I survived

It is Monday and I am feeling tired. Duh! The 20 mile run was hard. It was hard for me to keep it together. I was definitely tired for it. More on that below. Everything else seems to be okay. My hamstring is getting managed and the piriformis keeps raising its ugly head. Fortunately I can go to PT if I need to and I keep on stretching. Bike fit for the new shoes went well.

As I am sitting here writing this, I don't really have any questions popping into my head. I think you worked me into delirium this week. All I can think about is eating and sleeping.

Schedule-
Polson- convinced my Mom to go with me and get a fancy hotel. The one that is right on the lake. Woohoo! Girls weekend. We haven't done one since Oliver a couple of years ago. She knows I will need to do something on Sunday though. I was thinking probably am ish so that we can get back to Bozeman at a reasonable hour. She has a cousin who she is close with to entertain her.

IM Wisconsin- I think I am going to ship my bike out there UPS. If I ship it ground it is pretty cheap. I think for it to get there in time and avoiding problems with weekends and holidays, the best day to ship it will be August 26 or 27. Is that going to be a problem. I can ride my road bike for those few days in between right?

Work- The boss is officially back on August 19th. His wife had a baby a few weeks ago. I might need to stop blowing work off when he gets back and after IM I can't take a holiday and I have to work weekend for a month. I am just kidding, but at some point I need to start being a little more mindful about being at work. Just an FYI. I have no experiments scheduled for the week of August 18th-24th.

Wow, this week has been intense!

Tuesday- Super super tired. Masters just about killed me. Actually got out at 2800. Don't usually do that.

Ride on Wednesday was really good. I was really tired on Monday and Tuesday and on Tuesday's run my calves/achilles got really tight. Wore compression all night and all day Wed. The pain was gone by Wednesday evening. Went to Amsterdam/Churchill area where there are a lot of rollers. Good terrain to practice IM Wisconsin on. Was pretty tired when I rolled home but when I started the run my legs felt great. Finished my usual 30 minute run in closer to 25 minutes. That was super motivating. Feeling fit!

Thursday- Good swim with Masters, nice EASY run. At Masters did a bunch of 100's. Played with my pace and how I feel at different paces. I think I feel better going a bit faster. I think if I have to I can go that pace and then take a few easy strokes here and there. I will anyway sighting, going around buoys etc.

Friday- Ride was hard. Wow, that was a serious test of mental fortitude. I didn't realize how many 14 could be. The hill I chose to go up and down that also had a headwind. It was a blustery day. It got a bit tiring. The ride was a little short (20 minutes or so), and maybe the hill was a little too steep because I definitely did not take 3:30 to 4:00 minutes between each up. I actually didn't do a lot of pedaling downhill. I did think about riding up and down hills though, and wasn't not pedaling because I was resting. The hill was just steep.

Saturday- That was a hard swim. Total time was something like 1:25 or 1:30. Worked hard and thought a lot about Ironman pace. Did run right after swim. It was good. I was pretty exhausted after these though. Thought about bailing on our trip for the next day. Wanted to lay on the couch and go to sleep.

Sunday- On Saturday night Erik, Lawrence, and I drove to Wise River. It is the closest place to Bozeman where we could start  a ride on the Pioneer Scenic Byway. It was great. There was a little restaurant there where we ate. Camping in the FS campground was free. The evening was cool. We all got some really great sleep. In the morning left from the campground, rode to Wise River, rode south on the scenic byway, rode to Jackson, rode to Wisdom, and then back to the car. The scenic byway is beautiful. Into Jackson there is a huge pass. Then we got surrounded by thunderstorms, lightning, crazy wind, etc. and it didn't let up for the next 60 miles. Other than being worried that if I got too wet I was going to get really cold, we were totally fine. Had some crazy tailwinds. Erik was going 40 MPH. Also, winds that felt like you could just get blown off the road. Total ride was 119 miles and I have to say I will never forget it and I am very glad we did it. (Will try and post some photos)
Did you know the Beaverslide comes from that area. Have a cool photo of a huge pile of hay.

Monday- I have to do what today? This has been in the back of my mind all week. Blew off work because I knew that if I went to work in the am, the run would really, really suck. I don't like runs to really suck. I little suck comes with the territory, but in general they need to be awesome. Anyway, mapped out an interesting, but very hilly run. Left the house prepared and with the legs feeling very tired right off the bat. Ran about half of the planned run, which was really hilly and then changed my mind and made the rest a lot flatter. This run hurt, I cannot say it was awesome. I had a really hard time settling in and finding something to think about. Kept thinking about how far the road in front of me was. Once I got home I remapped my route. 21.5 miles. It took me about 3:30. I think the first part of hilly town trails really slowed me down. Had a standoff with a cow. That was interesting. He was on the trail and would not move. Had to just walk by him. He didn't seem to mind. I didn't get chased.

I had to blow off the swim. Blew off too much work and just don't have the energy to try and fit it into my schedule. I'm sorry, but I think it would have killed me anyway. Too much mental fortitude building this week.