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