Friday 8.31.12

I took the day off from work so I slept in a little.  I went to the pool around 8am for my 2700 yard swim.  Took a honey stinger and a bottle of water.  It was good to sleep in a little bit.  The swim was fairly uneventful.  I did feel a little tired through the first 500 yards but that quickly dissapated and I was back to normal.  After the swim, I came home and had a bite to eat.  Rested for a few hours and then got ready for my bike ride.  I would typically do the second workout in the evening but I have friends in town for the Alabama game tomorrow and am meeting them for dinner tonight.  It was a little overcast this morning so I checked the weather and didn't see any rain in the forecast.  As soon as I opened the garage door, the humidity hit me in the face.  It was only going to be a 90 minute ride out to Murrell Park at Lake Grapevine and back so I took one bottle of water and two honey stinger gels.  I miscalculated the need for water and had to fill up at the Flower Mound fire station.  It was getting hot and the sweat was pouring off of me.  I forgot to take a potassium pill or bring shark salt with me.  The ride was to be a 15 minute warm up, four intervals of 2 minutes hard and 7 minutes easy, 10 minutes of high cadence and a 15 minute cool down.  Maintaining the high cadence is the hardest thing for me as I am a bit of a masher.  I will not be posting for a few days.  Tomorrow is the Alabama game at the Death Star and then I am going to Minneapolis to get my daughter settled at Hamline.  I may run a little bit in Minneapolis but that would be about it so this is a little bit of a break for me.  I figure there is probably one or two heavy builds before the race and I am starting to feel a little nervousness.

Thursday 8.30.12

I have been dealing with a mild sense of dread for this Thursday run since Jeff sent me the plan for the week.  He originally wanted me to hold 8 minute mile pace for 4 consecutive miles bookended by a warmup and cool down mile.  I knew this would be painful and kept going over routes in my mind to make this somewhat possible.  The days are ticking down to the race.  It is less than 60 days out and I get this feeling sometimes after a hard workout that going 70.3 miles is not going to be possible.  I am working through some mental hurdles right now between the possible and what seems to not be possible.  My daughter heading to college has my emotions a little mixed up too.  Complicated right now.  I decided to take a route that is a little more than 6 miles through Coppell that I use on a regular basis.  Miles 2 and 3 are littered with hills.  Mile 4 is mostly down hill and Mile 5 and 6 are pretty flat.  I knew the first two fast miles after the warm up would tell the tale.  Jeff wanted me to be consistent, even if the time were higher than 8 minutes.  I ran the warm up mile and was very conservative.  I knew what lied ahead.  My watch went off and I cranked up the pace.  The first half mile was pretty flat before turning the corner on Sandy Lake and I was doing pretty good.  Hit the first hill and maintained pace.  Topping the hill was a relief and I looked at my watch.  It said I was on about 8:40 pace from memory.  Ok, let's go.  Hit another hill and my watch went off at the mile mark.  Looked down and it read 8:39.  Time to keep moving.  The 2nd fast mile is the hardest with quite a few ups and downs.  I really didn't feel too bad but the hills were stealing time from my pace.  Watch went off and it said 8:43.  Very acceptable considering the hills.  The 3rd mile had a decieving up hill that I had forgot about and then it was a fairly fast downhill on Denton Tap.  I knew my time was pretty good but didn't push too hard knowing there was another mile ahead of me.  Watch went off and it said 8:23.  I knew what this pace felt like and did my best to hold it.  I have run this route hundreds of times now and I know exactly when my watch was going to go off.  Make it to the wooden bridge is all I kept saying to myself.  My form was fading but I kept the speed up.  Finally, my watch went off and it said 8:26.  I actually walked for a few yards to get my breathe back and picked up a slow jog.  I don't know why I doubt myself when it comes to running.  It definitely hurts more than the other two disciplines.  My arthritis makes it infinitely harder.  So in the end, I felt real good about the Thursday run today.  Nice surprise.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/216740425

Wednesday 8.29.12

It's pretty hectic around the house this week.  My daughter heads to college tomorrow in Minnesota and I have friends coming into town for the Alabama game on Saturday against Michigan.  I'll be going to Minnesota after the game.  I had to work all night at work last night so my schedule was all jacked up.  I rode my bike this afternoon at 2:30pm followed by a 2400 yard swim at 4:00pm.  Usually I would get a break on Wednesday and bust the two workouts into a morning and evening workout.  I took a potassium pill before jumping on the bike.  Took one bottle of water with me.  Bike ride consisted of 15 minute warm up, 10 minutes at medium/high cadence, 10 minutes easy, 10 minutes at medium/high cadence, and a 15 minute cool down.  The ride went 63 minutes and 17.14 miles.  I felt fine getting off the bike.  The winds were a little crazy.  They seemed to be east/northeast and were a little breezy.  The wind did not create any issues.  The temps were upper 90s.  When I got home, I changed and loaded up a bottle of water and a bottle of Endurox since the two workouts were going to span a couple of hours.  I need to recover before the run in the morning.  When I got to the pool, I did feel a little tired after coming off the bike.  I started cramping in my foot about half way through the swim and did not finish as strong as I would have liked.  I did take a gel before the swim and drank a bottle of water pool side during breaks.  I really haven't done a workout quite like this under these conditions.  I'm going to chalk it up to lack of sleep.  I did have to drink some cokes last night to stay awake.  Who knows, this scenario should not play out like this again for a while.  I'm hoping hurrican Isaac stays away from Dallas for the next few days.  I am under the 60 day mark to the race.

Tuesday 8.28.12

Jeff is back from Louisville and sent me my plan for the week. I will have some time off over the weekend.  We are moving my daughter into her dorm at college and I will be at the Death Star on Saturday all day for the Alabama football game.  I probably need a little bit of a break anyway.  I ran up to the track as usual for Tuesday as the warm up.  My intervals were (6) 800s at 7:00-7:10 pace.  I ran home after that for the cool down.  There is always a big group at the track on Tuesdays and today they were all running the wrong direction.  Why, I don't know.  I hate going clockwise around the track.  It just doesn't feel right.  I had a few intervals that didn't make time.  I was still a little tired today but felt a little better than yesterday.  My intervals were  6:51, 7:06, 7:19, 7:11, 7:26, 7:26.  I need to work hard the rest of this week and then take a break.  I am going to try and run a little bit while we are in Minnesota this weekend.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/215994294

Monday 8.27.12

I woke up today a little sore and stiff.  I made it to the pool around 6:15am.  I took a honey stinger gel with me and a bottle of water.  I knew some energy was a requirement today.  The swim was 2700 yards and I just never felt good for the entire swim.  A little tired and lethargic for almost the whole swim.  I almost cramped a few times pushing off the wall but it never really went into a full cramp.  I did not take any potassium today.  I did have my monthly shot for my arthritis on Saturday night.  I should get my plan from Jeff tonight.  He is on his way back from Ironman Louisville today.

Sunday 8.26.12

It rained a little yesterday but not enough to stay off the trails at Lake Grapevine.  I was really tired after the bike ride.  Met Joe and the Matrix at Joe's house at 7:30 this morning.  I knew this was going to be a tough run and the plan called for 100 minutes today.  We had one section with some cobwebs to fight through but not too bad.  The trails were in good shape.  I tried to keep a fairly steady pace.  Rich wanted to speed it up about half way in and we increased tempo for about a mile or so.  My legs were tired and I actually tripped and fell down twice today on the trail.  No damage to speak of except a cut on my knee.  Sand and dirt all over me and the water bottles.  I took two gels with me and a full fuel belt of water.  I took a potassium pill before the run and also took a shark salt at about the 70 minute mark.  It was overcast all morning.  The sun started to come out at the end of the run.  We jumped in Rich's pool.  Felt really good and drank my Endurox.  That was the end of a hard week of training.  I will definitely remember today when things get really hard in Austin during the race.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/215233858

Saturday 8.25.12

Last long August ride of the year.  Usually it is still about 105 degrees and really warm in the morning in late August.  When the rain starts at the end of summer, usually Labor Day, it's downhill on the temperatures from there.  However, once the rain comes, the winds come up.  It rained on me today for about 15 minutes and the wind was blowing 15-20 from the S/SW.  It seemed like I couldn't get away from it no matter what I did.  The rain was an unexpected blow.  It stings when it hits your face, arms, and legs not to mention the humidity.  I took a potassium pill and a stinger waffle before hitting the road.  Packed honey stinger gels for every 30 minutes, some shark salt, another honey stinger waffle, one bottle of water and a bottle of accelerade.  I left about 7:45am.  Slept in a little this morning since the temperatures were not supposed to be too hot.  Plan called for four hours on the bike.  Went out to Argyle and back.  Typically about a 60 mile route.  With the wind blowing it was a few minutes short of the four hours. I felt pretty good for the first 35 miles and then the wind wore me down.  The last 20 miles were tough.  I saw Joe running on Wichita Trail on the way out.  What are the odds?  I'll see him tomorrow for our run.  I am really tired after that ride.  Probably need an afternoon nap today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/214796692

Friday 8.24.12

I went to the Rangers/Twins game last night.  Good game.  The Twins pitcher got thrown out for throwing at Josh Hamilton's head and so did the Twins manager.  This is relevant because I stayed up late and had few beers.  Wasn't feeling great this morning when I woke up.  Managed to get out of the house at around 6:15am.  The swim was 2700 yards which is about the same as Wednesday and a little longer than the past few weeks.  Arms felt a little tired and I was a little sluggish to start.  After about 800 yards, I started to feel pretty good again and finished strong.  I have decided to forgo the evening bike ride today since tomorrow is a 4 hour ride.  I forgot to take my honey stinger this morning but brought a bottle of water.  Overall, got in the workout and decided to rest up a little for tomorrow.  It has been a tough week of longer distances.

Thursday 8.23.12

Two updates for today.  I had a ride last night on the bike and and ran this morning.

8.22 Ride
I was to get 90 minutes in last evening on the bike.  15 minute warm up and then 3 sets of 5 minutes easy, 5 minutes hard, and 5 minutes moderate followed by 10 minutes of high cadence with a cool down on the way home.  I rode to the end of Murrell Park at Lake Grapevine and back.  I have been trying for some time to get there in less than 45 minutes.  I did not deviate from the plan and I got to Murrell Park in 44:38.  The wind was kind of with me on the way out so that helped some.  I took a honey stinger at the park and drank a bottle of water on the trip.  I took a potassium pill before the ride.  Felt pretty good the whole way.  Covered 26.2 miles in about 1 hour and 35 minutes.  The wind was in my face on the way back making it slightly slower on the return trip.  I had a cup of Endurox when I got home.  I figured all the help I could get recovering would be necessary for the run this morning.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/213987428

8.23 Run
I had to get up really early today due to meetings starting at 8am.  For the first time in awhile, I set my phone alarm it had to wake me up at 5am.  I am getting a little tired from a sleep perspective and probably need a few more hours than I am getting right now.  My legs and knees were a little sore when I woke up and I thought this was going to be a real struggle this morning.  I took the Bethel School route from the house which is hilly for the first half of the run and then pretty flat for the last 3-4 miles.  The plan called for a warm up mile, (2) 10k paced miles, recovery mile, (2) 10k paced miles, recovery mile, and a cool down mile.  Eight miles total.  The longest Thursday run I have had in a long time.  Started out kind of rough and had a hard time getting going.  Once I jumped into the first set of 10k miles, I increased the pace and starting feeling better as time went by.  My pace got faster and faster, even with the hills.  I stopped to walk for a few yards to eat a honey stinger and get a drink from my fuel belt after the first set of 10k miles.  Started running again and it took a few minutes to feel good.  My last set of 10k miles were in the low 9/high 8 range respectively and I was really humming along.  My last mile and a half was into the rising sun.  Really nice this morning.  Cool temps and the sunrise was really cool with Jimi Hendrix blowing in my ears.  Started to tire and fade slightly towards the end.  No doubt, I was ready to stop but I made it through really well.  Surprising.  I have put alot of run miles on this week.  I hope my legs hold out.  We'll see.

Warm Up:  10:36
10k Mile:  9:31
10k Mile:  9:27
Recovery:  10:37
10k Mile:  9:17
10k Mile:  8:46
Recovery:  9:51
Cool Down:  9:59

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/213987441

Wednesday 8.22.12

It's a double workout day.  This morning was a 2700 yard swim and this evening I will do a 90 minute bike ride.  The swim was one of the longer ones in a while.  I decided to go without the potassium suplement today and see what happened.  No cramps in my legs today.  The swim is short in time terms even though I covered about 1.6 miles so I decided to save the potassium for the bike ride tonight.  The highs today are probably low 90s so it shouldn't be too bad.  Took a bottle of water with me and a honey stinger today.  Took the honey stinger before the swim.  Arms were a little fatigued to start but after the 400 warm up, I felt really good.  I will see how I feel tonight.  That should tell me a little more about where I am.

Tuesday 8.21.12

I received the weekly plan from Jeff this week and it looks like we are turning the screws a little more this week.  I awakened to rain this morning which usually means my joints are feeling great.  I checked the weather and couldn't decide whether to forge ahead in the rain or wait until this evening after work.  I was up and decided to move ahead.  The temp was about 70 but humid with the rain.  I was to do (6) sets of 1000 meters in 4:05-4:15.  This would equate to running at 6:48-7:05 miles.  I didn't feel great on the warm up run.  It is 1.5 miles to the track.  I took it slow and tried to get loose.  All of my 1000s fell in the 4:44-4:54 range.  Consistent but consistently off the pace I needed.  I took a fuel belt of water and honey stinger for the run.  Took the honey stinger after the third 1000.  I saw Jeff at the track.  He was worried the bike ride on Saturday was too fast.  Apparently, the after effects of hammering out a fast ride can stay with you for a few days even though you don't really feel like it.  Maybe that was part of it.  It will be a busy week so I better stick as close to the plan as possible.  All of the workouts are increases in intesity and length.  The weather is a big bonus.  Still can't believe the cool temps (in Dallas terms).

#1 1000:  4:44 (7:30 pace)
#2 1000:  4:49 (7:40 pace)
#3 1000:  4:54 (7:44 pace)
#4 1000:  4:50 (7:46 pace)
#5 1000:  4:55 (7:50 pace)
#6 1000:  4:47 (7:46 pace)

Why are the times inconsistent with the pacing?  Garmin GPS distances are the answer.  While going around the track a few hundreths of a mile variation in distance will affect the pacing.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/213260628

Monday 8.20.12

Woke up this morning around 5:30.  Took all my medication and added the pottasium supplement to the regimen and headed to the pool.  Got in the water around 6:25 this morning.  Definitely felt a little tired and sluggish after a tough weekend but finished the 2300 yard workout in about 55 minutes.  Fairly straight forward today.  The workout involved some shorter sets with kicking and swimming and some longer 200 yard sets.  Took a bottle of water with me but did not take any honey stinger gel.  I did not cramp today so we will see if the trend continues with the longer and tougher swims later in the week.  I should get this week's workout from Jeff sometime today.  We'll see if he is still going to step things up again this week.

Sunday 8.19.12

Per the plan, today was a 90 minute run at a fairly consistent pace.  It was a great morning.  Temperature was 69 when I left the house.  That just doesn't happen in Dallas in August.  Last year, the morning lows were about 85.  With a couple of weeks left in August, you have to take advantage of days like this.  I took a full fuel belt with water, two honey stingers for the 30 minute and 60 minute mark of the run, and a stinger waffle before the run.  Today added a new twist to the regimen, Joe has a friend that swears by Pottasium supplements before workouts.  I took one today.  Granted, the weather was better but I did feel really good today.  I wasn't sure before the run.  The fast pace yesterday on the bike had me a little concerned about today.  The Matrix met us at Joe's house at 7:30am.  The trail was closed after all the rain last night so we had to stick to the concrete.  We took a course with alot of hills so the miles were a little slower than usual.  I was more interested in keeping the legs moving and covering the 90 minutes.  We walked here and there when taking in nutrition.  I did work hard on every up hill climb and did not compromise the hills at all.  The run covered 8.4 miles and took about 1 hour and 33 minutes.  I never felt bad.  I didn't think it was going to go well at first but once I established a rhythm, I was in good shape.  I ran out of water with about 15 minutes to go.  Drank my recovery drink and a Gatorade when I finished.  Stopped at the Walgreen's and picked up some Pottasium for the next few weeks.  I was also out of Iron.  My arthritis seems to give me issues with being anemic at times so I take iron as a supplement each day.  Nice week of training overall.  Should get Jeff's plan for next week tomorrow.  Jeff is doing Ironman Louisville next weekend and trying to qualify for Kona.  Hope he makes it.

Saturday 8.18.12

Woke up at 5am today.  Justin and I left about 5:40am and met Joel at the end of Parkway on the way out towards Flower Mound.  Justin and Joel were pretty fast today.  We were easily averaging 18+ out to the Whitehouse and back.  They were dropping me a little on some of the harder climbs but I was hanging in there ok after a fairly intense week of work.  The weather was mid 70s and probably low 80s by the time we finished.  I tried to be diligent about eating a honey stinger every 30 minutes and had a stinger waffle at the Whitehouse (actually was painted a tan color now, don't know what we'll call it).  I needed three hours today so I broke off with them close to Coppell and rode over the dam and back.  Had to add one more small detour and got home at 3 hours and 3 minutes covering 53.5 miles.  I was pretty tired when I got home and it was a fairly hot pace for me today.  Next week should be another build week so I'll try to add a little more mileage and time on.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/211950457

Friday 8.17.12

I sent an email to Jeff yesterday morning to tell him how I was doing.  I felt a little tired and sore all morning after the run.  I have a long ride ahead tomorrow and a long run on Sunday.  Jeff suggested holding off today if I didn't feel great this morning.  I didn't feel horrible and decided to swim but held off on the bike ride I was supposed to do tonight.  The swim was 2500 yards and the pool wasn't very busy for the first half hour.  I did start to feel some cramping in my foot with about 200 yards to go.  This is a recurring theme for the past few longer swims.  I was running short on honey stingers and just took a bottle of water with me.  I went by RunOn today and loaded up on honey stinger gels, waffles and a new tub of Endurox R4.  I should be good to go for the weekend.  We will see how the ride goes tomorrow.  I should knock out about 60 miles taking the Argyle route tomorrow.

Thursday 8.16.12

Thursday is my worst day of the week.  Jeff always gives me a longer tempo run after a fairly busy Tuesday and Wednesday.  I was worried about my legs after the work I put in yesterday.  Today was a difficult day on my feet.  My legs and hips were a little tired and I just couldn't get the 5k pace miles up to speed.  Overall, it was a fairly consistent pace.  I haven't had a 7 mile Thurday run in quite a while.  I did not take a shark salt this morning which may have been a mistake. It was still a little warm and humid from the rain yesterday.  The workout was to be a warm up mile, 2-5k pace miles, a recovery mile, 2-10k pace miles, and a cool down mile.  I wasn't slow but I wasn't fast either.  Did eat a honey stinger half way through and emptied my fuel belt with water.  I also had a delicious honey stinger waffle before I left.  They are really good.  Weighed 171 when I got home.  Can't seem to break into the 160s.

Warm Up:  9:34
5k mile: 9:14
5k mile: 9:03
Recovery mile: 10:23 (not really this slow, walked for a few feet while I ate the gel)
10k mile: 9:33
10k mile: 9:12
Cool Down: 9:36

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/211236749

Wednesday 8.15.12

Today was a little bit of everything day.  I had a long swim this morning, 2600 yards.  It stormed pretty bad all night and I didn't know if the Aquatic Center was going to be open or not.  I went anyway and it was open.  I took a bottle of water and a honey stinger.  Swim was pretty straight forward and I was able to knock it out in about 62 minutes which is pretty fast.  Still feeling pretty good in the water.  When I got home from work today I needed to ride about 75 minutes.  The plan was a 15 minute warm up and cool down.  In between were four sets of 1 minute easy, 2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy, 3 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy, and 1 minute easy at a fast cadence.  Felt pretty good during the ride.  Took a bottle of water, a honey stinger and shark salt with me.  I had a shark salt before I left.  Took the honey stinger at around 40 minutes and had another shark salt when I finished with the bike.  It wasn't real hot, only about 94, but the humidity was up after the storms last night.  When I finished the bike, I immediately changed shoes and ran for 15 minutes.  Jeff has me do this every now and then to get my legs used to running after getting off the bike.  I was supposed to run easy and averaged about 9:05/mile pace.  I hope this doesn't cause problems for me tomorrow morning.  I have 7 miles to do early in the morning.  I am still feeling really good this week so we will see how it goes tomorrow and the rest of the week.

Track Run 8.14.12

Tuesday is speed work at the track.  I got my workouts for the week from Jeff yesterday afternoon and we are dialing up the intensity for a few weeks.  Jeff says we have a couple of intense build blocks with a recovery in between the builds and a taper before the race.  I felt really good this morning.  I was worried the Sunday trail run would have taken alot out of me.  I had no problems and felt very good again.  It's good to feel like I'm getting faster again.  The workout today was a mile warm up, actually 1.4 miles to the track from the house.  The intervals were 400 much faster than 5k pace, 800 at faster than 5k pace, 1200 at 5k pace, 2x800 at 5k pace and 2x400 faster than 5k pace.  I then used the run home as a cool down run.  Covered 6.21 miles total in 59:27.

Warm up pace:  10:00 pace
400:  6:45 pace
800:  7:15 pace
1200:  7:58 pace
800:  7:49 pace
800:  8:05 pace
400:  7:04 pace
400:  7:27 pace
Cool Down Mile:  9:55 pace

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210430156

8.13.12 - 70 Days till Austin

Today marks the 70 day count down to Ironman Austin.  The swim this morning was 2300 yards.  I tried to concentrate on form and keeping my speed consistent and fast.  Most of the 200 intervals were in the 1:45 range.  I was a little slow getting going this morning.  Stayed up a little late watching the closing ceremony at the Olympics and was a little fatigued after the run yesterday.  Probably went faster than I should have yesterday but I recovered quickly after the first few hundred yards and finished pretty strong.  Should get Jeff's plan for next week today.  We'll see whats in store this week.  He was on the fence for moving ahead with more intensity or stay status quo.

Trail Run 8.12.12

Today was the Sunday trail run.  Trails have been a big part of my training for the last few months and I really think it helps alot.  Ran with the Matrix, Joe and the Hammer joined us today.  Nice to have a crew to run with.  Had a shark salt before I left.  Loaded the fuel belt with water, took one Honey Stinger and a few shark salts for the run.  Met Joe at his house at 7:30.  Weather was a little warmer than yesterday but still very comfortable for August.  I think it was about 78 when we started.  Rained a little bit on the first few miles so the humidity was up.  I felt really good today.  I was basically turning over 11 minute miles on the trail which is very fast for me.  I took another shark salt and the honey stinger gel at the 40 minute mark of the run.  I was a little tired towards the end of the run but I think that is to be expected considering the pace.  Today was so much better than last Sunday.  I think my strength is coming back.  Drank my Endurox after the run and we all jumped in the Matrix pool to cool off.  Felt great.  A very encouraging day and a pretty good week of training this week.

Saturday 8.11.12

8.10.12 Swim day yesterday.  2400 yards in the pool.  Mixed in some speed intervals and handled those really well.  My swimming has not fallen off as much as the run and bike in the past few weeks although my speed and strength is slowly coming back.  Took a bottle of water with me but forgot to take my gel before getting in the pool.  There was a small crowd at the pool yesterday.  Don't know why.  The swim took right at about one hour.

8.11.12  Bike workout today.  The weather was supposed to be really good so I did not wake up at 4:00am and slept in until about 7am.  Left the house at about 7:30 but that meant I was on my own this morning.  There was a slight cool in the air that was almost fall like today.  It must have been low 70s and I am pretty sure it was low 80s when I got home.  It was as nice as it can get for August.  I was supposed to do 2 hours this morning.  I took the Argyle route today.  I chopped off some mileage that I usually cover when I do 50-60 miles.  My route was about 43 miles and lasted about 2 hours and 30 minutes of ride time.  I took a honey stinger gel every 30 minutes.  I had a salt shark before I left and took one bottle of water and one bottle of Accelerade for the ride.  Refilled both bottles and had a banana at the Shell station on FM1171.  Nutrition wise, everything went great.  My legs felt pretty good all day.  Ran into Jeff with about 8 or 9 miles to go and rode home with him.  He is tapering for Ironman Louisville so I dont' think I bogged him down too badly.  It was good to have someone to talk to for the last few miles.  Overall, not bad today.  The weather was so good I really wish I was doing 60-70 miles today.

Thursday Tempo Run 8.9.12

Thursday runs are always very tough so I wasn't exactly looking forward to today when I woke up.  The plan called for a mile warm up, alternating 5 minutes at 50% effort and 5 minutes at 70% effort, and a mile cool down.  I figured the harder effort pace would be around 8 minute mile pace and the softer pace would be around 9 minute mile pace.  I took a Honey Stinger before I left and filled my fuel belt with water.  Good thing.  The weather was cooler this morning but the humidity was pretty high.  I took a Honey Stinger with me but never opened it.  The water was enough.  My warm up mile was a little fast but it felt easy and I felt pretty good.  The first soft 5 minutes and hard 5 minutes hurt a little but I handled it pretty well.  I was actually pretty fast for the second interval group and felt better.  The third interval hurt a little more but I was able to maintain speed knowing it was almost over.  The beginning of the cool down mile was probably pretty slow but in the end it was a very acceptable split.  Not bad for the dreaded Thursday run.  I am beginning to feel stronger again which is a pretty good feeling.

Warm Up:  9:10/mile pace
#1 Moderate:  9:00/mile pace
#1 Hard:  8:08/mile pace
#2 Moderate:  9:21/mile pace
#2 Hard:  7:57/mile pace
#3 Moderate:  9:22/mile pace
#3 Hard:  7:43/mile pace
Cool Down:  9:44/mile pace

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/208433839

I also rode the bike last night.  Plan was for one hour.  Warm up and then 4 minute easy/2 minute hard/4 minute moderate repeated 3 times following a cool down.  I covered 17 miles in the hour so that is a pretty good pace considering stop signs and traffic lights.  I felt very good last night.  The weather was only mid 90s after some afternoon rain.  Mid 90s felt great.  One bottle of water and a Honey Stinger gel.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/208404273

Wednesday 8.8.12

Wednesday swim this morning at the Aquatic Center.  Woke up about 5:15am and was in the water at about 6:20am.  Took a Hammer gel before I jumped in the water and had a bottle of water poolside.  Only a few people there when I jumped in the water but the lanes we were doubled up when I left.  The Dallas Athlete girls show up about 6:45 on Wednesday.  This is the first time in a few weeks that I felt really good in the water again.  The intervals were a little longer but I didn't have any fatigue issues and did not cramp.  Workout was 2300 yards and I covered it in about 57 minutes.  I am supposed to ride my bike tonight.  Weather has been a little weird today.  Looks like rain outside my window and the temps are down so I have to figure out a way to make this work today.  Sub 100 degrees in August is almost chilly.  If it rains, I'll have to do the stationary bike.  I hate those so I'm hoping for the storms to move along.  I need to get some mileage on the bike.  Maybe a trip to Lake Grapevine and back.

Tuesday Run 8.7.12

The Tuesday track run basically consisted of a warm up, (6) 600s in the 2:30-2:40 range which would equate to about 6:40-7:10 pace per mile.  I do this calculation because my garmin will tell me what my pace per mile is for each lap I set.  Woke up around 5:00am and left the house at 5:55am.  It is a about 1.5 miles to the track.  I walked the first .4 miles to get loose and then ran the final mile to the track.  Jeff was at the track and I got a little confused with the math for the 600s this morning.  I decided to go pretty hard and see where the times fell.  The times Jeff gave me were correct.  I have an option on my watch to see the elapsed time on each lap.  I don't use this much.  If you are behind, it's hard to catch up.  I did use it a little today on the last few intervals.  I took a bottle of water with me and had a Honey Stinger before I left the house and another when I finished the fourth interval.  Three of my intervals were in the designated range and 3 were over a little bit.  The 600s this week took a little more out of me than the 400s last week.  I'm not sure if it is too much Olympic watching and lack of sleep that may be keeping me tired.  I am trying to avoid the heat as much as possible.  It was still mid 80s this morning at 6am and was in the 90s when I left for work.  Jeff wants to know where I am at towards the end of the week to see if you push ahead or ease up.  Hard to tell right now.  I definitely don't feel as good as I did a month ago and felt a little dizzy before starting the run back to the house.  The speed intervals are pretty tough.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/207771512

Warm Up Pace:  10:14  (hate running with something in my hands/water bottle today)
#1 600:  2:54 (7:27 pace)
#2 600:  2:28 (7:01 pace/few hundreths of a mile short/stopped to talk to Jeff)
#3 600:  2:38 (6:56 pace)
#4 600:  2:36 (6:42 pace)
#5 600:  2:44 (7:22 pace)
#6 600:  2:44 (7:22 pace)
Cool Down Pace:  9:50

Sunday Trail Run 8.5.12

I got a message from the Matrix (Rich) that he was back from Australia and was up for a trail run this morning.  Good news for me.  I met Rich at 7:30 at his house close to the Northshore trail.  I had a shark salt and a gel before the run.  It was probably about 84 degrees when we started and close to 89 when we finished.  Rich ran about 10 miles before I got there.  The run was hard today.  I took a break at about the 40 minute mark to eat a gel and get some water in my system.  We walked a little bit when we exited the trail and then ran back to the starting point.  Had my recovery drink and jumped in Rich's pool before driving home.  Was a little tired again for some reason today.  Don't know if the two light weeks have caused a slight loss of fitness or if it is just heat and speed work.  Doesn't really matter, the goal for August will be to get in the work and survive the Texas heat.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/206901947

Saturday Bike 8.4.12

Woke up about 4:15 this morning and to get ready for my ride.  I didn't feel great from the time I woke up.  Justin wheeled over to my driveway at 5:15 and we took off to meet Joel.  I did alot of speed work running this week and Jeff warned me my legs may be a little tired today.  I just couldn't get it going today and I never felt strong the entire ride.  I guess there are days like this along the way.  The wind was a little strong for August and especially that early in the morning, about 10-15 from the southwest.  We went over the dam, around the south side of the airport, through Las Colinas and then back through Valley Ranch to the house.  Covered 38.39 miles in 2 hours and 15 minutes.  Averaged around 17mph.  A little slower going out due to the wind.  Picked up my box of Honey Stinger gels yesterday afternoon on the way home from work.  Had a salt shark before I left.  Took in three Honey Stingers on the ride.  Probably not enough on the nutrition side.  Took one bottle of water and another bottle of Accelerade.  Pretty much emptied both of them.  Had a glass of Endurox when I got home and jumped in the pool to cool down.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/206412888

Friday 8.3.12

Today was a swim day.  The workout was supposed to be 2400 yards.  I was running short on time today and had to shorten the swim 250 yards making it 2150 yards.  I was able to swim outside today which was a nice change of pace.  New tiles to watch pass beneath me for 45 minutes.  I felt pretty strong.  I was rushing a little bit to try and get the entire workout in.  Didn't make it but thats ok.  Staying up late to watch Olympics is making it hard to get up and out the door this week.  Tomorrow I am riding with Justin and Joel tomorrow morning at 5:15.  I am supposed to go an easy 2 hours but we may go a little longer tomorrow.  I reserved wheels today at the bike shop for Austin.

Thursday 8.2.12

I missed yesterday so I will need to log that data today.
Wednesday:
On Wednesday, I was to swim for an hour and ride my bike for an hour.  I am back to the hard one hour swims.  The swim was sort of a descending ladder of 200s, 150s, and 100s as the main set.  It took right at an hour to complete the 2400 yard swim.  I felt good and the swim was not a problem.  I wish they would open the outdoor pool for morning lap swimming.  It would be a nice change of pace.  Last evening, I planned on riding my bike for an hour.  It was 112 degrees on the way home and was still 100 degrees at 8pm.  I had a few things to do after work so I just didn't get the work in.

Thursday:
The Thursday run is not my favorite as chronicaled throughout my blog.  I was to run 45 minutes today consisting of a 10 minute warm up, 5 x (3 minutes at 7:00-7:30 pace followed by 2:00 of recovery), and a 10 minute cool down.  My first two intervals were tough but fell in range.  The last three did not.  I had some bad luck catching a few hills that hurt my pace but I just couldn't generate the necessary speed this morning for the latter half.  It was a shorter run and early in the morning so I did not take any water or gel with me.  I did take a shark salt, hammer gel, and drank a bottle of water before I left.  I think going without water was a mistake and could have used it.  However, the speed work on Tuesday could have been a factor in my fade as well.  I covered 5.15 miles in 47 minutes.  The breakdown was as follows:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/205758488

Warm Up Pace:  9:43
#1 3:00 pace:  7:36
#1 2:00 recovery pace:  10:39
#2 3:00 pace:  7:34
#2 2:00 recovery pace:  10:48
#3 3:00 pace:  7:55
#3 2:00 recovery pace:  10:29
#4 3:00 pace:  7:54
#4 2:00 recovery pace:  10:39
#5 3:00 pace:  7:56
#5 2:00 recovery pace:  10:17
Cool Down Pace:  9:33