So Darn Hot

This week has been a challenge, both for working out and for the weather. It's hot and windy again today but with everything else that I need to do this weekend today was the only day I could work in a big tri workout. With my race in only 2 weeks I need to get a few of these under my belt.

As usual it's hot and windy. 103 degrees and a 25 mph south wind don't add up to fun, or safe conditions for a long hard workout. At least not for me. But pool hours being what they are this afternoon worked out better then this evening. I loaded up the bike and packed up my gear and headed to the pool.

For some reason swimming the Big Pool is hard for me this year. Or at least it feels hard. I had to stop at each 100 and even side stroke a little bit just to finish my 400 meters. But then I looked at my time and even with stopping to hang on the end I was still right at 11:00. I think if I swim there a few more times I'll get it down but today my breathing and cadence was all out of whack and I felt like I was flailing instead of swimming.

I hopped out of the pool and got my bike off the rack. Doing this type of brick doesn't give you a true feeling for transition because you have to do so much more then during a race: unlock the bike, get it off the rack, open the car, get everything out, etc. In a race you would already have done that but it's not an option at a busy public pool. I decided to do laps around the zoo due to the wind. Even in the relative shelter of the trees it was hard going against the wind. I did 6.4 miles and decided to call it enough even though I had wanted to do at least 9 miles. Dodging cars and smelling hot animal manure does not make for a pleasant ride.

I hopped off my bike and had to take time to rack it and chain it down, changed my shoes and started walking around the zoo. It was extremely hot and I had no intentions of running any kind of distance. I"m crazy, not stupid. I carried my water bottle with me and sucked down a gel pack and did the best I could. Running in short spurts was all I could do in this heat. Slow and safe.

Overall I'm happy with where I'm at in my training. I have a 5K tomorrow evening and then another hard week, then a taper week. I may not be blazing fast but I'll get it done. Each workout can only make me better. If it just wasn't so darn hot.