Gusts did die down. I'm sick of the wind! ------------------------------------------- Probably back indoors today... It was supposed to be sunny and 65 which it is. But it's so windy right now that it's not safe to ride. We're getting some 75 mph gusts. Maybe it will die down this evening and I can do a dusk ride. Dusk in the mountains is spectacular.

Here's my 2009 pre-season training analysis. I have my old training records from 1988-1996 and I really wish that I would have kept more details than just miles/times. I know when I look back at these training records 10+ years from now, I'll really enjoy what now appears to be ridiculous details I have a race a week from today and I'm ready to go. Yesterday was a great training day for me. I don't need a good race on Sunday to know I'm much faster and far more fit than last year. I'll be racing at 167-170 which is over 15 pounds lighter than last year. Hopefully, I'll have my A game Sunday morning but if not I won't care one bit. I've successfully completed the training for this race and now I'm just going to show up. Like the great Neil Wilson told me after my first disasterous start due to the nerves of playing in front of just ~15,000, "Steve, just get out there and play." I got two interceptions the next game and ended up with a free college education. Bike ---- This time last year I'd never have thought I could have done that ride yesterday at 20.3 mph at a very comfortable effort. That thing has some serious climbs on it. Per mile, it is ~10% more climbing than the Triple Bypass (although only 1/3rd the distance). I'm ready to go for sub-2 hr from here to Vail Pass RT (44.5 miles/3415', PR= 2:09, 20.7 mph). For years I wanted to go sub-2 on the same ride but with the start/finish down the hill from here (which I did last year in the 2:09 effort). This year, I'm shooting for sub-2 on the same ride including the spur below that's to/from my house: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/map.asp?routeid=71105 (3.3 more miles with an extra 400 feet of climbing.) I'll need 22.3 mph which seems impossible to me now but that's how cycling goals have always been for me, seemingly impossible until I actually pull it off. This goal, and sub the 4:40 at the 5430 HIM are really all I care about for this season. Next season is when I become serious about triathlon racing. Swim ---- My swim was really set back by my rib injury which is now 100% resolved after ~6 weeks. Even though my times aren't too impressive compared to last year, I feel faster and my stroke feels much more efficient. My new two-beat kick and higher pull (hand nearer my chest) really feels more efficient. I'm far less hypoxic at the longer reps (500y+). I'm able to swim longer distances in my workouts compared to last year. I haven't been able to push very hard due to my ribs but I know I can go sub-7 in a 500y if I pushed harder. The lack of O2 here makes pushing the swim hard (like I did last year in my 2:27 200y effort), a very miserable experience. So I just don't do it (wuss). I still think my fat loss in the last year has slowed me down signficantly. If that is true, I'll get all that speed back with my wetsuit. Speaking of wetsuit, the top was a little tight last year which caused me to not want to use it. This year it fits better so I'll use it in every WS legal race. I'll be swimming with it some next week in my workouts. Run --- Hard to tell how much faster I'll be at the shorter distances (5k,10k). I want to go sub-42 at the Bolder Boulder 10k (45:32 last year). But again I won't care too much if I don't. I know I'm much more fit this season for the half marathon distance. The last time I pushed a long run at Wash Park, I knocked 31 seconds off my per mile pace from one year previous even with a 28% longer run (8.1m@8:26/m --> 10.4m@7:55/m). I recently (04/21/09) knocked 4 minutes off my local 10k training route (out 5k and back from Rec Ctr) from last September (52:01 --> 48:02) running with Buddy on the leash which adds at least a minute. Lastly, I cruised a 7:43/m 5k (23:56) last night easily after a 40 mile bike and 2500y swim. There's no way I could have done that last season in May or late in the season. My run will still be my weak link but I think I'm significantly improved. I'd like to go 1:50 (8:24/m) at the 5430 HIM which would be a 22:20 improvement and alone would drop my time to 4:48:13. I just have to find the extra 8:14 in S/T1/B/T2 and I'm set.

Anybody reading please forgive me for the nature of this but I've got to get this in my log... My body is very strange in terms of hydration. I sweat more than anyone on the earth. I know it because during college football in the Texas heat, on days when we weren't in pads we'd all wear the same gray cotton shirts. Mine would get so wet from sweat that coaches and players made fun of me. No one else on the team even compared. Part of the reason I live here is because I'm just miserable in hot environments. My body uses water at an extraordinary rate. Back when I was a climber I'd have to carry about twice the liquid as anyone else. And more than once, I got into scary dehydration problems near the end of of multi-pitch climbs because I still carried too little liquid. I drink about 240 ounces of hydrating liquid every day. I'm NEVER without my water bottle. With my training load and our climate, that is about perfect for me. So there's the background. So we just got out of an abnoral 4-5 day weather pattern where it was super humid and rained for days. It never does that here in early May. We should have got at least 3 feet of snow out of that storm but it was all cold rain instead. Our air is usually near desert dry so breathing the moist air for those days was abnormal. I've been busy working so my trained dropped off during that period. Lastly, I took a rest day near the end of that weather cycle. So it appears logical that my body's demand for hydration would fall off over that period. But what happened was just bizarre. The night after my rest day I had to get up four times to pee, which never ever happens even one time a night. Then, the next day I was in the bathroom constantly peeing. It was like my body just decided all of a sudden that it no longer needed to store liquid any more so it just drained it all out in 24 hours. I wish I would have weighed myself but I don't have a scale and forgot at the rec center. I bet I lost five pounds in water weight. The efficiency of the human body as a machine just amazes me.