Life as a Pro

Well, I've been down in SoCal for the past 8 days but only living life as a pro triathlete for the past four days. Last Friday, I drove down to San Clemente to hang out with my friend and for four days, all I did was play volleyball and swam 3500 yards.  On Monday night, I drove down to San Diego to stay with some other friends and begin my four days of living life as a pro triathlete.  On Tuesday morning, I rode 2.5 hours on the PCH [Pacific Coast Highway] and felt great.  It's flat and fast and you can stay in the aerobars almost the entire time and mash the big gears, it felt very much like I was doing a workout on the trainer.  Then is was off the pool for my hardest swim session of the season.  I worked out with the masters team at the Boys & Girls Club in Solana Beach. What I realized from this group is that my masters team is way too easy.  Our last set to make it 4000 yards plus was 10 x100 on the 1:10 with the first 25 of every 100 non-free...yeah right, I was thinking in my head.  The amazing thing was that not one single swimmer complained, got out of the pool, warm-downed early, or appeared to be thinking what I was thinking.  The masters team is hardcore and if I wanted to be fast in the water again, I need to follow their lead. There was no way I was going to make 10 so I put my paddles and buoy on and strapped my feet with a band.  I made all 10 averaging 1:04 but Rob, the guy next to me, did the real set going 25 fly-75 free and made them all on the 1:10.  I was also happy to make it through the entire workout without cramping since I rode beforehand.  After a couple hours of rest, I was off to the track to do a speed workout with the San Diego Tri Club.  Having not run in 7 days, I was either going to feel tapered or sluggish.  The group was a bit somber and there was very little interaction even though there were 20+ people.  I got the sense it wasn't really a team environment but more like a group of drop-in folks because true teammates are always yapping to delay the workout.  The plan was to do 4 x 1200 on like 5:00. I ended up doing 3 because I didn't want to push too hard my first run back and did an extended warm-down.  I held 4:05, 4:09, and a 4:08, my fastest 1200's of the season [also my only 1200's of the season].  The next day was another ride on the PCH, this time 3:45 and lots more of grinding the big ring.  Then it was off to another swim workout.  The theme was sprints and IM and I ended up doing my fastest 200 IM of the season, a 2:27 push start. Yesterday was a crazy run on some desolate mountain south of San Diego.  I didn't see a single sole for 70 minutes and thoughts like rattlesnake, mt. lion, twisted ankle, dehydration, and walking constantly crossed my mind.  I felt low on calories as soon as I started the run but negotiated with myself to run at whatever pace as long as I got the 75 minutes in.  As I climbed and climbed and climbed up this mountain, I soon decided that I was going to make it to the top regardless if my run were to go over 75 minutes.  85 minutes later, I roll back to the car, totally bonked and dehydrated.  That's what I get for running in the noon time heat carrying no water.  Somehow, I never seem to learn this lesson as I've done this many times before.  Today was just a swim and I definitely felt worst than the past two days of swimming.  I got invited to do a 12 mile run tomorrow starting at 6:00 am, WTF?  I guess I won't be living the life of a pro triathlete tomorrow.  I've set a goal to make it but told the guy not to wait if I'm not there at 6:00 am.  He then asked me to do a group ride with him on Sunday starting at 6:00 am, WTF deux? Once again, I told him, I'll pencil it in but to not wait for me.  The pic is of me with the mountain I scaled in the background.