June 11-17: I Rested. Then I Climbed.

 First, thank you all for your kind and supportive words about the awful race I had at Eagleman. The commiserating from those who have also done Eagleman in the past were especially comforting, and several have offered advice on coping with heat. Ten more weeks before IM Louisville to address the issues.

The post-Eagleman week was split in two. The first part was devoted to rest and recovery, with easy swimming and little else. Then it was back to work prepping for IM Louisville, complete with a group ride at Skyline Drive.

Yes, that WOULD be almost 4500 feet of climbing over 43 miles. With 80% of it in the first 21 miles.

Good thing I wasn’t going to have to do a long run the next day.

Er…oops.

Monday: 2500 yard recovery swim at Wilson. Ridiculously slow and still depleted from Eagleman.

Tuesday: Rest day. No sleeping in, though, since I had to fly down to Atlanta for a day trip to talk with these folks.

(I do get to go to the most exciting places for work, don't I?)


Wednesday: A short 3.42 mile track workout, including two fast-for-me 800s (4:01-4:05)…and two more 800s. Nope, not fully recovered from the race yet.

Thursday: A longer, but still easy, swim of 3300 meters in the morning.

Friday: A brick without a GPS device. Liberating in a way. An hour on the bike, thirty minutes of running.

Saturday: A 43 mile group ride on Skyline Drive. Averaged 11 mph. You know how many people start from the Dickey Ridge visitor’s center to save themselves 1000-some feet of climbing over 4 miles? Yeah, that wasn’t us. It took me over half an hour to get there from our starting point. If you are doing your hill workouts and practicing “climbing” around DC, well, you need to compare those rides to these climb details.

Sunday: The first double-digit mileage run I’ve done since…April? Of course less than 18 hours after finishing that challenging ride. 10 miles at a 10:24 pace, partially with Rachel, Sarah, and Jason as part of the PR distance training program.