Friday, March 6, 2009

Keeping it Weird in Austin

Even though this winter has been a bit drier than normal in Seattle I jumped at the chance to spend 11 days in Austin, training more and working a reduced schedule remotely – basically the same approach as last summer’s Boulder trip.

I’ve been feeling a bit flat on a lot of the workouts.  I got dropped on the Austin Tri-Cyclist taco ride last Saturday, although I hope that a part of that was sleep deprivation from my early flight the day before.  My Sunday ride felt pretty weak, too, but it was hella windy out here so maybe that had something to do with it.  Even with the wind, the weather here in Texas has been fantastic.  Sunny every day and high temperatures in the 80s more often than not!

I was quite disappointed to learn that Barton Springs is closed for annual cleaning for the entirety of my trip.  They actually closed three days before I got here and they’ll reopen three days after I leave!  I did two swims at Deep Eddy – a *long* one with a wetsuit and a short, frigid attempt on Monday morning.  62 degree water + 58 degree air == a short swim!

I had a nice ride on Wednesday morning on one of my favorite loops: Southwest Parkway – 71 – Hamilton Pool Road – Old Fitzhugh – 290 – Nutty Brown – South MoPac, more or less.  I was unsure of my legs during the warm-up hour but once I hit the first interval I felt good.  It was fantastic to roll out at 7:30 AM under sunny skies with just arm warmers & leg warmers.

My running has felt flat most of the time but I had a surprisingly strong effort last night.  About 8 of us left the shop at 6pm expecting to run 7.5 miles easy … George suggested 7:00/mile pace but Pat Darragh and I were probably the most guilty offenders in pushing the pace just a little bit harder.  Heh… We whittled the group down to just three – Pat and me and Tim Sandfort, who I raced with at the Age Group Worlds in Madeira in 2004.

As expected, a lot of great eating has occurred on this trip – Rudy’s BBQ, Tacodeli, Havana, Taco Cabana … of course a stop at the flagship Whole Foods … but I still need to find time for some Amy’s Ice Cream and a bit more Tex Mex.

One tough part of “camping” in Austin as opposed to Boulder is that there are both an upside and a downside to knowing a bunch of folks in town.  It is great to see everybody and to catch up a bit but I haven’t been sleeping as much as I should.  I’ve kept the beer to a minimum, actually cutting it out completely after Monday, but my recovery hasn’t been quite what I’d like.  I am probably not eating enough.  I am getting some large meals in but not enough smaller in-between meals and snacking.  Maybe I’ll go find a snack right now!

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