Long Ride And An Awesome Brick

  Like a Phoenix rising from the fiery ashes I have conquered this heat and a couple of hills as well. Not conquered exactly but me and the heat are finally on even terms. It's taken all summer to get here and now that I have arrived I think the temperatures are going to be slowly retreating for the next few weeks.
  Monday morning was a long ride out Parmer Lane again. I ended up getting in another 50 miles on the bicycle. It was hot and I went through bottles and bottles of water and Gatorade. I averaged about .7 mph slower than when I did the same ride a week before with Craig but I finished it feeling a whole lot better. It is such a nice and scenic ride out there I can't wait to do it again. I am starting to feel more confident about the Half Ironman distance the closer and closer I get to it.
  The next day I didn't get to the trail until the afternoon. I heard the temperatures peaked in Austin at about 107 degrees. I ran a 4 mile recovery run in that heat and although I could definitely feel it, it didn't feel like the heat got the better of me. I felt that I could have done more or gone faster if I was so inclined. Oh summer heat, just as I was finally getting used to your punishments you decide to back off. Not that I am complaining that we might have seen the end of 100+ degree days until next summer, I just am commenting on the fact that it has literally taken me all summer to get acclimated to the heat.
  I woke up Wednesday morning and was out the door and on my bike by 10:30. I did an inner city loop that totaled about 28 miles and went up and over Mt. Bonnell and up Mesa before returning home. The drop in temperature definitely helped. The climb going up the south side of Mt. Bonnell can be broken down into two parts. The first section is very steep but short. It has to be ridden standing up. The second half is longer and is still pretty steep but not as much so as the first part. I can finally ride that part in the saddle, which is a good sign that I am getting to be a stronger cyclist than the first few times I went up that dang hill. By the time I crested the top my legs were shot. The descent down was great because the first drop is so steep that if you lay off the brakes you can get up to 40 miles per hour. I can't help but yell out a booming, "WooHoo!!" when I reach those kind of speeds. The adrenaline pumping through the veins at that point helps to clear out all the lactic acid buildup in the quads, which is great because I still had to climb up Mesa after that. This time up Mesa I was able to stay in the saddle about 2/3 of the way up. The last 1/3 is just too steep. The descent down Far West is worth the climb if you can catch all of the green lights.
  I made it home, jumped off the bike, threw on the Nike's for an immediate 4 mile run. The first mile was tough but I found my breath and hit my stride on miles 2-4. I had the ipod going for a little extra help. I learned a trick from friend and coach, Amy, concerning music. When she hears Stairway to Heaven she does a speed workout right then and there no matter what based on the 4 sections of the song. I took her idea and combined it with a drinking game I learned from my friend Melissa out in California. Whenever the song Black Betty by Ram Jam comes on my run goes into to overdrive. While the vocals are going I have to sprint.  The song is basically instrumental with three sections of him singing, "Whoa! Back Betty, Bam-A-Lam!" over and over. It's great because the vocals are short enough to hold a full sprint the whole time but the instrumental section is long enough to recover. I love it. The drinking version is much more sadistic. I finished the brick feeling better than I have in a long time.
  Thursday's 4 mile recovery run was nice and easy with Tony and little Oskar. The little puppy, and Tony and I for that matter, were thankful for the cooler temperatures. I ended up seeing a lot of friendly faces out there. Craig was flying by on his run as was the amazing Amy. Joe and Heidi were chatting it up at the water coolers. I always see Senator Kirk Watson on the trail every Thursday morning as well. So if you live in the 14th district and want to holler at your State Senator he is on Town Lake running like the rest of us.