Night Rider

It was a long three days. Long, and tiring. And in the manner of long, tiring weekends, huge deposits have been made into my IM Louisville account.

Saturday, after getting out of the pool and heading to the locker room, a lifeguard commented, "Wow, you were swimming a long time!" I guess she was right, though in terms of Ironman, it wasn't really long enough. The workout was about 80 minutes, during which I completed 3600 yards. It was, however, a great way to start the day.

Following the swim, I moved the base of operations a few blocks over, rotated the tires on my bike, and waited for youth tri club members. We headed out for a 15 mile loop, after which I headed out alone to meet up with some co-workers for another leg of my training. My trip odometer rolled 86 miles as I rolled into the driveway at home just about 7 hours after I had left for the start of training. The five hours of biking gave me an average pace of something over 17 mph.

This morning, it was another 4009 yards in the pool. Yes, it was four thousand and NINE. I firmly believe that anything over 4000 yards warrants an exact yardage. That means the most important 215 yards have yet to be completed.

But yesterday was the real bonus of the training weekend. The events of the day limited my training opportunities, and it was nearly 9 p.m. when I headed out the door for my run. Given the 4:30 a.m. wake-up calls, it's been quite some time since a night time run like this. It's something I miss, and it's one of my secret weapons in Louisville.

I love running at night. There's no sun to bother my eyes. The world becomes much smaller as sighting distances decrease. It cools down. And I run faster (this may or may not be all in my head). In Louisville, if things go horribly awry and I'm on the course much longer than I expect (well, hope), the setting of the sun will signal a change in fortunes. Just as many are revitalized by the rising of the morning sun, I find solace in the solitude of running after dark.

If not for the knowledge of a 4000 yard swim looming a few short hours away, the 10-mile run would have quickly turned into a much longer run.