October in July

Iwo Jima Memorial at dusk
Sight seeing in NOVA 

Some weeks are designed for recovery and this was that week. I had two days off which worked well since I was at a conference with LEAD Virginia in Northern Virginia for three days. The conference was Thursday, Friday, and Saturday which makes it difficult to keep continuity in the workout. This is especially true when the days begin at 7 Am and end at 10 PM. The long days take their toll and thus my longer workout for the week felt long...

My Saturday workout was a two hour bike with a short run for an easy brick. However, I did not get started until 3 PM and the temperature was 90 degrees. The humidity was almost suffocating and yet there was a steady breeze out of the west. The weather report showed possible thundershowers which is common in this type of weather in Virginia. Keeping an eye on the clouds I debarked from my normal starting location. There were moments along the river beds that the temps felt cool offering a strange contrast.  The breeze was welcome but showed up in my my Garmin 910XT Training Peaks report. My speed was slightly slower and it felt like it on the road. I was not sure if it was more from sitting in a conference for 3 days or the heat... probably both. 

July Harvest Fields in Culpeper 

The run was ok. It took about five minutes to get my feet to move at a decent pace. The temperature had risen to 95 by 5 PM. Needless to say, I was super focused on hydration. I purchased some GU Fizz Electrolyte tabs. I like them because they blend with water almost immediately. Plus they have a slight carbonation which is supposed to be good for offsetting lactic burn. However, In this heat lactic burn is hard to decipher from the heat of the road... 

The Sunday workout was an hour run. Not a big deal but I began at 11AM. The heat and humidity were the same as yesterday and thus this was a tough time of day to get the workout done. The run reminded me of the runs that I used to do in July in preparing for high school football conditioning. I am not sure what to expect in Kona, and I wanted to use the heat as an environmental challenge for mental toughness. Despite the haze of the humidity, you could see the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west. They really looked blue today. Perhaps that is why they are called the Blue Ridge Mountains. 

Cool Culpeper Rivers along the Bike Route 

I was glad to be finished with this run. I had taken one of those fanny belts with small bottles to carry some hydration. I was very glad to have the small amount of fluid. I finished at Powell Wellness Center. Katherine met me there for her daily water aerobics workout. I used the time for stretching. I find a stair pocket in the pool and use it to stretch legs, and shoulders. A much needed session after all of the sitting at the conference. 

One of my favorite parts of the workout is that I am now using the Garmin 910 to capture data. I was able get a workout in last week at the WARF in Warrenton. They have a great 25 yard pool and I wanted to see the data from that swim compared to the swims in the TURTTLE pool. 

The Garmin 910 will track the distance, speed, and stroke speed among other things related to the swim work out. I do wish that the Garmin 910 would capture the heart rate in the water, a limitation. 

What did I find in the comparison? As you would expect, my stroke speed was slower in the TURRTLE pool since I am always swimming against a current. I was looking for a relative understanding of the real open water condition vs. the TURTTLE pool environment. There is about a 20% difference. I was pleasantly surprised at my speed. I swam 2400 yards, a good workout to benchmark the data. I was 25% faster than I had expected. I credit the TURTTLE pool current with making my strokes very efficient. I also credit the drills given to me by my coach. They have given me a better foundation to build by swim speed. 

Blue Ridge Mountains along Sunday Run 

I have a race in two weeks, The Culpeper Oly by Setup Events. I love this race. In fact we will be using the course as a guide for my indoor cycling classes for the next couple of weeks. Several of the students are preparing for the race and like the mental preparation of following the terrain with coordinated music in class. Setup Events does a great job. The significance of what they do can be seen in the number of first time swim caps that are seen at any given race. We need fitness goals to keep us focused in being fit. Setup events is a gateway to fitness for many, and a gateway to Ironman for me... a bit of October in July 

This week should be interesting. Given that I had a recovery week last week, I anticipate a great KonaFit week ahead.