Hottest Day of Year..In Chicago

Good morning.

Today will be the hottest day of the year in Chicago. The humidity is way up there. I am debating if I should do my long run today or tomorrow. I will do an open water swim tomorrow at Ohio St Beach and I could run after that. Ohhh, decisions, decisions.

Sunday I will ride again with the Chicago Tri Club. We have a nice 38 mile rolling hills route in Buffalo Grove. Plus it's fun to meet new people.

Yesterday's training consisted of a 2050 swim at XSport Fitness. I had a 500 yard increasing pace warm up and finished in 9:32. This was my fastest to date and I swam at a comfortable pace. At least it felt comfortable.

Then I swam 3X500 at race pace with 20 seconds rest between sets. Twenty seconds ain't long my friends. The funny thing is, my race pace is hardly faster than my warm up pace. And considering the extra effort expended is it really worth knocking yourself out to save 20-30 seconds per 500 yard effort. During a 1/2 Ironman I would only save about 2 minutes. The result would be extreme fatigue.

There is a saying in triathlon: "You can't win the triathlon during the swim, but you can lose it."

So, the swim was a great workout.

Later in the day I got on my bike and stayed inside on my trainer. Sometimes I like to watch the evening news as I train. I basically went 16 miles in one hour and incorporated various drills along the way.

Have a great day and weekend.


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" Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."

* It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before... to test your limits... to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” - Anais Nin