Taper Blahs

I don't know what it is, but I am so. over. swimbikerun.  I really don't remember feeling this way for my other two Ironman races.  IMTX was my first and I was nervous/excited.  IMCDA was my second and I was excited and ready to have a great day.  This year, I'm just a big old shell of blah.

I think that the main reasons for this are:

• I'm not scared of this race.  Its not the hardest thing I've ever done.  Apparently I need scary to get excited.
• Its hot.  I got snowed on while training for IMTX.  And IMCDA was in late June, so it wasn't really that hot.  I really do not like the heat.  It just sucks the life out of me.  And IM Boulder will be hot.  So to prepare, I've been purposely training in the heat.  And to make things even more "fun" I've been cruising around town with my windows rolled up and my AC off, for even more "heat".  I have been purposely roasting myself for 2 months, all for race prep.  Yuck.
• Its hot.  That warrants a second mention.  I just do not get excited to be out in the heat. 

Its 6 days before IM Boulder.  I haven't even begun to go through my gear.  Its almost like if I start laying it out, I'm admitting that the race is here.  I'm not sure I want to the race to be here, but I'm pretty sure I want the training to be over.

See, blah!

I have had little twinges of excitement here and there.  Every once in a while, usually while riding my bike, I get a flashback of CDA and the residual excitement from that incredible day.  Today the butterflies have started up a tiny bit.

I've put in the training and I'm ready.  Now my job is just to rest up, pack up my gear, and crush it.  Hopefully.

What a week!

I really don't know what the heck was going on this past week, but I sure hope I got all of this weirdness/injury/bad mojo out of my system.


Friday (over a week ago), I tripped during a trail run and did this:

Wednesday, I was at swim practice EXTRA early (5 AM) to get in 4,000 m and at 5:45 I was literally fumigated by an acid mist and had to get out.  Lifetime, in all of their brilliance, decided to let unsupervised pool contractors clean the indoor pool with high pressure muriatic acid and vent the mist outside to the outdoor pool.  I came up in the middle of a 200 set literally coughing and gagging from the acid.  I was dumb stubborn and stayed in for a good 30 min while this was going on because I was GOING to get in that 4,000 m.  Instead I got acid burned lungs (which is fun with asthma!) and a whole lot of non-accountability by the Lifetime GM.


Then the following Friday (3 days ago) I was 2 miles away from home, spinning out the end of my 4 hour ride on the trail.  I came around the corner under a bridge and was surprised to see a woman with her dog WAY out on its leash.  I turned too sharp, slid on some sand, and laid my bike down.  I crashed 2 weeks before my Ironman.  Holy crap.  I remember realizing I was down, unclipping my top foot, unclipping my bottom foot, standing up, taking inventory, telling myself to walk, walking, and then checking on my bike.  All while the woman was frantically apologizing.  I scared the crap out of her (and me).  Somehow, I must have 9 lives and I was pretty unscathed.  My shorts are in one piece.  My hip is a bit bruised but ok.  My right hand (I fell on my right side and must have put my hand out) was bruised and I thought I may have broken a finger, but the xray said I was fine.  And my bike only has minor scratches to the rear bottle cage and rear derailleur.  LUCKY.

about 4 days later

I've been instructed by my coach to wrap myself in bubble wrap for the next 12 days....

Race Report - Chase the Moon Ultra Trail Relay

aka - begging my coach "I won the entry and want to do it.  I'll just do the first 10 mile loop before the sun goes down.  I'll be careful, promise!"

aaka - I am damn lucky I didn't really hurt myself.  Dumb idea so close to IMBoulder.

aaaka - sooo beautiful and fun.  I wanna do it again!

So, some backstory....  I randomly go to Thurs night run club at my local running store.  This particular Thursday (1.5 weeks ago), they were doing a Hoka demo and there was some promo about this overnight trail race.  Will had been talking about buying some Hokas so I made him go to the run so he could try them out for free.  Long story short, Will ended up winning a raffle for a free entry to the Chase the Moon 12 hour overnight ultra trail relay.  We knew it was an expensive race ($345) so we (me and my friend Ryan) made him accept it and we signed up for the 5 person relay.  I somehow managed to assemble a team in a day through my triathlon club (we're all crazy).  And after a quick conversation with my coach (I was also supposed to race Boulder Peak that weekend) I was good to go.  The deal was that I'd run the first 10 mile loop (mostly before it got dark) then go home and sleep in my own bed.  Kinda sucky for my teammates but also kinda awesome for me.

The Premise:
Do as many 10 mile loops as you can.  The race went from 7 PM to 7 AM - yes, overnight.  The race was in the Highlands Ranch Backcountry, which is a suburb (with a huge amount of open space) south of Denver.

Pre-Race
This one was a bit weird, with the 7 PM start.  I had NO IDEA what/when to eat for lunch/dinner since I'd be running 10 miles that night.  I probably under-ate but eh.  I got there around 6 PM and set my tent up as Team Altitude Multisport HQ in the field right next to the start line.

3/5ths of our team.  Note the dark skies - it DUMPED right before the race.

We immediately sensed a much different vibe to this pre-race scene.  No nerves, no egos, no checking people out.  Just people hanging out getting ready to run.  Very different from triathlon.  You could also sense an undercurrent of quiet, un-assuming crazy.  Ultra runners are a very special kind of crazy.  They make triathletes look sane.

race start

10.3 miles, ~770 ft climbing

notes from teammate Jeff, who lived a mile away:

The first .5 mile is the hardest uphill towards Highlands Point

The Metro trail is down and up – watch your feet

The next section Rocky Gulch has its name for a reason.  Relatively flat on top of the point but watch the loose rocks.

The final climb to Highlands Point is a steep short run, then the EastWest Trail is fast.  No speed bumps on the path.

After looping back (after station) to go down Buck Snort, Buck Snort is a steep downhill and rocky.

The right on Longhorn Ledge is a sharp turn and the track along the top is fast and relatively clear.  There are speed bumps.  When you start downhill, there are some s curves to be aware of.

A sharp left on Brandon Cutoff is next and then more downhill.  I twisted my knee once trying to take the turn to fast…

A gentle merge onto Tenderfoot is more down and up with speed bumps to the outlaw station.

Outlaw trail is more of the same, many S curves, gentle up and downs.

At the gate, the turn to the right takes you up the east west trail all the way back to the school.  More speed bumps.

Race:
This was my first true trail race.  I did a trail 12k but it was more on dirt roads where you had room.  This race was mostly on single track.  So that meant if you needed to walk, you were walking in the grass/trees/bushes/rocks.  And that made passing people a bit tricky too.

The first 3/4 mile was a pretty steady uphill.  I turned my garmin HR alarm off and just really enjoyed running up the hill.  The cool thing about ultra runners is that this was their first loop of many, so no one was really out running aggressively.  People were pretty chill.  I really enjoyed being in a pack on the singletrack and just letting the people ahead of me pull me up the hill with them.

Once you got up the front side of the hill, we had rollers and then were at the top of the hill for a nice little plateau.  Nothing was too steep or too long.  Just very enjoyable.

still in the pack running up the hill!

We got to the top, hit an aid station, turned around and started running on the west/south side of the hill.  The view was SPECTACULAR.  I really wish I had my phone on me.  The sky was cloudy from the earlier rain but the sun was peaking through, setting, and reflecting off of Chatfield Reservoir with the mountains in the distance, all misty blue.  It was stunning.  I had really had to focus on keeping my footing and not looking around too much.  The footing was really tricky - lots of rocks and roots.

some people brought their phones...

yet another "Colorado is just so ugly" photos

Then the run became super fun.  Not only was it BEAUTIFUL, but the terrain was really fun.  Lots of rollers, lots of hairpin turns, nothing too steep or too hard.  Just super fun.  And a net downhill.

still working on my jumps...

So. much. fun.  I actually want to go back here and do some regular runs.  I did do some walking over here, mainly because my HR was blowing up (>170).  Considering I'm still in IM training mode, I tried to keep my HR more around 160-165.

Then around ~mile 8 (in single track with deep scrub oak brush) I heard some voices behind me and figured they needed to pass me.  I pulled off to the side of the trail to let them pass.  Saw one guy.  Cool.  Oh, there's a 2nd guy.  Ok.  I went to step out to run again and there was a 3rd guy passing me.  No words were uttered by ANY of these guys the entire time.  The 3rd guy caught me off guard and distracted me to the point where I didn't look at my footing as I started running and I went down.  I remember going down hands first, somersaulting, and popping up with a scraped knee and a whole bunch of cursing.  THEN the guys asked if I was ok.  I'm pretty sure I growled some impolite things back at them.  The really sucky thing was that the adrenaline hit my lungs and they immediately seized up. Where was my inhaler?  In my truck.  2 MILES AWAY.  Crapola.

I did a quick inventory of myself.  Lots of dirt.  Knee was now bleeding.  But things felt ok.  I ended up run/walking the rest of the 2 miles back, doing as best I could with dysfunctional lungs.  Apparently I'm a bleeder because I had streaks nearly to my ankle - and spatter!

my friend captioned this "Trail meets trail"

somersault evidence 

I had a goal of coming in around 1:45, which was probably on the aggressive/unrealistic side.  but with the fall, I came in around 2:01 (chip time, which included saying hi to a friend at an aid station for a minute and the fall).

I had a really great time.  I didn't really like falling, but I did secretly enjoy being properly initiated into trail running with a bloody knee.

getting cleaned up

Although, it was pretty lame that I was the first runner who was bleeding (out of the entire race) AND I was the only member of my team who bled, even though everyone else ran in the dark (and one person had a dead headlamp and had to run by moonlight).

Our team did 6 loops, so 60 miles.  Everyone got one loop in and we had an overachiever who did 2 loops. The winning relay did 9 loops for ~93 miles.  In the dark.  That's bananas.

this tiny little scratch sure bled a lot...

I'm damn lucky I didn't hurt myself worse.  I woke up the next morning not sore and had no issues running another 5+ miles.  I guess having to run 2 miles after falling to the finish was a good thing - it didn't let things stiffen up.

I am banned from all dirt surfaces until Aug 4th though.  Coaches orders.

Recipe: cole slaw

I've been looking for some cheap and easy side dishes for the summer.  Cole slaw is great because its cheap and one cabbage makes a TON of food.  Added bonus: you don't actually have to heat anything.

This is a paleo-version of cole slaw.  I make my own mayo and add herbs to it to make it a bit more zippy.

Equipment
Mandoline (I love this one - and its CHEAP!).  If you don't have one, use a knife
blender or food processor for the dressing
big bowl

Ingredients
SLAW:
1/2 a cabbage
1 red pepper
red onion (as much as you like)
cilantro (optional, but I loves me some cilantro)
salt

DRESSING:
mayo
herbs of your choice - I do a mexican/zippy dressing, so I use cilantro, garlic, and green onion
1 lime - grated zest and juice
Alternate: you could just buy some salad dressing of your choosing or buy mayo and doctor it at home

Directions
Make this mayo (I promise its not hard and you'll be amazed at how easy mayo is to make yourself)
Once the mayo is emulsified, add herbs of your choosing (I did garlic, cilantro, green onion, lime zest and lime juice, and some salt) to the food processor and blend until the green stuff has turned into specs.
Set aside

Slice your cabbage and red pepper fairly fine (1/4-inch thick?)
Slice your red onion even thinner (or thicker if you prefer big chunks of onion - I do not and like paper thin slices)
Chop cilantro

Place everything into a bowl and mix.  I find that, while messy, your hands do the most effective job.

This usually makes enough for 2 people (as a side dish) for ~3 nights.

Chill and enjoy!

I survived peak weekend

It wasn't exactly fun or pretty, but I got it done and that's what counts.  I always need to remind myself that the training needs to be very hard so race day, by comparison, is "easy".  Soul crushing is kinda required for training.  And yet, I keep signing up for these things...  Last week was my biggest volume ever, at 21:15.  Fri-Sat-Sun was huge, with nearly 16 hours of exercising.  (and yes, I know that's ridiculous)

so here's a rundown on the weekend:

Friday

4,000 m pool swim.  I was nice to myself and "slept in" to 5:30 AM and was in the pool by 6:10.

3.5 hr bike ride.  Coach said hilly, I asked if my neighborhood was good enough and she said Deer Creek. Against my better judgement, I loaded up my crap and drove to DC to ride.  I did a warmup loop around Chatfield and felt pretty good.  I started up DC and immediately felt blah.  My heart rate was soaring (165+) and I wasn't anywhere close to the hard stuff.  Finally after stopping twice, I pulled the plug 30 min into the climb (usually 1:40) and drove back home to finish my ride.  2 hours of riding around my neighborhood (with a few big hills) and I was feeling fine.  No idea.  It was hot and I wasn't in a happy headspace.  I was also cranky because if I would have just ridden from home, I would have been done with my workouts ~2 hours earlier in the day.  But I had to give DC a try.  I pulled the plug because my HR was just too high and I didn't want to put myself in a hole on day 1 of a really hard 3 day training weekend.

This day was capped off my a 45 min run.  Fortunately it had started to sprinkle and the temps went down.  My run was actually ok and I saw a tiny baby deer.  Very cool.

Will was really awesome and went to the store for dinner supplies while I was out training.  He made dinner (grilled elk/beef burgers, sweet potatoes, zucchini) and never once said anything about how I killed his 4th of July.  He is amazing and I will keep him.  I started getting ready for bed around 9:30 and was greeted with the local firework show outside my bedroom window.  So I got to see some fireworks, all while sitting on the arm of a couch.  Not too shabby.

Saturday

1:15 swim at the Gravel Pond.  I got up at 6:30 (pretty late for a weekend anymore... sigh), made sure I was out there at 7:15 to wrestle into my wetsuit and be one of the first swimmers in the water at 7:30.  I started out at a good pace but got tired 45 min in.  And I kept getting lost.  I know, its a POND.  But sighting is really hard,  They have a few buoys to the halfway point and then you're on your own.  I try to use rock formations up on the foothills as a reference point, but that only works until the trees block them out of sight.  And using trees is challenging, since most trees look the same when you're glancing at them through foggy goggles for a half a second every 10 strokes or so.  Still, I got it done and the pace was ok.  Practice OWS are always slower than race day anyways, mainly because of the poor sighting conditions and because I have to swim by myself.

Immediately after the swim I had a 2:30 run.  I originally wanted to run early to avoid the heat, but I was specifically told to run after to run in the heat.  Great.  Also: blech.  A few days prior, out of the blue a friend sent me a text offering to run with me.  I immediately took her up on that offer and I am so thankful to her.  I tired brain couldn't properly calculate the time I was supposed to arrive at the Waterton parking lot to meet her (I told her 9 AM when it should have been 9:30).  She's so nice that this wasn't a problem, she just did an out and back and found me in the canyon.  And no surprise, it was hot.  I think I did about as much running as I did walking.  I didn't let my HR get above 155-160 and took a ton of walking breaks to get it down to 140-145.  I kept apologizing the whole time because this wasn't really running, and Amy was just so nice and was happy to get out of the house and have some adult time (she's got a 1.5 yr old).  I was just thankful because she talked my ear off and distracted me from my cranky thoughts.  If I was by myself, I know I would have been beating myself the whole time about all the walking and thinking about how Boulder was going to be a shit show with the heat.  Instead, we had a nice conversation and ran across 3 groups of bighorn sheep:

On the negative side, I ran farther last weekend in ~20 min less time (I also started 3 hours earlier and it was probably 20 deg cooler).  On the plus side, my hydration was just right and my legs felt good.  It took me 2:38 to go 11.7 miles, which is SLOW.  But in all honestly, if I could hold that pace in Boulder in 85 degree temps, I would be ecstatic.  That would be a 6 hr marathon, which isn't super fast, but I would take it in hot conditions.

I got home, got cleaned up, and Will took me for pie milkshakes.  Yes.  There's a place by our house that will take a slice of pie (you pick the kind of pie) and blend it with vanilla ice cream to make a milkshake.  I'd been wanting to go there for a year but couldn't justify the calorie-bomb.  This was my weekend.  It was delicious.

cherry for me, pecan for Will.  I don't know what Will did to justify the calories (or his 2 naps that day) but I wasn't going
to question it.

Sunday

This was my 6 hr bike ride.  The forecast was a high of 95.  Yay?  Torture is always better with friends, and I had a nice little group with me.  Thank goodness.  We did 2 loops of Harvest Moon, which is a local 70.3 course.  Its all exposed, which means sun, heat, and wind.  With hills!  This ride isn't exactly fun, but the nice part is that you come back to your car after 45 miles and can re-stock supplies.  And you can take a dip in the Res afterwards if you need a cool down.

We started at 7 AM and it was already windy.  The first 20 miles are a nice, gradual downhill which makes for a nice warmup.  My legs didn't really want to play, my adductor kept getting tight and I had to stretch it 3 times in the first 50 miles.  It was also pretty windy on the first loop, with a headwind on the way back to the cars, which also has all the hill climbing.  I didn't want to blow my legs out on the first loop of a long day so I took the hills super easy.  Like e-a-s-y easy.  I never do that.  But I also didn't want to make my adductor worse.  For another fun feature, at mile 25 I started to literally dry heave on my nutrition (Bonk Breakers peanut butter chocolate chip).  Not cool, especially 1/4 of the way through a long day and when most of your ride nutrition is Bonk Breakers.  I really don't know what the deal was.  I made myself nibble on the bar for the way back (a little over an hour).  Back at my truck I ate some Tums (randomly in my gear bag) and swapped out my nutrition to other stuff.  I barely had enough honey stinger chews and SunRype bars to get me through the 2nd half of the ride.  I tried to eat more of the pb-cc flavor bars and each time resulted in gagging.  I think they're too sweet when its hot out.  The PB&J ones were a bit easier to get down.  This was my planned race nutrition, so I really don't know if this was a fluke or if this will keep happening.  What I do know is that I have Tums in my special needs bag (or in a pocket), as that saved my ass.  And I need to have back-up nutrition if things go south.  I get tired of eating HS chews all day, but they don't take much effort to get down and my stomach seems to like them.

The first loop was a big MEH (wind, nutrition, legs) but you just have to let go of that and keep moving.  The second loop, fortunately, was much better.  It was hotter (way hotter) but there's something nice about knowing its your last loop.  But holy crap, it was hot.  Thoughts on the last 25 miles of the 2nd loop were something like this:

ok its hot, but I'm drinking ok, and I'm still on my bike.  I've got this.
why am I riding in front of the other 2 people I'm with? (they were way ahead of me on loop 1)
really guys, you can pass me if you want
response: I couldn't pass you if I tried
hills are starting, legs actually feel decent.  Sweet!
and here's the heat.  Wow its hot.
whyyyyy do I keep signing up for hot races?  didn't I learn my lesson during IMTX?
I never want to do Kona, ever
I really don't want to do Boulder, either.  This is horrible
eat, drink, eat drink, pedal.
wow, its hot
I just want to go sit in the Res when this ride is done.
ok, last big hill, now its 5 miles to my truck.  I can do this
wow, I'm actually out of water.  I went through 4 hrs worth in less than 3 hours time.  crap its hot
oh yay, my truck.
oh crap, I've got another 45 min or at least 12 miles.  I guess I need to suck it up and just get it done.  It won't be easier on race day....

We finished the 2nd loop and got back to our cars.  Brian was totally out of water.  I had one bottle left.  Melanie had 2 ice cold cans of Coke and gave one to me and Brian to split.  It was magic.  I don't drink Coke anymore, but this was amazing.  And it made me think of coke slurpees for the rest of the ride.  I had another 12 miles, Brian had 9 miles (he did some looping to keep track of us earlier in the ride).  Both Brian and Melanie were out of water, so we rode into the Res to get more water.  At that point, Melanie started overheating and was having issues completing sentences, so she went to go sit in the Res and didn't finish the ride.  Brian and I decided to suck it up and get 100 miles done.  We rode to the traditional left turn at Watkins Road, and that easily got us to 100 miles.  We had some clouds on those last miles, and I swear, the temps dropped at least 10 degrees in the shadow.  It felt so good.

Then we were done for the day.  It was Brian's first century ride, it was my 2nd hottest century ride ever.  Overall time wasn't too bad, considering the heat.  I drank 8 bottles in 6 hours - normally I'd drink 5-6.  No slurpee on the way home, either.  I got Jamba Juice - I figured it had a bit more nutrition.

Random lessons from the ride:

• I need back-up nutrition available.  I want to use real food but I just don't know if I can actually eat it.  I do know that I can get HS chews down and I have a bazillion SunRype fruit snacks that I can also eat.  (I actually raided my truck stash for loop 2 to ensure I had enough calories).  I'll have to be smart with Special Needs and maybe have extra nutrition stashed on my bike.
• We all drank WAY more than we had planned.  Holy crap it was hot.
• Osmo seemed to work.  I only had a slight heat headache.
• Calories, while low, seemed to be ok.  I was a bit wobbly, but I think that was from the heat, not lack of calories.  I ended up eating 3-5 chews every 30 minutes (or maybe ever 15) and I tried to nibble on the PB&J Bonk Breakers in between to get some more "food" in.  The PB&J ones went down a bit better than the choc ones.  I may just have to play with flavors on the course during the race (they have 4 flavors) and see what works.
• Legs actually felt pretty good.  We got done and it was hot, but my legs felt like they could do more.
• Bike comfort was actually good on the 2nd lap.  Maybe I was distracted by the heat, but I really didn't have any "get me off my bike" thoughts.  I do love my bike.

Closing Thoughts

• I am really thankful for my friends, who kept me company for most of this crazy weekend.  It really helped to keep the negative thoughts out of my head.
• That pie milkshake was awesome.  I may have one again this coming weekend.
• I may need to let go of any time goals for Boulder.  If its hot, I really can't have pace expectations. It becomes more of a "lets keep moving" situation.  I'd like to go under 14 hours but it all depends on the heat.  And I need to be ok with that.
• On Monday, I slept in until 9 AM and took a 1 hour nap.  I wasn't sore, which is weird, but I was TUCKERED.
• I have the most awesome husband ever.  Not once did he complain about how I ruined his holiday weekend.  Instead, he took care of me.  I don't know what I did to deserve someone so awesome but I am incredibly thankful for him.
• I think I'm ready for one more hard week and then taper.  I can do this. :)

Peak Week Crabbiness

I am ridiculously crabby and I need to get over it.  I signed up for this race and to do well, I need to just put my head down and get to work.

What I didn't think about when I signed up for IMBoulder is that I effectively killed my summer.  There's not much free time for fun when your race is Aug 3rd.  And really, its the missing out on stuff that's making me crabby.  Instead, I should be focusing on the experiences and fun I am having while training in Colorado in the summer.  As far as training places go, CO is hard to beat.

The view during my 12 mi run last weekend.  

Instead of focusing on how strong I'm getting and how pretty my training rides/runs/swims are, I'm focusing on what I'm missing out on.

Case in point: this weekend. The 4th of July.  A holiday weekend with bbqs and camping and fun.  And what will I be doing?  s/b/r'ing, sleeping, eating, and spending time on the couch with my feet up.

Really, I would have mentally been ok if it weren't for a random invitation to a BBQ on Friday from 11-2. There's really no way I can go, because I'll be s/b/r'ing for nearly 6 hours.  And who has a bbq party that ends at 2?  In all honestly, this is just IM peak week fatigue getting to me.  The invite was from a HS friend who lives in town but I never see. I can't say I've been invited to his house for a party ever.  I may have invited him, not sure, but he's never been over our way.  Essentially, he's not a close friend, but I am tweaked that I can't go to his BBQ.  I think its more the fact that I can't do something holiday-ish because I have 6 hours of s/b/r.  If it was any other Friday, I wouldn't even be complaining.

Then to add insult, I might not even get to stay up late enough to enjoy fireworks.  I have a 1:15 swim and a 2:30 run.  I was going to run first and then swim, which meant that I needed to start running at 5:45 AM (and leave my house at 5:15).  Yep, no fireworks with that alarm time.  My coach informed me that I need to swim first and then run, and the pond doesn't open until 7:30, so I won't need to leave my house until 6:45. Which makes firework viewing more likely.  But then I'm cranky that I have to run for 2:30 in the heat.

I was talking to my best friend yesterday, trying to arrange weekend plans for July 19th.  She's coming here and doing a memorial service for her deceased husband in the mountains.  This is not ideal timing for me (time or money) to spend a weekend in the mountains.  But she's my sister, I'm Auntie E to her kids, and my ass needs to be up there for support.  But the logistics are stressing me out.  I've got Saturday morning blocked out for her, but I need to be s/b/r'ing the rest of the time.  Not to mention getting sleep and eating properly.  The poor thing caught me yesterday afternoon when I was coming home from work and just got a very unhappy version of me.  I recognized that, took a nap, and and my mood was better.  Sorta.  She at least saw my panic and booked me my own room at the lodge instead of asking me to share a room with a stranger in a house full of kids, so I'd have my space and some quiet for sleep.  The food concerns me a bit (I will be in a hotel room for 4 days but can walk over to their cabin to cook).  And the logistics will be interesting.  Not to mention the pressure of spending time with people at a time when I'm at my most selfish and I quite literally don't have very much of me to give.  Just just just, but but but.... ugh.

I just need to survive the next ~3+ weeks and get to taper.

June 2014 Training Totals

Alrighty - here's June, one month before crazy big IM Boulder month.  June was a bit tricky, mainly because I was in Idaho for 12 days and had some hard conflicts - 2 days driving (really, 3 if you count driving up to Meadows to surprise Chase with his restored pick-up) and a wedding.  I think I probably lost 5 days there, and I didn't have access to a pool while I was up there.  

Pretty solid totals, though.  I was really only down the equivalent of 3 swim practices (despite missing 4-6).  Bike mileage is solid.  I really enjoyed my rides in Idaho.  And my run volume is ok.  I think it was down a bit to give me some recovery after Boise - but once I got back things picked up again.

July should be a big month.

June 2014
Swim: 10h 29m 03s - 28867.82 Yd
Bike: 30h 34m 57s - 466.5 M
Run: 12h 28m 30s - 64.12 M
Walking: 35 min

May 2014
Swim: 13h 35m 58s - 37092.18 Yd
Bike: 22h 10m 13s - 297.42 M
Run: 14h 11m 42s - 76.69 M
Yoga: 30 min