Vacation in Asheville, NC -- Ups and Downs

Well, I just got back in Tally from my vacation, and I think I need a vacation from my vacation to rest and recover and be ready for work tomorrow.  So here is how it all went down:

Wed -- Wake up and do ab ripper x.  Ok, on schedule.  Drive to Atlanta.  Gas the car up, drink some Dos Equis Amber, drop Sissy off at the NKOTBSB concert and then drive to all3sports for some retail therapy.  Got a 310xt, foodpod for it, the new K-Swiss waterproof shoes, and some other odds and ends.  The bill hurt, don't ask.  Then went to the mall/Barnes&Noble and chilled till 10PM.  Went back to Philips Arena to pick Sissy up.  Did I mention that Sissy's phone had died and I couldn't reach her?  Well, I parked and hung out for about a hour till she came out.  No biggie.  You can ask her what she thought of the concert b/c it went in one ear and out the other.  Drove just outside Atlanta and got a room for the night.

Thurs -- Wake up.  No exercise in AM.  Drive to Greenville, SC and visit Carolina Triathlon. 

I didn't buy anything.  The Sizzler got a sports bra.  Drove through Brevard so Sissy could see her mom's grave (we made it to the grave but took the non-scenic route by mistake).  Ate lunch at the soda shop, and had a chocolate milkshake.  Brevard is pretty cool. 

Made it to Asheville and parked downtown and looked around.  Downtown Asheville is pretty cool.  Trendy, hippy, cool.  Man I could get into so much trouble there.  Not many hotels though, and the only ones there are min $250/night.  We tried to get a room but they were booked (we needed 3 nights).  Took a break to eat Mexican (fish and chips not as good as the Filling Station here in Tally). 

So from about 2-9:30 PM, we looked for a hotel room w/o any luck. I literally drove the entire perimeter of the city.  I kept asking what was going on and the only response I rec'd was "This is just how Asheville is from early summer till the leaves fall."  Damn.  Note to self -- reserve rooms earlly.  My only goals for a room were: (1) not a shit-hole hotel; and (2) all three nights in the same room.  Finally found a room at 9:30 -- Comfort Suites. King bed and a whirlpool tub in the room for $116 a night.  Outdoor pool, free access to a 24hr gym next door.  Bike shop next door that sells Cervelo tri bikes.  Mall next door.  Sweet.  Too tired to exercise today.

Fri.  Wake up at 6, gear up and eat a quick breakfeast.  Plan is to do a 2-3 hour ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway (1.5 miles away -- sweet).  I check the droid, and it say no rain. I get 50 yards from the hotel and... rain.  #$%^$$%^^&%$%^&&!!!!!  My phone slipped out of my hand and fell and broke.  So I turned around and went back to the hotel.  We ended up going to Starbucks, Liberty Cycles, and Biltmore Estate.  The Biltmore was awesome, lots of new stuff other than the mansion. 

Filed an insurance claim for a new phone and I won't get it till Monday, so no droid for rest of vacation.

Sat.  Did what I meant to do Friday and rode 2 hours on BRP.  Incredible.  First 2 miles were straight up, non-stop hill.  I went through 3 tunnels.  Downhill was scary as hell.  I learned that a 20 minute climb translated into a 5 minute descent (distance, 2 miles).  Did not make it near as far as I thought I would.  Mountain miles are a looooot different than Florida miles. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95278214  Once I get done for IMFL, I definately want to start doing some mountain riding -- do some centuries up there.  We then went back to Greenville, SC for Sissy's aunt's bday.  After that, went by Sissy's mom's grave again, then went to visit Sissy's -- well, sister or niece, take your pick depending on how strictly you want to ahere to the law.  Met Jena and her fiance, Scott.  They were cool.  We drank beer and ate wings.

Sun.  I woke up and decided to have a try at Stand-Up Paddleboarding.  Found a place 10 min away and off we went.  Took a 1.5 hr lession for $45.  AWESOME!!  I have got to get a stand-up paddleboard.  Way, way, way cooler than a canoe or kayak.  And a soooolid core workout.  Finished up and had lunch with Sissy's sister and then drove backroad to Brevard, then Highlands, then south to Atlanta.  On the way I stopped at a gas station and found some interesting bottled water.

Outside atlanta, the storms hit (the storms that were were hearing emergency alerts).  High winds, enough to cause the car to swerve, lightning, hail the size of my thumb, rain so bad I could barely see anything.  Storm lasted from north of atlanta perimeter to south of atlanta perimeter.  Damn.  We stopped for the night so we could watch the season premiere of True Blood.  A note about Hilton Garden Inn sleep # beds -- the suck.  Stiff as a board on every setting.  No exercise at all.

Mon -- woke up and drove back to Tally.  Picked up the dogs from Robin Hood Kennel.  I may do a easy spin or gentl run tonight.  May take Sally (my German Shorthair Pointer) with me on the run, b/c she it getting heavy and can't even jump in the back of my truck anymore.  Must take after her daddy.

Will post pics as I put them on my computer and if I can pull out of the sd card from my dead droid.

And so it begins (again)... the road to Ironman Florida

So yes, it has been awhile since my last post.  This week -- the week of June 13 -- is the first week of my official training cycle for Ironman Florida.  I have pretty much slacked off in the 5 weeks since Gulf Coast.  I deliberately wanted to have a mini off-season to rest and let my body recover (especially considering the sprained ankle I suffered the week before Gulf Cost).  Of course, since you also know how I roll -- I ate some tasty food as well.  Gained a few pounds, sitting between 200-203.

I won't be doing daily/weekly updates as I did for Gulf Coast.  It was fun, but so time consuming and became a bit of a hassle to sit down and write so much.  So, I will continue to post but will not have as many specifics of my workouts, etc.  Just updates, thoughts, feelings, etc.

So the biggest change since Gulf Coast is that I finally stepped up and got a coach.  I have been going back and forth since last year, whether I should get a coach, and if so -- who?  One in Tally, one in another city, one over the internet, or just copy a generic training plan that other friends have used.  I fretted over this for months, back and forth.  Talked to various people who used different coaches/plans.  I knew my deadline for getting a coach was last week and I just about waited until the last second.  Probably imposed a lot of unnecessary stress on myself, but I really tend to analyze important issues from all angle before committing to something..  Ultimately, I decided to go with Revolutions: Triathlon Coaching.  They are here in town, have a bunch of experience, personable, coaching a lot of people for IMFL, I've known/used them for a while, reasonable rates, etc.  I have one main coach, but all four coaches are available and routinely work/chat with me.  So that is really cool.  This is my first week with them, and I am happy with the workouts/coaching so far.

Also -- Friday PM I was finally able to get my new bike frameset -- 2011 Felt B2 Pro with a Bayonett 2 fork.  Decked out in full ultegra.    Now I just have to come up with a name for her... Your Hotness, Decimator, Hateful Bitch?  Gotta think about that....  Taking her our in the am for a 2.5 hr ride. Will let you know how she does.

Ok, her name is Hateful Bitch.  Rides like a dream, smooth as silk, fast, very responsive, very stiff.  30% stiffer than my B12.  How stiff is that you ask?  Well, in going over a bump (which was no problem on the B12), that 30% caused my bar grips (which are normallly a little lose when wet) to completely twist around and cause my grip on the bar grips to disengage (i.e., I crashed).  Sacrificed my body to protect Hateful Bitch.  Now the stem is loose, and it being a Bayonett 2 front end, I had to take it back to the shop to be fixed.  I was going to have to tweak the fit anyway, but damnit-to-hell.

And that's not even showing my scraped up right knee (literally scraped up on all sides), and huge bruise on my left quad.  Oh well, I guess any crash you can walk away from (and in which case your frame is ok)....  move along here nothing to see...

I've been doing some calculations during my first week of training -- really focusing on weighing myself before and after exercise (and keeping track of how much I drink).  I have approximated the following ounces per hour that I sweat:  swim (32 oz), bike (30 oz), run (40oz).  Obviously it will depend on heat, humidity, effort, etc., but I've gotta say those numbers are higher than what I thought they would be.  I am going to have to keep this in mind and figure out what I need to do to stay hydrated and not go over 3% weight loss (otherwise performance suffers and bad things happen). 

Factoring that out over 11 hours at Ironman Florida is a shitload of sweat. (swim 1:15, bike 5:30, run 4:15 = 40 oz lost swimming, 166 oz lost biking, 170 oz lost running = total est sweat lost 376 oz (i.e., 23.4 pounds).  That is about 11% of my total body weight lost. 

At about 7%, one would normally collapse, at 10% one would go into a coma, and 11% -- die.  So I have to drink, but can't really go over 28-30 oz an hour (again, bad things would happen). 

So I drink 24 oz/hr (i.e., a bottle), over 11 hours puts me at 264 ounces.  Subtract not really drinkin on the swim, and probably not drinking 24 ounces/hr on the run, and I will guesstimate I will actually drink 225 oz (i.e., 14 pounds), which is 7% body weight loss -- which brings me to the verge of collapse.  Well now, this should be interesting....

Obviously I'm not a math major, and these numbers are very rough.  Nor am I factoring in solid/gels, or other bodily processes of eliminating... substances... but definately something I have to continuously ponder upon over the next few months.