One Down, One to go... (Weekend Grind)

Hi Everyone,

Friday night was pretty cool. We ate at a place called Einstein's in Midtown Atlanta, how about that hit to my bank account! Anyways, that was probably actually worth it, considering how that was the best pork tenderloin that I have ever had in my life. Went to work this morning, and then came home to get some stuff done. Was about to head out to Athens, when I saw that NBC was reairing the 2005 Ironman World Championships. I never caught it when it came out the first time on TV, so I had to stay home and watch it. When that was over with I started packing so I could go to Athens tomorrow (Go DAWGS!!!). Now it is about 8pm, and I just called my sister to tell her that I am not coming tonight, I am going to head up after my ride tomorrow. I do not feel like taking all my tri gear plus bike, change of clothes, plus the housing stuff as well. Besides I really don't need to be spending any money on entertainment, especially after last night's escapades.

So here was my workout this afternoon. My shoulder is about 90% better (trapezius area) and it did not hurt at all when swimming tonight. I did not try to do that stupid thing where I come out of the water a bit then pull down along my body (which is what got me the muscle strain in the first place). By the way, do any of you have to share lanes from time to time at your gym/pool? I had to tonight, and this guy just decides that he is going to do the backstroke and weave into my lane and stay there. I was swimming properly so I did not notice until my hands got kicked by him. I told him that I did not have a problem with him sharing lanes, but to watch what in the hell he was doing before someone got hurt.

SWIM
2 x 25M sides (once on each side)
100M warmup
2 x 400M @ just above race pace
1st set: 8:10
2nd set: 7:48!!! (loving it, I need to keep taking time off, I am seeming to do better!)
1 x 100M @ race pace, 1:45
100M cooldown

Tomorrow is my brick day, but I think I will just bike instead. My blisters have finally quit draining (I think I have lanced and drained both of them about 6 times each). Now they just sting since the area is irritated and the skin I left on there is rubbing against it underneath.

I am going to warmup good tomorrow, I want to hit at least a sub 35 min ride, even though I am solo with no pace line. Might as well have no pace line, since I will not be allowed to draft during the race. Next weekend I will take the rear bottle cages off, so that I can begin really mimicing race conditions.

Looking forward to the race, it seems that I have the swim down pat for the time I want, I can probably get the sub 23 run I am looking for if I push it at the end of the race. I just need to work on getting my bike time down. I also have the computer on there, and it will be the first time since I purchased it. I will be able to see how fast I am really going and how accurate the distance is from what the posted distance shows on the ride. Does anyone know how long blisters take to heal when you actually let them heal the right way. I dont want to screw my run up, but I usually just pick the top layer of skin off (a big no no) and within 2-3 days I can run on my feet again. I also really, really need to get at least one more brick workout in before the race. It is not going to happen if it takes a week or more to heal these blisters. Plus I would have to go back to wearing old shoes if i do not get these new ones broken in fast enough before race day.

There were thunderstorms tonight in Atlanta, so the weather has cooled down just a bit, hopefully it will be in the low 70's when I get up and ride tomorrow morning.

Enjoy the weekend, and good luck to all of you that are in races today/tomorrow!!!

Murtha...