My last long ride went fast...

I got out of the house a little later than I wanted to today, but I wanted to see the final 100 meter run for the Olympic Men. It was great to watch and it was another world record. By the time it finished and I got out the door it was around 11 am.

Today was my last long bike ride before the Ironman. It was a 5 hour and 15 minute ride, followed by a 30 minute brick run. About an hour into the ride I realized that I had forgot my ipod. I was very tempted to go back home and get it, but I decided not to and figured I'd just do a lot of thinking. Once the ride started out, it started out slow. I went up Number 1 side road hills and then I went directly into a head wind for the next hour. I rode strong and weak into the wind, at times hitting 33 kph and at other times I was going 24 kph. By the 90 minute point my average speed was 27.7 kph. I was a little, or I should say, very disappointed. I really wanted my last long ride of the year to be over 30 kph. After about 90 minutes my legs started to feel stronger. For the first 90 minutes they felt weak.

Also, after the first hour, I felt a slipping and clicking on the left side of my crank on every pedal stroke. I thought, oh great, another problem with my Quintana Roo and I just had it in the bike shop getting the aero bars fixed and the computer replaced this week. Didn't they look at the bike beyond that? I stopped the bike and got out my tool set, it turned out that the crank screws were so loose it took me about 20 turns to get them back in place. The screws were very close to coming out. Once I fixed it, I could tell that my bike felt like it had more stiffness and power in the crank once I started pushing on the pedals. One Disaster averted.

I was really windy out today, which I don't mind. The head winds are always tough, but I don't mind the side winds. Over the past year I've been able to ride pretty strong with a side wind. Mentally, side winds don't beat me up. Once I made the turn from the head wind to a side wind I started to go faster. I headed west for about 45 minutes and then back the same route. There was hills and rolling hills and I felt strong. On the way out, I was going around 33 kph and on the way back I was up to 36 kph. For the rest of the ride, except for around the 3 1/2 - 4 hour mark, I felt strong. I ended up finishing 165 km at an average speed of 31.1 kph. It was my fastest long ride of the year. I'm really starting to think that not drinking a lot of beer the night before a training session helps improve my performance:)

After the bike ride, I had a quick 5 minute transition and reloaded with water and Gatorade. I was again, a little worried about my left calf and was curious to see how it would hold up. I love the feeling of the transition from the bike to the run. It is a feeling you can only get when you do triathlons. For the first 500 meters to 1 km, it is a very awkward feeling. I never know how fast I'm going, but it always seems slow, even if I was doing a 7:00 minute mile. Surprisingly, the run went well and the calf held up, I wasn't able to keep my heart rate under 139 bpm, but it didn't go higher than 147 bpm. I ended up running 3.67 miles at an 8:20 pace. I was happy with that.

When I got home, I took in more fluids, stretched and felt great. I could tell I worked out, but there was no "bonk" or really sore legs. As a matter of fact, after I showered, Alice and I went to Home Depot to pick up some paint. I looked at my watch and the entire workout from beginning to end, including transitions took me 5 hours 52 minutes and 53 seconds. One more long run tomorrow and then the taper begins. Hurray!!!