Back to a typical Friday/Saturday

Friday AM swim
6 x 500's - easy
These were untimed as I'm still trying to give myself a mental break from racing and goals

Total yardage - 3000

PM Spin - 1 hour...getting lost while watching LOST
This spin felt incredible easy....as it should have since was a recovery spin for my legs. BUT my avg HR was much lower then typical rides/spins at that wattage. My HR avg'd 129 and only maxed at 143 while I held an avg of 146 watts very easily with a max of 177. 177 should have spiked my HR higher, but yet it didn't. I almost question if my HR monitor was working correctly.

Saturday night - in bed by 10pm. This is rather sad and pathetic. Here it is, my off season...maybe I should be out livin' it up? Ah, but I had plans to run with a friend the next morning and when all is said and done I heart running more then drinking and partying.

Saturday LSD Run -
I met my buddy for his last LSD run before the PDX marathon. I mapped out a route that if I "ran" into issues (IE leg/muscular) I could easily shorten the run from 17 to 15, or 10 or 8. We started along the waterfront and did the Sellwood loop - 8 miles, nice easy and flat. My shins started out a little irritable but by the time we finished the loop they felt ok. From there we got a little hill work in as we ran up through downtown Portland and on and up to the Twilliger Curves. Up to this point we had been running in light rain. As soon as we started the ascent up Twilliger it started to down pour. I'd say it rained pretty hard for 30-45 minutes. I found the rain to be annoying but the pleasant company made it tolerable. I think the hills took a toll on my calves because I felt them yelling at me on our descent from downtown to the waterfront. At this point I figured it was probably good to the call the run a day and be happy that I got a good solid 15.5-16 mile run in...pretty much effortlessly. Along the run I tested out a new run top - Skins "compression" long sleeve top. Now I quote compression because that is what the company markets it as, I on the other hand find nothing compressive about this garment or any of their garments for that matter. Skins is just Lycra. It's not circled knit IE compression. For the most part I enjoyed running in it. It was body hugging (lol, compressive..note: sarcasm) but it didn't promote posture benefits as it should have. As I took my top off at the car I realized the whole lower back side on my back (right on my tail bone) was chaffed....REALLY, REALLY bad. It looks like a cat clawed my back. Skins puts a gripper on the bottom of the shirt to keep the top in place. If it was a real compression garment it would not need a gripper. The chaffing is horrible and hurts every time I sit or lay again anything. It doesn't help it's right where my pants hit my backside. I intended on taking an ice bath when I got home BUT I stayed in wet clothing (sports bra & shorts) for way too long. I stopped by the store to pick up a few things, one of said things should have been ice. I was walking around for so long in wet clothing I got really chilled. I actually envisioned tossing the roasted chickens aside and laying down on the heat lamp at Fred Meyer, then I thought security might get involved. Instead I opted for my heated car seats and a 45 minute hot bath. I'm finally defrosted :)...yet still chaffed :( ...but I had a badass run in the rain with another athlete, so life is good.