Sunday 9.30.12

Justin and me were going to leave this morning at 6am but he sent me a text and the weather looked like everything should clear by 8am so we decided to leave then.  It was sprinkling when we left.  We picked up Kim, a friend of Justin's on the way.  We didn't get very far and the rain became pretty steady and with the wind blowing at 10-15mph, this was not going to be a fun ride.  My plan called for 3 hours of moderate riding with 3 five minute hard efforts.  That plan went out the window.  It was pretty slick out there so I just tried to maintain a steady pace and steer clear of slick spots, puddles, and slowed down on corners.  I almost lost my rear wheel a couple of time when I really stood on the pedals.  I took a stinger waffle with me and honey stinger gels.  One bottle of Accelerade and one bottle of water.  I didn't need to refill the bottles.  We seemed to be taking in water whether we wanted or not from the rain.  I did stay on top of the gel and ate the waffle at about the 2 hour mark.  The rain finally died down at the end of the ride.  I did not really have a choice about riding today.  I need all of the time I can get so I had to move ahead today.  I'm glad Justin and Kim wanted to stick it out today.  That was a character building ride today.  I'm glad to be done with it.  It's rained for about 2 straight days now.  Hopefully, this all goes away today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/228541754

Saturday 9.29.12

The rain started yesterday afternoon and it was still raining this morning.  I woke up with the intention of possibly fighting the rain and riding the bike.  I sent a text to Justin to see if he was interested in going.  He was going to ride tomorrow so I decided to go with him and run today.  Seemed like the right thing to do and hopefully it will dry out on Sunday.  No need to chance wiping out on slick roads.  I love the slow rain for running.  If it was just about 5-10 degrees cooler, it would be awesome.  I loaded up the fuel belt with water and took two honey stinger gels.  REI had a new flavor, fruit smoothie.  Fruit smoothie was a little sweet but not bad.  The goal today was 80 minutes.  I thought somewhere around 8+ miles would do it.  I definitely felt the mid 9s would be the pace today.  I was pretty much right.  My average today was 9:34 and the miles were in between 9:20 to about 9:46.  For awhile in the first 4 miles, I got into a nice groove and really didn't worry about time, speed, distance, or anything.  I just ran as if nothing was around me.  My mind didn't wander and thing about ridiculous things.  It would be good to find that place and stay there for these longer runs.  Practice, I guess.  I went over 100 miles running for the month with today's run.  103 to be exact.  I haven't been close to a 100 mile month and I still feel really good.  September has been a good month of training.  Today's running song to get me home was appropriately enough, Prince and Purple Rain.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/228054473

Friday 9.28.12

I woke up this morning around 5:15 for my swim.  It was pretty busy when I got to the pool.  All the lanes were full.  One opened up when I was ready so I was able to jump in as soon as I finished my honey stinger gel.  I remembered my water today.  Hectic swim today with alot of shorter distance but high intensity work.  Covered 2400 yards today and it took about 58 minutes.  A little long by time considering the distance but some of the rests between sets were :30 due to the intensity.  I felt really fast today and had good strength throughout the swim.  About 30 minutes into the swim, everyone left the pool so I finished the back half of the workout with me and a lifeguard.  Fairly well protected, I suppose.  I am to do an easy hour on the bike tonight.  The weather is forecasted to get bad this afternoon and then rain all day tomorrow.  I am concerned about the ride tomorrow.  My plan is to get 3 hours in and I need that time on the bike.  I am finally starting to feel good on the bike again and I don't want to lose ground.  I am out of nutrition again so I went to REI at lunch.  I don't know if there is an issue with their system but the honey stinger gels are only 99 cents.  They show $1.30 on the shelf.  It makes them much less expensive than anywhere you can go in town.  I bought 3 fruit smoothie gels to try and 3 chocolates to go with my pomegranate.  Picked up a few more stinger waffles and some Clif bar crunch as well.  This should hold me over for a few weeks.  If there is anything I want to experiment with, it has to be now or this is what I am going with for the race.  I need to check the Ironman Austin race guide and see what they are stocking at the aid stations.  I may need to experiment with some of those supplements.  Hoping the weather gives me a window tomorrow.

Thursday 9.27.12

For some reason, I woke up this morning at about 4:45am.  I don't know why.  I am sooo not a morning person.  The hardest part in all of this is getting up each morning.  After I'm moving around, great.  Until then, it is a struggle.  I tried to wake up my son for hockey practice and then started to get ready for the run.  I do a good bit of milling around in the morning and get distracted sometimes.  I found everything pretty quick today.  I mixed up my Endurox for after the run and put it in the fridge so it would be nice and cold.  I put only two water bottles in my fuel belt and took a honey stinger with me.  My monthly arthritis meds came yesterday so my wife gave me my injection last night.  It usually takes a few days to settle in but I haven't really felt bad at the tail end of my medication this month.  I took all the other usual stuff, tylenol, potassium, and some other stuff for my stomach.  Bad thing about running in the morning is the getting loose part.  I took off at about 6am out of the garage.  I was to cover 6 miles this morning per Jeff's plan.  The plan called for a mile warm up, a ladder set, and use of any remaining mileage for the cool down.  The ladder set was 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute, 4 minute, 3 minute, 2 minute, 1 minute hard efforts with recovery in between that matched the hard effort.  These Thursday hard efforts are usually high 7 minute pace.  I couldn't really decide on a route.  I have a few to choose from.  I decided to take the long route to Parkway and run it to the 3 mile mark, turn around and come back home the same way.  There a few small hills but not many.  It's hard to believe how many people are out running at 6am.  Parkway is very busy with runners and I can run on the street against the traffic.  The concrete is better on the road and I don't have to be concerned with the uneven pavement on the sidewalk.  I lost a little focus on the first 2 minute set and went over 8 minute pace but all of the others were in range.  The traffic lights all came up at good times and didn't split up any of my hard effort runs.  I don't recall having done a workout exactly like this one and it was hard today, even though the mileage was not very long.  I took the honey stinger after the 4 minute effort and starting taking water in at that point as well.  It seemed a little warmer than it has been lately in the morning, maybe low 70s instead of the 60s.  Temperature was not really a problem at all.  On the way back, the Coppell Cross Country kids were passing under the bridge in the park.  Very busy day considering how early it was.  My hard effort pace was:
1 minute:  7:34 pace
2 minute:  8:02 pace
3 minute:  7:41 pace
4 minute:  7:55 pace
3 minute:  7:49 pace
2 minute:  7:48 pace
1 minute:  7:50 pace
Thanks to Bowling for Soup for providing the tune that got me home today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/227382352

Wednesday 9.26.12

Two workouts today.  The morning workout was a 2300 yard swim.  It was the same swim I did last Wednesday and I forgot my fins, same as last week.  I also forgot to bring a bottle of water.  I did remember the honey stinger gel.  My stomach was giving me problems this morning and I wasn't sure I was going to go at all for awhile.  I went ahead and fought through it this morning.  Once I got going on the swim, I felt really good.  The rest of the day at work went well and I was ready for the evening bike ride.  I got out of work a little late and didn't get going until about 6:20pm.  My goal was between 80-90 minutes tonight.  I was supposed to warm up and then maintain a moderate pace the rest of the way.  I was able to average almost 17mph tonight.  the wind was blowing at least 15mph and I was making good time into the wind tonight.  It was at my back on the way home and I was flying.  It was dark when I got back to the house.  I have about 4 more weekdays to get through on the bike before the race.  I don't really like being out there in the dark by myself but what are you going to do.  I have to get the workouts in.  I am happy with my improvement on the bike.  I think things are starting to turn aound and my stamina is getting better each week.  My mileage has been off a little bit on the bike this year but I may be getting it back just in time.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/227307897

Tuesday 9.25.12

I received my workout plan from Jeff for the week.  I will be backing off some this week on the mileage and time as a recovery week.  Today, I warmed up running to the track.  Once there, I ran 3 miles at half marathon pace with 400 recovery runs after each mile.  My legs were still a little stiff from the long Sunday run.  It took me a little while to get loose and my warm up mile was over 10 minute mile pace.  When I got to the track, everyone was running in the wrong direction.  I hate running clockwise.  I don't know why, but it really bothers me.  There wasn't much I could do about it.  My first mile was an 8:50 mile.  Too fast.  My half marathon pace should be high 9s.  It was dark at 6am so it was hard to see what my times were like.  I didn't feel like I was running that fast.  Ran the second mile in 9:08.  I had a honey stinger gel and some water before the third mile.  The third mile was 9:16.  All three were probably too fast.  It felt like an easy rhythm but I couldn't seem to dial it back appropriately.  Jeff's instructions this week were to not be tempted to exert too much effort.  I may have failed on that front today.  My return pace to the house was around 10 minute pace.  I don't know what to think about today.  Hopefully, I can hold back a little.  It is increasingly difficult to back off when my mind set for over a month has been hauling ass mode.  There always seems to be one song on my iPod that gives me the energy to make it home.  Today, the winner is AC/DC.  "Rock and roll ain't no riddle man, to me it makes good, good sense."

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/226766074

Monday 9.24.12

I'm now 5 weeks out from the race.  The days are passing quickly and it will be here before I know it.  Today is a rest day for my legs.  The only workout today was a swim this morning.  I felt a little sluggish at times but the longer 300 yard intervals were good.  I was able to settle into a nice rhythm and crank out the distance with ease.  The entire swim today was 2500 yards and I finished in about 56 minutes.  All swimming except one 200 yard pull so it went really fast.  My legs this morning feel a little tight after the long run on Sunday, especially my quads.  Jeff said it was ok to go over the estimated time as long as my legs are ok for the Tuesday run.  I will have to stretch them with the foam roller pretty good tonight and make sure I feel good for tomorrow.  Jeff's plan for this week should come today and it should back off a little.  I should have a quick recovery before going into one last build phase.  The hay is almost in the barn at this point.  A few more weeks of heavy work and then we'll see where we go from here.  I feel pretty anxious about it at this point.

Sunday 9.23.12

I met Joe and the Matrix at Joe's house this morning at 7:30am.  It was 67 degrees this morning.  Very nice for running.  I was looking for 2 hours today and we decided to run to the MADD shelter and back on the Northshore trail.  I had a full fuel belt of water and 3 honey stinger gels for the run.  My Endurox was waiting in the car back at Joe's house.  Run started well and we were running a consistent pace.  About a quarter mile from the MADD shelter, Rich decided to really pick up the pace.  I went with him.  I'm not sure how fast we were moving but I wouldn't want to go any faster on that trail.  We stopped briefly at the shelter, drank some water and had a gel before heading back.  Seems like the humidity was coming up big time.  The next 15 minutes were ok but I hit a tough stretch for about 20 minutes but we kept moving.  About an hour and half in, I took my last gel and that seemed to help with some energy.  Rich and I almost got smoked by some Mountain bikes, they came flying off a cliff wall and almost ran us over.  We finally made it off the trail at about the 2 hour mark and I had about 1 mile back to Joe's house.  Walked up a hill to Wichita Trail and then finished off the run.  Finished the road portion at 9:27 pace.  Altogether, covered 10.74 miles in 2 hours and 9 minutes.  We stopped at casa de Matrix to rest our legs in the cold pool water.  Don't know how I would make these long Sunday runs without those boys.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/226061115

Saturday 9.22.12

Woke up a little late today at around 7am.  No big deal.  The weather is really nice right now and I don't like riding the bike in the dark.  My eyes aren't great without my glasses.  Loaded up with the usual nutrition.  I was almost out of gel so I had to go by the Run On last night on the way home from work.  Had enough honey stinger gels for every 30 minutes, one bottle of water, one bottle of Accelerade, and a honey stinger waffle.  I also had a honey stinger waffle before I left.  There was almost no wind for the first few hours. The SW winds kicked in for the last half of the ride, maybe 5-10 mph.  I took a route that I have only traveled once before with Jeff out to the other side of 35W to Robson Ranch road.  Coming back from that direction there are some great hills around Hilltop road.  They can be leg crushing.  I had to stop a few times and use the GPS on my phone to make sure I was going the right direction.  I found my way around fine.

There were long stretches out west where I was pretty much alone.  No cars, no people, no bikes, just me, the odd cow, and my thoughts.  I wondered what it would be like in Austin and what it would be like to finish.  I tried to figure out what a good finishing time would be.  Very cool.  I felt really good on the bike.  My arms were a little sore this morning after the push up swim workout yesterday.  I had to tack on an extra 20 minutes when I got back home today.  I made it back quicker than I expected.  I covered a little over 66 miles in 4 hours and 3 minutes.  The heat was starting to come up when I got home around 12:30 and I was ready to get off that bike.  Nice ride.  I felt slightly dehydrated.  I think I should have been more consistent with the fluids.  Other than that, no complaints today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/225655593

Friday 9.21.12

Friday is supposed to be a two workout day.  I'm not sure if I can get the second workout in today as I have tickets for the high school football game tonight.  We'll see.  The swim this morning was pretty tough.  It included a set of swimming 100 yards, jumping out of the pool, and do 5 push ups and repeat.  After a few hundred yards of that, my arms felt like cardboard paddles in the water.  No problems with making it through the swim, it was good hard work.  Most of the workout was straight forward swimming.  Despite all of the jumping out of the pool, I finished the 2400 yards in about 55 minutes which is pretty fast for that workout distance.  The second workout today was supposed to be an easy 60 minute ride.  Traffic will be a mess today with the high school game blocking my major path out of town.  It depends on when I get home as to whether this is in the cards for tonight or not.  I feel pretty good about the work this week so it won't be the end of the world if I miss this one.

Thursday 9.20.12

My least favorite day of the week.  The Thursday Run.  I felt really good after last night but woke up a little stiff and sore this morning.  Strange change of pace from Jeff for today's run.  The usual warm up mile and cool down mile, but the meat was a repeat of 3 minutes hard, 3 minutes easy, 2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy, 1 minute hard and 1 minute easy.  The hard efforts were to be faster than 5k pace.  I figured these had to be upper 7 minute pace.  I was able to do all them anywhere from 7:37-7:54 pace.  My slowest time were the earliest intervals.  The recoveries were slow.  I was feeling a little weak after the amount of effort put in yesterday.  I feel good about making time.  It was a short by time and distance but very intense.  I only covered 4.7 miles and finished in about 44 minutes.  Good to get Thursday over with and move on to the weekend.  I'm happy with the week so far.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/224875443

Wednesday 9.19.12

The workout today is a multiple and covers everything.  I swam 2300 yards this morning in the pool.  For whatever reason, I overslept and did not wake up on my own around 5am.  I have settled into a pattern where I just wake up automatically every day at this time and don't need an alarm.  Today, I woke up at 6:25am.  I was in a big hurry and got out of the house as soon as possible.  I was in the water by 6:45.  Downside is I forgot my bottle of water and fins.  I was supposed to use fins today for one of the 5x100 sets.  I just did another swim set.  The workout was really straight forward.  Nothing goofy today.  I felt a little tightness in my left shoulder but it subsided about half way into the swim.  This evening I am supposed to ride my bike 70-90 minutes followed by a 15 minute run right off the bike.  The days are getting shorter and my ability to get out of Coppell is somewhat compromised.  To get out to the lake or Flower Mound, I have to travel a few very heavily used roads and riding the bike creates alot of angry drivers.  I will do what I can depending on when I get home.  I'm not sure how this is going to work for the next month because daylight is slipping away from me each and every day.  I will update this entry tonight after the ride and run.

Bike Ride:  I got home as quickly as possible and got ready for the ride.  I got out of the garage at 6:11pm and needed to get between 70-90 minutes in.  The plan was a 10 minute warmup, followed by 3 minutes of hard effort then 6 minutes of easy effort (repeated until I got about 10 minutes from the finish), and then 10 minutes of cool down.  I felt really good for the ride today.  I was able to maneuver through Coppell and get 23.75 miles over one hour and 27 minutes.  I had a honey stinger at about the 50 minute mark and drank one bottle of water on the ride.  Weather was really nice.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/224753678

Run:  Immediately after getting off the bike, I was to run 15 minutes.  I swapped shoes and got my bike gear off and started running.  It was a little rough at first because the legs feel a little strange off the bike.  The goal for a short run is to get the legs acclimated to running after a ride.  I quickly got into a rhythm and was moving pretty well.  The first mile was 8:58 and the second mile pace was 8:28 although the second mile was cut short at .72 miles.  My pace was pretty fast and I wasn't really pushing it very hard at all.  Good day all the way around.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/224753679

Tuesday 9.18.12

I received the plan for the week from Jeff.  Another build week with a promise of a recovery week next week.  Seems like every week is a build week.  The goal is one more hard week, a recovery week, one more build cycle before the taper to the race.  The track run was longer distance intervals today.  After my warm up, which was a mile and a half run to the track, I was to do: 5k mile, 400 recovery jog, (2) 10k miles, 400 recovery jog, 5k mile, 400 recovery jog, cool down run on the way home.  I still felt a little fatigued from the long Sunday run but my times were not bad.  When I got to the track, I hit the start/stop button on my garmin instead of the lap button.  Running in the dark can get you confused.  The first 250 yards are MIA on my GPS.  I feel the time was fairly consistent with the rest of the mile.  I should have been on a 8:10 pace for the 5k mile.  The first 3 laps flowed easily but the last lap was a little bit of a struggle.  Jeff was at the track and lapped me while doing my 8:10 mile.  He didn't even look like he was trying hard.  After the 400 recovery jog, I fired up the two 10k miles.  Settled into a decent pace for the first 6 laps but the last two were tough to maintain pace.  The times were a little fast at 8:38 and 8:44.  I may have been going too fast actually.  The 5k miles should be close to 8 minutes but the 10k miles should probably be closer to 9 minutes.  After the 10k miles, I ate a honey stinger gel and grabbed a quick drink of water.  Ran the 400 recovery jog and then started on the last 5k mile.  Through 2 laps I was at 8:27 pace, which was too slow.  I really pushed the last two laps and finished in 8:06.  I probably ran the last two laps (1/2 mile) at 7:45 pace.  That was really tough.  Drank some more water and then started the jog back home.  I walked for the first tenth or two to recover but probably ran a 10 minute recovery pace.  Covered about 7.5 miles today in about 71 minutes.  Even though I didn't feel great, my times were pretty good.  I was looking back through this blog and my times in July were all in the 9+ minute range at less distance.  It's nice to see some improvement.  One of the nice things about the blog is the ability to look back at how far I have come.  Another bonus today, after the run, I weighed 169.8 on the scale.  Granted, there is some water weight loss, but the numbers did dip below 170 for the first time.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/224221048

Monday 9.17.12

I woke up today and didn't feel too terribly bad.  I expected to have my legs feel sore and tired.  11 miles on concrete yesterday would normally be fairly bad on my knees as well.  I seemed to have recovered pretty well.  Throughout the day yesterday, I had problems with my knees feeling a little sore.  Could be affects from my arthritis.  Monday is just a swim day.  2400 yards in the pool.  The swim workout included alot of stick drill today.  I used some sort of diving toy used for swim lessons at the pool.  The stick drill means you hold a stick in front of you and you pass control of the stick from one hand to the other as you swim.  Terribly awkward but all of your momentum is created by one arm or the other.  After the first few hundred yards of doing this, I got into a rhythm.  This is not one of my favorite drills in the water.  The swim was mostly technique driven for the most part today.  Took a honey stinger before the swim and a bottle of water pool side.  When I weighed this morning, I was 170.0.  Just missed the 160s again today.  The race is beginning to become a reality as each day passes by and the uneasiness starts to grow.  I just don't want to bonk and not make it.  Within the next week or two, I should be able to get a forecast for the weather in Austin.  It may change substantially but I like working with known factors.

Sunday 9.16.12

It has been wet with a slow rain all day long.  The rain was supposed to break aroun noon.  My son had a hockey game this morning so I decided to run after his game today.  I was in a little bit of a rush.  I forgot my potassium pill before I left.  I did have a full fuel belt of water and three honey stinger gels.  I missed my usual running crew today and was on my own.  I decided to head south down MacArthur into Valley Ranch until I hit 52 minutes and then turn around for home.  I made it to the Campion Trail before turning around.  the goal today was 105 minutes.  I had a gel at about 40 minutes and 80 minutes.  Covered 10.6 miles today.  The first 4-5 miles were in the 9:50 range.  I slowed to a little over 10 for all but the last mile.  High 9s for the last mile with the end in sight.  Knees were really sore when I finished.  Had a recovery cup of Endurox when I finished and a turkey sandwich.  Longest training run this year.  I have gone this far in terms of elapsed time but not for the same distance because I usually do trails on Sunday.  The concrete is far more unforgiving and I am feeling it today.  I hope tomorrow feels ok.  We'll see.

Saturday 9.15.12

Stayed up a little late last night so I went ahead and slept in a little.  The weather is going to be cool outside all day so there was no rush.  As long as I am home for the Alabama game at 2:30, it didn't matter.  Wind was out of the NW at about 10 mph.  My route out to Argyle goes straight into the wind but I would get it at my back on the way home.  Justin couldn't go with me this morning so I was on my own today.  Jeff's plan said 4 hours with no hard efforts today.  I really didn't push the pace too much and just stayed steady most of the way, especially into the wind.  I took a potassium pill this morning but didn't feel like shark salt was necessary.  The temps were in the high 60s and overcast with a little light rain at times.  I ate a Clif bar before leaving, loaded up a bottle with water and one bottle with Accelerade.  Took enough honey stinger gels for every 30 minutes and a strawberry stinger waffle.  Felt really good through the first 25 miles.  The wind had me a little tired until I could turn around and head home.  At about 40 miles, my legs started feeling the effects of all the running this week.  The entire ride was 4 hours and one minute covering 63 miles.  For the first time in a while, it wasn't unimaginable that I could go out and run a little.  Over the last 48 hours, I have exceeded all the distance that will be in the race.  I try to imagine it mentally at this point.  The race is in seven weeks so it's coming on fast.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/223007915

Friday Part 2 - 9.14.12

Got home a little late from work today.  Family wanted to go get something to eat before I was able to get in my 5 mile run.  We went to eat and then I came home and let things settle in my stomach.  Work brought in some pizza for lunch today and it just didn't sit right with me.  I thought about bailing out on the run but I need to get my work in this close to the race.  I will do my best to get every workout in at this point.  The rain was very light all evening so I loaded 2 bottles in my fuel belt and took off.  It was in the 60s tonight so I considered going without water.  As it turned out, I didn't really need the water.  I had a few ounces halfway into the run and my stomach was not handling it well.  This was supposed to be an easy 5 mile run.  I averaged 9:27 miles, if memory serves.  I ran through the park tonight.  I am not a big fan of running the trail along the creek at night.  There are coyotes in there and they randomly make appearances at times.  I didn't see another person in the park tonight so I would be on my own with the coyotes, if they came out to play.  The run was smooth and pretty easy.  I did not push the pace at all.  I need to get 4 hours in on the bike tomorrow morning.  We'll see how the extra run mileage affects my ride tomorrow.

Friday 9.14.12

With my modified schedule this week, today is supposed to be a double workout day.  This morning I swam 2350 yards.  Not a long swim based on most of my swim workouts for the past few weeks.  What was different was the amount of leg work in the workout.  Several sets using the kickboard today.  Of the 2350 yards, at least 600-700 yards of workout was dedicated to the kickboard.  Felt good throughout the workout.  I took a bottle of water with me and took a honey stinger gel before the swim.  This evening I am going to try and do an easy but steady 5 mile run.  It is raining today and hopefully I can get this worked in and avoid most of the showers.  I usually do not perform a long a run before my four hour Saturday ride so I'm not sure how this will affect me tomorrow.  I saw Justin in the alley yesterday and he may go with me tomorrow on the ride.  It would be nice to have someone to keep me company. 

Thursday 9.13.12

Busy day today.  I ran this morning and went straight to work.  I just got home so this will probably be short and sweet.  My hamstrings and legs were still a little sore from the Tuesday run.  The plan called for 8 miles today including a warm up mile, 3 sets of one mile hard effort and a recovery mile followed by a cool down mile.  My 8 mile route is a little hilly so the first two hard effort miles were in the middle of some hills.  All of the faster miles were in the 8:40 range.  The recovery miles were right at 10:00 miles.  My stomach did not feel great today either.  I loaded up my fuel belt with water and went through 3 of the 4 bottles.  I had a pomegranate honey stinger.  Those are awesome.  The work today was hard so I made sure to drink a cup of Endurox after the run.  I remember when a 8 mile run on a Thursday would seem impossible a few months ago.  I was glad to be able to get the work in today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/222223690

Wednesday 9.12.11

A change in plans for a Wednesday.  Typically, I would do two or three workouts on Wednesday.  I can't do that this week due to work commitments for the next two nights.  Jeff gave me a really hard workout yesterday and a lighter, almost off day.  I went to the pool this morning for a 2500 yard swim.  No one was there today.  I had to wonder whether it was really Wednesday.  The Dallas Athletes usually come pouring in for a 7am workout but no one came today.  My hamstrings were still a little sore from yesterday but that really doesn't bother me too much in the water.  I had some 50 yard sets at hard effort and felt a little tired on those sets.  The swims never really give me too much trouble anymore unless I am dealing with cramping after a hard workout the previous day.  I could tell my energy level was not as good as Monday.  The swim portion of the Ironman race in October used to be one of my biggest fears.  I don't have that fear anymore.  I am more concentrated on maintaining a decent pace while expending as little energy as possible.  Tomorrow is an 8 mile run so I'm hoping for some leg recovery today.  I am completely out of nutrition so I will need to stop at REI or Run On today.  I don't have Endurox, gels, or waffles.  My Clif bar stash is running down to nothing as well.  I have really been tearing through the nutrition over the past few weeks.  I think my calorie burn is well over 11,000 per week at this point.  My weight was dangerously close to getting into the 160s.  For the past few days, I have been 170.8 to about 171.5.  I would ideallly like to be at least 165 for the race.

Tuesday 9.11.12

I have a strange week at work and will probably not be available for Wednesday and Thursday evening workouts this week.  Jeff has accomodated this in the schedule so today's run was a little different from the usual Tuesday track run.  Today, Jeff had me do a combination track and tempo run.  Jeff listed this as a hard workout.  When he says that, it usually means damn near impossible.  I drove to the track this morning at around 6:15.  Jeff was there so I got to spend a few minutes talking to him before the workout.  I ran a warm up mile at the track (10 minute mile).  Jeff gave me a 4 mile route starting and ending at the track around Coppell.  The goal was to do all 4 miles at 8:20 pace today.  It takes a few miles for me to get loose so the first mile was the slowest but I was on track.  The second mile had a douche grade climb but when you are trying to maintain a fast pace you really don't want to see any kind of hill.  The third mile was a little tough mentally and the fourth was the light at the end of the tunnel.  The four times in order were 8:28, 8:05, 8:08 and 7:56.  I was very happy but I knew there were 4x800 at the track that were to be done in 3:50 which equates to 7:40 pace.  I started out crushing the first 800 and then died on the second lap.  Hoping to not completely destroy the rest of the 800s, I tried to maintain a more consistent pace for the last 3 800s.  The second was the toughest to make.  I found a rhythm for the last two.  The end was in sight and I was able to mentally see the end.  The four 800s were completed in 3:48, 3:50, 3:46, and 3:42.  Once these were completed, I was to finish with a one mile cool down.  I really felt like I was slugging out a 12 minute mile at this point and really didn't look at my watch until the third lap at the track.  I wasn't really worried about the speed.  When I did look at my watch it was around 9:40 pace.  I guess when your knocking out 8 minute miles, 9:40 seems like going backwards.  The cool down mile was finished in 9:37.  Overall, I was very happy with the days results.  My hamstrings were a little tight as I finished but I feel great this afternoon.  I had water with me and one gel I took during the 800s.  I don't remember when.  I had a potassium pill before the run and a honey stinger waffle.  The run was hard so I drank an Endurox recovery drink.  Overall, I feel great.  It is always good to stare a challenge in the face and conquer something you don't think is possible.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/221509616

Monday 9.10.12

Monday is a light day for training.  It is a day to let the legs rest from the long run and ride over the weekend.  I got up this morning for my Monday swim.  2650 yards today in the pool.  Main set was 200 pull followed by 3x100 strong swims.  I repeated this three times.  My 100s were in the 1:45 to 1:55 range.  It was tough to maintain pace and form towards the end.  It requires concentration and focus to keep good form to maintain speed.  Swimming is the easiest to lapse in form and go slow.  When you get tired, you automatically take the easy way out from an effort standpoint.  It's natural.  I'll stretch tonight with the foam roller.  That hurts sometimes but it does help.  I should get this week's plan from Jeff today.  It is 7 weeks until the race.  My internal anxiety is beginning to build again.

Sunday 9.9.12

Woke up this morning at about 6:30 and started to get ready for my bike ride.  I left the house at about 7:45am.  Plan called for a 4 hour ride today.  The weather was cool with light winds from the northwest.  It was actually a little cold on the bike for the first hour.  I rode out to Argyle this morning and back on a familiar route.  Round trip was 60.28 miles and I covered the distance in 3 hours and 46 minutes.  My speed was ok on the flats and descends but I didn't have good strength climbing hills today.  I'm not sure if running yesterday would have affected my leg strength for the ride today.  I felt my left quad getting tight a few times on the harder efforts.  I haven't really had that feeling before.  My hips and knees felt a little better this morning.  I was low on gel today so I took some Clif bars, Honey Stinger waffles and a few GU gels with me.  As usual, one bottle of water and one bottle of Accelerade were on board.  I made my usual stop to reload water at the shell station on FM 1171.  I stopped and ate the Clif bars at Murrell Park at Lake Grapevine.  I went ahead and took a potassium pill today but never felt the need to take any of the shark salt I had with me.  The weather was so nice, I just didn't sweat as much as usual.  Nice day for a ride and alot of base miles were put in today.   I didn't feel completely wiped out when I got home.  Not bad.

Saturday 9.8.12

A front blew through last night and the temps dropped to the high 60s this morning.  With the front came 20 mile an hour winds from the north.  I typically ride the bike on Saturday and run on Sunday to get my legs accustomed to running on tired legs.  Facing a 4 hour bike ride into the 20+ winds did not seem like a great idea so I swapped workouts for this weekend.  I run on the weekends with Rich and Joe.  Joe figured out a way to make it work for all of us.  Rich is training for a 100 mile race in Arkansas in October so he is going with big mileage.  Joe was training for a 50 mile race.  Rich ran 2 miles before meeting us.  I ran a little over 8 with them and they were finishing up with an additional 8.  My plan called for a steady 100 minutes today.  On the trail, that means a little over 8 miles.  The weather was awesome and I definitely could have continued on today without a problem.  Down side for the day was a vicious attack from a wasp that stung me on the back of my neck.  I don't get allergic reactions from wasp stings but it still hurts as of this posting.  Joe informed me that wasps don't die when they sting you so I don't even have the satisfaction that the little son of a bitch ate it after his sneak attack.  As far as the run went, my right hip was a little sore this morning.  It settled down after a mile or two and I felt good the rest of the way.  Ate a honey stinger waffle this morning and took a potassium pill.  On the run, I had one honey stinger gel and three of the four bottles of water on my fuel belt.  Running in the 60 degree temps with low humidity was a tremendous boost to my mental approach.  The 100 degree heat will wear on you physically and mentally if you let it.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220174379

Thursday 9.6.12

Today's workout was an 8 mile run.  The run consisted of a warm up mile, (2x) mile at marathon pace, mile at half marathon pace, mile at 10k pace, and the last mile was a cool down mile.  I have never run a marathon or half marathon so I am guessing here.  I decided the best plan was to incorporate the 5 minute run, 1 minute walk for the marathon pace, keep a slow but steady pace for the half marathon and a 9 minute mile for the 10k pace.  I knew this would be tough today after a very busy day yesterday.  The heat and humidity is still pretty high in Dallas this week.  My hips were a little sore this morning when I woke up.  After the first couple of miles, I felt pretty good physically but I was a little worn down from yesterday.  I pushed the pace on the 10k miles and managed around 8:50 for both of those miles.  I took a potassium pill and a honey stinger waffle before the run.  I took a honey stinger gel and a full fuel belt of water with me.  The humidity had me soaking wet when I got home.  This is my last day off for my vacation so I started around 8am and finished at 9:20am.  I am happy to avoid the 100+ temps this afternoon.  Slugging out the miles for the past few weeks has taken my mind off the race.  Now that my daughter is at school and I am locked into training, I'm sure it will be at the forefront of my mind again.

Warm Up Mile:  9:56
Marathon Mile:  10:24
Half Marathon Mile:  10:14
10k Mile:  8:50
Marathon Mile:  11:17
Half Marathon Mile:  10:04
10k Mile:  8:50
Cool Down Mile:  11:04

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/219483831

Wednesday 9.5.12

I'm back in town after getting my daughter moved into her dorm room at college.  I didn't have alot of time to dedicate to training from Saturday through Tuesday.  Saturday was the Alabama game at the Death Star and I spent all day out in Arlington.  I left early Sunday morning for Minneapolis.  We spent all day at my daughter's school.  My wife and I went to the St. Paul Saints game on Sunday and that was fun.  I got up on Monday and did run.  I ran a little over 7 miles through campus and almost to downtown St. Paul before coming back on the same route.  I averaged 9:13 miles which was ok.  I intentionally was not pushing the pace.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/219101971

I got my plan from Jeff on Tuesday and he had a full track plan for me.  I think he thought I was already back in Dallas.  I was going to try and do some of the run when I got home.  It was 103 degrees and I just didn't have the energy yesterday.  I decided to stay home and fight another day.  The plan for today is a little bit of everything.  I was supposed to swim for an hour.  I was also going to do a 2 hour bike ride followed by a 15 minute run straight off the bike.  I slept a little late today and the heat is supposed to be bad again today.  I opted for the bike run this morning and will do the swim later today.  I didn't start the bike until about 9am.  I had to travel some busy roads and I wanted the rush hour traffic to die down.  I took gels every 30 minutes and had a bottle of water and a bottle of Accelerade.  At about the half way point, I reloaded the bottles with ice and water.  I decided on the potassium pill today since the heat is high and I have a heavy work load.  Felt ok on the bike.  Didn't really push the pace too much due to the building heat.  When I got off the bike, I changed shoes and took off for a 15 minute run to start acclimating my legs to running off the bike.  It was really starting to warm up.  I didn't take anything with me for a 15 minute run.  I was running at about 9:10 pace.  It felt much slower for some reason so I was surprised at the time.  When I got home, I jumped in the pool to cool down.  Felt great.  I need to find a time for my swim this afternoon.  The heat should break this weekend so I'm looking forward to that.

Bike:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/219186267
Run:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/219186275