Fishing tomorrow through Thursday

Tomorrow I go to Yellowstone for a week of fishing (and hopefully catching!). I wanted to completely wear myself down this week, kind of like a crash week that I've read about, I guess. I got close. Had I been able to do a 40k bike followed by 5k run tonight as planned, I would be there. However, with 50mph gusts from a crazy front coming through, I decided I didn't want to chance getting blown into a car or simply blown over on my bike.

So the only workout today was the same lunch routine as yesterday....run to the gym for a swim (that sounds cool...run to the gym for a swim!). Today was only a 1x1000, but I swam it a it harder to see if I could maintain this new stroke technique I "found" on Tuesday. I held for everything but the last 100 yds. Came in at 7:30 and 7:50 for the 500 splits.

I wonder how this fishing trip will affect my endurance. I certainly need a bit of a break, after five weeks of pretty consistent (albeit non-morning) workouts. I have a 4 mile hike in and out, mostly flat, with a 35 pound pack (I'm guessing...have four days of food in there!). The walking around all day (literally fishing about 10 hours per day) should do some good. I'm pretty sure I"ll be in a calorie deficit the entire time (-500 cals/day?). Last year, I hiked ten days in the Sawtooths and I think it actually helped alot, in mid August for the September Bear Lake tri. That was mostly walking 8-10 miles per day with a pack, rather than fishing. But at this point, I'm ready to do some fishing and sleep under a full moon tomorrow night!

I get back Thursday, then Friday after work we head back up that way to Rexburg for the Rush Tri on Saturday morning. I see the lake for the swim every time coming back from Yellowstone and wonder what this race will be like. I know I have to get in a quick bike spin and easy two-mile run Thursday just to knock some rust off. This race has separate locations for the transitions, and I'm worried about how that's going to work out because I've never done one like that. Tera will be there to make sure my stuff gets to where it needs to be...she's awesome!

I realized I'm not going to hit the 20-60-40 goal this year. My bike has come down about six minutes on the 40k home course, and the run came down about a minute. My swim has lost about 1 minute for a 1500. Overall, I'm thinking I'll come in at 22-69-46 if I have an average race. The bike course has a big hill on it, so I'm thinking that might a couple minutes. I really think I could hit a 1:06 (66 minutes) on a flat course right now....there's just no flat courses in Idaho!

I'm thinking about the Portland Tri now too, the following week. How do I maintain fitness while not over-doing it for that race? I guess I'll just keep it short, with a few hard intervals thrown in, in each of the events. I'm not looking forward to the 9 hour drive, either. Plus, I have to go to North Dakota (12 hour drive each way!) for four days in between the races for my Mom's surgery. God is asking me to make some decisions on priorities in my life, I guess. The decisions are easy, though.

In any case, water temp in the Willamette was 72 degrees yesterday. If it's that warm in three weeks, I'm thinking of not wearing a wet suit. But it will be 58 degrees (avg morning temp every day of August in Portland is 58!), so coming out of the cold water and hitting the bike in 60 degrees or so might be too cold for me. Not sure. We'll see.

No posts til Thursday, and hopefully there will be a photo of a nice Yellowstone Cuttthroat to go with that one!