56 Mile Haines City Bike ride with Sincy Curley

After ride glow

 

Met lots of friendly people

Last big ride for my long time friend Sincy Curley before he tackles Haines City 70.3 Ironman in two weeks. I am really proud of Sincy as he has gotten a lot stronger and efficient on his bike. It was an extremely windy day, that never seem to find our back side. Why is it that the wind is rarely pushing you along? LOL It seemed like the wind was in our face or pushing us on either side. Absolutely brutal and the wind never let up the entire ride. But it was a relatively nice sunny day in Florida. Can one really complain? We then went to a great restaurant Manny’s Original Chopshouse where we both had steak, salad and sweet potatoes.

 

2400 meter Lake swim

Struggled with the decision to wear a wetsuit or not.   I’m glad I decided to wear one as the water was cold and quite choppy.   Feeling really tired from an exhaustive night at work.   My first crossing was horrible,  but I was able to find a rhythm for the second crossing. Went over and back nonstop, then back out to first buoy and back.   Then went to the Y for some core and free weight training. Only one more to the glorious yellow cap.

Lucky’s Lake 150 crossings Yellow cap

 

4 mile speed run

Another way to spend time with my kids and still get my Ironman  training in.  Get my son to ride along with me on his bike.   Of course we started to get chased by various monsters in which dad had to pick up the pace or get eaten alive!  Great motivation! !! Thanks son.

 

1 Hour stationary bike grind

Today was all about overcoming the challenges that life throws.  My challenge yesterday was that my bike’s Spindle keeps getting loose after long rides.  This creates an annoying clicking sound with each pedal.  This totally ruined by trainer ride yesterday, but fortunately Winter Garden Wheel Works was able to torque it down in a matter of seconds so I could be back in the saddle today.  WGWW is an awesome bike shop if should you find yourself in the need of a quality bike.  The service is great, not many bike shops will let you come in 15 minutes to close and put your bike on the rack for a repair.

I’ve been feeling a little sorry for myself lately.  The kids are in basketball camp all week due to spring break.  This has killed my morning routine and has really challenged me to get my workouts in.  I could just drop the kids off to camp and  go workout.  But I’m a basketball fanatic too, and I wanted to stay so I could know what the kids are being taught and I could reinforce the learnings at home.  This turned out to be time well spent and my kids appreciated me being there.  I gave some hugs, provided snacks, water boy, wiped some tears and provided encouragement that would have been non-existent.

My trainer ride consisted of my typical 5 minute interval work (outlined in an earlier post). I ended up getting a quality workout in after a long and exhausting day.  A day like today reminded me if my goals were easy, they wouldn’t be challenging or nearly as rewarding.

 

3000 meter Lucky’s Lake swim

Very tired, but somehow the lake always wakes me after working all night.   Almost time to take off the wetsuit again.   I’ll miss the added floatation assist.   Lol. Quite a few people at the lake as temperatures increase.

 

1.5 hour downtown YMCA swim workout

Today was all about practicing technique.  I use my snorkle, ankle bands, fins, and pull buoy to work on the various aspects of swimming.  My current goal is to try to be as streamlined as possible, so I swim a lot with the ankle bands today.  I’m currently without a watch so I just track time on each exercise versus distance.  I just find for me this is the easiest way to track.  I don’t know how people swim and keep track of say a 600 meter exercise?  I loose count after 100 meters.  LOL  Did I mention I really miss my Garmin watch?  I know I must get a watch soon, but I’m confilcted on which one to get

 

Beautiful 40 mile bike ride in Florida

Wish I had my Garmin to track my activities, but it’s still at the bottom of Lucky’s Lake.   Anyways,  this is one of the benefits of living in Florida.   Beautiful bike rides along side gorgeous lakes and orange groves.

 

Only 7 more till 150 and yellow cap

Started out sluggish, paused before first buoy, but settled down after first crossing for 2.5 non-stop crossings. Tired from 53 mile hilly, windy bike ride.

 

53 Mile Bike sufferfest and 1/2 mile brick run

My full intention on this training ride was to push myself and to make my muscles scream.  My route went through a ton of hills on my way to the Town of Howey in the Hills. There were some amazing smells from the Orange orchards and cooling breezes.  Upon completion I was lightheaded an queasy in the stomach.

 

Running again (4 mile “test” run with windsprints)

During my last couple of runs, I have been having some run stopping knee pain.  I almost opted for a bike ride, but decide to test the ole knee and see if the pain had subsided.  Much to my surprise, I was able to run for 4 miles pain free.  Of course, my ego told me 4 miles was nothing and that training for an Ironman I had to do more.  Luckily, I’ve learn to put my ego on the sidelines and listen to my body too.  My body was telling me to take it easy and ease back into running.  Not to try to do too much too soon.  At the end of my windsprints I was feeling a little gimpy in my hip flexor, glutes area, but no knee pain!  Whoo hoo!

Another good thing about this run, is that my boo went with me on my run.  She is considerably slower than me, so if I wanted to run with her I had to take it easy.  This goes back to my lifestyle and enjoyment issue.   Yeah I could have run a faster tempo lonely 4 mile run, but it was much more enjoyable to run with the lady and get some quality relationship time in too.  Often times when we are training for a triathlon event, we put the family on the shelf in lieu of our personal endeavors.  This is one of the reason triathlon is know as the divorce sport.

My tradeoff for an improved family experience will be a possibly slower Ironman, but this year I’m not trying to get sponsors or win my age division.  I do hope to start winning some age group events once the kids get a little older and I have more time to train and dedicate to the sport.