Back to training. I woke up still feeling stiff and I think I would have stayed feeling that way as long as I let myself. Instead, I met my brother, Mike, for a 3550 yard swim during lunch and again at 5:00 for an hour and a half bike ride through the farms North of Socorro. Total for the day ended up being 3 hours.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Day 73, 74 and 75: 6/26 - 28/2010
Saturday was spent driving to Lubbock and getting checked in and ready to race. Mike and I were joined by our good friend, Robert Gonzales, who offered to be our caddy for the weekend.
No training on Saturday.
Sunday was raceday and it started early at 3:30 AM. We drove down to the race site from the hotel and were able to get there early and without incident. Race start was scheduled for 6:40 AM. The water was warm and probably too warm for a wetsuit but the race organizers seem to find the right time of day (or night) and best place to measure the temp as to avoid the 76 degree cutoff temperature. The entire swim was very uncongested and I felt like I swam a pretty straight line the whole time. I was able to remind myself to still swim hard and not relax too much despite wearing a wetsuit. I was rewarded with a swim time of 27:38, an improvement of exactly 7 minutes over the 1.2 mile course compared to last year. I know I am in better swim shape than I was last year but 7 minutes is a little bit ridiculous so my guess is that the swim was marked a little short. Still, I did improve more significantly compared to other people I know who raced last year and this year. Either way, I am happy with my swim.
On to the bike and my plan was to ride the first half at tempo pace, or in other words, comfortably hard. Then be able to pick it up for the last half of the ride. We were blessed with overcast skies and wind, that for the most part, did not affect much of the ride until the last 10 miles. I did exactly what my plan was for nutrition but for whatever reason I felt a cramp waiting to happen the entire ride on my right calf. I even broke into my salt tablets at mile 12 of the bike. I usually only use those in case of emergency. Regardless, I had a good ride on a course that has remained unchanged for years. My bike time was 2:35 for the 56 mile course, a 10 minute improvement from last year. That time is an average of 21.6 mph. I am very happy with my bike split because 10 minutes is big and there is no saying the course was short or anything else. I rode the entire course pretty comfortably and never felt like I was hammering.
During the ride, I was thinking that I couldn't wait to get off the bike and show off my new running abilities. Also, at this point of the race I was 17 minutes ahead of my PR from last year. Things were going great but for whatever reason my run never materialized. I felt uncomfortable and could never get my feet off the ground and running. People were just going by one after another. I don't think I passed one person the entire run. My planned run of 1:44 turned into an ugly 2:11. It really does all come down to the run. What's the point of making these big improvement on the swim and bike to turn around and give it all back and then some on the run. I truly don't know why it happened and I'm sure there could be several reasons and depending on your point of view you may even have your own. To be honest, I don't want to hear them and I don't want to lower my standards and say that 2 out of 3 improvements is great or whatever. I really wanted a better outcome at this race and it didn't happen and I am disappointed. What I am going to do now is get back to some consistent hard work. I believe in it and I know it works. I am racing again this weekend in a sprint triathlon in Tucson but then it's going to be some long, hard weeks of training for Kona.
Monday was a day off from training to let my body recover a little bit. Tomorrow I'll be back at it again.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Day 72: 6/25/2010
Easy half hour run with a few race pace efforts and a 1500 swim at lunch with some race pace 100's.
I am now getting packed for Buffalo Springs and I am excited, nervous, anxious... Everything that makes racing fun! Tomorrow I will head out to Lubbock with my brother and good buddy, Robert. The race is on Sunday.
Last year I set my course PR and this year the plan is to do it again. I know I can do it, I know I am prepared and now I just need to execute.
Race updates can be seen on www.ironmanlive.com
Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Day 71: 6/24/2010
Tapering sounds nice... less working out, easier workouts... but it is kind of driving me crazy. I feel like I'm being lazy and getting out of shape. It sounds much easier than it is.
This morning I woke up about 45 minutes after my initial alarm went off and I hurried out the door for an hour bike ride. My bike felt great with the Dura Ace 10 speed on there. It shifted really smoothly and better than it ever has. Definitely thanks to Nathan Berg, who helped me get everything on and adjusted.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Day 70: 6/23/2010
This morning my run was crap... because I had a lot in me! I ate too late and too much last night when I was in Albuquerque getting my bike upgraded. Taco Cabana revenge!
I still managed to run :45 with some XC boys in the morning and I swam a 2000 this evening. My run felt gross but my swim was surprisingly good! I did mostly easy swimming but I did do some 100's at race pace which meant I was leaving on the 1:30, coming in on 1:17.
So far this week, I have a little more than 5 hours of training.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Day 69: 6/22/2010
8 year wedding anniversary today. Thanks Lindsey for 2 beautiful girls and the life we have. One of these days we'll get a baby sitter and will be able to go out for the night... or weekend ;)
"Performance is the only expression of fitness. Great training sessions are just that, training. Racing is why we do this."
Up early for a 1:20 ride with intervals and a swim at lunch of 2000 yards. Tapering for a race is a nice change but I don't want to develop any bad habits since it is a light week. I'm trying not to eat too much and am planning on putting down some gallons of water in the next few days to try and be as hydrated as possible. When you taper you sort of walk a fine line of setting yourself up for a great race or screwing up the work you've done. I desperately need to void any buffets!
Also, today I changed my tri bike from 9 speed to 10 speed. I am finally caught up to the world!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Day 68: 6/21/2010
No morning workout so I was able to sleep in till 8:15 AM! It felt great, even just mentally. I was tired from the long day yesterday.
This week is a taper week for me which means a little less of the hard stuff. I swam at lunch and was really annoyed by some "floaters" that were in the pool. I could taste the perfume lotion one lady had on every time I swam by. It was disgusting. I swam an easy 2000 yards.
Second workout of the day was an hour run in the evening (little more than 8 miles). I even ran with a "runner" and more than held my own.
So total for the day was 1:40.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Day 67: 6/20/2010
Happy Fathers Day! "The best way to inspire your child to be a Champion - is to be a Champion. Don't let Kobe take that slot."
Woke up and got out the door early so we could spend the day together as a family. Rode 3 hours with some intervals and then ran a :20 brick with half of that being tempo pace. It all felt good and wasn't too hard. I think I'm more scared of the run workouts than I am of the bike workouts. I was done by 10 AM and we were off to Albuquerque for a day of zoo, shopping and eating. While we were at the zoo I was even interviewed by the news and have been on at 3 different times today!
Shoppingwise, I spent a long time inside Sports Systems. I got some new tri shorts for BSLT and Kona and I drooled over some Specialized Transitions. We also tried to hit up the Apple store but it was closed so we went to Best Buy. We played with the new iPad and I even had the green light from Lindsey to buy one but they were out of all models except (of course) the most expensive one. So no iPad yet.
Eating, I went specifically to a restaurant that serves my favorite desert, fried ice cream. It was delicious!
We had a great day together and I got the work done early. Good day today :)
Oh yeah... I forgot to sum up the week: 4 swims totaling 13500, 5 bikes totaling 148 miles and 8.7 hours, and 5 runs totaling 35.25 miles and 4.7 miles. Total hours for the week was 17.88. BAM!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Day 66: 6/19/2010
Swim and a run today. I swam a 4000 in the pool and I felt pretty good and I ran :30 (I was supposed to go :45 in the morning) in the evening.
My swim is going well and I look forward to some good swim splits in races. One in particular is the Firecracker Triathlon in Tucson that Mike and I will be doing on the 4th of July. It is a sprint race that I signed up for long before I knew I was going to be an Ironman. The swim is an 800 yard pool swim and I registered with an estimated time of 10:35. That's pretty quick, maybe a little quicker than I can go but not by much.
Better get some rest tonight because I have a big day tomorrow... BRICK DAY!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Day 65: 6/18/2010
Easy Z1 bike ride in the AM with my buddy, Robert. We did a popular loop that is 18.5 miles long. That took about an hour.
Long run was in the PM. I started at 6:30 and it was 98 degrees outside. I ran an hour at Z1 (7:40 - 7:50 pace) then I ran for :20 at tempo pace of 7:00 min/mile and then finally cooled down for :10 on the way home. I was really nervous about this workout because of the heat and because it was solo. But in the end it went great and it wasn't as bad as I had imagined. I ran 11.6 miles total and I think I lost about 3 pounds during the run! That run gives me some big confidence for Lubbock for sure. I used to be a really good runner but then I forgot how to push myself in training and life got in the way. I'm feeling good again and I am just looking forward to more of it.
Total thus far for the week is 12.5 hours.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Day 64: 6/17/2010
Thursday and I have 10 hours for the week already! Last week I was bragging that I did that by Friday and this week it's done in 4 days. I feel good and I feel fast but I must be tired because I have taken a nap each of the last 3 afternoons. Come August, I won't have that luxury :( So I guess I will take advantage while I can.
Today I rode solo in the morning for 1:45 with some :20 intervals. And after an afternoon trip to the city dump I made it to the pool for a quick 2500 yards.
Mike is leaving today back to Las Cruces and I really enjoyed the week with him although I wish he was more of a morning person while he's here! I am looking forward to tomorrow's long and hard run and Sunday's bike/brick. Next week is taper time for Lubbock and the Montoya Mafia will be kickin' ass!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Day 63: 6/16/2010
Early morning run. 10 miles in 1:18. :45 easy run, then 3 x 5' with 1' recovery and then a cool down. The easy parts were around 7:45 and the intervals were 6:10 pace. Felt really comfortable the whole time.
Afternoon nap.
Easy 1 hour mountain bike ride in the evening.
2 hour and 20 minute day which makes about 7.5 hours for the week.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Day 62: 6/15/2010
Early ride with my brother, Mike. We rode about 33 miles in 1:45. We started at 6 AM and I know it was not what Mike would have chosen but with me having to work at 9, I appreciate the effort bro!
Swam a 3000 in the evening.
Good day of training and good afternoon nap of about 2.5 hours! The weekly total so far is 5 hours and 5 minutes, pretty good for a Tuesday. Tomorrow I have a solid run planned in the morning and I am a little anxious to get it started. I look forward to pushing myself and becoming a better athlete. What a better thing to invest in than yourself.
Also, on a side note... I have now seen sub 160 lbs on the scale each of the last 3 times I've gotten on. This morning I was 158 and 9% body fat. It's nice to see some extra weight melting off!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Day 61: 6/14/2010
I slept in till 7 today... woo hoo. I didn't have too much planned so i let Lindsey wake up early and go for a run. She ended up being the beast today with 2 runs and a salsa dancing/zumba class!
I swam a 4000 during lunch and ran an hour in the evening. The run was easy with 8 strides on the grass. Good day, 2:20 total and a solid start to the week.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Day 60: 6/13/2010
My brother Mike is in town and we rode together this morning. The plan was 3 hours with some intervals. We put in 60 miles together and it felt great. He is really strong on the bike and likes to pull... a lot. I finished off 2 bottles of gatorade and carbo pro and finished 1 bag of sport beans. I felt strong and not burnt for my brick run.
The goal for the brick run was :10 at zone 1, 5 minutes at tempo pace and then another 5 minutes cool down. I ran the easy effort at 7:45 pace and the tempo pace at 6:45 pace. It did take a few minutes to get my running legs under me but I felt pretty comfortable pretty quickly.
So it is just past 11:00 o'clock and I am done training for the day. I finished with 4 swims totaling 11,500 yards, 4 rides totaling 146 miles in 7.8 hours and 5 runs totaling 35.5 miles in 5 hours. Total training time for the week was 16 hours and 35 minutes.
I had a great week and I need to thank Lindsey for being so understanding and Danny for the schedule. Without the family and friends I have supporting me I wouldn't be much of anything. Thank you. Have a great day!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Day 59: 6/12/2010
The highlight of today was Emma's first swim meet. She swam 3 events and did so awesome! We were very proud of her. Check our family blog as Lindsey will make a post sometime soon with a story and some pictures.
I made it home from the meet in Belen and I finally got to the pool with enough time to swim a quick 2000 with my brother, Mike. My mom made dinner and it quickly became pretty late. I really did not want to ride the trainer but I wanted to face skipping a workout even less. So at 9:00 I jumped on the trainer and watched the 2009 Ironman on DVD. Very inspiring and at the same time looks really really painful.
With one day left in the week (and one of the toughest) I have made every workout this week and I feel great about that and how things are going. I could see veins in my calves all day and I'm getting some abs back! Woo hoo!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Day 58: 6/11/2010
Good solid day and I'm heading into the weekend with 11.5 hours of training under my belt.
Today I ran :45 easy on the golf course, biked 1:45 with some :15 intervals and swam a 3000. Total for the day was 3:30.
Like I said in an earlier post, in college I used to try and make 10 hours by Friday so I could head into the weekend with double digit hours already. That meant that I wouldn't have to kill myself over the weekend and I'd still have a very respectable total, and if I did work hard I would end up with a great total. It has been a very long time since I've had a week like this one and I don't even feel like trying to look it up through all of my training logs from the last 10 years. Also, when I did this in college I specifically remember some long bikes happening during the week to pad that total but this week I have only biked twice and I wouldn't call neither one a long ride. I have simply been consistent with 3 swims, 2 bikes and 4 runs thus far. Consistency is the name of the game.
Day 57: 6/10/2010
Confidence booster. This morning was probably one of the many workouts I will do that at first scares me, then as I realize that I can do it, prepares me mentally and physically for Ironman. The workout was a 12 mile run run that consisted of an hour easy then :20 at tempo and finally a :15 cool down. I knew I could run the distance and for the total time but the :20 just seemed like a really long period and I didn't know if I would be able to pick up the pace and hold it over the :20.
I invited a high school runner with me and he hung tough for about 8 miles but I dropped him bad during the :20. I felt smooth and comfortable and when I finished I was really proud of my accomplishment. I suppose this means I am getting better. I have been tired and sore all week and I know my workouts have gone up a notch since before Deuces Wild. Everything I have done has some sort of aspect to it that is an interval.
I don't want to get too excited after just one week when I still have 4 months to go but things are now headed in a better direction. It's not easy but neither will Ironman.
Next up is a couple days of easier stuff then I have a tough day scheduled for Sunday.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Day 56: 6/9/2010
"Always tired, always hungry, and always sore... welcome to the club." I am having a really good week of training so far. Today I accidentally fell back to sleep for an extra half an hour but I still got out the door in time to finish the planned workout of a 2 hour ride with 3 x 15 minutes of hard riding.
In the evening I ran an easy :50 then did 8 strides in the grass at the University athletic field. Total for the day was 3 hours and total for the week is now at 6.5 hours. I am on track to have more than 10 hours by the end of Friday, something that was always my goal in college but I don't think I've ever accomplished that since.
I feel good, I feel like I am getting in shape and I hope it starts to show when I race. Everything is feeling good but I know I can still improve so much in the next 6 months, I mean really, Ironamn training doesn't even really start until after BSLT 70.3 at the end of the month.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Day 55: 6/8/2010
Today started a 2 week build for BSLT 70.3. I ran 10 miles this morning before work and swam a 3000 at lunch.
The run was really good because I through in some 4 minute fartlek runs after an hour of running.
I hadn't eaten anything all morning because I was running out of time and when I finally ate lunch at 1:30 I was sooo hungry and I happen to sit on the couch with a new inside triathlon magazine and I was out like a light for the afternoon.
Total for the week is 3 hours and 40 minutes.
Day 53: 6/6/2010
Xterra off-road triathlon. Swim went great and although it was a slower time from last year I doubt the courses were exactly the same. So although my time was slower than last year it was a very good swim and I came out ahead of lots of people I regard as fast swimmers and I had the 18th fastest swim.
The mountain bike course is not technical but there are still some good uphill and downhill sections. Although I do mountain bike some I would not brag about those abilities. I passed people going up and got passed going down. My bike time was way better than last year but it is not a real good comparison just because the weather and course were in so much better conditions than last year. That being said I had the 44th fastest bike split.
Now I finally felt good on the run from the get go and I passed a total of 10 people on the run while only allowing person to pass me. I bettered my run time by 1:40 from last year. The run at this race is really fun with 2 water crossings, one of which was faster to swim! My run was the 22nd best of the day. I finished 27th overall.
All in all I enjoyed the races and even more so the camping with family and good friends. I ened up being 4th fastest combined times of people that did both races but Emma was the only one to bring home any hardware from the kids duathlon.
Olympic distance raceday. The lake was not as cold as it usually is because of the recent heat wave throughout the southwest. I lined myself up well and had a good swim in 24:09, good enough for the 20th best swim of the day. I was really dizzy when I got to transition and had a hard time focusing on being fast.
The bike was good and I felt like I rode hard but I finished with a near identical time to last year in 1:07 compared to 1:08 for the 40 km course. My bike split was the 15th fastest of the day.
I know a good result in any triathlon will hinge on the run and I was looking forward to it but for whatever reason my first half of the run was horrible and I was hating it. My Garmin wasn't working so I couldn't tell you what my pace was but I was just crawling. I never stopped running though and I started to feel better and started running faster after 3 miles. The second half of my run was great and I passed some people but finished with a run time very identical to last year in 48:29, 7:48 per mile pace and 26th best on the day. Total time was 2:24:45 and I finished 20th overall which was an improvement from last year by 1:21.
While my nutrition was good, I did make 2 mistakes. First I think it would have been beneficial to swim in my wetsuit the day before just long enough to remind myself of that tight feeling of having a rubber suit around your chest. And second, brick runs or runs that I do right after a bike ride are important and they need to start happening in my training. All in all I thought my race was OK, nothing horrible or spectacular.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Day 49: 6/2/2010
Up early for the third day in a row to train. I rode 1:40 for a total of 30 miles on the same route as Monday.
Now it's packing time for Show Low and the Deuces Wild Triathlon Festival! 2 races in 2 days and Emma is even doing a kids duathlon!
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