Oy...The Wind!

When will it end! Central Florida experienced some unusual April weather today (and tomorrow) in the form of temperatures about 30 degrees below normal and insane winds from the NW.
Nothing was going to stop me from completing my workouts, though. I might have postponed my three hour ride if I wasn't meeting Jarrod at 9am. Even with that as a motivator, we still didn't get out the door until about 9:15ish.
My ride included some race-pace efforts and I kept myself entertained by watching my speedometer. This is my attempt to convey how INSANE the wind was blowing:
*With the head-wind, I was going 7mph during the recovery time and managed to get up to 14mph during the hard effort. It all took place in my easiest gear, no need for shifting when you can barely turn the pedals and stay in a straight line!
*With the tail-wind, I was coasting at 22mph and got up to 33mph on the hard effort! I was out of gears and still flying down the road.
Unfortunately, you always end up spending MORE time going INTO the wind...so the ride was pretty close to miserable. My solution was to have some random fits of screaming and yelling, at nothing in particular...but since you would have to be sitting on my handle-bars to hear me, I wasn't concerned about startling the neighborhood.
After that, I spent the better part of mid-day working on my 2008 Taxes! Yep, started them this morning and filed them online at 3:00pm! I should pick up another career:)
And then I was off to death-match-with-the-wind, #2. This time we battled each other down at the NTC track. Who thought it would be a good idea to build a track in a circle? No matter where you run from, you always have to go INTO the wind! It was all I could do to focus on my form and effort and not crack-up laughing each time I faced into the wind. I would go from barely making progress down the back stretch, to fighting the side-wind on the corner, to literally flying down the home stretch with the wind at my back.
After an hour outside, I gave up on the battle and went into the NTC to run my cool down on the treadmill. There was finally nothing to bother me except the squeaky shoes of the guy on the next treadmill. I was watching out the window where my swim teammates were getting into the pool and doing the warm up sets. I made it out there just in time to dive in and start the main set.
I have two possible explanations for my amazing swim workout this afternoon. first, it could be because of the Gu Roctane gel that I took right before getting in the water (the things that caffeine can do!) or it was because I had a good training day and just felt good. Hummmm...knowing how I was feeling out on the bike, and down at the track, I'm going with option #1...dang, those Gu's are GOOD!