Good stuff / Not so good stuff

I had a great training week last week. We had temps in the 60's and even 70. I was able to get out on my bike and get in two 35 mile rides and even sandwiched in a run between the two. By the end of the week, my legs were spent. Obviously one of the most important aspects of long distance triathlon is conserving energy through being as aero as possible. I decided to check out how aero I look while on my trainer. Although I am no expert, it looks like I could gain a little from a proper fitting on the bike. Therefore, I have a bike fitting set up for Monday at Carolina Triathlon. I am really looking forward to what we find.

Unfortunately with the good comes the bad. My goal for this week was to focus on my run. I had plans to do four or five runs, with the longest being around 8 miles. My first run on Monday was great- 5.1 miles at a 9:10/mile pace. The second run felt real good until the end. I had just finished 5.2 miles and had 1/2 mile to go. At this point, my right achilles begins to act up and just flat out hurt. This time, it was not at the insertion point, but about 1/3 of the way from my heel. That is what happened last spring when I decided to go to therapy. I really don't want to go again and frankly can't afford to go again. For now, I am spending my time in the pool, on the bike and stretching like crazy. I am going to take off for the rest of the week and schedule an appointment with a friend who is a sports doc at Steadman Hawkins. Hopefully, he will give me some good news.

Good workout

Over the past few days, I have had some pretty good workouts. On Monday, my swim was an easy 2200 meters. I started out with freestyle, then switched to some backstroke for my warm up. The main set consisted of 1900 free. It is getting a little boring right now and it is hard to keep focused. I might try to find a training plan to help me until my IM training begins.

My workout yesterday was a pretty good 45 minutes inside on the trainer. The weather is cold and windy, especially for South Carolina. Today's workout was another trainer session. I sat my butt in one spot for 1 1/2 hours will pedaling away. Actually I did stand up twice to stretch my legs and back. Overall, it was a pretty good workout. My heart rate stayed in the mid 140s, which is pretty low for me.

Tomorrow, I am going back to the run. I am going to SportsClub to mix things up a little and do some work on the treadmill. After my 7.5 mile run on Sunday, I'm going to take down an notch to about 4.5 miles for a couple days, but maybe throw in some speed work.

I am really excited about one thing - I can feel my appetite beginning the take the turn. I seem to be less hungry now and it couldn't have come any sooner! Since my race, I have gained 8 lbs! I am now at 189! Just a couple weeks ago, I was eating everything in sight. Now, I can feel my cravings subside and hopefully my weight will begin to drop too.

Back to Training (and posting)

It has been two months since my last post and boy have things changed. During this time, Christmas and New Year's have come and gone, Sara and I have had to deal with some pretty overwhelming family issues, I have regulated my training schedule, I have become a Certified PGA Professional, and can now say that I am doing an Ironman this year. Since this is mostly about training and triathlon, I will stick with that.

Over the past six weeks, I have been able to get in my base workouts on a more regular basis. Just as with my half ironman training, they are always before or after work.

My swim has been great. I have worked on my stroke mechanics and have really been able to pick up some speed and strength without using anymore effort. My distances have ranged from 1500 meters up to 3000 meters in the pool. The Ironman swim distance is around 3800 meters, so I am almost there. I don't plan on going too much higher than the 3000 until I begin my plan in April.

The bike has been okay. The weather in the upstate has been unseasonably cold and wet. This means, not very good riding conditions. I have spent a good amount of time on the trainer watching movies and Ironman videos from Coeur D'alene, China, and World Championships from 2008 and 2009. This occupies my time pretty well. My longest trainer ride is still only 1.5 hours. I need to get this up into the 2 hour range soon. I truly believe riding on a trainer is much more difficult than riding on the road. I can only seem to average around 16.4 mph on the trainer whereas on the road, my lowest is typically around 17.0, and even getting up to 20 mph. The trainer doesn't allow for any rest. There is virtually no coasting and obviously no downhills sections to catch your breath or let your legs recover. Instead, it's just nonstop pedaling.

My running has been pretty good. I am trying to follow the 10% rule and not increase my mileage too quickly. My current runs right now are averaging around 6 miles. I am getting them in around 3 days per week. All have been outside. This coming week will be around 6.5-7 miles. I have just been trying to keep a very slow pace, not pushing anything. I have thrown in a few hills for good measure and mix it up a bit.

2010 should be a very exciting year. It is the year I will become an Ironman. It's about the journey, not the destination.