Short bike/Long run

I'm still in Roswell, NM with the aliens. The helicopter I'm flying is broke hard and we're waiting for a maintenance crew to come fix it. Hopefully I'll be back home before this coming Friday. I'll keep you updated.

In the mean time I did a short bike and long run today. I did 45 minutes on the bike just spinning at 100 RPM. Nothing major just a short ride to get the blood flowing again after yesterdays long bike. I then went out to a state park here with a couple of the guys for a long run. They dropped me off when we got of the main road and I started running to the lake where they were going. Seven miles and one hour later I finally made it to the lake. The winds, hills and altitude here are brutal. I then did two loops around the area of the lake for a total run distance of 14.5 miles in 2:05:00. That was about 30 minutes shorter than I wanted to go but I was running very low on my water resupply. I actually drank 120 oz of water during the 2 hour run. I'm thankful that Ryan and Shane didn't mind hanging out at the lake waiting for me to come back around for water refills. Thanks guys!

I only have 28 days until the race. So far I have logged 154 hours 6 minutes and 1897.7 miles.

Have a good weekend!

Long Bike/Short Run

Sorry for not posting the last few days but I have been flying cross country and working a lot. I did have time to ride this morning and do a run after lunch before work. I started out from my hotel in Roswell, NM and head northwest on route 246. No I'm not hear doing anything with the aliens! Now Roswell is at 3600 feet and I spent 2:27:00 going pretty much up hill until I turned around at 5000 feet. The turn around point was at 35 miles so it was a gradual climb but a climb just the same. I then turned around and spent 2:00:00 getting back to Roswell with a nice headwind. I love headwinds!! Total distance was 70 miles in 4:32:00. Not really that fast but it was up hill and I'm riding my old bike.

I then went to a state park here and ran with some guys from work. It's hot here, just like everywhere else, but I had my water belt and managed a 51:00 run. I don't know the distance because my GPS died on the bike ride. Not a bad day at all here in the southwest.

Have a good day!

Louisville Ironman bike course

Today I was lucky enough to ride the Ironman bike course. I only rode 80 miles of the course since one 32 mile section is done twice. I have been told by a few people that the hills in Louisville are not that bad. Evidently these people were supermen because there are plenty of hills, some of them very big. The good news is that what goes up the hill slow comes back down fast. I was able to maintain a 17 mph average using my old Trek 2300 road bike. I'm still thinking that with a proper taper, zipp wheels, aero helmet and race day excitement I'll manage a 5:30:00 on the bike.

The roads where in pretty good shape and now I have first hand knowledge of what to expect. I'll drive the course a few more times before the actual race. I'm really looking forward to race day.

Have a good day!

Travel Day

Today I'm traveling cross country again in a helicopter. But before I departed this morning I was able to get in a good long run. I ran at work and here is what I did. I ran 45 minutes before starting my interval work which last another 30 minutes and consisted of 5 min on, 5 min off, 4 min on, 4 min off, 3 min on, 3 min off, 2 min on, 2 min off, 1 min on, 1 min off. Once I finished that I did a 12 min cooldown. After all that I had covered 11.2 miles in 1:27:00.

Now I have some surprising news! Now most folks know that I always travel with my road bike so I can do some bike workouts while I'm traveling. Since I'm flying cross country I decided that we'd spend our first night in Louisville, KY. And since the Ironman is going to be right here in 30 days I'd just get up early before we have to depart and drive the bike course to have a look see. Well as fate would have it the aircraft I'm flying is broke and the new part won't be here until tomorrow evening. Soooooooooo I'm going to get a chance to ride the Ironman bike course tomorrow morning. That is so much more than I ever expected. I'm actually only going to ride 80 miles of the course since 32 miles are looped twice. I'll be riding nice and easy just to soak it all in as I cruise along. There will be plenty of time to haul ass in 30 days.

Have a good day!!

More heat!!!

Today was the last workout of the week. Thank goodness because tomorrow the heat index it going to be around 106 degrees. Today it was a cool 103 degrees! So I did an easy bike spinning at 100 rpm for 1 hour and 28 minutes. The distance and speed where not as important as just spinning at 100 rpm. But I did cover 24 miles in 1 hour 28 minutes. I then did a quick change into my running gear and then the real pain began. I ran into Sea Shore State Park with Lisa by my side on her bike. We then preceded to cover 17.1 miles over the next 2 hours and 30 minutes. Yes that is an 8:45 pace!! I can't even describe the heat that I ran in today. I can only hope that it's not nearly this hot in Louisville for the race. Every time we passed a water fountain Lisa would fill her 2 qt water bottle and pour it over my head about 3 times before I would start running again. It was a tough day but I finished the run and trained my mind to go a little further even when it hurts.

Have a good weekend! I'll be back Monday.

The heat, the heat, OMG the HEAT!!

Today I did my long ride and short run. Actually the run became a very short run. The heat today was just brutal. I went back up to Williamsburg to ride because of the hills and variety of roads to ride. I can't say that I had my best ride of the year because I felt like someone was riding on the back of me bike the entire day. I did manage to finish 100 miles but it took me 5:25:00. That is an 18.5 mph average, which is well below my 20.5 mph goal for the Ironman. I can only hope that once I taper (rest), put on my Zipp racing wheels and my aero helmet my speed will increase. Lets also hope that there is either no wind or a strong northeast wind on race day. Northeast because the last 32 miles of the race are pretty much down hill and heading southwest. Everybody pray for favorable winds. Thanks!!

I then did a quick change into my running gear. But the heat was somewhere in the 103 degree range. I run with a water belt so that was not the issue. I think the combination of the Williamsburg hills and the heat did me in. I ended up quitting early after only 2.3 miles and 19:25 minutes. That is slow just in case your curious.

Hopefully on race day it will not be 103+ degrees!!

Have a good day!

Run, Swim, Run

Ok so today I have my workouts all planned out, but things never go as planned. Before I got the chance to go run an opportunity came up to get my tires replaced and my car inspected. So off to Va Bch I went. On the way I decided that I'd drop off my car, run to a rec center, swim and then run back to get my car. It was 1pm and the auto shop guys thought I was crazy to be running in this heat. Perhaps I am a bit crazy or really motivated, either way it isn't that bad in the heat as long as you have water.

I ran to seatack rec center in Va Bch which took me 42 minutes and covered 5.5 miles. Once at the rec center I took off everything except my swimming/biking/running shorts and did a 1 mile swim in 26 minutes. I then refilled my water belt and headed back out the door towards my car. The run back was more direct and took 24:38 and covered 3.3 miles. I'm glad that I'm getting to run and bike in this head. Louisville is about this same temperature and I'll be riding and running during the hottest part of the day.

Have a good day!