The Smell of perpetuem makes me want to cry

Resistance is futile...I mixed my first batch of Perpetuem since Ironman Canada '04. It is foul. I didn't even mix it the hard core paste way, as I couldn't remember the formula - and still, just the smell of it made me nauseous. I went online to look for the paste formula, and I was delighted to discover that there is a new UNFLAVORED VERSION of the stuff! Hooray! Of course I have two giant canisters of the old stuff already, but maybe I can pawn it off on someone (I don't think I will ever regain the taste for it).

The "Double Brick Preview" was today - a short five hour workout. Ahhh....Ironteam. As Judy is fond of saying, "this isn't the 'Sugar Team'!" This adventure required mixing the aforementioned Perpetuem, getting up at 5:45 a.m. (just like a workday!), and then hauling all my crap and myself 35 miles across the Bay to Danville, in the far reaches of the East Bay. Did I mention it's been snowing in Northern California? (I know all you Boston and NYC people are thinking, "oh, you poor, poor soft CA hippie babies" - but seriously, it's been really cold.)

I'd also like to point out that this exercise required missing (MISSING ENTIRELY) the Prologue stage of the Tour of California. Yes, that's right. Missing Chris Horner (my precious Little Debbie), Bobby Julich, Levi Leipheimer... the best of the bunch. We saw the Discovery and CSC teams out riding while we were running yesterday, but that doesn't quite cut it for me. However....I took one for the team (literally...and for me) and did what I was supposed to do by going to the workout. I'll stop being bitter tomorrow.

Before even leaving home, I went to top off my tires with air and broke the stem off the rear wheel's tube. Awesome. Not even 6:30 a.m. and it's time to change a tire. Which means I need to know Where. The. Spare. Tubes. Are. Located.

Umm. Right. No idea. I tore my house apart (the clock was now ticking down towards departure time) looking for them. Finally found them in my closet. Parked next to the Murdered Heartrate Monitor. Which caused me to think "gosh, why do I still have this thing, I really need to just suck it up and throw it away." So I turned it over.

AND IT'S WORKING.

It has risen from the dead! I really couldn't process what to do with this information, so I set it down and left. Will wonders never cease.

So, the workout (I might take this opportunity to mention I have not been on my bike in three weeks). Set 1: Half the group got on trainers and we rode in the Andronico's parking lot for 80 minutes (This included me, because I still had to change the tire on my road wheel; the trainer wheel was fine.) Coach Tom led the workout and called out various forms of punishment, including plenty of single leg spinning, 110 RPM sets, and hardest gear, out-of-the-saddle climbs. Even with all this effort, it was still freezing cold. The first swigs of Perpetuem did not go down easily, but after a while I remembered how to grit my teeth and swig it. Disgusting.
Set 2: We went for a 40 minute run, right off the bike. Actually, I went for a 25 minute run. Everyone else ran 40.
Set 3: Onto the bike (with the newly changed rear tire), out on the road. A short 29 mile jaunt through rural CA...saw some cows, some sheep, etc. Averaged 16.3 mph, fastest 30 mph. Feel pretty good about that. Core training is amazing - in two weeks, I can already feel a difference. Perpetuem sucks. Think we saw hottie Chris Lieto (pro triathlete who lives in the East Bay and won Ironman Canada last year) fly by going about 35 mph.
Set 4: Back on the run. Everyone ran 40 minutes. Heather and I changed into warm clothes and went to buy a sandwich at Andronico's. Yum. This is when I love taper!

The Double Brick is meaningful because it originates in the same parking lot from which we'll launch the Triple Brick a month before our Ironman (for me, in late June). The Triple Brick is a 2 hour bike ride, then a 50 minute run. Repeated three times (total time: 9 hrs. 90 mile ride, 18 mile run. Booyah!) (oh, and it will be about 95 degrees...so we'll all be reminsicing fondly on how cold it was today.) The first Iron season, the idea of the Triple scared the shit out of me. Now that I've survived it once, I know it's a long day, but it's doable, and it's some of the greatest bonding the team has all year. I am sure that will be the case again come June 25.

Rest of the week (for my fan Heather Aronson, newly converted to tri and training for her first Olympic distance race, I will stop writing in reverse order)
Monday 2/13 - having fully recovered from Hangover 2006, I did core training at lunch, thus launching Week Two of Commitment to Core.
Tues 2/14 - ah, yes, Valentine's Day. Damn fools. I ran 4 1/2 miles in the freezing cold after work.
Weds 2/15 - last hard track workout before my race. It was actually so difficult I emailed Wayne ahead of time to make sure he had not made a typo. (OF COURSE NOT.) Rhian is a goddess and did the entire thing with me (made all the more goddess-able because, again, it was a damp, cold 38 degrees or so, with a blistering wind whipping in from the Pacific.)
30 min warmup, followed by a 2x800 L7 (with 400 jog in between each), then 4x1600 at L7 (MUST, please dear god, MUST be a typo), with 400 in between, then a 15 min cooldown. If we'd run it exactly as he wrote it, it would have been ELEVEN MILES of speedwork on the track. The man is insane (if things go as I hope, I will say he is a genius). We cut the warmup short to 22 min, and did 3x1600 instead of 4...by then it was getting really, really cold, and my muscles were seizing up. So, we did 9 miles of speedwork. Freaking maniac.
Thurs 2/16 - core training at lunch. Ran in the water for 50 minutes after work. Koret water is finally warm again. Feeling great. Hungry all day from Weds night efforts.
Fri 2/17 - planned to swim at lunch. Pouring, pouring rain. No desire to get soaking wet walking to pool, swimming outdoors, and walking back in pouring rain. Stay inside and feel grumpy about skipping workout.
Sat 2/18 - Long run. Supposed to run 12-14. Run 10-11 instead, down the Embarcadero, with John G and John Fry's wife: Aquatic Park, Ferry Building (where we saw CSC and Discovery), to the Giants stadium, out through China Basin, and back. Five February babies (of the ten on our team) celebrate with Irish Coffees afterwards. So much for no drinking.