Waking up early to slow down later

Since Florida's Ironman I have come be adverse early morning wake ups for training. Loath may be to strong a word but figure that if the biggest race of my life has me getting up at 0500 for the race, I really don't want to get up at 0415 for a simple 90 minute mid-week trainer session. But thats what I did this morning.

I feel a bit bad that I could not get the HR past zone 1, and my cadence over 80 but I really don't ride my trainer much and attribute some of that to weak crossover from road work.

But getting up early and getting that workout done, allowed me to sit and relax for an hour and buy a cup of coffee for one of my sponsors. We discussed his training, my training and caught up on the last few weeks. The weather has taken a monsoon break so we sat outside in perfect cool and sunny (read: 85 degree) weather.

Yesterday I had a great interaction with a personal friend and sponsor, Kevin at Tribe Multisport. I had left my running shoes at home and decided I would go up to his store to buy a pair. I don't wear the brands that he sells but I wanted to give him business and it was convenient. They had my size in a pair that I wear for work, but wouldn't run in them 300 miles. Kevin tries to fit me in other models but don't have my size. He tells me, "Go get the shoes in your size, go run in them, what are doing today 10 miles, then bring them back tomorrow and I will wear them for work."

Is that cool or what.

Also found out yesterday that I like the new caramel flavored powerbar gel. Using a gel flask is so much easier then original packaging. I marked out the serving sizes on the flask and each one went down so much easier than ripping open, pushing up, sucking through the opening, squeezing the package trying to get the remainder. Highly recommend it.