Bonk Town...

...but still a successful day! Saturday morning was a fairly big bike/run brick, not as big as I had originally planned due to time constraints and other commitments, but still big enough to get a feel for where I'm at going into the final weeks before Oceanside 70.3. In short, I feel satisfied after today, and ready and confident for the race.

I've had no days off since the Desert Tri, which isn't that big of a deal because I had a lot of rest going into the race, and the race itself was half the time I normally spend working out on a Sunday. Nevertheless the back-to-back & increasingly big workouts were starting to catch up with me and by Thursday evening I was feelin it.

Some workout highlights from the week include:
Monday: hard trainer session with "iTunes intervals;" Tuesday: birthday swim set for Marta that included a main set of 30x100 (she turned 30) and a run; Wednesday: tempo ride with Mike from the gym on our regular 33ish-mile loop, which we did it faster than we ever have before (avg 21+ mph) and with higher power than ever too, then a t-run; Thursday: s/b/r- it was so nice out that I added in "bonus" workouts. Thankfully Friday was just a nice lake swim with awesome company. I wanted to go faster in the lake than I did, but my body just laughed and said "yea right b*tch you're dreaming." After that, just rest in anticipation of Saturday....

Marta and I set off for a hard and hilly bike starting through Santiago Canyon then seeking out every other significant hill in the area it seemed. We only got in 52 miles (as mentioned, a little less than planned) but the clock was ticking and with all the significant climbs--way more than Oceanside has--that was good enough. Plus we avg'd 18 mph overall, which I was happy about. We had a quick transition and headed right into an 8-mile run, which we finished in 1:01 (about a 7:40 avg pace), our fastest pace to date for a long-ish run off a solid bike ride.

It was during the run when I hit bonk town. It hit me at around mile 2. Ouch. So early!? I had fueled like I normally do starting the previous night with a big dinner, then a big breakfast and then GU Gels and Chomps and coconut water on the bike. Guess that wasn't enough on this particular day! The big mistake was that I thought I'd be fine without gel or hydration for the hour run. Wrong! Thankfully, Marta had one gel and we decided to share it, also sharing the tiny bit of water she had (yes, I know, me as the coach, I should be the prepared one! Oops!). That helped a bit and somehow I held on to the pace we were going even though I was feeling way off. Oh well. I survived... toward the end all I was thinking was, "Get me a mountain of food and my compression on." I also thought, "Who needs drugs when you can get all 'loopy' from mega workouts and/or a bonk?!" I'm crazy. I know.

So, as we speak, I finished my mega meal about an hour or so ago, my compression is on, and I'm about to take a mega nap. The plan is to go out with friends and be social tonight so I need to recoup if that's going to happen.