I had one crazy trip to get groceries this weekend, I sometimes get tired of people looking at me strange because of the way I eat. I don’t know why its so interesting that 2/3’s of the checkout conveyor is full of vegetables at the store, everything from turnip greens to squash and zucchini to traditional stuff like carrots and broccoli. The checker giggled and asked me if i’m on a diet, I said “what?” .. I said no, I always eat this way, dieting doesn’t work, why would I bother. Then the woman behind me says “it sure looks like you’re on a diet”. I wanted to be ignorant back, but sometimes people just don’t get it. You don’t have to be on a diet to eat vegetables. Meanwhile I look at the ladies cart behind me … full of items made up of processed carbohydrates, preservatives and stuff that is just terrible for the body. Maybe she’s the one who should be on a diet.

The same thing happened when I got to the butcher .. as they were putting my meat order together, they had a sale on different types of fish, but they all had breading on them. So I asked out loud if they have any fish without breading, and a woman says, “what are you on a diet?” I almost died because I felt like I just had this conversation because I actually did. I responded no, and laughed it off, I’ll repeat it once again …. some people just don’t get it.

So I figured i’d write a quick summary of week 2 of training before I get my veggies and lunches ready for the week. I’m definitely feeling the effects of the added time training, especially the bike. My bike miles this week were the most i’ve done since September of last year. I was happy that I was able to get outside twice, and I hope to get out this week as well. With the change in time happening next weekend, I should be able to get outside all the time then after work until it gets light enough before work to go.

So to pick up from Thursdays post, I got out for 5 cold miles on Friday morning and all I can say to myself is that it was supposed to be in the 40’s, not the 20’s. Regardless I got through and actually kicked out a pretty good pace despite the fact my legs were killing me from Thursdays ride. After work I got in a swim, but didn’t get up to 2500m because I just ran out of time. I kept my 1:55 per 100m pace for the entire 1800m set, then did a few pull and kick drills, then wrapped it up. The guy I had to share a lane with was real annoying, he didn’t seem to get the idea that we had to “split the lane”. We brushed arms several times throughout my workout, and I had to constantly keep my head up to see when he was coming and then hug the outside of the lane, quite annoying. I was pretty much out of gas by Friday night .. went to bed early only to start preparing for a long bike ride Saturday.

Saturday’s weather was wet and foggy when I got up, but forecast to be 55 degrees, which never really happened. I decided to head out around 10am after the rain was out of the area, and thankfully by the time I got 4 miles in, the sun started to come out. I picked a real good course, I like the straight courses that don’t offer a ton of turns, or real bad hills. The only bad part of the ride was the wind, for the first 12 miles I was heading right into it, and then when I turned to hear north, it turned into a cross-wind, and yet another lesson of riding a triathlon bike. I was heading down a road in the aero position with farm fields on both sides of me and I suddenly felt the wind pushing the bike off the road. I could not keep control of it, and when you’re cruising around 20mph with no brakes (in aero position), I was scared. I decided to pull up and just ride in normal position instead, I lost some time, but I guess keeping the bike on the road is the most important thing in the end. Even sitting up I had trouble keeping control, the bike only ways a few pounds, and it really showed.

Eventually I made my way to the main road and now I was traveling with the wind. At one point I clocked myself at 30mph going downhill in the aero position … oh my, was I scared. This is lesson number 2, know your course. I should have pulled up prior to this hill, it was too dangerous for me to be doing what I was doing, but once I was on it, I couldn’t pull up due to the fear of losing control.

I did make it back home in one piece, after 102 minutes and 28+ miles… a nice ride.

This morning I got up and was the first person in the pool .. did 1700m worth of drills, but I was tired, real tired. I didn’t push myself since it was supposed to be a recovery swim. I got in and out and then dressed for a 60 minute run. I headed out into the cold morning and got in just under 8 miles on my aching legs. I really like the way i’m running since I changed my stride length during base training. I feel the power coming out of my core and hamstrings when I push it, and my times when I push it are sub 7:30/mile pace. I can sustain it pretty good too, thats the fastest I’ve run in 2 years. I hope I can keep it up.

So the rest of today and tomorrow is rest, nothing but rest. I have massage the next two days which should help limber me up for yet another tough week of training. I do hope the weather starts to break a little more this week, i’m getting tired of the cold.