After lunch, I got to feeling really tired and even a bit weak. I left work early and figured I would be skipping my time trial ride tonight. When I got home, I pretty much collapsed into my bed and slept so hard for 2 hours straight that I didn't move a muscle. I felt unbelievably refreshed and decided to try my time trial anyway. There was quite a wind blowing so I convinced myself to keep my expectations low; not to mention that just a couple of hours earlier I was feeling quite drained.

It appeared that I had a headwind on the way out which is unusual but is the same thing that happened on this course a couple of weeks ago. I was moving so well that I kept thinking that the wind would not be as strong coming back as it was the last time I rode the course - but I was wrong. 23:50 for the trip out and a blistering 22:11 for the return trip for a total of 46:01 (26.1mph). This was only 40 seconds off my record time, 12 seconds faster than a couple of weeks ago and 50 seconds faster than a month ago when I rode just my new aero wheel (with much less wind that day as well). I rode my standard road race wheels and this definitely convinced me that the slowness I felt with my new aero wheels in training and at Langley Pond was not just in my head. I am pretty stoked right now about Duathlon Nationals next week.

I opted to skip my lunch swim today. I convinced myself that I was way ahead on training for the week - which was easy to do after spending all morning conducting a training class at work.

Lunchtime was my focal workout…an 8-mile run with my 6-mile tempo run in the middle. I did this course quite a bit last year but have only done it once or twice early this year. I had been running 4 and 5-mile tempo runs instead on other courses and I think this was one factor in my feeling 'slow'. After stepping up my running the last few weeks, I felt ready to test myself against a familiar course. My PR for the course was a 5:51 pace on one of those days where for no particular reason, I felt God-like. More reasonably, I typically ran right at 6:00 pace when I was running well.

I was hoping to get close to 6:00 pace today - especially since I would be running in my long-distance race shoes. I have always run this course in my heavy trainers but today I had to use a different pair of shoes since I had to leave my trainers at home to run back into work tomorrow morning (oh, the logistics of running and riding to work). I kept the pace just barely outside of comfortable for the first mile when my watch beeped '5:35'. I knew instantly that it was going to be a good run if I could keep from blowing up. I finished the run with a 5:48 pace. Awesome. I was spent but not exhausted.

To complete my 'triathlon day' I met the group for the Tuesday night shop ride. I rode my TT bike and even though my legs were a bit fatigued, I kept a moderately high effort level for most of the ride. I even kicked up the pace 3 or 4 times up some of the long grades. Dan met me at the ride and we basically set tempo for the group. We turned off the group on the way back in and headed home - finishing with a 21mph average and 40 miles. A great training day.

Since everyone's training is so different, I didn't know what to expect so to be on the safe side - and to be sure I pushed my limits a bit today - I decided to do a 10-mile run beforehand. My TYB teammate Jonathan Sowinski agreed to meet me to run a 7:00 pace but after warming up the first couple of miles we actually settled into about a 6:40 pace. We even decided to kick the last mile and ran a 5:57. I was very happy considering that made an even 50 miles of running for the week and the effort I had put in yesterday

I hopped in my car and met Sione a half hour later. She was looking to do a moderately hard pace for 120k. A few miles into the ride, I could tell that cycling was a strength of hers. Since she only had her TT bike with no climbing gears, I tried to keep the ride relatively flat but at times that was tough and we still managed to hit a few short but tough hills. I managed to make up the ride route completely on the fly heading out and around Woodruff and finishing the ride with 122k (about 76 miles). We encoutered almost zero traffic and rode the entire ride side-by-side. It was a very steady and quick pace. The wind - which was absent for the first half of the ride - was blowing right into our faces the last 20 miles. We still managed a 19.5 mph pace and I was certainly happy to finish the week off this way. Unlike a lot of triathletes (unfortunately), Sione was not just fast, but a very skilled rider who had no problem riding inches apart - occasionally even bumping handlebars. We talked about just about everything and I enjoyed her stories about the Netherlands and New Zealand where she spent some time. If we can make it work out, we plan to train a few more times together in the coming weeks.

When we were finished I cleaned up and hopped on my bike for a 30-mile ride that included a 20-mile time trial. The time trial was a little slow but the loop I was doing was not really conducive to a fast time because the wind was a tailwind on the downhill side which made most of the gradual climb directly into a headwind.

I managed a 24.4mph pace for the distance and when I finished, I made a quick change and toook off on a 4-mile run. The entire first mile was gradually downhill and I was tired…a 6:35 mile. Almost immediately, I started to get my running legs under me and the second mile felt pretty easy and yet it was a 6:25. It was amazing how my body was reacting. Mile 3 was a 6:07. The last mile was now all slightly uphill and I hit it hard. I felt great and watched my pace on my Garmin sink further and further down. I hit the 4-mile mark with a 5:48 and I felt had enough left in the tank for at least another mile or two but my workout was over

Another good open-water swim tonight. I am nothing if not consistent. I think the last 4 open-water swims I have done have been between 1500 and 1700 meters and my pace has been within a second or two per 100m. At least I am feeling really comfortable in the water. In my continued effort to 're-ignite' my running prior to some big races coming up, I got out of the lake, threw my shoes on and ran 3 miles at full pace. I ran a 5:49 pace which was excellent with a couple of gradual hills and my heavy trainers. Hopefully this is a good sign.

This situation gave me the perfect excuse to try my first ever lunchtime swim. Now that my gym was a bit closer, I could make it there in about 10 minutes -and that's what I did - and I'm glad I did. It was just a 30 minute swim, but I swam the entire 30 minutes at a moderate tempo. It felt good and I felt pretty strong.

I got stuck at work a few extra minutes at the end of the day so I wasn't going to make it to the Donaldson World Championships on time…I opted to meet the Carolina Tri group instead and made the short ride over there just as they were pulling out of the parking lot. It was not as hard a ride as Donaldson, but I picked 4 spots on the ride where I kicked it 100% for a few mintues. I finished by riding home and ended up with 41 miles at 21 mph.

I had myself down for a tempo run today and decided at luchtime that I would do it at the end of the day by running home from work and sticking a 6-mile effort in the middle. This was a good plan since the run now became my transportation AND it forced me to get a few extra miles. After about 3 miles of warmup, I took off and ran the next 6 miles at 6:04 pace. I had told Janis that I might call her to pick me up (since I really didn't want to run a full 13 miles) and I did. She met me a mile later as I continued to run towards home giving me 10 miles for the day.