Day 108: 7/31/2010

Back to work. I did a 4 hour ride with my bro Mike with rolling hills and intervals. I got in 76 miles in that time and felt pretty good but was definitely tired at the end ;) Best riding partner ever helped the hours and miles fly by.

A HUGE thanks to Lindsey who has for the last 3 weeks driven with the kids out to find me in the middle of nowhere to give me some words of encouragement and a cold coke :) Every time I spend some time out training I think of my family and how this training effects them too. I am rarely home when the kids or Lindsey wake up and I am very thankful I am supported in this journey to Ironman.

I may or may not be updating during the next few days as I will be in Red River, NM for our annual CC camp. Always a lot of fun and this time I am taking Lindsey and Grace along too. Lots of running scheduled for the kids and my bikes are going along too!

Also, Hawaii is only 10 weeks away at this point! Wow! And July ended up as my best month ever!! I biked 180 more miles than June and ran 20 more miles than June. I actually skipped a couple of swims here at the end and ended up a workout (3000 yards) short of my June total. Hour-wise I had 10 more hours total than June. Numbers can show improvement and build confidence and it is nice to see. I talked with Danny yesterday and I think now the real challenge starts as school starts now in August. Not only school but coaching too. I look forward to what these weeks will bring.

Day 106: 7/29/2010

No training today. Sucks but it just didn't work out. I had to leave Socorro really early to get to Albuquerque for the NM coaches clinic. After I spent some time with my mom and checked into our hotel which recently added an indoor waterpark. We played in the waterpark for 6 straight hours from 2:30 - 8:30. The kids had a blast as did we. I know I strayed from the training plan but I really had a great time playing with the family. Ironman is awesome but nothing beats those 6 hours I spent playing.

Day 105: 7/28/2010

Wednesday means long run day. Today I ran 1:45 on an out and back course. I even split the run perfectly and felt pretty good the entire time. I was pretty happy with it.

Long run days knock me on my a$$ so much more than anything else and after lunch I crashed for about 2 hours. I did make it to the pool and felt good but was swimming pretty slow according to my watch. I swam a 1500 and got out. I wasn't feeling it too much.

Overall a pretty good day that was the fourth day in a row of some pretty solid training. Luckily, things do lighten up some tomorrow but get back at it on Friday and Saturday. Currently I am a little over 9 hours for the week so about 3 hours a day average.

Day 104: 7/27/2010

What a day... 3 workouts and 4 hours total. I'm hungry but actually feel pretty good right now. First workout was an hour run with the CC team this morning. Second workout was a 2 hour bike ride with :50 total (2 x :25) of tempo riding and I ended the day with a 3000 yard swim. The swim didn't feel good, probably because the water was pretty warm, but I was still swimming some good splits.

I was also able to eclipse my June training totals today by about 3.5 hours. If you remember, June had been my best month ever. Now July is. Things are going really well right now but I have school looming in the close distance like a dark thunderstorm ready to spoil the fun. Errr.

Day 103: 7/26/2010

Today I had a good run. The Monday run is challenging but today was a big improvement from last week. I wouldn't say that I nailed it but I did good. The run is :30 WU then 4 x 5 minutes at 6:00 pace with only a 1 minute recovery, then a :10 CD. It's a tough workout.

Workout number 2 was an easy 1:45 bike ride. I chose to go up highway 60 which I rarely do. I guess I was just bored always going North or South. Highway 60 is a climb and I rode out for 1:15 and got back in :30. It definitely has the prettiest scenery but too much traffic, at last at that time of day.

So I started the week off with 2 hours and 50 minutes of training and I have a 4 hour day planned for Tuesday.

Day 102: 7/25/2010

What an awesome day to cap off an awesome week. I rode 4 hours under cloudy skies with some sprinkles here and there. I unfortunately got a flat at 3 hours and even more unfortunately had a spare tube that didn't hold air either so

I thought I was stranded. I called home and Lindsey was on her way but just as I started walking a local cyclist rolled up and gave me a tube! How cool was that?! I called Lindsey and canceled the help but she decided to head out anyway and bring me a cherry coke and say hi. I love seeing her and the kids when I'm out training, it makes me feel like a super hero. So I finished my 4 hour ride feeling great. I even negative split the second half by about 13 minutes.

Workout number 2 was a swim and at this point I only needed :45 to get to 20 hours for the week and since I got there with only about that much time left

before they closed... I made my goal of 20 hours!! First time ever I get to 20 hours!! And surprisingly I don't feel wasted and actually pretty good.

Now it's time to reward myself with some dinner at El Camino and I'm feeling like a chef special burger mmmmmm.

There is an open faced burger and fries underneath all that cheese and green chili, believe me ;)

Day 101: 7/24/2010

Slept in till about 8:30 today :) Didn't start training till around 11:30 today. Luckily, last nights monsoon rain left today cooler and cloud covered with almost no wind. Really a perfect day for training. I ran an hour with some intervals at the athletic field then took the kids swimming while Lindsey went out for her run.

I made it out on the bike around 5:30 and I rode 1:45 with :30 of tempo pace. It was a great time to ride and I even got a cool pic of the rainbow.

Tough day tomorrow that will test me and hopefully propels me to the best week of training volume wise I have ever had; Should be a tad more than 20 hours!

Day 100: 7/23/2010

Wow. My 100th day of training since finding out I am kona bound. Time sure has flown by... I suppose because I'm having so much fun!

This morning I had a tough tempo run workout. I was able to talk a couple CC kids into running the workout with me. The entire run was 1:10 with :30 being at tempo pace.

Then at lunch I swam a 2500.

Now I'm up in Albuquerque visiting my mom. Hopefully I will get a chance to run over to the new Trek superstore so I can see the new Speed Concept triathlon bike :)

Someday it will be mine... Someday....



But not the same year I'm going to Kona! Don't worry Lindsey! I just need about 8000 of my friends to donate a dollar each!

Day 99: 7/22/2010

Easy day today. Nothing very strenuous. I rode 1:30 in the morning with some intervals and I swam a 3000 this evening. I made it to over 10 hours for the week with todays effort.

Day 98: 7/21/2010

I nailed it today! Started the day off with a a very sweaty hour and 40 minute run. A couple CC boys joined me for the run and we even negative split it by a little. As soon as I got home I made a pitcher of smoothie and put that down pretty quickly. I laid around and relaxed and even watched the 2009 Ironman Hawaii DVD then convinced Emma to go with me to the pool because i still had not taken a shower and for whatever the idea of the pool was more enticing.

This afternoon Grace and I napped together for 3 hours! When Lindsey got home from her class at 6:00 I got ready for my ride and went out for 1:45 with some intervals. I can't believe how good I feel now knowing that I conquered the day. This was the day last week that had me intimidated and feeling like crap. I couldn't wait for it to come around again so I could have another crack at it.

I talked with my CC kids this morning and I let them know about goals and how sometimes along the way we fail, but it is only failure if we stop there and let that obstacle become bigger than us. The road to accomplishing something exceptional is not an easy path. If it were, the goal wouldn't be so extraordinary. Kids want to accomplish things and to be praised and I feel CC and triathlon and this Ironman I'm training for is good for all of that. I hope I can be a positive impact on their lives.

"One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation."

Day 97: 7/20/2010

Plain old solid day. Run an hour with strides in the morning and 3500 yard swim in the evening. Although the water was about 85 degrees I felt surprisingly good in the pool. I think this had to do with my warm up where I did some 75's breathing every fourth stroke. This helps me relax and swim efficiently. Because of the warm water I didn't push too hard but I swam 6 x 250's where I descended 1 - 3 and again 4 - 6 with the faster sets coming in at 3:30. Not super fast but I felt nice and smooth and I had energy which is something I haven't had lately.

Tomorrow is a big day with a long run of 1:40 and a couple hour bike ride. I had a day like this scheduled last week and I wasn't able to get the bike finished. I did run 1:30 but never had the energy or motivation to get the bike even started. It was rainy and windy and it only helped me make excuses. It is raining again now but it should be clear tomorrow and the day means a lot to me.

Today I was thinking about how training for ironman has affected my life. I realized that I challenge myself daily. I am constantly sore and tired and I do my best to still get the work done. Most of the time I feel great but somedays I struggle and don't reach a small goal I had set for myself. I guess it goes to show that anything worth achieving requires hard work and determination. You cannot waver when you encounter adversity and you will encounter adversity. All these challenges make achieving a goal so much more rewarding.

Day 96: 7/19/2010

Day started by running with CC group this morning. When the team finished their run, a couple boys and myself continued on for the "real" workout. The goal was 4x5 minutes of 6 minute pace and although I hung on a little longer than the boys did I did not make it through all 4. The recovery was just 1 minute and I struggled keeping pace. This is a difficult workout the day after a long ride and week of training but I look forward to trying again next week. Total time for the run was 1 hour.

I got out the door at 1:30 this afternoon for my ride and it was hot! I rode an easy 1.5 hours. The crazy thing was I saw a guy out running wearing sweats, a hoodie and a beanie and the temperature was around 105 degrees at the time!

So I started the week pretty solid with 2.5 hours of training.

"Motivation is what gets you started but habit is what keeps you going."

Day 95: 7/18/2010

Long ride of 3.5 hours and a 2000 yard swim. My bike wasn't feeling to good at around the middle point but perked up on the return. I rode 62 miles which isn't nearly as far as I went last Sunday with Mike but then again we had 2 people working together and it was a net downhill ride.

My total for the week is 17 hours and 20 minutes. 5 runs totaling 41.5 miles, 4 bike rides totaling 150 miles and 4 swims totaling 11000 yards. I did miss one bike ride this week due to being tired and the weather not cooperating. The next 3 weeks of training will be a big push before school starts. I should be at approximately 20

hours each of the next 3 weeks. I have never trained so much in my life and I am looking forward to the challenge of the next 3 weeks. It will be really tough, physically and mentally.

Day 94: 7/17/2010

It was nice to sort of sleep in today, or at least not have to leave the house when everyone is still sound asleep. Lindsey took advantage and hot her own run in of 1 hour (Good job love). I started my training today at almost 9 AM! I rode with my buddy, Robert, for 1:50 with :30 of that tempo riding.

I had a lunch at the famous Owl Bar and put on 6 pounds from after my ride! Spent the afternoon watching The Book of Eli which was a pretty cool movie.

At 5:30 PM I got out the door for an hour run with strides. Now time to recover for tomorrow's long ride, I'm looking forward to it and to losing that 6 pounds!

Day 93: 7/16/2010

Hour run this AM with the CC kids, half of the run was tempo. Then 3000 swim at lunch. This puts me at 10.5 hours so far this week. Now off to Albuquerque to visit my mom in the rehab hospital where she is recovering from hip replacement.

Day 92: 7/15/2010

Biked in the morning for 1:30 with half of that being intervals. Swam a 3000 at lunch. Spent the afternoon at the pool with the family. Spent the evening playing ultimate frisbee with the CC team. A good day for sure.

Day 91: 7/14/2010

Training and life kind of caught up to me today. I ran 1:30 in the morning and although the run felt fine getting out of bed was a struggle. I felt like a zombie. I couldn't wait for the afternoon so I could take a nap. It worked out perfectly since Lindsey and Emma had haircut appointments and Grace was ready for her nap. When I woke up the weather was bad enough to discourage my planned ride. I waited but the wind didn't stop and the dark thunderstorms stayed threatening in the distance. Plus, I had some things I needed to take care of that had been ignored and we also needed to go to the grocery store.

I still clung to some hope that I would ride the trainer at this point. I even rented a movie to help the time go by faster. But when I got home, it was perfect family time. Instead of riding I played with the girls and did a few more chores around the house. I even fixed the wood fence that has been broken for a few months now!

Anyways I am up this morning, still tired, but am dressed for an early ride. Although I feel bad for missing that ride yesterday, I must say I think I needed the break.

day 90: 7/13/2010

I am still getting used to being tired, hungry and sore pretty much all of the time. Although I didn't feel fresh, I had a "bread and butter" training day. By that, I mean I just got in some training without any flare. I woke early and ran an hour with some strides at the end and I swam a 3000 at lunch. I wanted to finish training by the afternoon so we could all go to the lake for some fun in the sun! We met Mike and Danny with each of their respective families and we had a very good time boating, jet skiing, swimming and cooking out. We didn't leave the lake until around 10:30 PM so I know Wednesday morning was going to hurt.

Day 89: 7/12/2010

In all honesty I wasn't looking forward to either workout today. I knew I was tired from the effort on Sunday. I could still feel where my saddle had been for 3 and a half hours the day before. What I did learn is that the mind can be pretty powerful in determining what you do and how you do it. If you don't want to do something you can come up with a whole lot of excuses why you shouldn't but if you can just take that leap and get started things aren't as difficult as you imagined.

I started the run a half hour before CC practice so I could finish with the kids. The workout was 1 hour running with 4 x 4 minutes at 6 minute pace. I was actually surprised how good I felt on the first interval but by the fourth I was pretty toasted.

Next workout was an easy 1:30 on the bike. Again, I wasn't looking forward to it and my legs did complain a little at the start but in no time I was feeling good and glad I did it.

Day 87 and 88: 7/10 - 7/11/2010

What an awesome weekend! It is nice to have my family back in town and to hear my kids, pet my dog and hug my wife, nothing is better.

I swear there was no wind this weekend, almost dead still both days and today was overcast. Great training weather. Yesterday I slept in as much as I could then headed over to the store for fresh milk and doughnuts for the family. I pretty much spent the morning just hanging out with the family. I made it to the pool by 2 and swam a 3000. Later I rode 1:45 with :30 of tempo riding.

Today was the Magdalena to Kelly 7k. It is entirely uphill and climbs 1000 feet in that short amount of distance. For the second time in my life I was able to make it first to the top, bettering my last years 2nd place finish time by exactly 3 minutes! Race time was 28:20. I convinced 7 cross country runners to show up and Lindsey and Marlene did a great job finishing as well. Mike was there to cheer and support and we both hadour bikes waiting in the vehicles. After a pancake breakfast we headed out for a long ride. From Magdalena, we rode West to the VLA then back to Mag and back to Socorro. That trip was 66 miles finished in 3 hours! Fast! Mike called that a day but I pressed on for another half hour and 9 miles to make my ride 3:30 and 75 miles.

Total for the week (only 6 days) was 16.75 hours. I swam, rode, and ran 4 times each.

I had a really good weekend for many reasons and I hope you did too. thanks for checking in.

Day 86: 7/9/2010

Again I'm done in the early afternoon :) This morning I ran a warm up solo before practice then met the kids and soon started :20 of tempo running. Total run time was 1 hour with warm up and cool down. The run felt good and I have noticed my tempo pace come down from around 7 minute miles to 6:40 minute miles average.

Then a 3000 in the pool at lunch. I have 2 books that I choose workouts from and the one I happen to pick today was a good one. It had some dps (distance per stroke) sets and some 3-4-5- breathing sets (breathing every 3rd stroke, then every 4th...).

Total for the day was 2 hours and total for the week is 9:55. That is a real good total time considering I took Monday off.

This weekend does have a nice long ride scheduled and a 7k run race up a mountain. Lots to look forward too!

Day 85: 7/8/2010

Yep it's 1:30 in the afternoon and I'm done working out for the day. Rode this morning for 1:30 with a couple of :15 intervals. The weather was overcast and drizzly throughout and it was awesome and refreshing but now I have a dirty bike.

Swam an hour at lunch and got in a 3000. I was hoping the water would be cooler with the rains and all but they sure do a god job keeping it at 82 degrees.

Total for the day is 2:30 and total for the week is 7:55. Legs feel a little tired after 2 close bike rides but things are good.

Day 84: 7/7/2010

Started off at 5:45 so I could get in :45 of running before XC practice. Then, I met the kids and put in another :35 for a 10 mile total run.

I had stayed up late watching a movie and I was dragging all morning so I was looking forward to the afternoon so I could take a nap. The weather was windy and drizzly anyways. The weather finally did clear up but not with enough time for my ride so I had no choice but to ride my trainer in the living room. I rode for 1:45 with some :15 intervals. By the time I was finished, my clothes, bike, aerobar pads, everything was soaked with sweat!

Total for the day was 3:05 and total for the week is 5:25.

Day 83: 7/6/2010

Back to work and I am looking forward to a solid month of July. Now with XC started I am faced with making everything workout smoothly. I need to get my workouts in and the kids need to get their workouts in and I need to be there to guide them. This morning started off with a run at 6:00 AM and I met the kids at 6:30 and I finished the remainder of my workout with them. Total run time was 1 hour.

2nd workout was a swim during lunch. The pool felt so good today as it was cooler than usual so I took advantage and swam a 4000. The main set consisted of a 200, 400, 600, 400, 200 pyramid and I couldn't figure out why I swam so slow in Tucson. I am a faster swimmer than that but for whatever reason I didn't swim as hard as I should have. I realize this is a re-occurring theme with me and racing; only going comfortably hard. At some point along the way I lost my mental capacity to go hard from start to finish and actually race. I am desperately trying to get that ability back.

On another note, I weighed myself this morning and I was at 158.5 lbs and body fat % of 9. Getting leaner and meaner!

With the day off yesterday, weekly total is 2 hours and 20 minutes all from today.

Day 79, 80, 81 and 82: 7/2 - 7/5/2010

Happy Fourth of July weekend!

On Friday I was up really early as the plan was to get in an hour bike before XC practice at 6:30 am. I was exactly half way through the ride and getting ready to start some intervals when I crossed some railroad tracks and my crankarm fell off! In 15 years of riding this has never happened to me before. My left shoe was still attached to the pedal, which was attached to the crankarm, but the crankarm wasn't attached to my bike! It sucked but I suppose it could have been worse and I could have crashed or injured myself. On Friday we also left for Las Cruces to make the drive to Tucson a little shorter.

Saturday consisted of driving, checking into the race and hotel.

The Tucson Firecracker Triathlon was on Sunday. The race consisted of a 750 LC meter swim, a 12 mile - 3 loop bike course, and a 3 mile run. I finished the race 7th overall and 1st in the 30-34 age group. I was really happy with my bike but my swim didn't show up and my triathlon run is still awol. I swear I can run during training! All in all I was happy with my race and it was really fun to be finished in an hour! My bro, Mike, placed second overall. We'll see if he does the third race of the series as the final race in Tucson is the same day as the Hawaii Ironman. Hmm... Tucson or Kona, Kona or Tucson????

Today is Monday and we're still in Tucson and getting ready to make the trip back to Socorro. No training today but I'll get back on schedule tomorrow. July is the start of the "real" IM training as the clock is ticking fast and October 9th isn't too far off. It'll be here before I know it and that scares me because I know it's true.

Day 78: 7/1/2010

July 1st means the start of the XC season for SHS. I made it to the morning practice and I made their run be my warm up and I let the captains lead the post-workout stretches and strides while I continued on and put in some intervals on a ditchbank. I had a good run workout and was surprised to see my Garmin measuring the intervals at 6 minute pace. It felt good though, I just wish I could have had a better run at BSLT (Errrrr). Total run time was 1 hour.

The afternoon was spent in Albuquerque visiting my mom who just had a hip replacement yesterday. We left to just get back in time for swim team pictures and Lindsey was able to make it to the evening XC practice so she could get her run in. I played mom and had the kids and even made dinner! Unfortunately, no 2nd workout which was supposed to have been an hour and a half bike ride (which could still happen on the trainer).

Day 77: 6/30/2010

The last day of June; Time is flying by! I finished off the month with an hour run in the morning and an hour swim in the evening. With that last effort, I was able to have a 60 hour month, the best monthly effort I have EVER had. During the month of June I swam 43350 yards or 24.6 miles, biked nearly 500 miles, and ran 135 miles. I accomplished these distances with 17 swims, 16 bike rides and 20 runs, also the highest number of workouts I have ever done in a month in each discipline. Everythingabout this month was great minus my run at BSLT and who knows, maybe all this training had something to do with it. But this month did more good than harm as my main goal at BSLT was to finish and validate my slot. The ultimate goal is Kona.