Thursday night meat punch

Actually, I meat punched a brick last night. It. Was. Awe. Some! I've fallen into a pattern that I'm really enjoying (shouldn't that pattern be defined by the training plan? whatever). Monday and Tuesday has a bike and a run. Wednesday is strength training, and a brick on Thursday. Friday is a rest day, then a long run on Saturday and a long ride on Sunday. I've also been regularly doing the Tri Power strength workouts 5 days a week, and yoga 2 or 3 days. And this pattern really seems to be getting the job done. Feeling fit and really healthy, I've taken another inch or so off of the waist in the last month(ish) and everything is feeling good. So what's missing? swimming. haven't quite figured that one out yet. and with the first tri of the year coming up in less than a month with a 750 meter lake swim, I need to figure something out fast.

So last night's brick was insane! It's been raining here steadily since wednesday, so I hit the gym. I started out with 15 miles on the bike in 45 minutes. I think that's the fastest I've ever gone on a stationary bike. Which is also funny because stationary bikes don't actually go anywhere. But the rpm stayed around 112 the whole time. Then I refilled the water bottle, took a gel, and hopped on the treadmill. I was supposed to do an easy 6 miles at a slower pace. But the pace ended up being faster than I normally can sustain for that distance, so I cut out at 4.5 miles. Still, I ended up pulling an 8:40 pace? What? those are Glaven speeds. I've never been able to keep that pace for that long before, especially after going that far on the bike. The interval workouts and all that time on the bike must be really getting the job done. It felt great, and I wanted to keep going but I didn't want to wear down my legs for the weekend.

Plus, yesterday was a really long day. I got up about 5:15 because I knew there was tons of work to get done. Did some yoga, core work, and the Tri Power workout early while Kelley was at the gym. Then I finished off some major projects at work, which everyone in Atlanta is currently amazed at. It's good, because I haven't done anything at work recently that deserved an 'attaboy', but there were plenty of failures. So to pull off what I did yesterday was a good thing that turned a lot of heads. The technical details, however, are quite boring. then I had dinner, got the kids to bed, and hit the gym for that brick. Finished the workout exactly at 10:30 pm, grabbed a quick shower and made it home just after 11. Then I slept in this morning.

So what does the weekend hold? could be tons of rain. Tomorrow is the Assault On The Carolinas bike ride. I'm doing the 60k distance (about 37 miles), but there are also 100k and 30k rides going on. It will be the longest bike ride I've done so far, and my first paid for organized ride that wasn't in the middle of a triathlon. Here's the ride details from their web site:

The 60K riders will get to test their climbing abilities on Walnut Hollow, which is a local favorite. Walnut hollow is a steep challenging climb that is sure to get everyone's heart pumping. The climb is 1.1 mile with grades reaching 15%. After climbing Walnut Hollow riders will enjoy a nice rolling ride home through the French Broad River Valley. The 60k has 2 fully stocked rest stops.

Packet pickup is tonight at a coffee house in Brevard, NC that is also supposed to be a social event. Coach Katie is also doing this ride, so I'm looking forward to seeing her as always. It's going to be challenging and fun. And since the small camera is working again, I'm looking forward to taking pictures and will share on monday.

The local tv says it's supposed to have strong thunderstorms all day saturday. As much as I'm looking forward to this ride, I'm not going out in a thunderstorm.

My folks are keeping the kids tonight so Kelley can come with me out to the ride site. We are both looking forward to a night of peace.

Sunday if it's not raining, Kelley and I are both going to Furman for a trail run. We know bad things happen when Kelley tries to run outside, like very little running actually occurs. But we're going to take the little camera and snap some photos. I haven't been out there for a run in several weeks, so I can't wait. The hope is to get 12 miles in, but Kelley hasn't been pulling those kind of numbers recently, so we'll see how it goes.

Have a great weekend! Good luck if you're racing. TFH is running her first marathon this weekend, good luch Sharmidi! MikeG also has a 5k tomorrow, that boy is fast. Have fun brother!