friday and saturday

Friday
Run 11 miles [1:34 with 2 x 20 minutes harder effort => average 8:32 pace]
Swim at Barton Springs [BOMB]

It was so humid I felt like I weighed 200 pounds plodding along the trail this morning. Ugh. My body was just going through the motions on this. I went to Barton Springs after and intended to swim for an hour, however after my first 400m lap things just weren't going well. My shoulders were sore and I had no energy. Fast repeats definitely were not going to happen. I stopped and stretched thoroughly in the cold water, then got out and called it a day.

Saturday
Bike 50 miles [3:05 with 3 x 25 minutes hard]
Run 5 miles [44 min]

I got out early and hammered 360/Bee Caves road out and back. I've been having a lot of trouble with saddle sores and chaffing so I changed my saddle. The new saddle worked better, well enough that I am making the executive decision that I will race on it. Saddle choice is a big issue because it has a huge impact on bike pace. A painful saddle means I can't stay aero and that directly translates to speed lost. I've never found a saddle that feels perfect, so I am happy with "pretty good". Some discomfort there is expected.

I used water, EFS, and Liquid Shot as my nutrition today - no solids and it worked really well. I am getting better on swallowing the Liquid Shot in big blasts and can now get down about 100 calories in one gulp.  On race day I am going to use solids in the first half and switch to Liquid Shot in the last quarter so my stomach can settle before the run. This was a good data point.

Run. Ugh. Slogging through. I wasn't sore, but just exhausted overall. Mental tricks were needed. I practiced picking a landmark like a tree or mailbox or driveway and running to that, telling myself I could re-evaluate walking when I got there. Most times I could pick another landmark and not walk. I took just a few 60 second walk breaks. I imagined the race and how I am not going to give up no matter how bad I may feel.

I was thinking to myself, why why WHY is this so hard today? 1) no-brainer - heat and humidity... 2) oh yeah, I did most of an Ironman on Monday and am probably still recovering from that.  Relax, this is allowing me to practice working through things with my mind.