Happy 4th

Happy 4th to all. First of all, God bless the U.S. of A. and our troops. Big thanks to those that are serving, who have served, and to those who have lost loved ones while fighting for our freedom. Thank you for your sacrifice.
It's been a great week so far. Work has been boring as hell, and the only thing I can think about is getting out and training. Now don't get me wrong, I've had plenty to do around the office (daddy's still got get paid you know?), but my heart hasn't been in it. Having 15 hours of day light calling your name all day doesn't help either. Am I alone here?
I switched up my training schedule a bit this week. Usually, I'll run for an hour on Tuesdays in the morning, then catch up with a group ride at night. The last few weeks that I've done this, my legs have been cashed out and I've gotten dropped like a hot potato. So I moved my run to Monday morning and swam at lunch. So I was interested to see how I'd do on Tuesday. Now the Tuesday night rides are not for the beginner cyclists. These guys are the real deal. The heavy hitters are cat 2 - cat 3 cyclists. Then there are guys like me who doesn't even like cats much less have a ranking. The pace is fast and competitive. Well, I went out with fresh legs on Tuesday night, and they answered the call. While I never saw the front of the peleton, I was never dropped and finished up strong with gas still in the tank. A proud moment for the Crew'd one if I say so myself.
I saw two guys take a spill during this ride. One was a fluke accident, the other was a guy being too aggressive by trying to pass on the right shoulder of the road. Cocky. Cocky.
Today, being the 4th, I had the day off. Even though I rode hard last night, I couldn't give up a free day and not put a brick together. So I headed out around 6 am on the bike. Man, the temp was perfect. Mid to low 70's. I put in 34 miles at a 19.5 clip. Saw some friends on the way, including Coach himself putting in some Ironman training. Coach, you're looking strong, but remember I'm on your tail. I'm still coming after you!
After the ride, I put in a quick 3 miles at a 7 minute pace. Legs felt great. Energy level was there along with leg strength. I'm really working on keeping fueled with enough calories during training. I need to nail down my nutrition before my next race. I believe I may have found something that works. More on that later. Take care and thanks for reading. I'm off for a beer and some grilling.