soaker day...

Saturday morning:

Woke-up really early Saturday morning because of a thunderstorm system that was rolling through our region with lots of rain. K& I headed down to Montrose harbor hoping that CARA wouldn't canceled the long marathon training run now two weeks in a row. Kristen ran 3 extra miles before her pacing group left at 6:30am When we arrived there for the 6am session I run with the thunder/lighting had left for the last 45 minutes but still raining constant so CARA let us run at 6am.

We only had 6 people in our 8 minute mile pace group as we ran southwards through the consistant rain that fell all morning. The path was completely soaked with mini-lakes & streams so you were always dodging then constantly. I would say by the end of the first mile I was completely soaked from head to toe even with this dodging technique. The group was only running 10 miles today as I needed to run a 14 miler as the half ironman race is only two weeks away now so I said my goodbyes to them as they turned around five miles into the run.

As I continued to head southward along the lake I noticed by the Ohio St beach that some sort of organized openwater swim was setting up that moring in the lake. I continued southward past Navy Peir and beyond to my 7 mile turn-around point as the rains continued to fall at a steady rate. On the way back north I stopped for fluids by the Ohio St beach and asked an organizer of the race what was happening here and if us triathletes could get in our openwater swim. He informed me its the Swim Across America event and that their start was delayed due to the lighting plus no one that was not racing the event would be able to swim in this area till after 12pm - noon...bummer...so much for K & I geeting in our lake swim for the day :-(

The rain continued as I headed back north to Montrose harbor to finish my 14.1 mile run in 1:56:26 for a mile pace average of 8:15 with an average HR of 139bpm & a max HR of 148bpm. Event throught the rain made you feel cooler the humidity was 100% thick during this run which affected breathing properly besides all the rain. The front of my left big toe survived ok as my feet were pruned from this soaking run.

Also today I was trying my race fuel belt with my mixtures in prepartion of racing with this set-up at the half IM during the 13.1 mile run portion of the race. I'm happy to say the weight of the belt didn't affect my lower back so the run was painfree In the water bottles I carry my electrolyte fluid - EFS by First Endurance with Sports Quest Carbo-Pro & Thermolyte mixed in them...the test worked perfectly as I did not have to take any eGels during the run...

Saturday mid-morning:

Since K & I weren't able to get in a Lake Michigan openwater swim per my previous morning running note we were forced to head over to the health club to get in a lapped pool swim. Kristen has really become a strong swimmer as she was able to get in 65 laps as I stopped at only 50 laps of pool swimming. Below is what I did workout wise:

10 laps pull-buoy
10 laps freestyle
10 laps pull-buoy with hand-paddles
10 laps pull-buoy
10 laps freestyle

So I swam 2000 meters that morning after a strong 14 mile run...done for the day!

b