6.28.13 Getaway Day

My plan for today was a 20 minute swim and rest.  I slept until 7am this morning.  I don't know the last time I slept that late.  It felt good.  I decided to just swim flat out for 20 minutes at a fairly consistent pace.  I was able to get at least 1100 yards in (I find it really hard to keep count for longer distances) for the 20 minutes and felt really good.  Maybe it was the extra sleep.  My rheumatologist gave me some antibiotic to help fight a possible sinus infection.  It may have been what was bothering me two weeks ago in Austin.  I am starting to feel a little better.  Hopefully, everything is coming together.  I am going to REI to pick up some nutrition on the way home from work at noon.  My wife and I are going to take off a little later this afternoon but hopefully we can miss rush hour and get passed Ft. Worth before the traffic gets bad.  The ironman.com site will have live coverage during the race so I can be tracked on Sunday there.

6.27.13 Taper Tempo Run

I purposefully waited until after work to run tonight.  I wanted to get some work in the heat tonight.  I was only going an easy 3 miles with four hard 20 second intervals.  It was right at 100 degrees when I took off for the run.  The heat is a factor.  It just saps your energy.  If you can manage to stay cool, it isn't bad at all.  I have decided to take my fuel belt for the sole purpose of pouring water on me between aid stations.  It's the best way for me to stay cool.  I should have plenty of opportunity to drink and get some gel in me at each aid station.  They usually have an aid station every mile for the run.  The weather is looking favorable at the moment.  The high on Sunday is going to be right around 90.  That would be amazing for the last day of June.  We leave for Lubbock tomorrow afternoon.  On Saturday, Jeff is going to go over the course with me.  We'll probably drive the course and may ride a section.  I would like to take a quick swim in the lake to get a feel for the water.  I have a 20 minute swim planned for tomorrow and then pack up and leave.  It's probably about 5-6 hours to Lubbock.  I'll try to get a good nights sleep, check out the expo and get my packet.  Should be fun.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/334199821

6.26.13 Hump Day Double

Easy double today.  I went to the pool this morning for a quick 30 minute swim.  I decided not to do any of the drills on my schedule and just swim.  I decided to go a mile today in the pool and the 1800 yards took about 34 minutes this morning.  It's nice to sleep a little later.  I had a dentist appointment at 10am so I wasn't in a big rush.  My bike ride was an easy 50 minute ride.  I waited until after work to ride to get some work in the heat.  I don't want to get tired or overheated this week but I definitely need a some time getting acclimated to the heat.  I may wait to do my short run after work tomorrow as well.  It was 107 this afternoon in Lubbock.  It's starting to freak me out just a little.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/333815481

6.25.13 Taper Run

I'm backing off the distance this week.  My plan is really scaled back.  I did an easy 3 miles at around 9 minute pace and walked one mile as well.  The work has been done so I'm in a maintenance mode for the week.  I can also sleep in a little later since the workouts won't last as long.  I need to get as much sleep as possible this week to get recharged.  The weather is up and down every day for Lubbock on Sunday.  I guess it won't really matter in the big scheme of things.  It's going to be a long, hot day.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/333088942

6.24.13 Swim

I decided to forgo the usual swim drill workout and just do the distance today.  I needed to know what it was like to put in 2500 yards without stopping to get a gut check on how I would feel with the distance.  Open water is completely different mentally and with the full contact in the water, more stressful to be exact.  It's my preference to go through the distance to calm my mind.  Things have been stressful at work so I need some inner peace going into this on Sunday.  I felt pretty good in the water today.  Saw a couple of the regulars today and they wished me good luck if they didn't see me again before the race.  I'm getting a little more anxious every day.  I would ideally like to get a chance to swim at the race site but don't know if that will be possible.  They are having races on Saturday so I'm not sure the course will be open.  The weather looks to be hotter every time I look at the forecast.  A cold front is coming through but it may be two days too late.  Unfortunate, the highs are going to dip into the 80s for the 4th of July.  Bummer.  I'm waiting for my workouts this week from Jeff.  Should be fairly light work load the rest of the way.  I'm leaving on Friday so there won't be too much I can do between now and the race.

6.23.13 Northshore Trail Run

Last long run before Ironman Buffalo Springs.  I met the Matrix, Joe and Fred at Joe's house for our Sunday run at Northshore Trail on Lake Grapevine.  I decided to keep the pace pretty steady but go after the hills today and give my legs one last solid workout.  There are several hills at Buffalo Springs.  I felt pretty today and managed a pretty steady pace.  Rich and I raced in for the last quarter mile. I think it was a dead heat. He ran 24 miles yesterday and still almost outran me at the end today. Amazing.  Matrix is training for Leadville so he has been doing big mileage.  Joe is coming to Lubbock for Buffalo Springs and is doing the half marathon portion with a relay team.  It will be good to have some friends at the race.  I took the Go Pro camera with me today and will see if I got some good shots today.  It is really downhill from here.  I'm sure we will be backing off the intensity this week.  I'm a little nervous about this race.  I have never rode a bike course with actual catgorized climbing and running in these conditions.  I really don't know what to expect or what goal to set.  At this point, getting to the finish line seems like goal number one.  My time in Austin last year was around six and a half hours.  I would like to do better but this is a completely different race.  I'll have to do some thinking on this.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/332034616

6.22.13 Bike

Today was my somewhat last long bike ride before Ironman Buffalo Springs.  I scaled back the bike slightly today and only went 3 hours and 7 minutes covering 51.4 miles.  I did not push the pace today at all and this was a slower ride than usual.  I was supposed to go with my neighbor Justin today at 5:30 but I must have missed him this morning and ended up going alone.  My route to Argyle is still blocked so I went southwest through Southlake and then Las Colinas before heading home.  There are some nice hills in Irving and I probably needed a little hill work.  It was early and I didn't get enough nutrition in today.  I had some cramping problems when I got home so I'll need to get a handle on that before next week.  My ride was early enough that it was not hot but it was humid this morning.  It's been a weird spring/summer this year.  The hot weather has held off for the most part and I'm a little concerned about acclimating to the west texas heat next weekend.  At this point, the hay is in the barn so no sense worrying about it. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/331471730

6.21.13 Swim/Bike

It's the usual double today.  I swam this morning.  Since I skipped on Wednesday, I had a choice of three workouts to choose from.  I went with the longest set I had which was about 2200 yards.  When I got to the pool, I thought about rattling off 2200 straight yards but decided I may save that for next week on Monday.  The workout today was pretty much straight swimming and pull buoy work.  It only took about 53 minutes today and I headed home.  I was starving when I made it home from work and decided to go eat and then ride the bike.  The bike workout was to be higher cadence but nice and easy pace.  I stayed in the Coppell area and ended up going around 65 minutes.  I'm getting up early tomorrow morning to ride with Justin.  Knocked back a bottle of everyday Skratch Labs after the ride and mixed all of my bottles for tomorrow.  I am ahead of the game for once.  The reality of Ironman Buffalo Springs is starting to close in on me now.  I can feel the pressure but am excited about it as well.  The heat is a little worrisome.  I don't think I have ever done that much distance in hot temperatures.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/331234580

6.20.13 Tough Tempo Run

I spoke to Jeff yesterday to check in and let him know how I was feeling.  He didn't want to give me a workout for today until he had a chance to assess where I was.  This is probably the last really tough workout until Ironman Buffalo Springs.  It was a beast today.  Didn't seem too bad from outside looking in but it was hard.  The plan was for 2 warm up miles, 1 mile at 7:40-7:50 pace, 2 minutes at 7:15-7:20 pace, 1 mile at 8:30 pace, 2 minutes at 7:15-7:20 pace, and 2 cool down miles.  When I got into the heart of this it was really tough.  My first fast mile was on a slow uphill climb on Parkway.  I had to stop for just a second before hitting the fast 2 minute interval.  After that, I had to stop again for a second before starting the 8:30 mile.  My legs were burning from the speed.  I took a 6 mile route I use and had to add on a mile in the park to get the full workout in.  I was tapped out.  I need a good nights sleep tonight.  I sent Jeff an email and thanked him for kicking my ass today.  He says it's all downhill from here to Buffalo Springs.  I saw my neighbor Justin last night when I got home and may ride with him on Saturday morning at 5:30am.  That will work for me and I can get done early.  Can't wait to get some sleep.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/330761829

6.19.13 Lake Route Closed

The weather did not look good on the way home from work.  I checked the radar and it looked like it was far enough out west that I decided to chance it and took off on my bike.  I planned on heading to Murrell Park at Lake Grapevine and back.  They are building a new subdivision off of Lakeside Parkway and today they closed the road going into a neighborhood I use as my route to the west.  This is really going to suck because there is alot of good riding to the northwest and it's cut off now.  I had to improvise and add on mileage where I could and managed to get around 27 miles in 90 minutes.  Never felt a rain drop and my legs felt really good tonight.  Maybe I'm getting a little strength back after the weekend. 

http://connect.garmin.com/dashboard

6.18.13 Nipple Burn Blows

...so it was storming this morning when I woke up at 5am.  Went to the living room and turned on channel 8 to see what was going on.  A heavy storm cell was overhead but worst part of the storm was supposed to clear in what looked like an hour.  I'm still a little bitter over the Pflugerville results so I was ready to get some work in.  Rain or being wet in general is particular problem for runners.  When your shirt gets wet, it can rub on your nipples and take the skin off of them (in the worst case).  It sounds bad and it is.  I usually combat this by liberally applying some body glide.  When it rains, this seems to wash off the protection and we have a problem.  Jeff gave me a long workout for a Tuesday at over 8 miles.  It was raining almost the entire way.  On a scale of 1 to 10 for nipple burn, this was about a 3.  More precautions will have to be administered in the future.  The workout was really tough after coming off the race.  I ran to the track as the warmup since I assumed being soaking wet would not be a good option for using the truck for transportation today.  Two 800s at the track at 5k pace, a 4 mile tempo run around Coppell that ended back at the track at 10k pace, two more 400s at 5k pace, and then a cool down run back to the house.  Running against the wind today was nice because the breeze helped cool things down.  Running with the wind, although faster, was like sitting in a sauna having the life force drained from your body.  The two 800s were at 7:27 pace and didn't hurt too bad but I had problem generating sustained speed.  The four mile tempo run through Coppell was a real beast today.  My body was still a little sore from the race and I hoped to maintain right around 8 minute miles.  The reality was 8:33-8:42 mile pace. Once I got back to the track, the two 400s were more in line at around 7:07 pace but I was spent.  The run home was long and slow.  It was about a mile from the house that I realized my nipples were raw.  Bummer.  I think Jeff has a pretty tough week in store for me this week so it isn't getting any easier.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/329846499

Lake Pflugerville Triathlon Race Report 6.16.13

Downtown Austin and the State Capital.

Day Before Race: 

I rode the bike in the morning before we left for Austin.  Just a quick trip around Lakeside Parkway and back, I took it easy and did the 17 miles in a little over an hour.  I was only supposed to do 30 minutes but it was a nice day and I wasn’t really pushing the pace.  However, I really didn’t feel too good about 20 minutes in.  I just felt sluggish and blah.  I chalked it up to the taper week blues and everything would be ok.  We loaded the truck and headed to Austin around 12:30pm.  I started to get a headache on the way down and what felt like a low grade temperature.  I was a little concerned, although on the outside you wouldn’t have known the difference.  Inside I was wondering what I would do if this turned into something bad.  After packet pick up at Jack and Adams and we got back from dinner, Threadgills by the way and it was fabulous, I took two Tylenol and fell asleep in the hotel room around 8pm.  When you have four people in two double beds, that is a pretty good signal that something isn’t right.  I woke up a few times in the night with some stomach problems.  This was not a great start.   I had a dream that woke me up at 3:30am that was very vivid.  I dreamed it was 7:30am and I had overslept.  It scared the hell out of me but I was able to sleep again for another hour.  The fact that I was able to sleep somewhat consistently made me nervous too.  Most of the time, I just sit there and can’t sleep at all.  A real WTF moment to be sure, I didn’t feel so sick I couldn’t function but I wasn’t right either.

My support crew.

 

Texas Sky before the Race at Lake Pflugerville

Pre Race:

At 4:30am, I decided to get up for good.  Hit the bathroom again and took a shower.  My wife helped get the gang assembled and I got everything I needed loaded in the truck.  My nutrition needs were very simple.  For sprints, I don’t take much.  One bottle of Skratch Labs pineapple formula for the bike, two honey stinger gels on the bike, one cherry lime Roctane GU for the run, one Enduroshark tab before we left the hotel and a few other to carry with me (if necessary), and a honey stinger protein bar to eat before we left the hotel.  When we got to the race site at about 6am, we had to park pretty far away and it was really busy in transition.  You could rack anywhere you wanted.  I have never done a race like this.  I usually have  to rack by race number, age group or something like that.  I was hoping to rack by age group so I would know where the competition was when I entered and exited transition.  After setting up transition, we walked around a little and then I did a warm up swim in the lake.  The band on my goggles busted on Friday so I was working with a new pair and needed to get them adjusted.  My stomach was not cooperating much with me and I had to hit the portapotties a few more times.  I took more Tylenol in the morning so my head wasn’t really pounding too much.  Once the race started, I asked my family to keep track of how many people in my wave exited the lake before me and how far behind in minutes I was to the fastest guy in my group.  My swim wave was for my age group only, so I should have a pretty good idea if I could hit the podium or not based on where I was positioned.  They all agreed so I was ready to go.  Race was to start at 7:30 and my wave was due off at 7:48.  When you were up, they had a corral you stood in before heading across the timing mat and wading into the water awaiting your start.  When we got into the corral, the turnaround buoy broke loose and started floating across the lake.  This was a big advantage for the 40-44 group as they didn’t have to swim all the way to the end and cut off 30-50 meters off the swim.  We had to wait for the buoy to get reattached so there was a delay of a few minutes for us.

Comin' out of the water

Swim:

I think there were 36 in my swim wave.  I started in the front row out to the right.  The buoys were on my left the whole way but out to the right looked like a more direct line to the turnaround.  What I deemed to be the fastest guy in my wave (Roger) was standing a few feet to my right so I am pretty sure my thinking was spot on.  When they counted us down and sent us off, the washing machine started.  This week I intentionally started at a very comfortable pace.  As such, I had quite a few people around me for the first 100 meters.  Everyone behaved themselves for the most part and I kept it nice and easy for the first 200 meters as there was some natural separation, the herd thinned and I was able to get to clean water.  I knew there was a small group of maybe 10 that was ahead of me as I hit the red turn around buoy 250 meters out.  It still looked like a long way to shore from 250 meters.  It’s strange how far things look when you’re not in a 25 yard pool.  I went ahead and pressed the pace for a few minutes and started passing people in my wave and the wave that left 3 minutes ahead of us.  I had one big guy t-bone me.  He was headed out to sea the wrong direction so I had to stop and let him pass in front of me before I could carry on.  I was quickly closing in on a group of six or seven and there was no way around so I just followed them into the beach and we all got out together.  There were probably three or four in my wave in the group.  On the way to transition, the family shouted at me that I was number 7 out of the water in my group and was about 2 minutes behind Roger.  This was a little disappointing.  I hoped to be much closer exiting the water for this race.  I guess my effort may have been a little too easy in the beginning and I gave up some ground.  I started to feel a little fatigue in the last hundred and the only thing going in my mind was how in the world was I going to do 2200 yards at Buffalo Springs if I felt like this bad in two weeks.  My time was a little over 10 minutes.  I should have easily been out in at least nine but that's open water racing.

T1:

I ran to my bike and had no troubles to speak of.  Shoes went on easy, attached my race belt, sunglasses and helmet were fine and took off out of transition.  I forgot to hit my watch in transition so I am relying on the race timing which is usually accurate.  Two minutes and two seconds in transition which seemed long but it was probably 45-60 seconds of travel time from the water to my bike and then from my bike to the mount line.  A long way from being slow but up 20 seconds off the fastest in my group, I don’t know what I could have done different.  I didn't feel like I was on a penalty kill for a little over a minute getting my shoes and helmet on.

Bike:

When I left transition, I did not see the family so I assumed I was still 7^th in my age group and started looking for people to pick off on the bike.  The wind had picked up a little and seemed to be blowing about 10mph from the south.  The first part of the ride was to the northeast so it was very comfortable and fast.  I slowed down slightly to get drink and take a honey stinger when I entered a very bumpy section.  My bike started to veer left and I got close to a guy in my age group who was trying to pass.  I didn’t know he was in my group until I saw his age on his calf.  Ok.  I had some motivation now.  It didn’t take me long to pass him back and we got into a nice rhythm of doing this back and forth for the next 8 miles or so.  I met him after the race.  He lives in Pflugerville and his name is Michael, very good guy by the way.  We were passing lots of people.  Just like the Rookie, we passed guys in their 40s, 30s, and 20s but not many in our age group.  I didn’t expect to pass Roger or even be close after spotting him 2 minutes in the water and figured there may be one other guy who would be pretty fast.  I did expect to catch a few.  A lot of people wear the calf sleeves and this covers up their age.  When we would pass someone, I took a peek at them to see if it was possible they were in our age group.  We did pass one or two definitively and then my old friend from the Rookie passed us with about 4 miles to go.  His name is Doug and he always wears a US Army tri kit.  He got us going into the wind before we turned back to the north and headed back to the lake.  Here’s where it gets strange, either I was hallucinating or Doug slowed down and I definitely remembered passing him.  Once we got on the highway service road, I never remember seeing him again.  I asked Michael if he remembered getting passed a second time on the road and he didn’t.  According to time, he led me by about a minute going into T2 but I have no idea how that happened.  Once we had the wind at our back, I drank as much Skratch as I could and downed my second gel.  I had put a little bit of distance between me and Michael but not much.  The roads were pretty rough and we got caught up in traffic on one of the roads weaving through a traffic jam.  The police had stopped traffic on our two laned road and we had to ride in the center to get through.  Not real comfortable and definitely slowed us a little.  Right before the mount line I pulled my feet out of my shoes and did a nice graceful dismount.  My time was 40:04 which equated to 21mph average.  The fastest ride I have ever had in a race.  The Zipp 404s are awesome.

T2:

Went great, I was in and out in 57 seconds.  No trouble at all getting the shoes on and bolting out of transition.

 

Getting the bad news from my son that I'm 6 minutes back of the leader.

 

3 miles around the lake.

Run:

On the way up the hill to the running trail, my family signaled I was 6 minutes behind Roger and they had no idea what place I was in but thought I was close to a podium position.  After a three quarters of a mile, Michael passed me.  I was going ok but just didn’t have the extra gear for this race.  I tried to maintain distance with Michael and did keep him within 20 feet for at least another mile.  My plan was to sneak up on him at the very end.  At about mile 2, I saw Doug in his Army kit and couldn’t decide whether that was really him or not.  I figured there was no way since I passed him on the bike.  I am a faster runner than him and was closing the gap but he was pretty far up there.  I did pass someone in our group at mile 2 so I thought I was close to a podium finish but had no way to know.  After mile 2, I tried to pick up the pace and get close to Michael.  It just wasn’t happening.  He picked it up too and I lost enough contact to seriously contend with him.  Doug must have picked it up when he got passed and finished less than 10 seconds behind Michael.  Michael ended up third so Doug finished fourth to me at the rookie and now fourth at this race to Michael.  I was fifth about 30 seconds behind the two of them.  I did the 3 miles in 23:17 equating to approximately 7:45 miles.  I can do better than that.  I really felt flat during the run and that was disappointing.  Being that close to a podium finish was a buzz kill.  Good news is we didn’t have to hang around for awards and could take off.  I finished in a little over an hour and seventeen minutes.  I think a little time was left on the course but considering everything it was a very good day.

Crossing the Finish Line

 

Post Race:

They are hard core about not going into transition until the last biker comes through so there was a big line waiting to get in.  Once the last biker took off on the run, we were able to enter transition.  That’s where I met Michael and talked to him for awhile.  I really wanted to see Doug and find out how the hell he got around me and when, but I never was able to find him.  Once I got my bike, the whole crew headed to the Oasis for a Father’s Day lunch and then we headed home.  My headache returned on the ride home with feverish type symptoms.  I took a few Motrin and felt a little better.  My stomach wasn’t great either when I got home.  I have no doubt I have a virus or something.  The lack of energy during the swim has me spooked a little.  Time to move on, there will be no catching Roger unless he has a monster mechanical breakdown during one of the races so it might be me and Doug fighting for second place in the series.  Should be fun since we seem to be pretty evenly matched.

 

A popsickle, cold towel on my head, cold water to drink and waiting to see the posted results.

Father's Day at the Oasis after the race with the kids.

....and my wife.

You gotta love the view at the Oasis on Lake Travis.

 

 

 



6.14.13 Triathlon Gauntlet Begins

"See, there was a full crowd scene at the food machines."  - Jeff Spicoli

The pool was crazy this morning.  I have never seen that many people there.  I literally waited 20 minutes just to share a lane with someone.  I don't know if it is early summer and everyone wants to swim or what.  You figure at 6am people the only people wanting to swim are the hard core lap swimmers.  I only needed 30 minutes for a taper today and that is all I really wanted.  What a zoo!

...so this weekend begins a very busy race calendar for the next month and a half or so.  Lake Pflugerville is on Sunday, Ironman Buffalo Springs in on June 30, Couples Tri is on July 14, and Jacks Generic Olympic is on August 4.  That's like four races in the next seven weeks.  I'm not sure how I will get any build work in but Jeff and I will figure something out.  Plus, my wife and I are going to Mexico at the end of July for about a week.  This is going to be quite a run, literally.  Joe is coming to Lubbock to run the half marathon as part of a relay team Jeff organized for Buffalo Springs.  It will be good to have some more friendly faces out there.  I hope this isn't too much and I come out of it in one piece.

6.13.13 Taper Tempo Run

Short four mile tempo run today.  I have had a couple of hard build weeks and taper weeks always leave me feeling a little strange.  Today was no exception.  It always takes me a little time to get warmed up and four miles is about where I get dialed in and start maintaining a good pace on a usual 8 mile tempo run.  Today, it was two miles out and turnaround for home.  I used the route through a neighborhood across MacArthur from our house.  There a few hills.  Nothing major but it's not dead flat like running in the park.  Why not throw a little something extra in today.  I ran a warm up mile, two zone 3 miles (which means around 9 minute pace) with 3 interations of 30 second sprints sprinkled in, and a cool down mile.  The cool down mile is basically the same pace.  It's hard to slow down at that point.  My body is getting a little sluggish, which is typical for a taper week.  It's almost as if the lack of work makes me more tired than putting the hammer down.  A couple more days of light work and Lake Pflugerville awaits.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/327162307

6.12.13 Wednesday Double

I saw the woman at the track on Tuesday that coordinates the DA Wednesday swim and she let me know they were moving their swim up to 7am so I needed to be out of the water before 7 today.  The pool has been very crowded lately and today was no exception.  All the lanes were doubled up at 6am when I started my swim and pretty much stayed that way until I left.  Jeff gave me a 2400 yard workout that took me almost the whole hour.  Alot of kickboard work again which is not my favorite.  I felt pretty good but didn't really push the pace much with a race looming on Sunday.  The DA group ended up going outside to swim because the lanes were full.  It might be a tough summer for them if they try to start at 7am this summer.

My bike ride after work was ok.  My legs weren't really feeling it today and it was pretty windy this afternoon as well.  The heat in the 90s didn't really seem to bother me much and jumping in the pool after the ride felt great.  Once again, not really pushing things at all this week.  I'm kind of concerned about my legs not going well today but I'm not sure my heart was in it today.  The Lake Pflugerville Tri on Sunday should be fun.  We are going to Austin on Saturday morning.  The whole gang will be in tow this week.  A nice little warm up for Buffalo Springs.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/327033495

6.11.13 Track Run

Had trouble sleeping last night.  I woke up three or four times in the middle of the night.  I'm not sure why.  When I was supposed to get up around 5am, I dozed back off for another 45 minutes.  Bummer on the late start.  My workout was slightly abbreviated due to my race in Austin this week.  Jeff dropped one 1200 interval but otherwise was a normal Tuesday track day.  I did a ladder with some complicated math.  Started with the usual warm up mile.  The intervals were 400, 800, 1200, 800, 400.  I forgot to start my watch on the first 400 so that wasn't optimal for my tracking.  My times were not supposed to exceed 5k pace but I had some issues with that today.  The math part was taking 5k pace and adding 5 seconds.  For everything greater than 400 meters, add the 5 seconds to the 5k pace +5.  I decided that going about 7:30 pace for 400, 7:45 pace for 800, and 1200 pace for the 1200.  My times didn't seem to follow all that closely today.  My head must have been a little off today for some reason.  My last 400 was at 6:43 pace which was way too fast.  I kind of made a mess out of this today.  My legs seemed really tired before I went but my legs responded pretty well.  I got the rest of my workouts for the week today so the distances will be a little shorter.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/326279846

6.10.13 Ironman Buffalo Springs T-20 Days

This is rest day for my legs so the only workout today was my Monday 2400 yard swim.  A woman named Crystal who I have overlapping workouts with from time to time is doing Ironman Cozumel.  I see her husband quite a bit as well and he was at the pool this morning.  We were talking about races he was going to do this summer.  Kind of got me thinking about Buffalo Springs in more detail.  I had a rough swim a month ago in Austin and am going to get another crack in the open water this Sunday.  I hope this goes better as I feel some anxiety creeping into my head for the swim at BSLT.  I like the swims that are warmer but wetsuit legal.  The wetsuit is very boyant and is sort of a nice security blanket.  I don't want cold water, anything but that.  It jacks with my breathing and heart rate.  Buffalo Springs is just what it sounds like, spring fed and the water is cool.  I hope the west texas sun gets the temps up to something reasonable.  This weekend I will get a better feel for where I am in the open water.  It's a short swim at 500m but should be a good gauge on pacing and my ability to quiet my nerves.  I would like to get a few training runs in at Grapevine before Buffalo Springs.

6.9.13 Run

It's long run day.  The trail crew was supposed to get together this morning at 7:30am but the weather had other plans.  I woke up around 6:30 and heard the thunder in the distance.  Turned on the TV to see how bad the storms were and there was a big mass of red and yellow heading right at us.  I sent a message to Joe and the Matrix to let them know I was delaying the run today and going back to bed.  My wife and I got up around 8 and watched a movie.  After that, it looked like the rain was clearing out so I started to get my stuff together.  I left the house at 10:45am.  It was 77 degrees outside but extremely humid.  In the sun, it seemed much warmer.  I took all of my water bottles on my fuel belt.  Two of them with lemon lime Skratch Lab, two gels and Enduroshark.  I used all of it and actually stopped once to fill up one of the water bottles so I could dump it on my head while I was running.  I kept the pace pretty steady and slow today.  I ran across this old guy in Coppell named Ribs.  Everybody who runs around Coppell knows Ribs.  I managed to cross paths with him about three times today.  The humidity was rough today and I felt pretty tapped out when I got home.  At least leaving later in the morning is good training for Lubbock.  I should probably do more of that for the next few weeks.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325383178

6.8.13 Bike

I sent Jeff an email yesterday and asked him if he was going to get a group together and ride today.  He said he wasn't but I could ride with him out to Keller and back.  I was supposed to do 4-5 hours today and I haven't really spent much time going out that direction so I decided to go with Jeff.  I hoped I could hang in there with him today.  I was going to meet him at 6:30 at the park.  We were going to do a quick 30 minute warm up and then head out with the DA group.  I ran into Jeff at the intersection of Samuel and Parkway.  Perfect timing.  We rode with a couple other guys for 30 minutes and looped back to Andy Brown Park to join up with the DA group.  I saw a few friendly faces there and we took off.  The DA ride was heading out towards the whitehouse in Argyle so we broke off from them at the end of Lakeside and headed for the dam.  Doug went with us.  I call Doug the Ghost.  He is really, really fast. Sometimes he hammers down and just goes out of sight.  Next thing you know, he is right in your back pocket.  I don't know how he does it.  I think I did a pretty good job of keeping pace with them.  I was fading a little bit towards the end.  Jeff broke off after about 3 hours but I rode with Doug for another half hour before turning around and heading home.  I ended up doing 74 miles in four hours and twelve minutes.  I hit the 56 mile mark at around three hours and nine minutes.  Not too bad.  I'm not sure that pace is smart for a half ironman but I'm definitely getting faster.  Good times today.  The weather was really nice this morning.  It got a little windy towards the end of the ride but it was a great morning.  I feel pretty ready for the race next weekend and I'm looking forward to it.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/324669414

6.7.13 Brick Day

I don't do a whole lot of bricks but my plan called for one today.  All three disciplines were involved today which required some planning.  I had my daughter take me to the CARC for the swim and we put my bike in the back of her car.  After swimming, I would take off on the bike and then return home where I would put my running shoes on.  It all worked and should have taken about 2 hours to complete.  I did the regular swim workout, followed by at least 30 minutes on the bike, and a run that was building in pace for about 10 minutes.  I was to walk about 5 minutes after finishing and stretch.  We got to the CARC around 5:15 so I was done with everything at around 7:30.  It was fun and something new to break up the monotony.  My swim was good and included a timed 500 yard set.  I was able to knock out the 500 yard swim in 7:50 which is really fast for me.  It was a little cool this morning and the sun was just coming up when I headed out on the bike.  My garmin skills were poor today.  I started the bike in run mode, switched to bike mode but forgot to start the watch.  I had to guess at the time.  When I got home to transition into my run, I forgot to start my run on the watch.  Crap.  Had to guess at that as well.  Jeff told me to come off the bike working hard going into the run so maybe my head wasn't exactly thinking straight.  I still felt pretty good.  My legs were a little wobbly but it worked out after getting into a groove.  I don't want to do this too much during the week.  It takes extra time in the morning and I'm beat tonight.

6.6.13 Thursday Tempo Run

This used to be my least favorite workout of the week last summer.  I was quickly reminded why this morning.  I awoke to sound of thunder.  The rain wasn't supposed to come until later in the morning.  After taking a quick peek outside, it didn't look too bad.  The TV weather girl showed a radar that looked promising for the next hour so I geared up and got ready to go.  The thunder was still cracking to the south and it was a little dark to the west but I figured to just get going and let the chips fall where they may.  I have been through a series of pretty tough workouts for the past week or so.  I didn't feel too bad to start but as soon as I tried to get into half marathon pace, I knew this was going to be a rough day.  The workout called for a warm up mile, 2 half marathon miles, 2x ( 2 minutes at 5k pace followed by 2 minutes of recovery), 2 half marathon miles, and a cool down mile.  The 5k intervals were very tough today and probably ran them at around 7:25 pace which is a little off.  The half marathon miles after the 5k intervals were fairly grueling today.  I just didn't have it.  Maybe it was the fast ride yesterday afternoon, I don't know.  The rain held off but it was damn near 100% humidity.  It's hard to gauge all of these factors but something to keep up with.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/323751328

6.5.13 Swim/Bike

It's Wednesday double day.  I swam this morning at the CARC.  Lots of kickboard work this morning.  It took me the whole hour to get through 2400 yards.  I felt pretty good today in the water.  I seem to deal with a little fatigue through the first few hundred yards and then settle in.  I had this problem last year and it subsided halfway through the summer.  This afternoon I rode my bike to the lake and back.  I was fast today.  I mean really fast, at least for me.  The new wheels and cassette were a really good combination.  I averaged 18.5mph with stops and starts.  I set a new PR to the lake.  I was at the turnaround in a little over 41 minutes which is at least a minute faster than my previous best.  Love the new config on my bike.  I'm really excited about the race in a few weeks.  I should be faster than the first race in the series.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/323552681

6.4.13 Track Run

Yesterday was a rest day of sorts.  I only swam at the CARC in the morning.  2600 yards with a lot of kickboard work so it ran a little over an hour.  I felt ok but was a little sore from the weekend.  Jeff asked me to rest since the rest of the week was going to be pretty tough.  I meant to wake up earlier than usual yesterday but overslept.  It was 5:30am when I woke up.  I thought about putting off the run until this evening but decided to get out there this morning to avoid the heat.  It was 97 on the way home today so that was a good decision.  The workout was simple but tough with a warm up mile, (3) 1600s at 90% effort with slow recovery 400s in between, and a cool down mile.  I felt pretty good when I got to the track.  All of my 1600s were around 7:28 pace.  Probably a little slower than I wanted but I wasn't maxing out.  I felt a little fatigue towards the end.  It's going to be hard to string together build weeks for the next month or so.  This may stop some of my progress but I hope not.  Jeff asked me about fueling so I think it's time to get straight before Buffalo Springs.  I got my bike back from Bicycles Plus in Coppell and have my Zipp 404s now.  I can't wait to get a few miles on them this week.  I switched out the cassette to an 11-28 after consulting JT at the bike shop.  I should have an extra speed gear and a better gear for climbing.

 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/322793514

 

6.2.13 Trail Run

We were able to get the band back together for our trail run today.  Rich and Joe were back from Jemez and Fred joined us for a portion of the run today.  It was good to run with everybody again.  My plan was for a slow and steady 80 minutes today.  We ran down Simmons to the guard shack and then headed towards Rockledge until we hit about 40 minutes for the turnaround.  I like that end of the trail.  I did a pretty good job of staying at a very comfortable pace.  It was hard to not push the pace.  At the very end, Rich wanted to go hard for about a half mile or so.  We sprinted for about 4 minutes.  I figured that would be ok.  We had some breakfast at Rich's house and jumped in the pool.  The water is still kind of cool but it felt good after a warm run.  I'm pretty sure I am going to get a pretty tough week from Jeff this week and a taper the next week before the Pflugerville sprint.  I'm looking forward to the race.  I will have my new wheels.  I'm about 4 weeks out from Ironman Buffalo Springs.  It is coming pretty fast but I have been so busy there hasn't been a lot of time to worry about it.  That's probably a good thing.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/321711290

6.1.13 Riding the Hills of South Dallas

Jeff asked me if I wanted to ride hills with a group on Saturday morning.  We were meeting at Mountain View Junior College at 7:15am.  This area of South Dallas has alot of hills.  We stayed pretty much in the area and went up and down the same set of hills.  Most of the climbs were in the 150-200 foot range at varying in grade.  Some of the climbs were pretty steep.  I was able to hit around 47mph on the descents.  My legs were really tired when I finished.  Jeff rode from Valley Ranch to the meeting point and back so most of the group left after about two hours.  I went ahead and did one more lap to give me 3 hours of climbing.  It wasn't all that hot but really humid.  I think I went through about 80-90 ounces of fluid.  The Zipp 404s I was riding on held up pretty well.  The wind was blowing pretty hard at first and the cross winds were trying to move me around a little bit on my bike but I was able to hold my line.  I was more worried about the steeper downhills but never had a problem.  I have never gone that fast on my bike before and it was a little scary the first few times.  A few people in the group saw some tarantula's on the side of the road.  I didn't see any.  I returned the demo wheels in the afternoon before we headed to the Ranger game and went ahead and bought the 404s.  My bike should be ready on Monday.  I'm looking forward to that.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/321210969