Crazily Hot!

On Friday evening I noticed that the sky was clear. Few streams of clouds that were made pinkish red by the setting sun made it a beautiful sight. A beautiful sight it was the next day as well. A few huge clouds here and there to start off the morning and as it got nearer mid morning, the sun was powerful, as if daring me to go on pedaling on my 200km bike routine.


I had started on small chain ring but the HR just would not go up. Not till a group of cyclists went past me. That was the 80km mark. Already. I decided to make a dash pass their leader and maintained the lead for a while till their breakaway group drafted a truck and sped past me.


But it was the heat that really got into me. By 130km I was all hot and sticky and could doze off on the bike! This had never happened before and got me to start looking for a toilet to get water to pour over myself. There was a toilet with bathing facilities and I stood in the shower to soak myself. The water quickly evaporated after a while and the my portable bathing facility - my water bottle - was a very good companion.


Did 3.5 loops of the Coastal and the head wind really got into me. It was very nice with the tailwind initially but the return was bad. But I kept it up and pushed it harder than usual. Not sure of the speed but I know it would be good training for Bussleton winds too. Looks like I will have to do this more often from now on.


I told Coach I want to up my bike mileage. Will see how it goes with the little time I have left.

***

After 2 no results races, I got the timing for Desaru long distance triathlon. 42:46 (swim), 2:56:58 (bike), 1:59:24 (run) and a total time of 5:39:08, as estimated by myself. Ranked 25th in my age group of 148 triathletes and 113 overall of about 438 individuals (not sure if the overall ranking includes the relays, but I will presume not).  And my wife was right, swim time among the individuals was top 40-50 swimmers. Not too shabby!