over with. I think I will start with the endurance portion and then move onto the S&C, but it will ultimately depend on what the 2 workouts are.

                My 4 days off started today, and I think that this 4 day is going to be a long one. We will be attempting to get the daughter to sleep through the night. Which means, there will be a lot of lost sleep while going into her room and getting her to lay back down and used to not having mommy come in to help her get back to sleep. This is critical for us because our trip to Seattle for the Fire Fighter stair climb is next month, and Shawna and I do not want to have to take her with us. We'd like a nice weekend without the kids, but feel terrible about leaving her to wake in the night when grandma is watching  her. So it's make or break time. We've done this with the boys too when we felt that it was time for them to get through the night. The first 2 nights are horrible, for everyone, but night 3 is usually way better, and by night 4 we have a solid sleeper. That's the goal again for us. I'm thinking that the rest of the training this week is going to suffer because of the sleep programming (I guess you can call it that?) but we'll see how it goes. 5hour energy might be a great friend the next few days.

              On the triathlon front, I started talking to a swim coach that I see a lot over at the Rec Center. Usually he's coaching kids and swim teams and doing his thing. The other morning I said Morning Coach as I was waiting for my next round to start. He said good morning and went about his business waiting for his student to arrive. Later he asked what I was training for so we talked for a min or two and that was it. Hopefully I will be able to hit him up for some pointers down the line on technique. I am continuing to try and breath from my left as it helps my left arm entrance and pull phase of my stroke. Today on the run, I was really working hard at keeping a consistent pace. I did 8 rounds of 200m sprints with a rest in between. CFE wants you to use this as a speed drill, but also as a time to learn how to pace yourself; so they want you to keep your times within 3-5 sec usually. Which is actually more difficult than it sounds. Trying to keep a fast sprint within 3-5 for 8 rounds. It's a tightrope walk of running fast enough to stress yourself, but not soo fast as to not be able to replicate what you just did over and over. They don't want to see you crush yourself on the first 2 or 3, and then have crap times for the 5-6 other rounds. But this time, I was able to keep my times within  2-2.5 seconds, with the slowest rounds being the first 2.

         I've been starting the research on the nutrition front, and it's mind boggling at times. So far, I have the nutritional info and prices for both the Pacific Health labs (Accelerade) and Gu products. I also got a call back from the people at CarboPro who have graciously given me the opportunity to get dealer pricing on their products for myself and all the guys at work. So far, I gotta say that I'm leaning more toward the Gu product line right now. CarboPro's downside is the fact that they don't do any gels for the run portion. Accelerade has the 4:1 carb:protein ratio that I've read in multiple places and being very beneficial for endurance performance, especially over just the drinks that have carbs. But, as I was talking with my buddy Todd who uses Accelerade, he told me that it gets really foamy, and doesn't mix well. Which is not going to work for me as I have no patience for that crap. Then we talked about possibly using CarboPro with a non-flavored whey protein powder and essentially making our own Accelerade and hoping that it doesn't have the foam or mixing issues. I am also needing to research the reasoning for the benefits of the protein. If it's the amino acids in the protein that is the reason behind the increase in endurance, then the Gu Roctane drink might be the ticket. It's got amino acids in the mix, and in the gels as well. I like the Gu products because of the amino acids, the use of both fructose and maltodextrine (short and long chain carbs)Gu's recovery drink is a little short on the protein side, but CarboPro has an interesting protein shake that I might try, and the Pacific Health Labs has a recovery drink that they call EnduroxR4 that I might have to check out as well.
So much research to continue on, and eventually, I will pick something and just go for it. Details to follow, but for now good night. The little one will be waking soon I'm sure.

Time To Get After It

          This pic was posted on the local tri shop's (Tri Town) facebook page the other day and I had to steal it and share it with all of you. It's time to get after it, June 9th is coming faster and faster each day. 18 weeks to go. Wow, I just looked at the calendar to count, and it seems like it'll be here tomorrow. With the last week of difficulties with my workouts, I don't feel ready for the big event. 18 weeks seems like nothing. But, like the calendar and the title says, it's time to get after it. After the last week, I need to get back on track. Get back to bed early, get all my workouts in and when I am working out, to get after it! I also need to figure out the nutrition aspect of what I'm going to do during the event. That's one of the things that has dominated my thinking this last week; race day hydration and nutrition. Both are key to finishing the event.
           During this process of training and researching, I've come across some great people and great companies that are willing to help out when I contact them and see what they can offer. I've contacted a bunch of companies for, not just myself, but all the guys here at NFD. There are multiple people who do multisport within the department, so any deal that I can swing, I'm always including all of them. I want to give a quick shout out to those who have been gracious enough to give us some great deals on their products.
-  Kurt Kinetic and Cyclops both have given us great deals on trainers
-  TorHans has extended a nice deal on their aerohydration systems (ordering a system when the tax money comes in, review to follow)
-  XLab has offered us a deal on their entire product line
-  Zoot has given us the opportunity to get gear from them
-  Inviscid Design has also extended a nice deal on their hydration systems
-  ISM/Adamo saddles has extended a discounts on their saddles
-  Tri Town, our local tri shop that helped me get squared away on my bike has extended a local discount for us for anything in the shop, except bikes of course.
We do also have access to a website called Promotive.com that is a network of companies that offer deals to people in certain industries, with the fire department being one of them. Some of the companies that we can order from include: Honey Stinger, GU, Craft, CW-X, CEP, the Rudy Project, Pacific Health Labs (makers of accelerade) and Brooks. There are others on the site, but those are the one's whose names jump into my mind right now.
            Back to what I was starting to say, and that is the nutrition and hydration thing. Like I just told you, I've pretty much have decided that I will be getting the TorHans aero hydration system. I will get a review of the product once it comes in, and then again once it's warm enough to be out on the road and I've had a chance to use it in the real world. I am excited about it though, as it's gotten great reviews and has been given the "Best in Class" with a 5 star rating from Trisports.com.   My buddy Todd, who is waiting for his Quintana Roo to be delivered and built is going with the Inviscid Design speedfil A2, so we will have some side by side comparisons and reviews for you in the coming month.
         The TorHans will take care of the hydration needs, but what about the nutrition? What should I fill the TorHans with, or even my spare bottle that will ride down low? Water? Poweraide? Accelerade? GU Roctaine, or Carbopro? Those are the questions that have yet to be answered. I can't even really say what I will choose right now. I know only a little about some of those products. Accelerade and Carbopro have been around for a while. Accelerade has a 4:1 carb:protein ratio that no one else has (that I know of). Carbopro is a pure carb replacement drink, but the carbs are complex carbs causing a slower release rate and won't spike your insulin levels. This gives you a constant energy instead of a burst followed by a crash. The Carbopro has no flavor, and can be mixed with other sports drinks including Accelerade; which could be an interesting combination. Then there is the new comer, the GU Roctane, which has the carbs, but then it also It also contains "caffeine, taurine, and beta-alanine to help increase performance, by decreasing perceived effort, helping to prevent heart and muscle fatigue, and increasing muscle buffering capacity" per their website info. Those are the 3 that I will be looking at and thinking about in the near future. It will also probably just come down to trial and error. Luckily, I get a good deal on the Accelerade and GU products, and then a little break from the Carbopro when I buy it at Tri Town. Those are going to be the 3 drinks of choice for the cycling portion. For the run though, I'm thinking that a couple of gel packs will be sufficient. That and the water from the aid stations as I pass by too.
          For the gel packs, there are other choices to look at. The Honey Stinger, which is recommended by CFE, then Gu also makes the Roctane in a gel form, Pacific Health (makers of Accelerade) also make a couple of different gels as well. With so much info out there, I sometimes wish that someone would just tell me what to take and ease my mind. But with this stuff, which is important if you want to finish and finish well, it seems that you have to figure it out for yourself. What works for some, might not work at all for me. I think that I might try to go with one manufacturer and use them for the entire race. The theory behind this is that company's tend to make their products to work together, so I should probably try to take advantage of that and not mix and match so to speak.  So the trial and error starts in the next week or so. After all, I have only 18 more weeks.

           Yesterday I went to the rec center after work to get my long swim in. I knew that the swim was going to be posted for Sunday's workout, but I am working Sunday. So I thought that I'd get the swim workout done on Sat and then Sat's workout on Sunday. Yeah that didn't work out to well for me. The rec center was having an indoor triathlon yesterday and the pool was essentially closed. So no workout for me. I seriously contemplated taking 2 hours off from work to do the swim today, but decided that I would just be a day behind the CFE site and get my swimming done tomorrow morning. Today, I did a 20k/5k bike/run. My quads are still sore while on the bike, and I'm thinking it's from the horrible bike last Sunday. There may just be something about a fluid trainer Vs the magnetic one though too. The bike was hard, harder than it should of been, and again I struggled to keep my cadence in the high 80's. But at least this time my speed was faster. It might be a little mental too after last week's episode on the bike. I also didn't get a chance to stretch much before hand. I needed to get on the trainer and be done. I was trying out Kelly's new Kurt Kinetic Rock and Roll fluid trainer and he was going to be swinging back by the station to pick it up. With the workout done, it's time to shower and watch the super bowl. I'm predicting the Patriots will win, so lets see if I'm right.

Epic Failure

           Ok, so this last week didn't go over too well for me. It all started on Sunday while I was at work trying to get a 40mi bike ride in. For those who don't know what Sunday's are like at the fire station, they are awesome. There is almost never any training or other commitments scheduled. You show up, have a nice big breakfast, and then get to go do whatever you want. You want to nap? Go for it. Bring a project in from home and want to work on it? It's all you. I think you're getting the idea. So long as you make it out to the apparatus when the bell goes off, your good. So I had my Sunday planned out with a 40mi ride on the trainer (30 was by breaking point on if we got any calls). Not the funnest thing in the world, but I needed to get some extended saddle time and I wanted to try some new nutritional gel stuff. So after breakfast, I got everything set up and ready to go. Bike on the trainer? Check. Lots of fluids? Check; 2 Poweraide and one water bottle. Energy gels? Check, 5 of them. Not that I was going to use all 5, but they were different flavors and I could decide so I brought them all next to the bike.

            Then we get a structure fire! Which was awesome, for us. Luckily for the family, there wasn't a lot that burned and almost everything was saved. But it was the first wrench in the gears. We were on scene for close to 2 hours. Waiting for the investigator and then helping him out. Got back to the station, and now I'm hungry, so I eat. I try to eat enough to not be hungry, but not so much that I'll be miserable and slow on the bike.  With the food down, I proceed to stretch and get ready for the bike. I brought in the movie the Matrix and was going to use that to numb my brain while I was on the trainer. This would prevent me from having to fiddle with a remote, but was also long enough that it wouldn't end before the 40 miles were up.
About 20min into the ride, a medical call. Get off the bike, throw on my pants over my tri shorts and grab my boots. We return to the station and I try again. About another 20min go by, and another medical call! I'm not even 13.5 miles into this thing, and already a second interruption. Jeez people, don't you know I'm trying to train for a triathlon here? STOP CALLING 911! So off the bike and back on the engine, dripping with sweat. After the second call, I had a dilemma. It was my turn to cook dinner. I could either attempt to get back on my bike, hope for no more calls and have dinner ready around 630 (which is late for a Sunday dinner at the station) or finish up the ride after dinner. I decided that I better get the dinner going; and it was a good thing that I did. Dinner was almost ready when we got yet another medical call.

              After dinner, I caught up on my reports, I was down 3 of them by now, and let the food settle. I thought that I'd get back on the bike, and just pick up from where I left off. I attempted to do that too. But somehow, and I'm still not sure exactly how this happened, my rear brake caliper got shifted from the last time I was on the bike. Meaning that I was rubbing my rear wheel on the brake pad the entire time I was on the bike. When I was on the bike earlier in the day, my quads were sore and I attributed that to my hard run intervals from the day before. But the second time on the bike that night, there was a different beast with me. This beast was nothing but pain, suffering and just mentally horrible. I couldn't get into a good rhythm, I couldn't get into a good pace, mentally I was wondering what was going on w/ me, and why weren't my legs working? The pedals seemed to be bricks under my feet, and the harder I tried to pedal, the harder they pushed back. My computer was reading 15mph, and my cadence was struggling to stay at 80rpm. I shifted through various gears trying to find something, anything, that would make the misery easier. Big ring up front, large cog on the cassette, small ring up front, multiple cog settings in the back. Nothing seemed to help, and I was mentally defeated. How was the bike kicking my ass this bad? There was no explanation for it. I mean I knew I was tired, but really? 15mph and 80rpm is all I can manage to push out right now?

              After an hour of absolute misery, I called it. 15miles and I was spent. I got off my bike frustrated, angry and disappointed. This was not how I envisioned my Sunday training ride going. I grabbed some more water, took off my cycling shoes and proceeded to take the bike from the trainer. I got my bike off the trainer and went to roll it into the other room, when I discovered why I got beaten. When the bike didn't want to roll into the other room, or even anywhere for that matter, I discovered the brake caliper. Picking up my rear wheel and attempting to spin it by hand brought the wheel around maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of the way around before it abruptly stopped. So that's why I couldn't pedal for anything. Seeing the wheel get stopped by the now discovered brake pad made me a little relieved. At least there was a reason for my performance other than just me. Now I can, at least, blame it on the bike. I still am unsure how my brake got shifted in between rides, but that second ride of the day was just the start to a long week of poor workouts.

               I shouldn't really say that I had a week of poor workouts. I should be thankful that during the week I was still able to get all 3 aspects of the triathlon practiced. I got a good swim in, a good run interval, and even got another bike interval that was problem free. The poor workout part came in the fact that I got NO strength and conditioning done.  Zero, zip, zilch, nada. I know that this is to be expected, at times, when I'm home for my 4 days off, but I usually am able to get at least 1-2 days of S&C in when I'm home. But not this 4 day. This 4 day was packed with lots of socializing actually. We had people over, or went somewhere 3 out of 4 nights. Which is great, I love spending time with my family and friends. It just gets me frustrated at times, when all I can think about are the missed workouts. I can't turn that part of brain off as much as I'd like to. This 4 day was also full of long nights with the kids, so waking up early wasn't always on the top of my priority list either.

            So the S&C this week was an epic failure. I got back to work today, and made sure that if I didn't do anything else, I was going to lift some heavy weights. After another long night, I opted to skip the planned early morning swim, and sleep another 45min. knowing that my tiredness would completely hinder and ruin any attempt at a decent swim workout. Instead, I went to work, got things rolling and the juices flowing. Took a 5 hour energy, and got my S&C workout done first, and then a really good tempo run workout in. Now it's time to say good night, hope for something quite so I can swim in the morning on my way home from work.

Cheers to you, 5 hour energy knock off. Today, when I needed you most, you were there.