Big Workout Day: 25 Mile Ride, 1600 Yd Swim, and Hard Upper Body Before 10 a.m.!

Thursday was a big day of working out. Honestly, it was probably my biggest day in 3 years or so!

I first headed out for a 25 mile ride early in the morning before taking the boys to school. I didn't know if it was going to happen because it started pouring around 5 a.m., but then it quickly stopped, so I got out there just before 6 a.m.

Storm clouds moving out near Hwy 5 and Shepard Road.


Selfie and my turn-around on Big Rivers as "proof."


A sign of the drought along the Mississippi: all that 3-4' brush right below
me has never been then before - it's usually solid mud from a little drainage pipe.

My Gamin died 2 weeks ago, but by timing it with my watch and mapping it out after, it appears I was around 19.88 mph overall, which seems about right. I went hard-ish at times, but it was NOT a hard ride. (I had raced just 4 days before and I didn't want to be stupid.)

Then I took the boys to school. And I went straight from school drop off to go swim at the U of M. I thought I'd get in for free now that I'm teaching there, but it turns out I'd need to join which isn't very much per month, so I might. (I got in free one last time.) It was weird wearing a mask and JUST a Speedo:

Through the tunnels, approaching the Cooke pool.

When I hit the pool 2 weeks ago to see if I could race a triathlon, I did a few 200s. So I did the same workout (because I knew it wasn't going to hurt me), only I did more repeats and I brought the rest time down to more of a "normal" time (instead of pretty long like I did 2 weeks ago). Here's what went in my training log for my swim:

200 warm-up: 1:34, 1:43
1:13 rest

5x200 with 0:30 rest:
1:35 + 1:37 = 3:12.55
1:34 + 1:35 = 3:09.55
1:32 + 1:36 = 3:08.89
1:32 + 1:34 = 3:06.88
1:33 + 1:32 = 3:06.32

0:40 rest

3x75 kicking (25 mod, 25 hard, 25 easy) with 0:20 rest between:
1:57, 1:56, 2:00 (then no break and right into kicking another 0:44 back to start to make it 250 yards kicked).

0:22 rest

200 cool-down: 1:39, 1:46

Those 200 times were me TRYING, and after feeling a little pooped after 3, I was happy I kept descending them for the final 2. (I didn't know what those final splits would bring.) My Garmin died 2 weeks ago during that swim, but my new watch held up fine:

Out of the pool (displaying my final 100 cool-down split and overall time).

After that, I had a little time left on my parking meter, so I quick went upstairs to the weights area. There were a LOT of "Chads" lifting weights, and it was pretty crowded. But I remembered seeing a cable stack of weights up by the little indoor track. So I went up there and found 1 other person using kettlebells in the area. But I had this stack pretty much to myself:

I used the 2 stacks right in front of me: triceps on
the left, pull-ups in the middle, and bicep curls on the right.

And I did push-ups for my chest and 1-armed kettlebell rows for my back. So I was doing random circuts of those 5 exercises: tricep pull-downs, bicep curls, pull-ups, push-ups, and rows. I'VE NEVER WORKED SO FAST. I knew I was short on time, and thought maybe I could get in 4 rounds. But I worked fast enough to get in 5 rounds in 25 minutes! To compare, the week before I did 4 rounds in 30 minutes! (So down to averaging 5:00/circuit instead of 7:30/circut - that's huge!) I was dripping sweat by circuit 3, and I looked like this when I was done:

This is NOT how I normally look after lifting!!


Hard to see, but I came back out to find 3 minutes left on my meter. Sweet!

So that was 25 miles of biking, 1650 yards of swimming, and an intense upper body workout all before 10 a.m.! And I wasn't quite done!

It was my 4th day of class this semester, and I decided to try to bike to class as it's just about 3 miles away. So I loaded up the big backpack my wife recently got me with pants, a shirt, nice(r) shoes, and my laptop:

Ready to go!


In my classroom about 15 mins before class.


The only problem: I started teaching with some boob sweat. Or "humidititties."

I realized I was pushing decently hard to get to class (being I wasn't sure how long it would take and I didn't want to be late), and I got quite sweaty. I need to allow just a bit more time and MORE IMPORTANTLY take a bit easier on the ride there.

Ready to head home a few hours later.


To class, and home from class. I took took a different
(better) route home where I stayed off University Ave.

I had planned on maybe adding in a few easier miles on the way home, but the wind had really picked up out of the south (and it was 90 degrees that day!), so I just spun home and stretched my legs after a solid day of fitness.