It's the Little Things...

It was a great weekend for training in Chicago! The weather was absolutely beautiful, and I was ready to roll! Since I skipped Friday night's swim session, I needed to make up for it somehow. They say if you miss a day, don't double-up the next day. But I did anyway. What the heck?

Saturday morning, I took the bike out for a long ride. Before I started, I noticed that the tires seemed a little low, so I tried to pump them up a little more. I don't know if I shared this before, but I have had issues getting my pump to work properly with these tires. It's a dual-headed pump, with one side for regular tire nozzles and the other for small nozzles. You're supposed to lock in the nozzle that fits your tire, and then rotate the head to lock it into place. Well, I tried this several times... and even though it would lock into place, the air would blow out the other nozzle every time I pumped. The only way I could get air into the tire was by putting my finger over the other free nozzle head. Of course, this wasn't extremely effective, but it allowed me to get enough air in to where I thought I was OK.

So I rode. And I did well! But it was frustrating that I wasn't going as fast as I had on previous rides, and it seemed that each trip out was getting harder and harder to pedal. Hmmm... I thought... maybe I ought to take it into the bike shop.

After my ride, I loaded my bike in the car (along with my pump), and headed to the gym for a swim. The swim was a shorter distance (1200m), but was definitely challenging. I did 100m warm up, then 10x50 drills (different exercises for each 50m), then 5 consecutive 100m lengths at various training intensities (TI2, TI3, TI4, TI3, TI2 - NO BREAKS!), then a 100m cool-down. I tell you what, swimming a full-out sprint for 100m (TI4), is brutal! Even though I wasn't supposed to take any breaks, I have to admit that I paused for some much needed gasping a few times in the back half of that session!

After swimming, I took the bike over to the bike shop, and learned a couple key things...

1. If it seems like your pump isn't working right, it probably isn't.
2. If it feels like your tires feel kind of flat, and it's harder to pedal than it should be, they probably are low on air.

It turns out that my tires were only filled at the 40-50 PSI range, when the recommended PSI for these tires is 120! And my ineptitude with the pump wasn't user error - it truly was a broken pump. I guess this is what they call the 'learning curve'. I bought a new pump, and I CAN'T WAIT to try the bike with full tires!

On Sunday, I went to the forest preserve and ran for an hour. The paths along the Des Plaines River are absolutely beautiful! I want to run there all the time! We'll have to go back there with the mountain bikes and explore, too. Chicagoland has so much to offer!

Monday was a rest day. Today was supposed to be a short run (40 minutes), but I was traveling and didn't get out of bed early enough to work it in. I'll try to run tomorrow morning and swim tomorrow night.

And in case you're wondering... my neck is improving slowly but surely, although still far from 100%. I'm hoping by this time next week that I'm back to normal. Wish me luck! I'll keep you posted...