Lake Superior Swim

 Last minute announcement of a Lake Superior swim. It was such a fabulous morning. A little fog, no wind, upper 60's. The water was lower 60's but probably the same as the other lakes earlier this year. One of the reasons I like living here.

A Triathlon...Sort of

 A local friend wanted to do his own personal 70.3, so I decided to join him for the swim. I had a longer bike on the training schedule as I slowly ramp up to my first century ride, so I would do that alone and although I have started running again some, I am nowhere near capable of a half marathon.

There were 3 of us that did the swim today. It was flat calm out there and a good day to swim. The water is getting warm enough now that I am actually getting a little warm in my full sleeve wetsuit. I might need to use my sleeveless next time.

The 75 mile bike totally sucked.

I didn't feel good the entire ride. It started right away with my stomach just not feeling right and that lasted most of the ride. The last hour I just had nothing.

The weather was warm in the low to mid 80's for much of the ride. Being from Duluth, that is HOT, and much warmer than I am used to. I am 99% sure I am just super dehydrated. I just didn't drink enough before the swim and in transition and I just couldn't seem to get enough water while biking.

I figured I did 2 legs of a triathlon I should at least do some amount of running and finish it. I figured 1 mile was PLENTY! So just an out and back from my car. It was so hot. I was tempted to jump into the lake to cool off prior to my run. But honestly this would be a perfect triathlon for me. Medium swim, long bike, and a 1 mile run, all with untimed transitions!

It was fun and I am glad I did it. Keep learning.

Beautiful Morning for a Swim

 A few of us gathered at Skeeter's cabin on Shultz Lake for an open water swim, followed by a pot luck breakfast. It was the most amazing morning yet for a swim. Calm waters, warm temps, and good people. The time in the water is just an escape from the pressures of life, and chatting with friends and sharing a socially distant meal brings about a small sense of normalcy.

Turtles!

 I see a lot of wildlife on the road when I am biking. Birds, rodents, deer and even a bear. But today was the first time I have ever seen a turtle. I didn't see one I actually saw THREE. Two were right near each other trying to cross the road, and the third was probably 3 miles further down the road. Big snapping turtles it turns out.

Open Water Swimming

 Well the ice is off the lakes, and the water temp is kinda warm enough to start swimming. With the pools still closed due to COVID, I gotta get my swimming in however I can. There is a small group of local athletes that are going to get together 2-3 days a week to open water swim at the various lakes.

So far it has been Pike Lake and Island Lake, but we hope to hit a couple of others including Lake Superior this summer.

It is actually nice to get out and talk to real people and not just via Zoom or Teams meetings. I do 99% of my training alone anyway, but with COVID, my interactions with others has been limited, so this is good for me.

100k Ride

I wanted to get a 100k ride in at some point. Last weekend I hit the wall at 45 miles so I just quit at 56. This weekend I took more nutrition and ate more often and that helped A LOT. I didn't hit a wall like I did last weekend. I got pretty tired the last 10 miles, but still felt good.

Saw a bear today on my ride and only got stopped by 1 train!

Bonk

 Well after 9 holes of golf and mowing the lawn yesterday my groin muscle is not happy at all. So with golf out of the question, no running either, I guess I will go for a bike ride.

The weather was fantastic! 60's the whole time, light winds out of the southeast. Really can't ask for better weather. My goal was to go out for a 50-60 mile ride. Knowing I haven't ridden this far in 7 months I tried to take it a bit easier and used HR as the way to keep myself in check. Did pretty good for the most part.

I tried some new to me roads today and for the most part I liked them. I got stopped by a train 3 times. I cross 4 sets of RR tracks 2 times in the out and back route I took. Oh well, risk you take.

The last 10 miles I was fading fast. I was having a hard time putting out any sort of power and just ran out of energy. Now I know what a Bonk feels like. Wow. I guess I need to eat more during these rides.