We were up at 5AM and I was not too thrilled.  In Tucson all the local state pools open on April the first.   We got up early to take over the local pool.   I knocked out 2500yds in the pool and started feeling much better.  My mojo was coming back and I felt like I was in a good position this week.  

After the swim we went back to the hotel for breakfast and to grab or gear for the bike today.  Today is a recovery day....but the two rides we had to choose from were a 40K and 40 miler.   Gordo said I should do the 40 miler.  And so it was done.  :(

There were lots of fast folks in the 40 miler group which has been named the "peppy" group.   My tactic was to sit on the back and draft as much as possible.   Well, as soon as we hit the hills up over the gates pass a group of three of us came off the back.   We regrouped at a stop sign after flying down the hills moving around 30mph.  At the stop sign we split into two groups and the first group (my group) took off with a 45 sec lead, and the second group was going to chase us down.  This is not what I call recovery.  We headed out pulling hard and running the pace line and never got caught riding around 28-29mph (tail wind?).  We held off the fast boys.  Oh, you could not drop any riders to win the so the entire group had to be there.

The pace was much friendlier on the way back.   I dropped off the back with Dan P. for the last 4-5 miles to recovery from all the hard efforts during the 40 mile recovery ride today.

After the ride we headed up to the snack room and filled up on chips, salsa, fruit, turkey, and.... all that good stuff.

I’m thinking about running in a few hours.  We'll see.

Craig Nicholson

We rolled out around 7:30AM, and got to the base of the climb around 8:30PM.   After a quick group check we headed up the mountain everyone finding their own pace.  I started riding with Jeff again today, and he gave me a plan of attack.  "Do the first 30min at a heart rate of X (some comfortable value) and try and raise the HR 5 beats every 30mins.   At this point I backed off and tried to keep the HR as low as possible. 

The first 10 miles was spectacular with cacti and rocks, and views of Tucson.  The first 10 miles was also tough.  At 10 miles I was ready to quite.   But there was the sag vehicle and I got a power bar, and was told a few people were just up the road.  We all love a challenge to chase someone down.

The percent grade eased up a bit after mile 10 with more switch backs and I kept pushing forward.  It was around mile 11 or 12 where I finally went into my last gear (39/26).  I do not recommend this climb on a tri bike.   I finally had to put my head down and keep pushing.  I think I quite mentally at mile 10 and mile 15, and at mile 18 the roads got steeper and I just sprinted up one hill.  Bad mistake!   I recovered and kept counting down the mile markers.  Finally I hit mile marker 20 and just kept pushing and made it to the top with a big green elevation sign letting me know I was at 8000 Ft.

The one thing I learned today was let the mountain come to you.  The percent grade will dictate the workload.

After the ride back into town, by myself, I found the park dropped of my bike and me and Jeff S. ran 5K in the park.   I was pretty much shot after this ride and run.  Not enough food.  It's tough to eat trying to ride up a mountain and coming back to town I only had water.   Next time I'll take two bottles with some calories vs. only having one bottle.
I ate a PBJ, drank a sprite and a can of V8 and still felt shelled.

We packed our gear and drove to a pool where I swam for about 30-45 minutes.   I have no idea of the yards.   This was a very tough day for me.   I’m lovin’ it!

Peace out  :0

Craig Nicholson