Hello Summer

-
This week was the official start of summer.  Well, meteorological summer actually began June 1st but the solstice happened late this week.  With the arrival of summer, I typically suspend my race season.  I don't like to sign up for races in the summer simply due to the fact that it can get really hot and stormy here in the Mid-Atlantic.  I have one triathlon in August but with the water and the bike, the heat would not be as bad as running, say a marathon.  I like summer for training because the hours are long.  I can get up early and train in daylight.  When I get home at night after my hellish commute, I still have plenty of daylight to do a proper workout.  But the heat is still my Achilles heel.  

This weekend I was reminded of why I made this "personal rule" of no summer racing.  The heat and humidity returned in full force.  It hasn't gone above 90F too often yet but this humidity makes it miserable even at 88F.  Training was going quite well this week for the most part but the past two days have been killer.  It is much worse on the run than on the swim or bike.  I melt down and can't function no matter how much water or how much I try to adjust with nutrition.  

The other problem this week was with my Orbea.  My new baby needs to go to the doctor because my crankset is shifting laterally ever so slightly when I pedal.  This is causing the chain to rub against the front derailleur when it is on the big ring.  I attempted to tighten it myself but that didn't work, and I am not yet ready to start taking this bike apart.  In the end, I'll have to switch back to my road bike for a week.  Better to take it to the professionals than to break it myself.  

I'm pretty excited about training this week. I had to shift my schedule around to accommodate a special run.  I'm going to use it as a training long run but I'm excited none-the-less.  On Friday, I'll be running a leg of the One Run for Boston.  This is a coast-to-coast relay of over 1,000 runners that started about two weeks ago in California and will end at the Boston Marathon finish line.  Friends of ours already completed their segment in St. Louis.  The relay runs right through my hometown in PA and I'm heading up Thursday night to participate in the run on Friday.  The segment is approximately 11 miles of VERY hilly terrain.  I grew up in the Pocono Mountains of PA and the hills in Maryland do not even come close to comparing with the hills just to get up to my house from the town center.  The course should be pretty challenging.  We are going to keep a pretty easy 9:30 pace so that the group can stay together (depending on the heat).   

I'll have a full recap on this week's training and on the One Run for Boston next weekend.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: 80/20 Running

-
I picked up Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 Running because my wife had begun to delve into Fitzgerald's nutrition books.  The 80/20 running philosophy has been quoted by a number of coaches I know and has appeared in many places now in the literature. Over the course of my career, I have dabbled in several different methods and am never one to dismiss or support something without giving it a shot.  I began to read the book with an open mind as I typically try to do with all advice books.  This book is really no different than the plethora of already available running training books such as Hal Higdon, the Hansons, Jeff Galloway, and others who have developed "magic formulas" to help runners get better (or more precisely, faster).  Fitzgerald sets out from the beginning to prove to readers that the 80/20 method is the optimal method for improvement.  Period.  Science shows it and Fitzgerald will lead you to the promised land.  Where have I heard this be...
Read more

Gear Review: Campagnolo Bullet 80

-
Image
I have been searching this year for a set of aero race wheels for my triathlon bike.  Last year, I rented a set of Reynolds for my 140.6 to try to make the effort a little easier. I wasn't concerned about speed as much as effort.  That is still semi-true this season, but I am now getting to the point where I am becoming competitive at shorter distances.  Rather than continue to rent, I looked for something that I could call my own.   First, I went through the tubular vs. clincher debate. There was a lot of research on this and enough for a separate post on that debate.  I decided on clinchers for simplicity because that's what I currently use.  Then back to the wide world of the Internet to research wheels.  Again, debates over carbon, alloy, hubs, spoke count, depth, v-shaped versus toroidal.  I felt like I was back in physics class at times.  For every two people, there were three opinions on the best wheel.   In the end, I se...
Read more

Race Report: IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga 2017

-
Image
This is my retirement race.  I decided to do this after last year when a friend of mine and I did Florida together and had a blast.   We wanted to do our annual race together.   Lauren is always a step ahead of me and I've never beat her in a race.   But we have fun racing together.   We picked Chattanooga because of timing and because of the word of mouth reviews.  For me, this would be near the end of the season (before summer surface-of-the-sun heat arrives).  For Lauren, this is an early season race (Massachusetts is so far north).  It's kind of a middle point, albeit closer to me in the South.  During training for the race, I decided this would be it for long course. Hence, this is my retirement. I just don't have the mental strength to train for long course events.  I enjoy shorter distances much better.  I struggled with the Be Iron Fit training programs this cycle, especially during peak phase...
Read more