I've seen better days

We're at T-4 weeks and counting. You know what that means? Time drills!

I started off with a six-mile run this time. Because I have my reality TV show (the final episode!) at 7 p.m., I had to go right after work, which means hot. "Feels like 101" to be exact. Awesome. I headed out to Boomer Lake to run it twice. I felt good the first few miles. As I'm heading out from mile two, I'm starting to hurt...and get really hot. I pushed myself to make it three miles before stopping...and actually got a few steps beyond that before having to stop. My first lap was 42:26, so you can tell how the heat was affecting me. I walked a little, tried to run again, but it didn't really work much. The good news is when I walk, I walk pretty fast and depressingly enough, sometimes feel like I speed up once I start to walk. I just couldn't wait to get to a water fountain to drink and dunk my head in! The second lap was awful! I felt sick and considered sitting in the shade for a bit. And then, as I decide to start running again, thinking I could stop soon to drink, I am propelled forward. I look down at where my right leg was and see a bike tire. Then I see grass. A bicyclist ran me over! I get up, take off my headphones and make sure the kid is OK. It was two boys who appeared to be 12 maybe? I'm guessing they were messing around, not paying attention, and all of a sudden one was in my back. I landed on my hand/side. My elbow is a bit scratched and bruised today, but my leg got the brunt of it. I've not an impressive bruise, but I'm not quite sure how it happened because it's on the front of my leg and he hit me in the back? Anyway, I didn't get mad or anything. Who could get mad at a 12 year old boy who is completely humiliated and apologizing profusely? Hopefully he learned a lesson, one he can carry on with when he starts to drive! Moving on, I got water and felt a little better for another half mile or so. I walked until I hit 5 miles, then I decided I was going to run the last mile no matter what. It was one of the most physically painful miles of my entire life! My knees felt like they would pop during each step. My back hurt. My muscles were rejecting me. But I ran it. That whole mile. Slowly. I pushed myself to prove that no matter what the conditions (heat, exhaustion, post-run over), I could push through and get it done.

Total six mile: 1:32:15
Three weeks ago: 1:23

So I got worse? Awesome. I was really disappointed yesterday. Not at myself. I did awesome. I pushed myself as far as I could. I responded well to the situation and a tough run. I never seriously considered stopping halfway through or turning around. I kept going forward. I was disappointed that the circumstances didn't prove to be a good run. I'm not meaning to make excuses about why my run was bad -- I could and should be better trained. But I manned up to the conditions as best I could and I am proud of that. You may not get ideal conditions in your races, what counts is how you respond to those. It could have been a better run, but it wasn't. Feels like 101 is no fun. I'm crossing my fingers that when the weather calms down, I'll speed up.

Then today, I decided to tackle the 1500m swim. My legs were tired and a little sore all day (although the more I moved them the happier they appeared to be). Swim sounded nice. I can do 1500m in the pool without significant problems. My arms were getting pretty tired and everything, but not dying. How was the 400m open-water race swim so challenging? I knew it would make it harder, but I'm just amazed by how much of a difference it all made. That's what makes me nervous for the swim portion of the Olympic. I need to practice it more. And keep myself calm. It was a fairly uneventful swim...

1500m swim: 38:40
Three weeks ago: 39

Didn't really improve much, but I'll take it.

Bike tomorrow. This should be interesting. My splits were worst on the bike in my last triathlon and not great in my first, but it's the distance I'm least scared of. I'm just a slow cyclist. I'm interested to see how I do tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a little cooler, but I'm not counting on it.