Too many options

I am easily talked out of training without a plan in front of me.

Saturday I was supposed to wake up at 5:30 AM do a 10 mile run with my (very informal) running club.  Instead, I woke up at 5:20 AM, drove up to Idaho Springs to SAG (aka be a support vehicle) for my tri club's annual Mt Evans bike ride.  I figured there was NO WAY I could ride my bike up that thing (28 miles, all uphill with a 6-8 % grade, ending elevation of 14,130 ft) but I could assist those who could and make friends along the way.  We had 14 riders.  Everyone made it to Summit Lake, 11 made it to the top.

There was a half marathon (Georgetown to Idaho Springs) that morning, so we "had" to park at the Cemetery. 

Echo Lake

QUALITY pavement up above Summit Lake

The group.  Fastest rider made it up in 3 hrs 15 min.  Descent took 1 hr.

After the ride, we had lunch at Tommyknocker Brewery in Idaho Springs.  For my SAG duties, one rider bought me a beer.  I got the Rye Porter.  OMG TASTY!  For lunch, even though I did in no way earn this, I got the waffles n chicken sammich.  With another rye porter.

with maple bourbon glaze.  I ate this at 3 PM and did not eat dinner.  Too stuffed!

Sunday I NEEDED to ride my bike.  In my last post, I made it pretty clear that my time on the bike has been non-existant.  And I have an Olympic distance tri next Saturday.  So, I organized an unoffical club ride on the Rattlesnake bike course.  25 miles of HILLS.  With no trees or shade.  Going out, I was actually holding 12 mph going uphill and my HR was only 163.  I thought to myself, wow, maybe I did hold onto some of my IM bike fitness afterall.

We turned around and WHAM, headwind.  Yeah, fitness?  What's that?

Actually, the ride wasn't so bad.  The last 2 miles of steady climbing will suck.  Running a 10k after a hilly ride in virtually no shade will really suck.

Sporting my new TEAM SONY race kit after my ride on Sunday.  I'm a sponsored athlete, yo!

Then there's my whole half marathon.... I won't be doing a long run next weekend.  I haven't done anything over 8 miles since IMTX.  I won't be able to run next weekend because I have the Oly race Saturday and I'm volunteering for the sprint on Sunday.  The following weekend is a bust, as I'm hiking up Mt Elbert (a 14,000+ peak) with my tri club (organizer's notes: 9 miles round trip with 4700ft of elevation gain...your legs and lungs will be tested, but this is very doable climb.  We shall see).  My last "distance" run (8 miles) was July 16th.  And my half marathon is Oct 9th.  Sooo, this give me 5 weekends of running opportunity before my race. And that's if I don't do any more tri's.  There's 2 more I'd like to do before season closes in October.  I may just have to do long runs and then the sprint tris may (or may not) suffer.  And then there's beer fest at the end of Sept.  TOO MANY FUN THINGS ARE GOING ON.  Ugh.

I NEED to get in 2x 6 mile runs during the week and I NEED to start working on my Saturday long runs.  And then really buckle down in September if I don't want to die on Oct 9.