July 14: A Great Day

It's 8:43pm, and I'm outta daylight.  With Blodgett Pool closing at 10 and it's staff probably already urging people to leave the water, tonight's 40' swim will have to wait.

Because I am exhausted (finally!) here's the day in bullet points.

Kashi Heart to Heart; pitted Washington cherries;
Greek yogurt; walnut halves

- Good Breakfast
- Lovely run-in with an old friend in Harvard Square, she shouted my name as I rode by
- Delicious iced coffee from Crema, in liu of a pastry
- Started ride on Minuteman Trail.  First thought: this is boring.
- Three guys with really nice bikes and matching jerseys pass me on my first lap, I ask if I can ride with them, they say sure.  Thanks!
- Didn't draft in their line for first 1/4 of ride (tiring) to get a feel for their riding style, pace, etc.
- Hopped in, led the line 2 or 3 times, some gorgeous rolling roads and a few fun friendly dashes up hills.
- Chatting each other up about rowing, the future, their team.
- They ride as part of the Team Water.org, endurance athletes in support of a non-profit organization created by Matt Damon and Gary White to provide safe drinking water to people in developing countries.
- It's a really swell cause, and these guys are good people and fun to ride bikes with.
- After the ride, thanked them for letting me tag along, looking forward to more rides with them.
- Felipe's in Harvard Square for the original Rocket Fuel, the Super Burrito w/chicken, black beans, rice, lettuce, salsa, guac and hot sauce.  No cheese.

The meal that started it all... since Matt Carey and I
slammed them before racing to 6th (8th, penalty)
in the Champ 2x at '09 Head of the Charles

- On way to CRI to lift, looked at HR monitor info from ride.  avg HR 156 (uh oh) max HR 198 (!!!).  That's close to my max.  That is my max.  On a bike.  As long as it's once a week this is exactly what I've been missing.  Very fun to be drafting as well, just overall a great ride on a perfect day.
- A little fatigued.  Finally.
- PT appointment at 5 (my hamstrings almost failed. Almost), then to Riverside to lift, and do some visualization on the sliding erg (no handle).
- Got home at 8:30, so no pool.
- GU Brew is amazing.  Simply amazing.  There is no way I would be able to do this volume without it.  After 200' on the bike yesterday I actually felt stronger with each passing lap of 100' in the pool, had some Brew in between 40', 30', 30' segments.
- 6.3 hrs total training volume today.

GU Brews: Electrolyte and Recovery