Home› General Training Discussions

How my big bike weekend turned into Something Completely Different. An essay.

William JenksWilliam Jenks
in General Training Discussions

I had planned to do a ~200 mile big bike weekend over three days: last Fri, Sat and Sun, or Sat, Sun, and Mon, depending on how things broke.  Aah, the greatest plans.  But all is not lost...just different that I expected, and rolling with the punches.

Thursday:  Swim early a.m..  Professional appointments got rescheduled so my only chance for the regular 2 hour run was at the hottest time of day.  And it was.  Like 85+ and 85+ humidity.   Kinda ugly. Not a great setup for BBW.

Friday: Final exam day at 7:30 a.m. for 200 of my lovely lieges in organic chemistry.  Unfortunately, my graders were totally struggling, and I had to stay available all day until The Appointments and Graduation kicked in.  Only time for an hour's run in ... yes... the heat of the day.  Turned it into a hill-bounding run.

Saturday: usual 2 hour masters swim, and time for that first of the three days... at least time for 3 hrs/60 mi.  Got it done.

Sunday: Had the 6-11 time slot open.  Massive thunderstorms and constant rain nixed that.  I was too tired mentally already to try to do 4 hours on the trainer....  At noon the weather broke....to HOT.  Only remaining time window, was...you guessed it... 2-4 pm.  With only two hours, I decided I had to convert it to a run from a ride.  3rd heater run in 4 days.  I figured that the BBW was going to be mostly lower intensity anyway, so that's how I treated this run, or at least that's how I rationalized not running fast again in the heat for 2 hours.

Monday:  The Friday before, my sec'y informed me I had two appointments.  One at 10, one at 3.  Both an hour.  Both unmissable.  I tried to move the 10, but no luck.  Monday morning, got the kids out the door and did 2 hours/40 mi on the bike.  Got to work at a half-way reasonable hour and had the 10.  Dealt with people unhappy about their final.  Got out the door again for another 2 hours / 40 miles.  Not exactly the normal way to put in 80 mi on the bike.

The only good thing about the biking is that the last Monday ride was the best.

Now if I can rouse myself tomorrow (Tuesday) for the morning Masters swim, hopefully life will go back to its normal chaos and I'll get back to a normal schedule.  :-)  I guess a Big Tri Weekend isn't all bad, even if it wasn't exactly what I had in mind. 

Comments

  • kurshingkurshing
    Haha - hence the life of an age grouper, right?!
  • SwanieSwanie
    Sometimes life just gets in the way!
  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    Yeah, the truth is it turned out all good. Not what I planned, but I can't complain.
  • mgraffeomgraffeo
    Way to make the best out of what life gave you! Sounds like you still got some terrific training stimulus in.
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    I hope I don't have your luck later this month. I'm going to try for a 5 day BBW 24 - 28 May. The Thu and Fri won't be so long, but I want to cram as much as possible over the three day weekend and get a little bit of endurance spike.
  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    Are you able to get away? Honestly, that's part of the difficulty I have...trying to work in around family and work and all. But that's life!
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    I can't get away from Tampa, but I can certainly get the time to bike. Thinking something like:

    Thu morning - 2+ hrs on the trainer, before work
    Fri evening - 1 hr on the trainer
    Sat - 83 miles outside
    Sun - 57 miles hills
    Mon - 100 miles outside

    The last one will be the hardest, but the goal will be to get about 300 miles in the 5 day period. Will start all the weekend rides in the morning and do the family stuff in the late afternoon/evening. I want to repeat over the Labor Day Weekend, but target about 350 miles since I'll be in my IM block then.
Sign In or Register to comment.