Tired Legs

I participated in the Texas Man pre-tri workout this morning. I was without any of the usual crew because almost everyone was at the Hotter Than Hell bike ride yesterday. So I made the trek to Lake Ray Robert's Johnson Branch Park myself, arriving at the park entrance just after 6:30 AM.

Because the open-water swim practice/clinic didn't start until 7:30, I did a quick bike ride on the park roads. I had traded bikes with Jarrod last Thursday - he got my "Red Baron" Specialized Allez Comp and I got his Motobecane Nemesis Pro tri bike - and get in some easy miles on it before doing 25+ miles during the pre-tri bike workout. The ride was smooth but slow - my legs were still sore and tired from yesterday's half-marathon distance run.

The practice swim didn't start off on the right foot. My goggles (specifically, the nose bridge between the two lenses) broke! Luckily, I always carry around an extra pair in my tri bag. So I just jogged back up to the parking lot/transition area to trade them out and then back to the beach. The open-water swim itself went well. Worked on my sighting and did three identical swims - out to the first buoy, to the second buoy, back to the first buoy, again to the second buoy, and then back to the beach. Each one took between 13:30-14:45 and I'd guess that the distance was 700-750 meters. So about 2,100-2,250 meters total. A solid swim workout.

I was actually the last swimmer out of the lake - I followed the guy in the kayak as he pulled in the second buoy back to shore - so, by the time I got back to the parking lot, the transition clinic was about to start. Since I really wanted to get in a longer bike ride than the schedule allowed (the planned activity was to ride the 17.6 mile sprint bike course once, but I wanted to do it twice), I skipped the transition clinic and headed out on the road.

I've ridden this bike course many times so I pretty much knew what to expect - i.e., where the hills are. With the two loops, I ended up riding 29.81 miles and completed it in 1:31:23 - a 19.6 MPH average speed. That's a pretty fast training ride speed for me, and since my average heart rate was only 148 BPM, it looks like my tired legs (and perhaps the increasing temperatures) were the limiting factor to going faster. The ride on Jarrod's tri bike was very smooth and the 54cm frame fit me perfectly. I'll have to seriously think about getting one! :-)

After a quick (1:26) bike-to-run transition, I headed out on the run course. Here is where yesterday's long run, the tough bike earlier, and the quick transition really caught up to me. I was only able to go able 3/4 of a mile before I had to start walking. Five minutes of walking did wonders, though, and after that I completed a 3.71 mile run with only three breaks at the water stops. Total run time: 38:06.5 for a 10:16/mi average.

The heat was definitely getting to me, and, overall, not my best performance. But it was still a really good opportunity for the open-water swim practice and I'm glad I was able to push myself. Lessons learned: continue to work on my running and also do warm/hot weather training to get acclimated to the heat.