Weekly Workout Totals 08/27/2007-09/02/2007 and Hamstering Around for NothingMan

So I did a race rehearsal thingie today. Although I shouldn't call it that, because I'm not training, and I'm not doing anything on 9/15. Well, I'm doing something, but mostly nothing...

Beautiful day here in Chicagoland. Couldn't ask for better weather this time of year. Got lots of sleep last night and was rarin' to go. As soon as I got on the bike, I could tell I'm still in recovery mode from IMLP but that's too fucking bad because I have NothingMan in 2 weeks.

I ended up doing NOTHING yesterday, as after I was up for awhile, I got this headache and felt like I had one of those training hangover things (if you've ever had one you know what I mean), and knew I wasn't going to amount to much of anything. I tried napping, but that didn't work, so I just struggled through the day with my one goal of getting to sleep early and sleeping well, which I did.

There was a century ride up in Wisconsin, but I didn't feel like getting up at oh-dark-thirty and spending $ on gas to drive more miles than I would ride, so today's plan was to ride to Fermilab and hamster around in there and home. I packed one of my trusty HTFU wrist bands (the one from last week's 134 mile ride) for inspiration. I had (2) 3-hour bottles of my special Infinit and one water bottle on Bitchie.

I wanted to do a pantie ride but it was a tad too cool in the morning and besides that I've been feeling fat and disgusting lately, so I settled on a Primal Wear kit I've had for years. Turns out it worked fine, although it's a little big on me, but no matter the shorts are nice and short so I got a nice tan boost anyway.

My ride was this: 16 miles to Fermilab, circle around 5 times in there (at almost 16 miles each loop) and then ride home. I ended up at 110 miles. At one point, I thought I'd ride more once I got home to reach the magic fucking 112, but as I approached home I decided it really didn't matter. After all, I'm not training, right?

While I was in Fermilab, I saw egrets, herons, red-tailed hawks, ducks, geese, buffalo, cyclists, many dogs being run in one area, several bi-planes soaring overhead, nitrogen and helium tanks (I love them!), plenty of wildflowers, the accelerator ring (GO PROTONS!!!), Morlocks (or at least I always think I see them), lots of sun and a few cars. TIMES FIVE!

The winds were calm for the first 2 laps, but then they picked up, which is to be expected. I replenished my water bottles twice at Wilson Hall, and today I didn't notice any weird taste to the nuclear water when I drank it. The Ergomo was functioning perfectly, which was good, and I never experienced feet on fire or crotch on fire.

I rode the 110 miles at 18MPH (bonus for Strauss if he's reading--you can get a hard-on because my TSS was 302), which if my FTP is correct, was a measly 70% of threshold watts. Yip-fucking-ee. Of course this was in pancake-flat land so what does that mean? Since the Ergomo is new and different and may not read the same as the SRM, who the hell knows what's going on at this point, and I will not be doing any sort of actual FTP test anytime soon. So I'll just go with what I thought I was at and hope it's right. I was in the aero position the entire time, and I had to force myself to stand periodically. This makes me really look forward to MiamiMan, when I will be well-rested and ready to go fucking hardcore on the flats. But I digress...

When I got home, I chugged a big glass of cold water and some Gatorade and headed out to run. Well, let's just say I remembered doing a few Ironman races once I started running...Oh well, it sucks, and it sucked riding that long by myself in hamster mode with no spectators, and it sucked running with nobody out there either. Harden the fuck up!!! This is what's it's about...can't always have the fucking spectators, family, friends, whatever out there making your sorry ass feel all great. Today it was just me. I soldiered through about 5.2 miles. It was hot. I was nasty. I was not smiling. But I got it done.

I won't say I'm golden for NothingMan, but I do feel good that I put in a "real" race rehearsal today, so now I can start tapering down for absolutely nothing. My NothingMan competitor (well, I'm not competing with him he will just be there doing it with me), Jostein, scoped out our swim and run venue, which will be TOTAL FUCKING HAMSTER MODE!!! The swim will be nice, though--in a lake which happens to be 1.2 miles across one way. I am really looking forward to that. We'll ride our bikes from there and hook up with the IMWI course, and then our run will be a 1/2 mile loop. Yes--you heard it right--a 1/2 mile loop! I'm already thinking up all sorts of antics for the run. Hopefully we can get someone to video us, because I think it is going to be ground breaking!

Anyway, here's what I ended the week at:

Weekly Workout Totals	08/27/2007-09/02/2007
Swim:	10600 yards (6.02 miles) in 3.5 hours; 21% of weekly workout time; approx. 1226 calories burned
Bike:	Approx. 133.33 miles in 7.45 hours; 44% of weekly workout time; approx. 3353 calories burned
Run:	Approx. 34.42 miles in 5.17 hours; 3 0% of weekly workout time; approx. 2343 calories burned
Strength:	0.88 hours; 5% of weekly workout time; approx. 220 calories burned
All Sports:	Approx. 173.77 miles in 17 hours; approx. 7142 calories burned
Sleep:	8.5 hours avg./night
Stretching:	2.2 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours