Vacation Training

I recently returned from vacation at the beach where I was able to take a break from my job and concentrate on some triathlon training. I was looking forward to training at the beach because the terrain would be exactly what I could expect at the ironman in November. The only downside for this trip compared to the upcoming race was the humidity. My long run for the week was supposed to be 14 miles, so I grabbed my ipod and a large bottle of gatorade and started running down the beach early in the morning. The plan was to go seven miles down the beach, turn around, and come back. Going out I was running into a headwind and the sun was at my back. The air was very muggy so I didn't mind the wind too much since it was helping me feel cooler. Within the first mile I was already soaked with sweat and the high humidity was not allowing very much evaporation to cool me down. By the time I got to the five mile point I had already drank more than half of the bottle I was carrying, and I knew if I kept going to seven miles before the turn around that I was going to be in trouble with staying hydrated. I decided to turn back at the five mile point and make my long run a ten miler instead. Once I turned around the wind was no longer blowing like a fan in my face and the sun was bearing down on me from the front. The last few miles were miserable as I could tell the humidity was taking its toll and I ran out of gatorade with a mile left. At least the bike rides that I went on didn't feel as humid as my runs. My long bike ride for the week was 60 miles. I mapped out my route and decided to stay on light to moderately traveled roads that were a little further inland from the beach. I was looking forward to seeing how well I could do on this ride because everything was flat just like the race will be. All my previous training rides back home had some hills, so there wouldn't be any opportunities to coast on the downhills this time. This would be constant pedaling and a lot of time in the aero bars. For the most part I think the ride went well, but I was surprised that my pace wasn't any faster than some of my previous rides that included hills. The one thing I did learn from this ride was that long rides with no hills require a lot more mental focus. The continuous stretches of flat road can really test your ability to fend off boredom from a lack of changing scenery. Doing my swim training was an even bigger battle against boredom. The condo we stayed at did have a pool for swimming laps, but it wasn't nearly as long as I would have liked it to be. I measured it the first day we got there so I would know how many laps I would need to do for each workout. It turned out to be 12 yards long which was less than half the distance I'm used to doing. Trying to swim a couple hundred laps without losing count was definitely a challenge, but it turned out to be less confusing than I thought it would be.