There's a demon that lives in the sky

Actually, there's a demon that lives on Old LaHonda Road, on the way up to skyline. And it's a personal demon. It lives at 25:30; somehow I have been unable to climb the hill faster than that. I'm pretty sure it's a mental demon, because my legs feel fine and I'm able to cruise on up the skyline hill pretty well after reaching the top of Old LaHonda. I'm thinking it's a mental demon that prevents me from going too hard. Looking at the various OLH hill climb times over the years from the Stanford team, this puts me squarely at the back of the pack. Maybe after the back of the pack. Good thing I didn't try to race! Or maybe riding with team folks more will exorcise the curse?

How many The Right Stuff references can be fit into one blog? We're pushing the outer edge of the envelope here.

Saturday's workout was great - we tried out our wetsuits for the first time in a Foster City Lagoon. Adjusting to the wetsuit was no problem - my wetsuit was pleasantly floaty, and no chafing happened whatsoever (I did manage to get some nice butter-flavored Pam on my neck beforehand, so that may have helped). We went straight from the swim to a 7.5 mile run, which felt fine as I was doing it. I was a bit tired in the last mile or two, but I'm fairly certain the tiredness was all in my head, as a quick assessment of other running happenings (legs, aerobic stuff) turn up no problems. So the tiredness was all in my head - I have to figure out how to get that out of there, and also how to remove the speed governor that seems to be in there telling me to go slowly.

What did not feel so fine was the chafing induced by my salt-encrusted tri shorts. I didn't realize this while running, but after returning home I became painfully aware of some raw spots in unlikely places. Ouch. I'll have to invest seriously in some chamois butter, and soon.

And Friday's pool workout went really well - I swam 2600 yards with no problems whatsoever (and with no help from zoomers or hand paddles). More importantly, I'm finally feeling like I'm doing a lot of things correctly in the pool. Hopefully I'll remember these correct things when the crazy mass-start triathlon rolls around.

(late) Sunday weekly totals:

5,500 yards swimming, 70 miles biking, 18 miles running. Again, with the increased running it's been a light bike week.

Donations keep coming in too - don't miss your chance! Thanks a ton.