Ironman Louisville Training begins - for real this time

It's been awhile since my last post, almost a year actually.  In November I finished Ironman #2 - Ironman Florida.  It was probably one of the most memorable moments of my life, mainly because of my friends Thomas and Maureen Troncoso.  The race was great, but they made it unforgettable by completely surprising me by showing up completely unannounced.  The two of them along with the support of my family made it what it was.  Instead of rewriting my entire race report, here is a link on BT:

Ironman Florida Race Report

Below is a link to a video that Thomas and Maureen made showing the race from a spectators view.  Yes,  I do have awesome friends!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IglCe5my-_I&feature=youtube_gdata

Jump forward to February...  I took the plunge again.  I signed up for Ironman Louisville.  It was just the most cost effective Ironman branded race I could do.  After a few months of getting fat, I decided to get back into things with some light running and cycling.  Unfortunately on my fifth day of running, I felt a sharp pain below my right calf.  It was a searing pain that wouldn't go away.  Therefore, after my run, I applied ice and stretched it well.  Even with the treatment, the pain was still there - even when I walked.  Not good.  I continued to do some easy running but still had pain so I decided to take a few days off to let it heal.  I let it rest for three days and tried it again.  Same thing, still had pain.  After repeating this for a couple days, I decided to shut it down for three weeks.

It's now the final day of April and I hopped on my bike two days ago and rode a steady 30 miles.  Not a long distance or fast pace, but I got it done pain free.  Yesterday, I threw on my running shoes and went out for a run.  I made it 3.7 miles and had a pretty good clip going (faster than I should have).  Today my legs are a little tired, but they feel pretty good.  I'm going out for another ride today and will probably hit the pool as well and maybe even the gym with Brian this evening.  My fingers are crossed that I stay in one piece!!!

Got some new wheels!

I officially made it through the longest week of the year in the world of a golf professional - Member Guest week. During this time, I have put in close to 75 hours most of which was spent on my feet. This left very little time for training. The tournament ended Saturday and made a bad decision of racing the Festival of Flowers tri on Sunday. It was only an olympic distance and John Davis from BT came to town to do the race, therefore I felt I probably should do it.

Sparing all the details, I did the race and did quite well all things considered. I finished 75 out of 165 people, which isn't too bad considering I didn't even plan on doing the race and was coming off 4 hours of sleep. The best part of the day was meeting John. He was exactly what I expected = a good guy who is full of energy. We met before the race and hung out after.

I made a pretty cool purchase last week too. I bought my first set of race wheels. I got a pair of Zipp 1080's. I purchased them on Ebay and got a really good deal. I can't wait to use them. Hopefully that will be this wee

k!!! Here's a pic-

Long day

I had a pretty good day today. It began with a long bike with BT and Greg. We rode from Simpsonville to Gray Court and back. The ride was good but the information from Greg was even better. Greg completed Ironman Florida back in 2008 and a lot of tips to share. It's always good to hear about other people's experiences regarding training and nutrition. We plan to head out on a regular basis. The good thing regarding the training part is that he is and excellent cyclist and likes to push it pretty hard sometimes. This is exactly what I need - someone to push me.

After the ride Sara and I hung out by the pool for much of the day. As usual, I missed a few spots with the sunscreen and got some funny marks on me. After the pool we headed out to get some food and ended up doing the traditional burgers and dogs with some pasta salad. I even drank a beer (actually two). I said I wasn't going to drink once I began my tri training, but since I started a month earlier than planned, I figured I would give myself a break for the next few weeks. :)

After we finished eating I headed out to finish my training for the day. Yes, that's right, I was not done working out. Instead, I still had to do a recovery run of 30 minutes. I don't know what I was recovering from - it was either the hot dogs, beer, sun, or bike ride earlier. What ever it was, it was still pretty tough.

It's only day 3

It's only day 3 of my Ironman training and I have already reached a brick workout. Luckily it was a short one, but it's still a brick and it's hard. What made this more difficult were two things: #1. I had already mentally prepared myself to reschedule this workout for tomorrow since I have a late golf lesson scheduled. I actually went home and by accident took a 30 minute nap. I woke up completely in a panic that I was late for my lesson even after telling myself that I cannot fall asleep. #2. The weather. As I was finishing my golf lesson, around 6:30, it started to rain. It was nothing major, but just enough to wet the roads. At that point, I was ready to go to the gym for a weight training session. I had my bag packed with my workout clothes. I was ready to go.

I only had one problem. I looked at the weather forecast for tomorrow and it is calling for showers and thunderstorms all day. How am I supposed to get my workout in tomorrow with that forecast? After deliberating and looking at the radar, I decided tonight had to be the night. I figured I had a just over an hour before he rain would hit. I should be able to make it. With this being said, I changed my clothes and went out for my 45 minute ride. As I am heading out, I notice the ominous clouds behind me. If it started storming, I will have to ride back into it to get home. I thought "I'd better get going!" I pushed pretty hard to get things rolling on the hilly terrain. I reached the halfway point (around 22 minutes) and turned around. I must have really turned it on on the way back because I made it back in just over 40 minutes. The skies still looked threatening, but I figured I only had a 15 minute run so I should be fine. I grabbed my visor and threw on my running shoes and headed out for the second part of my brick. My legs were a little tight heading out and my pace was slow but that was okay. The plan didn't specify what kind of pace. Given it was the first week, it was probably slow, but I just went. As I made the turn around, I was averaging around a 8 minute mile which was faster than it felt, then on the way back I turned it on. My overall run was 1.94 miles in 14:41. That equals a 7:36 pace. I was hauling ass to bring it home and it was a good thing I did. The moment I reached the circle at the cul de sac, it began to rain. After taking a shower, I peaked outside and it all let loose. It was raining cats and dogs. I think somebody was watching out for me tonight. -Thanks for your help.

And here it is...

Ironman training officially began yesterday. Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about the state of my fitness going in. I feel I have the necessary tools to have a great race by staying healthy throughout the year. My biggest challenge in tri training has been problems with my achilles tendon. After my therapy sessions before Ironman Louisville, my achilles felt strong and with the information I was given at Elite I feel I can keep it that way.

With my training beginning, I will go ahead and announce my time goals for Ironman Florida:

Swim- 59:59 (under 1 hour)
Bike- 5:30
Run- 4 hours or less
Total: Under 11 hours

My goal is pretty optimistic considering I did over 15 hours in Louisville, but Florida is going to be a flat and fast course and most importantly the temperature is supposed to be much cooler. Additionally, I feel I am going to be better prepared physically. During my run training last year, I was unable to do any speed work because of my achilles problems. Hopefully that won't be an issue this year. I am keeping my fingers crossed!!

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. ~William Jennings Bryan~

It's almost that time...

My tri season officially kicked off a few weeks ago with the Langley Pond International triathlon in Aiken. My training had not quite been what I had hoped going into the race, but I wanted to do an early season race. My overall goal was 2:30. I had some slow transitions which caused me to miss my goal by 10 seconds!! My main goal of the race was to see if I could hold a sub 8 min 10k. My pace ended up being 7:40/ mile. Obviously I am very happy about that!!

My next race was a few weeks later. I did my first stand alone 5k. I have finished an Ironman, but have never done a stand alone 5k. It was the GHS Swamp Rabbit 5k run in Traveler's Rest. I didn't know what to expect so I asked my dad what a respectable time would be and he thought sub 24 would be good so I went with that. Things went pretty smooth after getting to the race site. The one thing I wasn't planning on, was the amount of people. There were over 3000 people in the race. I should have known after hearing about how many people run in a typical 5k. Oh well. The race itself went pretty well. It was a hilly course. The only flat part was the last 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile and that was on the Swamp Rabbit Trail. My final time ended up being 22:52. I pushed it pretty hard and feel good about my time.

After all is said and done, I've decided on an Ironman training plan. I decided to go with an intermediate plan from Triathlete Magazine's training guide by Matt Fitzgerald. The only thing is that the plan is a 24 week plan instead of 20 weeks. This means I start one month earlier!!! When is that??? Less than one week! I'm looking forward to it though. I need some training structure in my daily life. I've gone too long without a plan to follow. So I officially begin training on May 24, 2011!!!