the hardest part about the chicago weather this year, apart from being demoralizing, has been the lack of good days to train when i am not working. that all changed today. low and behold, i come home from a weekend of working overnights and all of a sudden it is summer. not just any old summer, but high 80's with massive humidity. ahhh, the chicago summer that i have missed...
anyway, came home from work this morning and got a quick 4 hour nap. then packed the nutrition onto the bike and off to the lakefront path for a 60 mile ride. i couldn't quite decide if it was going to be a run or a ride today, but when i woke up the rain had stopped, the sun was shining and it was absolutely beautiful outside. the winds were calm and it was wonderful to feel the sun and the warmth again. i can do this, another couple months training in weather like this will be completely tolerable. 3:13 for the 60 miles. sweet. i might have been a little faster but the last 5 or so miles i was starting to feel the heat, i thought i had planned my liquids well, but my guess is that it was just a little hotter out there than i am used to for training.
in other good news the pool is open for swimming. by pool i mean lake michigan. and by open i mean the water is conducive to swimming. the lake officially opened several weeks ago but it looked just too damn cold. first i knew it was cold by watching the weather sites, but more importantly i saw people getting out of the water. there is nothing better to tell you that the water is cold that watching 2 guys wearing sleeveless wetsuits get out of the water with very red/purple arms...and it wasn't sunburn. anyway, the water was perfect yesterday, minimal waves, hardly any current to fight. a trip out to the bouy plus another 400m for 2000 meters made for a nice evening swim before going to work.
my running is really feeling good right now. i am consistently running faster and feeling good. the next objectives are not only to continue to increase the mileage but also to increase the frequency. slowly of course.
this upcoming weekend is the second race of the year - the bigfoot triathlon in lake geneva wisconsin. 6 days out the weather looks good, i'll keep my fingers crossed that it will hold true.
this week marks the last week of residency. 5 more shifts to go.
july will be a big training month, lots of miles, lots of hours, lots of improvement to be had.
oh yea, i got new race wheels. i opted for the flashpoint 60 front, 80 rear. they look pretty sweet. mounted the tires tonight. hopefully will take them out for a quick spin later in the week just to get a feel for the wheels before racing on them next weekend. pictures eventually.
welcome back summer!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
really????
the weather this summer has been sub-optimal. rained yesterday, wasn't supposed to rain today, just be cloudy and overcast but instead i was greeted with a nice wet sheen over everything when i woke-up and it is still misting. throw yet another wrench in the training plan. looks like it is swim this morning and if i get lucky and have time and the weather is any better i'll ride later.
the upside is that i am running more. in the last 3 days i ran 23 miles. might have overdone it a a little but suprisingly my legs feel alright today. maybe giving them a little rest and delaying the ride until this afternoon is a good thing.
last week i managed to make it up to madison to ride the course again. i rode the loop. the 1st 2/3rds were tolerable. the last portion i started to get hungy, tired, and just wanted to get off of my bike. my legs felt fine, i think i was just run down. unfortunately it is not too easy to just "turn around" on that course and go home. overall i felt pretty good, better than i thought i would. not a couple more months of training and i will feel even better.
graduation is tomorrow night. i am hoping to keep up my tradition of going on a long bike ride the day of graduation. but oh wait, what is the forecast for tomorrow? yup you guessed it. rain.
yea, its still raining, even delaying just a little by trying to write this didn't really seem to help. oh well. maybe later. i guess i'll do a nice rainy day activity and try to sort through some of my pictures from my last trip.
the upside is that i am running more. in the last 3 days i ran 23 miles. might have overdone it a a little but suprisingly my legs feel alright today. maybe giving them a little rest and delaying the ride until this afternoon is a good thing.
last week i managed to make it up to madison to ride the course again. i rode the loop. the 1st 2/3rds were tolerable. the last portion i started to get hungy, tired, and just wanted to get off of my bike. my legs felt fine, i think i was just run down. unfortunately it is not too easy to just "turn around" on that course and go home. overall i felt pretty good, better than i thought i would. not a couple more months of training and i will feel even better.
graduation is tomorrow night. i am hoping to keep up my tradition of going on a long bike ride the day of graduation. but oh wait, what is the forecast for tomorrow? yup you guessed it. rain.
yea, its still raining, even delaying just a little by trying to write this didn't really seem to help. oh well. maybe later. i guess i'll do a nice rainy day activity and try to sort through some of my pictures from my last trip.
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