Brick Day

Today was brick day and as promised I'm scaling back the distances. I'm not scaling back the intensity. I think I said that last night too. Anyway, today I did a bike and run back to back. The bike was 51:00 and covered a distance of 17.15 miles. Average speed was 20.1 mph. I then took about 5 minutes to change into my running gear, get some water, nutrition and then get started. I ran 30:04 and covered 4.18 miles, which is a 7:12 per mile pace. I'd love to keep that pace in the heat at Louisville.

Today it was around 98 degrees when I ran. I'm going to be glad I did all this training in the heat when I get off that bike. I'm expecting it to be around 2pm when I get off the bike and about 95 degrees.

Have a good day!

It's Monday and I'm back to it. I might be tapering but I'm still maintaining my workout intensity. Things will just get shorter over the next few weeks.

Today I did a 20 mile bike with the guys at Fat Frogs. I rode with the A group (fast but not the fastest) and I was able to keep up with them. Three months ago when I started riding with them I couldn't even talk to the A group guys. So today it felt good to not only ride with them but I finished with them. It was a great ride. Total time was 1:01:30. (The first 3 miles and last 3 miles were a warm up and cooldown).

I then did a 600 meters of drills at the fleet rec center 50m pool. After that I met Lisa at Runners, etc so both of us could get some new shoes. After that I went to Chick's beach and did an open water swim with some folks from Final Kick. I ended up doing 1 mile in 34 minutes. Not my best swim but I swam into the current going and with it coming back. I did feel good and my open water swimming technique is getting better.

Have a good day!

Friday/Saturday

Ok this week was my longest ride and run for the ironman. I'm officially tapering from this point until race day. There are still 2 long rides and runs but the distance will continue to decrease right up until race day. So......

Friday I did a my bike north of Williamsburg in the rolling hills of Virginia. I felt great for most of the ride but I think I ate to much and felt somewhat bloated or full towards the end. I'll adjust that by next week. Anyway, I ended up riding 114 miles in 5:51:00. I'm happy with that especially since I'll be stronger once I taper and get to the race. Right after I finished the bike I did a quick change of shoes and took off for a run. I really didn't feel like running in that heat but I needed to get it done. I went 5.8 miles in 48:30. I would've like to seen a better time but considering I had no support for water or food I'm pretty happy with it. At the ironman I'll have water, gatorade, food, salt tablets, etc every mile on the run.

Saturday I did a short easy bike of 1:22 for 18 miles. Lisa and I then drove to her house to pick up her bike. We then started running and riding back towards my house. My house was 13 miles and it took 1:40 to cover that distance. We then did an out and back in sea shore state park which added another 10 miles to the run. Total distance ran today was 23.06 miles in a time of 3:01:48. That comes out to 7:53 per mile. I am ready for this race!!

Have a great weekend!

Run/Swim

Well yesterday was a travel day from NM back to here. I flew delta airlines and I'm not very happy with them. I fly the airlines a lot getting around this country and delta has left me stranded way to many times in the last few months. Yesterday we sat on the plane for 3 hours before departing for Atlanta. The captain said that they had a leak in the left engine so a mechanic checked it out and fixed the leak. That took about 1.5 hours. We then pushed back from the gate, started engines and then returned to the gate because it had gotten hotter and the plane was to heavy for conditions. After about 20 people volunteered to get off we thought we might get going but taking off there luggage took another hour. Then the computer in the plane when down and we had to wait for that to be rebooted. We finally left but when we got to Atlanta we taxied and were held up at different gates so long that we missed our 2nd potential connection of the day. Finally after leaving Roswell, NM at 4am, driving to El Paso for our flight, I arrived back at home around 2am today. Thanks Delta airlines!!

So today I did a long run this morning in sea shore state park. I ended up running 1:27:24 and covered 11.36 miles. That comes out to 7:42 per mile. I'm very happy about that! I didn't take any nutrition on the run and I paid for it later in the day. I just felt like something wasn't right all day. I then when to the Fleet Rec 50m pool for some laps. I did about 1600 total but I had 3 bad cramps during my swim. I had a foot cramp, a calf cramp and then a hamstring cramp. The hamstring put me out of the pool and sent me looking for a good electrolyte replacement drink. I'm feeling much better now and I'm loaded up with electrolytes.

Have a great day!

Brick Day

Today is my last day in Roswell, NM. I'm heading to El Paso tomorrow to catch a plane home. I'm ready to get back to all my girls.

I did a brick workout at the bottomless lakes state park. I rode the bike on some of the worst roads I have every seen today. They were so rough that I had to pedal down hill or the bike would slow down. It's a wonder I rode as far as I did. I ended up riding 17 miles in 1:01:15. I'm starting to think that my old road bike might need a little tune up. I then did a 2:58 transition to the run. My run started with my legs feeling like lead but I quickly shook that off and ended up running 4.08 miles in 30:07. By the end of the run I was feeling very good and could have continued on at that pace for miles.

I'm looking forward to getting back to my normal training grounds.

Have a good day!

I'm still here in Roswell, NM. I haven't seen any aliens from outer space but I'm pretty sure I've seen a lot of aliens from south of the border. There is a chance that I'll be leaving this place tomorrow. Lets hope so!

Today I went out to the little lake I've been swimming in and did another open water swim. The measured distance on google earth was .67 miles and I swam that in 19:49. That's not record breaking but it's more open water experience. I'll keep working on the swim.

This afternoon I did a 1 hour run around the bottomless lakes state park. It was around 95 degrees but I felt great. The altitude here is about 3700 feet and I guess I'm getting use to it. During today's run I was able to cover 7.93 miles in 1:00:00 which comes out to a 7:34 mile per minute. I'd like to run that pace for the marathon. We'll see in a few more weeks.

Have a good day!

Today I did an open water swim in New Mexico. Yes, that's right, I'm in New Mexico and I did an open water swim. There is a state park here that is called bottomless lake state park. One of the lakes is open to swimming and if you swim it the right way you can swim 1100 meters. So today I did just that! The winds were out of the south today, actually there out of the south everyday. Anyway, when I would swim to the north it was no drama. However swimming south into the wind and small waves was an asskicker. It was so bad that I could only breath out of one side when swimming to the south. I completed my 1100 meter swim in 21:45. I know that isn't burning up the water but I think it's pretty good considering the altitude and winds.

Have a good day!