Wednesday June 21, 2017 4:55 a.m

Good morning,

Sorry there was no blog on Monday. I was out of town for a few days and was unable to write. We went camping in the mountains. The weather was great, my dog Harley and I did a 14 km hike. As you can see, the beauty of his surroundings made him ponder his existence for a moment😁

It was a strange week of training. Everyday there was something coming up that made me have to be agile with my training schedule. I had to run where I would normally swim, worked late so I missed some bike rides. Got my long run in but it was cut short due to a thunder storm that rolled in. Nothing makes you run faster than trying to race home before the storm hits. (didn’t make it but my last 4 km splits were amazing)😉

My long ride on Saturday was going to be 4 hours. I, in my head at least, planned to do a longer ride but none of the guys had anything longer than 4 hours on their training schedule so I thought I would do the that instead. I got onto the bike and from km 1 my back was in spasms and my stomach was churning, very uncomfortable, like I ate something bad. The back spasms went away about 80 km into the ride but the stomach issues stayed most of  the day.  I pulled the plug at 93 km on Saturday for my ride. 3 hours and 40 minutes I think it was. Also, we had a strong head wind for the first half of the ride. We turned around somewhere around 46 km and had a nice tail wind back home. It was tough heading out but I look at pedaling into the wind like hill training. It’s good for you.

In all my years riding a bike I can’t think of one time where I had to deal with an upset stomach. This seemed to be a first. The only thing I could think of what caused it was that I changed my routine in the morning and tried a different type of drink on the bike.

When I get ready to do a long bike, a long run or a triathlon, I always have a bagel and a banana before I head out. Always. I have been doing that for decades. Not sure where I picked it up but have always done that as long as I can remember. Last Saturday I had some yogurt and granola and a banana. Not sure why I switched it up but I did. I also tried these fizz tablets in my water bottle. They are supposed to help keep electrolytes up. My water was fizzy but didn’t sit well.

Those are the only things I can think of that would have made my stomach upset. As for the back spasms, I think I just hadn’t been stretching properly. They went away on the bike and I have been focusing on my lower back during my yoga/stretching sessions. Not a problem since.

It is good to have these issues in training. Find out what doesn’t work now, not on race day. Needless to say I won’t be using those fizz tablets and I will be having a bagel and banana before my next long bike or run.

Sunday, I got a 3400 m swim in before we went camping. Felt good to get a long swim in on a Sunday. My last few Sundays at the pool have been cut short or canceled due to events at the pool.

So, what I am saying is that things get in the way so you adjust and mix up your training. We got home yesterday so this morning I am heading to the pool to swim. I will swim today and tomorrow, ride Thursday night and then on the weekend I head out to run in a 100 mile relay race. The K100. The team I run for has been doing this race for about 27 years in a row. I joined them in 2001. So Friday we head out, golf, try not to drink too much beer, run Saturday and then camp (drink beer) until Monday when we return home. No long ride or long swim this weekend. The leg I run is 14 km so I will get a good distance in this weekend plus it is hilly. LAZ is the guy who has organized this team for all those years. He is running legs 1 and 2 so he will put in over 30 km when it is all done. I will fill you in on this team next week.

Enjoy your day.