update

Last Friday I rode 45 miles right after work in furnace like heat. It was the hottest ride of the season. Water becomes so important in heat training. I think I needed a bit more - I got home, sat down for a while, and when I stood up my vision turned to a swirling paisley print. Pretty cool design really, not sure how my brain did it, but I stood motionless in the living room and concentrated on the pre-fainting paisley pattern until it passed. That's some hot weather!

Saturday I got in a quick 1,000 yards at the Y. I was short on time so I knocked out two quick 500 yard free's max effort. Felt pretty strong. My breathing felt clear, effortless. A good sign.

Sunday was the Indiana State Road Race championship - a cycling event. My first real road race since I was about 16 years old. It was rainy, the course was wet. There was literally a line for the ambulance at the end of the race. People were crashing all over the place. I was almost tangled up in a guy losing control going through a turn...I watched him perfectly plant his face in the ditch on the side of the road. Another time there were several bikes suddenly down in front of me - I pulled hard to the left to avoid the bodies and bikes but noticed there were more bikes than bodies. Later I learned the missing owner of the bike was found thrown into the 6' tall corn field with a broken collar bone. Ouch. I just staying in the draft, kept my eyes on the situation, and waited for the sprint. I finished somewhere in the top 20 out of 40 or so guys I suppose. I was well positioned going into the final stretch but was dropped on the sprint by several people. Good times. I told my boss about this race and he's once again worried about my judgement.

Last night I ran 10 miles. Good run, good temperature finally. I'm feeling horribly under-trained. Time goes so fast - and it takes so much time to get to Ironman level. September 12th is right around the corner!