Stroke N Stride and Catching up...

Friday post:
I did the Stroke n Stride last night and I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with the results. It was my first 1500m SnS of the season… except it was actually an 815m course, which made it a 1630m swim. My best swim time for a 750 at any point was 16:43. I did the first lap last night in 17:16, which prorated from 815 to 750 put my at a 15:53 pace, almost a whole minute faster! My second lap was slower, 19:46, but that also includes a run along the beach between the end of Lap 1 and the start of Lap 2. From looking at the rest of my age group, it looks like everyone had at least a 50-60 second difference between Lap 1 and Lap 2, including the pros. If anyone is even splitting, it’s them, so the difference between my first and second laps as far as actual swim time is probably closer to 1:30 rather than 2:30.
My best time last year on the 5k was 25:05, and that was following a 750m swim. Last night I did a 25:45 after the 1630 swim… and I definitely feel like I could have pushed harder. Next time, I’m breaking 25:00 on the run.

Thursday Post:
I’ve got a streak going…. Two day in a row of training before work! Woohoo! Then, today, even though I didn’t have a workout to do in the morning because I have the Stroke N Stride tonight, I still woke up at 5:30 (out of bed at 6). This was probably the biggest day as far as trying to become more of a morning person. I wasn’t getting up early for a race, I wasn’t even getting up early to train, iw as getting up early to reinforce the habit of getting up early. There was no real
I was up at a little bit past 5 yesterday morning and the first thing I did was pump up my tires a bit. When I did the front one though, the seal between the valve and the tube tore, deflating the tube… nuts! This is the second time that has happened, although the tubes were over a year old so both were due for replacement. A not-entirely-quick tube change (I think I may need a new pump as well, unfortunately) and I was out the door at about 6:15.
I decided to try and do the Lee Hill/Olde Stage climb and then loop back to my house from there and see how much time I had.
It really is a whole different world so early in the morning. Boulder is cool, the air has a wonderful freshness to it and so few people are up that it feels like a land abandoned by man to its true inhabitants. On my way up Broadway I spotted a doe (a deer, a female deer) grazing on the sidewalk opposite me. It’s really amazing to see something like that, wildlife living so close to people.
Then as I climbed Lee Hill/Olde Stage, I saw eleven more. Eleven. Three bucks, three fawns and five more does.
This is the kind of stuff you see at six o’clock in the morning…