Day 188, 177 To Go

July 7, 2013

 I am up bright an early this Sunday to go for a swim and a bike ride.  Last night, I started to get ready but I didn't finish.  I figured I could easily finish getting ready in the morning.  I was wrong.

The plan was to meet at The Eau Gallie Library at 7:00am.  Here it is 6:50am and I haven't even left yet!  I can't find my sunglasses and this is a very important piece of equipment when you are riding a bike.  It isn't because of the sun, it is because bugs and pebbles and other assorted tiny items like to find their way into your eyes.  When you are riding anyway from 20 - 40mph, this can become quite dangerous! 

I finally just left without them and I got there about 7:25.  They actually waited for me, those bastards!  I was hoping to skip the swim!  Don't get me wrong, I really like to swim, but I always have a bit of anxiety about swimming in the open water ever since I saw Jaws when I was a kid.  I think the movie came out when I was 3, but I saw it before I was 10 years old.  Movie scarred me for life!  I still swim in open water, but the entire swim is dominated by visions of becoming shark poop.  Tends to ruin the experience.

We swam a short loop of maybe a few hundred meters and we planned on swimming another one.  The three of us - Mike, Daryll and I - stood there talking.  We solved all the major world issues and as a reward, we decided to skip the rest of the swim.

Yeah, we are a bunch of pussies.

We went out for an "easy" ride - at least that is what I was told it would be - but immediately, it turned into a much faster ride.  Here is where my lack of nutrition the prior day started to kick in.  I was burning out so I let them drop me.  They mercifully waited for me before we hit the second bridge - so nice of them - which we decided to go over twice.  Yeah...hill training.  Next week we may even do more.  It may be hard, but I actually like the short, intense workouts like that.  I miss hills from my time in Hawaii and CT.  I never thought I would say that, but I really do miss the varied terrain of my former homes.  Florida is way to flat and boring. 

Here are my bike numbers:

Time: 1:00:04

Distance: 17.80 miles

Pace: 17.77mph

Max Pace: 37.35mph

Calories: 1,031

Avg HR: xxx

Max HR: xxx

I forgot my HR monitor which is why I have no HR numbers.  I did however find my other pair of sunglasses in my bag.  They are actually not sunglasses.  They are a $3 pair of safety glasses from Home Depot.  For anyone who rides and doesn't want to spend a ton on sunglasses, this is a great substitute.  They are great for riding in the morning too since they are a light yellow color.  Not the best glasses for the sun, but good for protecting the eyes.

The average pace was slow due to the hills, but take a look at the max pace!  That was fun.  I am out of practice descending hills.  These are easy as they are straight, but the cross winds can get scary.

After I arrived home and rested a bit and spent some time with the kiddies, Honey and I decided to go out for the run in the afternoon while the babies napped.  It was about 3:30.  That was kind of a mistake!  Holy crap was it hot and humid.  I wilted in the heat.  I started off strong running a 8:30 pace but I ended up crawling at the end!

We stopped a few times so I could sit and cool off.  I was overheating and it can get dangerous running in that temperature with that much humidity.  I was just unable to cool off.  Honey was getting overheated a bit too, and she was rollerblading.  We finally made it back home though, safe and sound, and I took a nice cold shower to cool off.

Here are my numbers:

Time: 60:00

Distance: 6.04 miles

Pace: 9:56/m

Max Pace: 7:28/m

Calories: 772
Avg HR:147

Max HR: 158

All things considered, the pace was acceptable.  Next week, I am waiting until evening to go for the run.  That was just not pleasant.  At least I am acclimating to the heat again, but still.  I'll go at night in the future if at all possible!

Run for Life!!