Ugh, it's like there's a party in my mouth and everyone's throwing up

That's kinda how I felt after the RunBikePaddle weekend...okay, not that bad, but I did fall off of my fitness high for a little bit. I was feeling like I was on a mini-peak as I was feeling great during most of my workouts. Heck, I even dropped 15secs on my 300yd swim time the week before! Well, Tuesday's training the week after the race was the dip that follows the peak. Of course, it was a sprint interval day on the track--those are always painful as is. We did some pullups and then rode our bikes to the track. I felt okay on the 200m, 400m, and 800m intervals. But on the 1600m, something happened. Well, at first, I tried to pace at exactly what Rick wanted to go, 7:15. I was right on, but I was getting pains in my stomach after the first loop. I struggled to keep the same pace, but I was able to do it, until the last loop. It was like a screw fell out--I was in pain and starting to get nauseous. As soon as I got to the line, I almost puked. I had to lay down. Dave Tucker asked if I needed a stretch and all I could do is shake my head as I was afraid that something other than words would come out if I opened my mouth. The little rest seemed to help as I was slowly getting back to even.

We rode back to the pullup bars and did more pullups and then a random assortment of cals mixed in with bike sprints. I definitely felt better when we were on the bike--it was my magic elixir! So the nausea passed and I was back to normal, at least as close to normal as possible. Wednesday I went for a swim and then for a bike ride. It was apparently an unofficial HART training day as I saw a whole ton of other HART members at the park, doing their own thing. I rode, planning just an easy spin, but I was afraid of getting bored after the first lap, so I sprinted up to a group that was going about 25mph. I figured it would be short-lived as it is rare to get a group of people who can rotate in a paceline at that speed for very long, but I was mistaken! We were able to maintain that speed for about 30mins. Then all of the sudden the group splintered to take a break, so I kept on going. About 20mins later I was able to hook up with another group, but we were going a little slower, about 22mph average. I kept pulling at around 23mph whenever it was my turn and apparently that was eventually too much as people started to peel off after 30mins of riding. I felt good again...I was relieved.

Thursday's training was a lot better for me. We rode our bikes to the seldom-used "rollercoaster" trail next to the bayou at Memorial and did a brick. 2x run, 5x bike, 3x run. I felt alright on the first run--I usually need to get warmed up first. Then the bike came. I was determined to clear the course and not get off my bike, but it wasn't going to happen that day. I eventually was able to make the whole loop, except everytime I got to the final climb out of the rollercoaster, there would always be someone there, pushing their bike and I wasn't that good of the rider to be able to maintain my momentum while riding around them through that eroded section. At one point during the bike, Monty asked me if his tire was flat. Well, it did look a bit spongy, so I said "yes". He stopped and that was the last time we would see him. Tommy thought I was practicing my race tactics and applauded my cunning, but I really did think it looked flat. Oh well.

Friday was weights and then Saturday we went on our last "long" training ride before the MS-150. It was the Warship and Sly. After much waffling, we ended up starting out of Katy. The wind was ridiculous, with gusts above 30mph at times! As soon as we got started, it was straight into the wind. It wasn't too bad at first, but it slowly ramped up as we got going. We then went along HWY90, which turned it into a nasty crosswind. I knew I should have taken off my aero wheels! I couldn't take my hands off of my bars for a second! We were going at very sad, slow speeds, but it would get even slower once we went back northward on 359. We hesitantly made that turn and we immediately got slapped in the face with several gusts. I screamed, "this is ludicrous!" BTW, who says "ludicrous" on a bike ride? Anyway, it was obscene. We had started later than the other groups, so by this time they were enjoying their fabulous tailwind and I was very jealous. Among the return trippers was Nikki and Dave P. The wind got so bad that we were struggling to keep our speed in the double digits! No lie! We reached Monaville and everyone was thinking the same thing--turn back! I wasn't having any fun at all. So we turned around and immediately were going 30mph+! That is sick. We were buzzing by riders left and right. Now this was fun!

At the final turn off of hwy90, we caught up with Nikki and Dave P, sad to realize that they went the whole 60 miles. But, to our credit, the wind didn't pick up until later into their ride. Still, we had been beaten back by the wind gods. Tail between my legs, I went to the office to finish up some work and then headed home to get ready for Nikki's housewarming/birthday shindig. Good times. We didn't stay long as I had to get up early the next morning to do some paddle practice with the SYW team. I suprisingly arrived at Rick's lakehouse on time, with Tracie. I was on time because I needed to be at my company's picnic that afternoon, way over past Tomball. The rest of the crew arrived and we launched the boats. I brought the green eliminator for Monty to paddle. Apparently he was still mad at me for the "flat tire" incident, so he took it out on my rudder, which he snapped completely off. JK. It was an accident--he was trying to get residual water out of the hatch. Nothing several yards of duct tape can't fix! We went out and paddled for an hour and everything went smoothly. I jetted out of there right as soon as the boats were loaded. This was the first company picnic I've gone to at Stress and it was a lot of fun! Tug of war, bingo, dunking booth (money went to the MS-150 team), and I actually rode a mechanical bull! It wasn't Gilly's, but it was still fun! I yelled "bring it!", rode my 8 seconds, and was summarily dumped on my tush a few seconds later. After Mo cleaned out some poor guy at the Texas Hold'em table, we went home since Mo had to work later that night. A fun-packed weekend indeed!

This week started off nicely too, with a party of a HART practice. It was a cross between boot camp and football camp. The rainy weather played right into Rick's hands. I was about to rename our team to HART Corps. Thankfully I was having one of my good days and was able to take full advantage of the workout (i.e., no nausea spells). Sprints, lunges, horses, bear/low crawls, pushups, situps, 8-counts, tempo runs--you name it we did it! It reminded me of my track and football workouts (yes, my coach was the same for both sports). And yes, Rick, I was able to run 11sec 100m, thank you very much. Anyway, after getting all muddied up, I ran to the hose to clean myself up (I had a date that night). Of course, I found out a way to lock my keys in the T-reg even though the salesman said it was impossible. Pretty much the same way I locked my keys in the trunk of Audi, also a car supposed to be Kenny-proof. So, obviously, Mo would have to push back our reservation and come and scoop me up. It all ended up working out, so no worries. Yesterday was weights and then I went for a 9-mile trek with a 25lb pack. Mo joined me for the first 5 miles and then I met up with her at Starbucks. Neeless to say, my legs and feet are a bit sore from my last two workouts at the park.

Well, that's pretty much it. Going for a swim today and then its rest time before the big MS-150 ride this weekend. Maybe we'll throw in some running after our rides to spice it up a bit. Then again, who am I kidding! :)