Training Log

Ironman USA Lake Placid

I forget where I saw the analogy about taking a loan out of the fitness bank that you can either pay back in small portions in daily, consistent training or you could make one big painful balloon payment on race day, but it�s true. I had a year to train for Ironman. I had done it before, I knew what to expect and I knew what was expected. I talked to my wife. She was proud of me for wanting to test my limits. I talked to my boss. He was in awe of what I wanted to do, and promised that the workload would be shared among all of our team and not on just a few of us. I made commitments to myself, my family, and my coach. The plan was laid out and it worked to a T all the way through the end of March. The problem was, the race, my goal, wasn�t until the end of July. From that point on, work, life, stress, time, everything was forced to higher priority levels than training and the size of my balloon payment on race day was growing. I was exhausted and disheartened by everything happening around me and very little of that exhaustion had anything to do with training. I carried that burden with me all the way to Lake Placid. Even when I got there, I just couldn�t get up for the race. I knew it was going to be a long day, but all I could be thankful for was the fact that I wasn�t at work and that my laptop and blackberry didn�t work at the hotel. Before I knew it, and well before I was ready for it, race day was upon us.

Race day:

I�ve never before been a part of such a melee. I started in the same spot that I used in 2003. I was behind the main pack by 20 meters or so and towards the inside. When the canon shot, I paused, gathered myself and took off easy. Within 50 meters I was in the the biggest scrum I�ve ever been in. Shots were taken, shots were given and no open water was to be found. I was forced to widen myself a bit and swing wide with the elbows and hands as necessary, but I was still being pushed further and further to the inside. Finally, I just stopped and looked up. The group I was stuck in had been pushed well inside of the swimming lane and it was time to make a break. I wheeled myself around into the sun and started swimming the tangent to intersect the main swim lane. After forcing myself around, over, and across anyone that got in my path I finally crossed over the lane line and started making my way towards the turn around. That�s when I first saw him. O�Neil wetsuit dude with an attitude. There were still a ton of people trying to swim on top of the lane line, there just wasn�t that much space. I was trying to get away from it, but I just kept getting pushed and shoved back over it. Apparently I got pushed into OWD a few too many times as he took off with a flourish of kicks thinking he could get away from all this. It didn�t work. He quickly found himself swimming over slower swimmers just in front of us. With all the people touching him, he just kept kicking like he was trying to breech. That�s when I got up close and personal with OWD�s foot. I caught one of his kicks square on the top of the head. The flat of his foot wrapped from my forehead to the top of my bald head and whipped it back. Two kicks later I got one on the chin. I couldn�t believe the pain and the shock of it all, and since it appeared I was still in the middle of at least 1500 of my closest friends, my only choice was to keep swimming. I stroked along trying to shake the cobwebs and finally made the turnaround. I purposely went wide here looking for some freedom and found it for several minutes. Somewhere along here, finally swimming with the stroke I trained with, I find myself going abruptly backwards. Hey! That ain�t cool. We�re all trying to get to the same place. After the quick jerk to the leg, next grab takes in the hip and then the shoulder. We had plenty of room, WTF?!?!?!?!!! Of course, imagine my surprise when a lithe little figure goes swimming away in her Ironman wetsuit. She and I were actually swimming about the same speed, so I just latched onto her feet and made it to the end of the first loop. Determined not to have the same issues on the second loop and still more than a little woozy from my RexKwonDo round house kick to the head, I paused for a few seconds to gather myself before re-entering the water. I swam wide again around the dock and headed out for the second loop. I think all the people in the water must form some kind of screwy vortex. Within 200 meters I found myself on top of the lane line and feeling like I was swimming sideways to get away from it. I exchanged a few more blows with the group around me and finally we found some clear water and everyone seemingly got in line. After the final turnaround, we finally had a decent group of folks swimming to the finish rather than the buoy line and we made good progress to the finish. When I finally emerged from the water, the clock read 1:10 and change. Not bad, but certainly not great. I know I can swim faster, but to do that, I have got to swim more.

T1 was my version of lost in translation. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, the order I wanted to do it in, but it just wasn�t happening. I had a massive headache and I couldn�t quite get it together. I finally got totally geared up and ran out to my bike. That only took about 10 minutes

The bike seems like a blur. A seven and a half hour blur. As I headed out, I felt pretty good. My head hurt, badly, but I was ready to ride. I had my plan. I had my nutrition. Now I just needed to find the will and the intelligence to execute. We started on the climb out of Lake Placid and my buddy rode up to me and patted my on the back. We exchanged our howdies and exclaimed to each other that that was the roughest swim ever. He motored on ahead and I managed to keep an eye on my heart rate, power, and effort level. I had mixed up two bottles of InfinIT with ~750 calories each. One I had with me and one in my special needs bag. My plan was to drink a third of that each hour with plenty of water and at the 75 minute mark take a gel. The first hour went smoothly. The descent into Keene was a blast. There was a little traffic as I expected coming out of the water when I did. But we all managed to get down safely. I was staying right on top of the nutrition, but I noticed that I couldn�t really feel myself sweating. It was plenty hot out, the wind was up a little, but I should have noticed more prevalent sweating. It wasn�t there. I tried not to think about that too much, just owning it to the different weather conditions than I�m used to. However, by the end of the second hour, I still had no desire or need to pee. My head still hurt too, badly. This is an easier section of the course, and at the time all I could think of was that I did not want to be there anymore. I wanted to go home. We had made the run to Jay and were on our way up to Upper Jay. This is a moderate climb of some distance, but I had my gearing setup to just cruise along here and it worked. But I still wanted to go home and I still felt like crap. We made the out and back and I made the decision to up my water intake as it felt like my nutrition was going anywhere and I was starting to feel nauseous. As I continued to pour water into my gullet, nothing continued to come out. Somewhere in here I felt my pedal slip a bit, but I didn�t come unclipped. I figured it was just my foot moving about in the pedal. We started the climbs back into Lake Placid and I really did not want to be there any longer. I thanked the volunteers, I kept trying to fix my nutrition, and I kept pedaling. I had decided that when I got to special needs, my wife would be there and it would be easier for me to hand her my bike there so I could go home. I�ve never wanted to quit more in my life than at that time. I found it hard to look at the crowd that had gathered on the last climb into town. I didn�t want to see them again and I didn�t want to be remembered. I rolled into special needs and my wife wasn�t there. I was disappointed. I ate my fig newtons, I got my new bottle of InfinIT and decided to keep pedaling. My parents were there, just up the road. They yelled �Go Markie!� I grimaced a smile and kept rolling. At least I could enjoy the ride to Keene again. I held off taking in anything for a little while except water when I felt I could swallow it. As we were climbing back out of Lake Placid, I could tell that my left pedal/cleat had changed. I was feeling a twinge in my knee and it was not comfortable. Finally we were on the descent again and I just let it fly. No brakes, just rolling down the mountain taking advantage of every pound I had gained over the last couple of months. Although my headache wouldn�t subside for the duration of the day (and a couple more) my nausea did. My stomach finally settled and I continued to cut back on the intake until it was just the InfinIT and water. The Carb-Boom gels I had been adding just overloaded my system and I couldn�t get everything to process. The fig newtons were a godsend and having just that little bit of solid food at special needs and again a little later were perfect. I was still moving forward but I just wasn�t carrying any speed. I felt effort wise and wattage wise that I was still working at about the same level, but after looking at the wattage file, I can see that I averaged 10 watts less on the second half. When you�re as weak as me, you can�t afford to give up that many watts for half an IM bike course. It really showed on the entry to the climbs. I just did not have the speed going into the climbs to roll over them with any kind of momentum. I found myself looking for my low gears early on and just maintaining for the duration of the climb. I am proud of the way I rode the climbs, I just shifted down to the bottom of the cogset and pressed forward. I managed to keep the watts down, but again, there wasn�t any momentum to carry. I know I was short on energy because at this point I still hadn�t peed and I really didn�t even feel like I needed to. After the descent to Keene I was looking for a spot to get off the bike, but for some reason I just kept rolling along. My knee was starting to hurt quite a bit, every time the effort went up, I would get a sharp poke to the inside of my knee cap. This was starting to get ugly and I wanted to go home. I rolled past the 71 miles sign and that�s when I changed my mind. I wanted to finish the bike at the very least. I knew I could ride 41 miles, it was just a matter of will and keeping it rolling. I made my way up to Upper Jay. I rode the out and back, managing my nutrition as best I could and finally had to use a blue bin. My head hurt, my knee hurt and I was going to have to tell my parents, my wife, and my friends that that was all I had. I�ll finish the bike and hand the volunteer my chip. The wind picked up on the way back into Lake Placid making that difficult stretch even harder, cementing my plan to call it a day. I climbed through the last stretch into Lake Placid amidst an even bigger cheering section than earlier and was proud to have made it this far. I made the funky little turns through town, saw my wife on the top of a hill, she knew I wasn�t feeling well. I saw my parents, they were beaming, hooting, and hollering. I slinked into transition not even thinking about leaving. Officially, 7 hours and 21 minutes. It felt much longer.

T2 found me sitting in a chair with my bags at my feet and me not really wanting to move. I wish I had gotten the volunteers name. He came over to check on me, takes a look and asks if I�m okay. I told him that my head hurt and that with the nausea early in the day I probably didn�t get enough calories in. He says why don�t I hang out a couple of minutes and he�ll help me get my stuff together. I told him my toes were on fire. All that messing around with my knee and my toes had just locked into place, they weren�t moving. He just reaches down and does some ART work and magically my toes are working again. He walks off and comes back with some sunblock and mentions that the sun is still working pretty hard today and I�ll need it for the run. I don�t say anything and he gets my face and neck pretty well covered. I still haven�t put on my shoes. I just sit there. Finally, I reach down and put on my sneakers and out of my T2 bag falls the prize. I put my run number on an IMUSA race number belt, not one of my regular belts. I told myself and my wife that if I put that number belt on, I have to finish. I reached down, contemplated it for a while, and put it on. I thanked the volunteer and walked out of transition 2 fifteen minutes after I had gone in. I grabbed 2 cups of water and walked over to my parents who were standing at the transition exit and smiled. It was time to finish this ironman.

I walked out of T2 with a purpose. I resigned myself to walking the first 10-15 minutes just to get some nutrition in me and to see how my toes and knee were going to hold up. With each step I felt some strength returning to my body and I felt like whatever happened, I would finish. I got some great encouragement on my way out of town and really started to feel like I could get something done on the run. I ended up walking a full 15 minutes and then commenced on my scheduled (modified) run/walk. My knee was pretty painful, but my toes had come around with the motion of walking. I decided to run 5 minutes and walk 2 until I couldn�t do it any longer. From that point on, my life was my watch. I was running very well, under control, not just a shuffle and when my walk break came, I walked purposefully and with a long stride. I took in Gatorade and water at all the aid stations and pressed on. I felt like if I could keep it moving, I�d end up with a run (hehe) time of between 5 and 5 � hours. On the first loop, I saw all of my friends and cheered them on. Some were having a great day, and others were managing their day, it�s what we have to do. Somewhere around mile 11, my progress was interrupted. Either the long downhill or the long uphill completely fried my knee for the day. It was just too sharp a pain to forget or push through. I saw my wife and my parents and told them that I WOULD finish. I was 2:30 into the run at that point and knew it was just another push around the run loop. I did the short out and back, congratulated all the people that were finishing and relegated myself to making the awful turn away from the finishing oval. From there on, it was just a struggle to run when I could and walk as fast as I could the rest (most) of the time. I wasn�t completely out of gas, but I just could not land on my knee any more. I met some great people out on the run course in that second loop. Everyone was determined to finish, everyone had a purpose, everyone wanted to see that finish line. Apparently in this time I caught up on my hydration as I got to visit many more blue bins along the way. As a suggestion to any readers, if you can skip a blue box on an Ironman run course, I suggest you do so, wow, an experience that is just beyond words. Anyway, I put it in gear and wound my way around the rest of the run course at a modest 15 minute per mile pace. And there it was. The finishing oval. I only had to make the short out and back and I would be done. I turned the corner and saw my buddies coming down to the oval, just a mile and a half in front of me. I wished I could finish with them, but they had their own struggles that day. Before I knew it, it was my turn to enter the oval. I found a bit of a run and all the troubles of the day went away. I felt like I was sprinting, in reality I was probably all the way up to a 12 minute mile, but I slapped a bunch of hands, raised my arms and heard Mike Reilly call out my name. 5:58:54 for the run/walk. Not pretty, but it works to get you to the finish line.

That was it, 14 hours 56 minutes and 55 seconds. I finished and I couldn�t be more proud. I didn�t have anywhere near the day that ultimately I know I am capable of, but I had a great day.

Gulfman RR

Gulfman 2005

After completing Ironman Lake Placid in 2003, my triathlon life was set to change. I couldn�t believe that I had actually done it. I didn�t have the immediate �wow, I can do anything� moment that so many people talk about. I had an amazing feeling of accomplishment, but I also had a feeling of being a �pretender� in a world full of athletes. People who knew more about the experience than I did. People that had honestly worked harder to achieve their goal than I did. You see, in my mind, I didn�t do the work to have a great day at Lake Placid. I did enough to get me across the line without doing it in an ambulance. Part of it was life, part of it was a conservative coach, but mostly it was how I was living my life. I was doing enough to get by and in some cases barely that. I was coasting on ability. Call it a lack of direction, a misguided motivation, or whatever, but it wasn�t living life to its fullest. Crossing the line and knowing that somehow I hadn�t really done it stuck with me in a very profound way. To me, 2004 was going to be the year that I found my direction. In sport, in life, in all things. What I found was that my focus could not sustain that many different ideas at once. To do something great, you have to do that one thing, and do it as well as you can, everyday. By the time I felt ready to reclaim some amount of sport in my life the end of the year was looming. I decided then that to really enjoy triathlon, I needed to dedicate myself more to the process. This doesn�t make it work or reduce my enjoyment of riding my bike or swimming in a lake, it enhances it; it gives it even more meaning and purpose. With that, a plan was in the works to actually see what I can accomplish in triathlon.

I officially kicked off my training year with a New Year�s Day ride. It was gorgeous short-sleeves and shorts weather in South Texas and I rode a fairly windy 42 miles. I loved every second of it. I knew from that ride, that this would be a year of accomplishment. My training from that point on was very good. It had its occasional ups and downs not the least of which was a mostly inconsistent March. But it was still very good. I had to trust that and remind myself that fitness isn�t lost over a workout or two missed. Fitness is built over weeks, months, and years of consistent, appropriate training.

Gulfman was the first triathlon in which I toed the line in over a year. I knew I was ready to accomplish my first goal, to break 6 hours in a half-ironman. This course was perfectly suited to my training: flat, fast, and windy. The exact recipe that I train in 90% of the time. Race morning came after a night of fitful, almost non-existant sleep. I lay resting in the bed, just envisioning the first few strokes in the bay between the island and the mainland. It was perfect, it was going to be perfect. I finally got up and took a hot shower and made some coffee. I heated up my scrambled eggs with bacon and potatoes cut up in it and just ate a little around the outside. I could tell my nerve weren�t going to allow a full breakfast so I mixed up a little extra liquid nutrition and downed that. At least I knew I would have some fuel in me to start the day. I arrived at the race start with an hour to go. Towards the back of transition there were loads of empty racks, so I just quietly spread out my things and went about my business. Everything was there, everything was laid out, everything was ready. I didn�t let the race�s lack of organization bother me. The chip pick up was a do it yourself affair. Body marking ended up being a do it yourself affair. And I was most thankful that I remembered to fill my bottles before I left the hotel. On with the wetsuit and down to the start area I went.

The swim course was a counter-clockwise triangle in the lagoon between the island and the mainland. It was salty, cool, and flat. With the waves not numbering more than 100 people, there wasn�t much of a draft anywhere on the course. The waves started 3 minutes apart which gave us ample opportunity to swim over the slower folks in the earlier waves. I don�t think I have ever had such an easy swim. I started way to the left and quickly found my own space when the gun went off. As I went out a little quick to stay out of the washing machine that is a mass start, I quickly found the open water and went to work. About 200 meters in, I discovered one of the more annoying issues I would have that day. The swim turn buoys were yellow and not all that big. The caps given to all the swimmers were also yellow. Just lifting your head for a couple of water polo strokes was not enough to accurately sight the buoys and the correct swim line. I ended up swimming off course a couple of times as I was sighting on swimmers that had already made the turn. I had to stop and find a tower on the mainland to use as a reference point rather than the buoy. I made the first buoy and absolutely felt great. I was swimming strong and controlled. At that point I made the decision to keep the effort about the same and headed for the second buoy. I could feel my left shoulder starting to fall into bad habits and really focused on making good strokes. I held the effort to the second buoy and made the turn for home. By then I had overtaken quite a few folks from the prior waves and had an easier time following the crowd into the swim finish. I upped the effort slightly over the last 500 meters or so and added a bit of kick to warm up my lower back. I was rewarded with the fastest half-im time of my short career, 32 minutes and change.

T1 was a long slog up the beach, around on the sidewalks to a giant tented concrete area. I had managed to get my wetsuit down to my waist by the time I got there, but that was where it stopped. There I was standing next to my bike, wanting to be on my bike, but I was trapped by the neoprene sleeve that encased my lower body. I finally dropped down on the ground went to wiggling and squirming until it finally gave way to my ungreased (doh) calves and ankles. I�m not really sure how long I was in T1, but it was certainly longer that Mike Peerless would have approved.

Out on to the bike and I immediately felt great. The first little section wound its way from Moody Gardens out onto the Seawall. This was an area that the race organizers could have done a better job with. The coned off section was quite narrow and did not leave much room for racing and the corners had not been swept. Once out on the seawall and I settled in for a good ride. I was trying to keep the effort under wraps and did a good job. I rode up to a group that was working together, but not always legally. I would go off the front and someone would latch on my wheel. After they sat there a bit, they would pull out to pass, get about half way up and fall back. I ended up pulling a pretty good sized group for a while until the headwind came up at about 20 miles. My average speed to that point was at an all time high, and I knew I was having a great ride. My nutrition plan was working, my heart rate was where it should have been, and my legs felt like they could go forever. The headwind however had other thoughts. My average speed slowly dropped bit by bit as we ground our way to the turnaround. The group around me continued to bunch up and I couldn�t shake them. I was probably spending too much time thinking about it, but I just knew that my race was going to get shot to hell because of a drafting violation. Once at the bike turnaround I jumped off the bike to try and relieve myself. I spent 4-5 minutes standing behind a truck trying to �go� and couldn�t. I finally said to hell with it and got back on the bike for the ride home. Nutrition and hydration were on track and I felt like a million bucks, except for the fact that I had to pee and couldn�t. With a bit of a tailwind, the first 6 miles after the turnaround absolutely flew by. Then the wind moved a bit to a crosswind straight off the bay and the free ride was over. My concentration at this point started to wane and I caught myself backing off the throttle some here and there. My back started to tighten up a little so I spent some time trying to stretch it out. I continued to push along and focused on the great day that was unfolding around me. This really helped to get me back in the game. I got back to my nutrition plan and rolled along. As I came to the last aid station, I yelled out for water, the volunteer at the front yelled back �Gatorade!� I hollered for water again and the next volunteer handed me up a bottle. I cruised on knowing that I had finally licked my nutrition problems. I looked down to get a drink from my concentrate and realized that I had dropped it at the aid station. I said to myself �no worries, I�ve got enough water and gel with me to handle the last 14 miles.� So I reached down and grabbed my bottle of water and took the most awful mouthful of super concentrated Gatorade ever. This was going to be a problem. I can�t stomach Gatorade, and I can�t take my gels without water. I had done a good job up until this point and just went with it. I was forced to take a few more sips of the Gatorade to get all the way in, it was awful. But I also knew that the run aid stations were every mile so it wouldn�t be long before I could get back on track. I finished the bike after negotiating the last turns off the seawall and rolled back into transition with a bike time of 2:52. I was stoked to say the least.

In T2 I spent a couple of minutes getting the shoes, race number, and cap on. I knew that I was on the edge nutrition wise as I couldn�t seem to focus on the task at hand. But, I still had to pee and found my way to the port-a-loo and was finally able to �go.� All that behind me and only 13.1 miles to run.

An amazing thing happened early in the run. I was running. It was the newest feeling on a great day. Here I was, starting out a run in a half-ironman, and I was running. Not fast, but controlled and easy. I was able to capture the feeling of my long runs at home and channel it into the effort of the day. In the back of my mind though, I was still wary of the fact that for the last half-hour plus, I was running on fumes. I got to the first aid station and was able to get some water in me. The problem was, my stomach was still upset from the Gatorade. So I decided that I would get to mile 2 before I would take on my gels. That�s when it happened, I motored on by aid station 1 with a little water and a plan. I kept the effort steady, but I could tell I was out of fuel. When I got to the second aid station, I slowed to a walk and strolled on up to an empty aid station. I was toast. No water, no Gatorade, no gels. I had gels with me, but I can�t digest them without water. That nearly broke me for the day. I had to reach deep and get going again. As I rolled on, I had to force myself to push back the defeatist ideas and look towards what I had already accomplished on the day. I perked up a bit and found myself closing in on the 3 mile aid station. It was stocked, I was happy. I stopped, walked, grabbed two cups of water. I downed a gel and sipped my way through the water. I walked out of the aid station knowing that I needed to do that at least one or two more times to get back on track. The run from there is a little bit of a blur. I jogged and walked a bit, but almost all of the walking was at the aid stations. I was still moving pretty well, but I knew I was still walking a thin line. The turn around aid station out on the hottest part of the course had nothing but Gatorade. That was not a pleasant surprise. That and the idea that it was a full mile and a half back to the next aid station. The saving grace was that it was cold. I quaffed it down and set out. The gels from mile 2 and 4 were finally starting to catch up with me and I picked up on the fact that I had a race on my hands if I wanted to finish under 6 hours. From there on, I had one thought only, beat the clock to 6. I worked my way back from the mile5/8 aid station and slowly picked up the effort and the pace. By mile 9 I was actually feeling it again. I got some ice in my cap and wow that was nice. From there on, I would get a couple of cups of water and walk my way through the aid stations. I slowly kept adding some pressure to my pace and rewarded myself with my 3 fastest mile splits over the end of the race. And there it was, the finish line, and my watch said 5:56. Finally, a long distance race, and a performance that was commiserate with my fitness. I know I have more in me, this was the first step. I set a goal, I did the training, and I was rewarded with the best race of my long course career.

Official splits:

33:00

3:04:45 including both transitions (2:52 on my bike computer) so my transitions were way stupid.

2:18:17

HR info:

Time HRavg HRmax

5:56:29 155 173

Splits

Time HRavg

32:32 159 out of the water

22:06 158

15:38 162

14:56 162

16:44 163

12:59 159

17:21 157

15:28 157

12:44 157

19:07 154

13:06 154

14:04 152

8:15 146 end of bike 3:35 total time

3:02 133 T2

10:03 152

10:12 153

10:08 158

12:12 148

11:49 155

14:38 149

14:29 148

11:54 147

11:34 149

11:25 154

11:08 154

8:45 156

Thanks for reading.

Where have I been?

I've been everywhere man, I've been everywhere.....

Not really, I've been working my tail off at the office and that has really gotten in the way of my daily schedule. Training has been going great, I've missed a couple of workouts here and there, but honestly the first 9 weeks of the year have been as good as any training block in the last couple of years, probably better. I'll spare the gruesome details and just throw in some totals for February.

Swim
28600 yds
Bike
287.1 miles
Run
74.5 miles

Total duration
40:11

Pretty good, a few goals missed in there, but like I said before, things are going great.

Wednesday

The noon time 50 minute run started out as a slog fest. My legs were just heavy from the work Tuesday night, both running and riding the rollers. I felt a bit like I was running through molasses and my hr was elevated, so I know I was carrying some fatigue. I transitioned into the strides and that really helped to open things up. By the time the 6 repeats were done, my hr was back to normal and the easy run home was just that, easy.

The swim workout was pretty good. Another day where I felt like I was swimming okay, but the times just weren't where I expected them. I comfortably made all of the intervals and all the 100's were under 1:30.

Tuesday

It's been a while since I imparted my thoughts and training on the world. Work has had me shelled for the past week plus. I know when I logged my work hours last week is well over 65. That doesn't leave a whole lot of time for life or training. I did manage about 7 and a half hours training last week pretty much evenly split among swimming, biking, and running. I had some good sessions in each and some really tough sessions based on my overall fatigue. Without hitting the detail too much, 3 hours biking, 3:30 swimming, and a measly hour running.

This week is already looking up. Monday was a solid 56 minute run, about 5.5 miles. It started out as easy and transitioned into some strides. Pretty solid, a good start to the week. Then Valentine's Day, so no swimming.

Tuesday was a good training day. I was a bit concerned because I didn't even start my training day until after work. The 30 minute frequency run really felt good, starting out easy and moving up to steady. I may have pushed it a little, I was really feeling good at the end. I followed that up with 2 hours on the rollers. This was broken up with 40 minutes at IM effort and 30 minutes at IM effort with 10 minutes easy in between. This was a good effort and took some solid focus towards the end. I'll continue to refine this into an effort I think I can hold for 112 miles in Lake Placid.

Monday back at it

Well, Friday was a loss. Some days life just gets in the way. Life and work conspired against me and so it was spent either in the car or on the computer. But that was no big deal because Saturday I was pacing my bud for his last lap of the Rocky Raccoon 50 miler. 16.67 miles on the schedule and I have no idea what kind of pace we were planning to hold. It was a ball, we paced a pretty strong 11 miles, but then the wheels fell off with an epic "My everything hurts." And that was that. He had a great effort putting it out there, just a little short this time.

Sunday I spent doing my taxes, I was supposed to ride. But, you know, when the weather craps out, again, I'm already a little tired and the Superbowl was on, it just didn't happen. I think this was the first day I just sat back and said no. Monday needed to be a good day to get the moti back.

And it was. My noon time 5 mile run was pretty good. My legs were a bit heavy getting started and really all the way to about 3 miles. Then I started a round of pickups and that brought me back to my pace and rhythm. I hit it up to a steady pace and finished it off in a touch over 48 minutes. The evening swim was going to be tough. I had read over the workout a few times and I knew it was going to be a challenge. 1000 straight, not too bad, 18 minutes and change with 250 of it back/breast 50's. That was followed by 4 600's. These started to pull in the pain a bit. The effort went up and so did the time! The first one was 6:15 which was decent, but they got a bit slower to 6:25. Not so good. An interesting swim in that I felt good in the water, but the times just weren't there. I followed up the 400's with 4 100's on the 1:40. These hurt, really hurt. 1:24 to 1:28. That last one was flailing. I made it though, and I'm pretty proud. Tomorrow should be a good day.

Thursday Run

I did the scheduled 75 minute run last night. First, it was my best long run in months. I even split the entire run, and barely felt like I was working harder at the finish than when I started. I covered 8 miles just staying relaxed and keeping my shoulders up. Here's the interesting part. It was 50 degrees. I was wearing tights and a long sleeve. I started the run 169.5 lbs and finished at 168 on the nose. My effort for the entire run should be classified as easy, as in singing with the mp3 player and playing air drums easy :-)

Catch Up and going forward

Going back to Thursday before last I had a really nice aerobic frequency run. The legs have really been enjoying the focus on run fitness. Of course all good things meet an end... when I went to feed the horses, the big one caught me in the quad with a warning shot. Man that hurt. It could have been worse, it was a bit of a glancing blow, but that is one big horse. So no bike to follow that little incident. I spent most of Friday prepping for my Seattle trip and only got in a smidgen of a run. The leg was still sore, so I figured a couple of easy days would be the better choice. Saturday was a travel day that started early and ended late. Seattle is a cool town for sure. Sunday we drove down to Mt. St. Helens. That is one impressive feat for Momma Nature. Absolutely incredible. We spent some time hiking around the area, it was awe inspiring. Most of the week was spent in meetings with our new work team, I hate sitting like that all day. I managed a few easy runs on the nature trail that ran behind our hotel which was exciting.

Monday it was back to training, and none too soon. I had a pretty good run at noon that was in some nasty weather. Sub-9's for 5.5 miles including some pick-ups. Nice job if I do say so myself. Monday evening was a pretty crappy swim. I showed up tired and under motivated and it showed. I was late and got in about 3/4 of my scheduled swim, not so good.

Tuesday was even cruddier weather so I bagged the frequency run all together. I set the bike up on the rollers and rolled away. 1:45 later my rear was sore, there was a puddle of sweat under me, and a smile on my face. I think Old School had something to do with that.

Now we're caught up getting to today. Another scheduled 50 minute run, that was great. I really enjoy running with the mp3 player. I wasn't sure how much I would like it, but I LOVE it. I ran about 5.3 miles in 48:20 with pickups. A great run, too bad it took half my wardrobe to stay warm :) The evening swim was the best I've had since getting back in the water. The written workout looked challenging on paper, and it was. But, I manned up and went to work. The first set of 10x100's was on a 1:50 send off. I held them under 1:25 for the entire set. I was very pleased. The second set was 8x100's also on 1:50, I kept all of those under 1:28. That put a smile on my face knowing I stepped it up and met the challenge. Lettuce wraps for dinner and all is right.

Wednesday's workouts

Another good day in the books. An easy 60 minute run on the dirt roads by the house in perfect weather was very good. My calves were a bit sore today which made me focus on running with better form and relaxation. I followed that in the evening with a solid 3000 yd swim workout. I was getting a bit tired toward the end, but still managed a 1:22 for my last 100. Pretty decent speed for just coming back to the pool.

Tuesday's workouts

Yesterday was a good day on the workout front. Starting with an easy aerobic run in the early afternoon and followed it up with 1:45 on the rollers. The run itself and my run on the whole is getting much better. I'm just more comfortable in my stride and keeping my posture. The ride was tough but fun. With a main set that was 60 minutes it really kept my mind off the clock and focused on the work at hand. Excellent ride, about 28 miles.

It was bound to happen...

Today I popped. Big time. The day was one where the idea of when to train and what not just wasn't going to happen. Things just kept popping up, so I ended up getting in my run late in the day. I had just uploaded some new tunes to the mp3 player and enjoyed having that motivational tool with me. 35 minutes into my 50 minute run I inserted 4 strides lasting 15 seconds each. These were nice as they gave me an opportunity to get my legs turning over at a different rate. I went straight from my run to the pool for a scheduled 3800 yards. I knew it was going to be a tough workout and I was too right. I popped. About 2600 yds in, I was done. I convinced myself to keep going and got 3000 in, but that was all I had. I think I'll have to try that workout again later this week. Some food and a good sleep and I'll be ready for tomorrow.

weekend

My weekend got a little messed up schedule wise, but I still managed a 3 hour ride. Even if it was all on the rollers. That is truly mind and body numbing. I watched a movie and some playoff football while rolling along for 51.4 miles. I'm not looking forward to doing that again. My Sunday long run was replaced with driving to my brother's for a small birthday party and then turning around and driving to College Station to deliver a package for my mom. Mark's parcel service ruled the day. Oh well, I needed a rest day anyway and it's important to maintain a life outside of training and work. I'd do it again tomorrow if needed.

Friday

A great day in the books today. First, it was absolutely beautiful, not that I got to see that much of it! Today was designed to see how my heart rate reacts to a transition run. In order to do that, I set up the rollers and cruised easy for 45 minutes. The focus was just to ride a steady pace and keep the heart rate under 145. For the most part I was riding along at 135 bpm. At the end of 45 minutes, I made a quick transition to run and popped out a steady 2.2 miles in 20 minutes. This is the same route I've been running on my "frequency" days so the turn around came right on time. I did note that my heart rate was running about 5 bpm higher than when I normally do this run. Information to ponder on for now.

This evening I hit the pool a little tired but with workout in hand:
3 x 100 swim
100 kick on back
2 x 100 swim
100 kick on back
4 x 50 on 60 descend
100 kick choice
main set
4 x 400 on 30 sec rest. slightly descend all the way through. be conservative on the front so that you don't tire out. count strokes on every 4th length to make sure they are even for the entire workout.
200 kick choice
16 x 25 stroke, reverse IM order on 5-10 sec rest, just keep it rolling 400, every 4th choice very easy as cool down

A pretty tough workout and my longest one yet. The 400's were tough, I wasn't able to descend them, my swim endurance just hasn't come back yet. But, I did the next best thing, I finished them. Right now the distance is wasting me much more than the speed. I'm swimming at a fairly easy pace, generally 1:30-1:35 per 100 yd. It's coming back, but it's still got a way to go.

Thursday's unfortunate easier day than planned

Well today was supposed to be a 25 minute aerobic run and a 90 minute roller ride. All of that added up to an actual 60 minutes on the rollers. It was a good ride. The economy of riding on the rollers is returning. I can feel my pedal stroke getting smoother, my hip flexors are letting me know that they are working a tad more. These are all good things, I just need to stay as true to the schedule as possible. The idea isn't to "do what I can." The idea is to push the limits a bit and "see what I can do." Enough ego bashing, you can't fix yesterday, just make today better.

Wednesday's workouts

The two a days continue.... a cruise of a 52 minute run. I used a slightly different route today and covered 5.3 miles. It was an interesting run because the weather was just starting to change. The wind was up, the clouds were out and every animal in a three county area was on the prowl. I had a huge family unit of deer cross the old road in front of me. They were pretty impressive clearing 5 foot fences on both sides of the road once they spotted me. All this while rolling along to Tom Petty on my new mp3 player that Santa delivered this week.

The evening swim on the schedule didn't really look that difficult, but for some reason I just didn't want to go. I got myself out to the car and drove over to the local pool and forced myself in. Of course, as soon as I hit the water, the motivation was there and it was a great swim. Part of the main set was 6x100's on a 1:45 shooting for 15 secs of rest. It was tough, but I made the long rest on all but the last two. Not bad considering I'm still not sure if my left arm will ever remember that it is useful.