Less than 1 month left

It's hard to believe that I am in the final month of preparation for Augusta 70.3. I made the decision to race just over one year ago. The whole process has been a challenge. There are so many different aspects that have to be considered when making the decision to take on a challenge of this magnitude. The training takes up such a large chunk of time, thus affects all areas of life, including work, friends, other social activities, and most importantly family. It is a juggling act to piece this puzzle together. This is where it really helps to know that you have great people supporting you. I was unsure what to believe when I read "there are times you will feel like a walking zombie, going through the motions of life". Whoever wrote that is 100% correct.

Through all of this, I will say, that I am undoubtably in the best shape of my life. My plan for the next three weeks is to continue to hit all workouts, try to really be strict regarding my diet to lose a few pounds, but really keep focused on my day to day life.

I am not sure what the future will hold. I will admit that I do enjoy living this healthy lifestyle. There are times when I would wonder if my training has really prepared me, but the Greenville Tri answered that. My thoughts after this race are shifting in a couple different directions. My plan is to do alot of biking and running. I want to push the century mark on a single bike ride by early spring and get in some longer runs (such as 1/2 marathons and possibly a marathon). Who knows, this may even lead to bigger things, maybe even my dream of a full Ironman in late 2010.

Hard week

I have had some very hard workouts during the week after my race. I did not want my race to interfere with my training on Monday and I made sure it did not. I had a run, bike, run workout that went great. Wednesday was scheduled long run day. Unfortunately the pizza I ate on Tuesday night did not agree with me and I had to cut it short and ended up moving it to Thursday. Thursday came around and I really did not feel like doing a twelve mile run. I was tired and unmotivated. Then I told myself to get out and just do it!! When the run began, it was kind of overcast and really not too hot outside. After the first 1/2 mile, the rain came. It rained for about 45 minutes. I told myself that since I was already wet, I might as well keep going. Needless to say, I finished. It took me just under 2 hours. I was completely soaked. My legs were starting to chafe from the wet clothes. Next time, I will wear my tri shorts instead of running shorts!

Friday called for a swim and bike. I was only able to get in the swim. It was supposed to be an hour, but I made it about 50 minutes. I had no endurance issues. Instead I was just bored. During this time, to change things up a bit, I ended up swimming some breast and fly. 2600 meters.

Saturday and Sunday had my time occupied with work activities. At the club we had our Seniors and Ladies Club Championships. They were both good tournaments. The champions for both are very strong players deserving of the titles.

Monday's workout consisted of a short but hard bike followed by a run. The bike was on 45 min (14.5 miles), but I kept it in the big ring and the cadence low. This was to try to build a little leg strength and to see how I would handle the run after a hard ride. The run went well. I diverted my path and knocked out 3 miles in 26 minutes. Not bad for me.

Today, I had a great workout. It was another hot day, but I prepared well. My plan called for a 2 hour 30 minute ride followed by a 20 minute run. I decided to stretch out the bike to 3 hours but keep the run on time. I went for exactly 3 hours, 0 minutes and 39 seconds covering 52 miles. My quads were on absolute fire! They were burning. There are quite a few hills on my route and they took their toll. After finishing the bike, I threw on the running shoes and went out for my run. I covered 2.3 miles in 19 minutes. My legs were fatigued at first, but loosened up once I got going. My only real issue was my core temperature overheating. I was not able to cool myself down. The water I was drinking on the bike was warm from the sun. I tried throwing some ice cubes in my fuel belt to cool off the water, but it did not work. Next time, I am going to try throwing water on me instead. This always works during the races, so why not use it during training. It was a good day. We'll see how my legs feel tomorrow!

Greenville Sprint Triathlon

Sunday was a great race for me. I competed in the Greenville Sprint Triathlon. Last year, this was my first "on road" tri and second tri ever. I was unfortunate in getting a flat tire with no repair kit. Although the flat tire was unfortunate, it gave me the opportunity to see another why triathlon is such a great sport. It's the people. As I was walking with my bike with the flat tire, almost half of the competitors either asked if I was okay or if they could help. I thought that was amazing. One guy actually stopped and offered to help me, but I told him thanks but I was fine. I was just going to hitch a ride on the truck that brings everyone who can't finish back in.

This year was a pretty uneventful race. I woke up at 4:30am and ate my bagel with pb and drank my coffee. We ended up leaving the house around 6:00am and headed to the Westside Aquatic Center. We arrived around 6:15am. As I was unracking my bike, a lady next to me asked if I could pump up her tires. It was only her second tri and was unsure how to use her pump. Even though I was running a little late, I thought back to all those people that offered to help me last year and said, "Sure, I can do that for you." We got them pumped up, wished each other luck and Sara and I headed to set up transition. I got everything set up and started walking with my goggles to the pool when I realized I was missing something - my timing chip and body markings! Ooops. I ran back into transition to get my race number to prove I was a contestant and got that taken care of.

Swim: My warm up consisted of one two hundred meters. Everything felt great. Just needed to stretch out and wake up the muscles. My number for the race was 55. This means I was seeded as the 55th fastest swimmer out of the 585 competitors, according to the times other turned in. As I waited for my time, I met my lane partner. He was a real nice guy. It was his first tri and he was a little nervous. I told him not to worry about it. He would be fine and gave him a few other pointers. We both thought we may have over-estimated our swim times. Pool swims usually pretty uneventful. This one started off with a bang - almost literally. The swim course was supposed to zig zag. Up one 50m lane, under the rope, and down the next. As I hit the 75m mark, I just happened to look up to sight (I don't know why. I was in a pool!). Right when my face comes out of the water, I see a girl right in front of me, coming right at me, in my lane! She did not go under the lane line! That was a close one! The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful. I pushed it pretty good and caught some guys in front of me which slowed me down a little, but eventually got past them.

Swim: 400 meters - 6 min 56 sec.

Bike: The 15 mile bike portion was pretty uneventful. I really wanted to push it hard to get my average over 20mph for the race. The course was not too hard. It does have some hills that aren't long. They are just in bad places. As in - places you don't have much speed going into. I kept it in the small chainring quite a bit as there were not too many long flat stretches. I probably could have used the big ring a little more, but that works the legs a little more. I did not want to do that. I needed to save some energy for the run. As the ride came to an end, I tried something I had been working on - getting my feet out of my shoes while still on the bike. It actually worked!!

Bike: 15 miles - 42 min 36 sec (21.13 mph!!!!)

Run: The run is a two loop, 5K course. It starts with up a dirt trail then goes on a couple roads behind the finish area. Finishing down the dirt trail. My run started off okay. I was a little concerned because I did push the bike a little harder than normal. I did not know what this was going to do to my legs. For the first 1/2 mile, my calves were so tight. They would not relax. Eventually they let go and I could pick up the pace. I felt pretty good the whole way and really pushed it hard. I gave it all I had during the last mile and sprinted through the finish line.

Run: 3.14 miles - 23 min 20 sec (my fastest 5K time ever!)

Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes 38 seconds

Overall, I am very happy with this race. I beat my goal of 1 hour 20 minutes. I am there to break personal goals and nothing more. It is good to see my training is paying off. The only bad, but exciting thing about this race being over is that I don't have any other races before Augusta. The big one is next and it's coming fast!

Productive couple of days

The past few days have been great morale boosters. After a long run on Thursday, my training plan called for a long swim on Friday and an off day for Saturday. My swim was great. I felt real strong with very little fatigue. My distance was 2600m. My day off could not have come at a better time since I had to run a tournament at Holly Tree. The tournament was very successful. I knew going in my workout on Sunday was going to be a tough one, but as Chris McCormack said, "If it were easy, everyone would be doing it". My day started at 5:45am. I worked from 6:45am - 4:00pm. It was a pretty slow day at the course so I decided to play golf with one of our aspiring tour professionals. I was a little nervous considering I had not played 18 holes of golf since October of 2008. My day turned out better than I anticipated. I shot 76 with 0 birdies, but capped the day off with an eagle on the 18th hole. Things seemed to be going very smooth at the club so I decided to call it a day. After getting home and spending some time with Sara (who was under the weather), I decided to go ahead with my workout. It was supposed to be a 2 hour bike followed immediately by a 30 minute run. All in all, everything was pretty good. It was real hot, so I consumed a bunch of Gatorade Endurance and water. My legs were a little fatigued during the last hour of the bike, but were not as bad as I had expected. The bike portion lasted 1 hour 55 minutes. During this time, I covered around 34 miles. My pace was a little slow, but this does not count for stopping at stop lights, putting my chain back on, as it came off during one of my climbs. I was also able to work on starting my bike portion with my shoes already on the bike as I begin my ride, then sliding them on as I get going. On the back half, I was able to take my feet out of my shoes and run off the bike without any issues. Since the race is measured in time, every second counts.

The run was pretty uneventful. Actually it was pretty good for me. I ran 3.3 miles in 30 minutes with little fatigue. Near the end, I started feeling a little energy deprived. I want to save my Gu's for later workouts, but wanted to see how I felt once it got into my system. Once my body absorbed it, I was as good as new. - Good to know for future workouts.

Upcoming workouts for the week:

Monday: S- 3K
Tuesday: B-45m, R-30m, S-30m
Wednesday: R- 45m
Thursday: B-30m, R-90m
Friday: B-45m, R- 30m
Sat: OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo Hoo for long runs

My training plan for today called for a 1 hour 30 minute run. I decided to stretch it a little longer. My goal was to go for 1 hr 45 min. That would give me about an extra 1 1/2 miles. I made it a total of 10.95 miles. This is my longest run ever both time and distance wise. My legs were pretty fatigued near the end. I did this run following an average day at work where I am on my feet most of the day. Today was no different. I was on my feet from 7:30-4:30. Overall, my pace was a little slower than I had hoped for, but all considering, I am not too disappointed. I know that if I did this run on a full night's rest, I would have been closer to my goal. It's all good. Tomorrow calls for a good swim, then rest......ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

"One of those days"

Unfortunately I had "One of those days" today. The ones where you just never feel right. Nothing feels good. You can't get comfortable. That's the bad news. The good news is that I got in my workout. My training plan called for a brick (1 hour bike immediately followed by a 30 minute run). I decided that on the bike, I was only going in the big ring today and I was going to go hard. Well, that I did and I paid for it on the run. I completed both the bike and the run. The bike lasted for 53 minutes, covering 16.68 miles and the run lasted 28 minutes covering 3.3 miles, but I felt terrible on the run. My body had no energy. I thought I might feel some leg fatigue, but it wasn't that. It was my whole body. By pushing the bike hard, I kept it in the big ring the entire time and did my best to stay in my aerobars as much as possible - even on the 10% grades.

I will just have to chalk today up to inexperience. I have not even been on a road / tri bike for a year. My mountain bike background does little to help me here. Wednesday calls for a rest day, leading up to my longest run ever! (or at least it should be). My training plan calls for 1 hour 30 minute run. Since I missed a couple run workouts, I am going to take it a little longer. I am going 1 hour 45 minutes. This should put me into the 10.5-11 mile mark. It's going to be a long day.

Good run but maybe not good enough

I had a good TT run yesterday. I ran 6.5 miles in 1 hour. That is my "race pace". After looking at my training session for today, my plan calls for a 45 min spin on the bike to loosen up my tight and sore legs. Well, I am a little stiff, but no more than normal after a run. I am starting to think maybe I did not push hard enough. I have a big week coming up with a short spin and a long swim today. I get the day off on Wednesday, which I may throw in an OWS if the group is heading out. Thursday calls for a nice 1.5 hour run followed by a 30 min recovery swim. I might extend the run out to 1 hour 45 minutes since I have not been that far in a long time. This should put me into the 11 mile range. The only problem is that this run will be after a day at work on my feet all day. We'll see.

It is hard to believe that race day is less than two months away. It seems like I just signed up yesterday. Things are going to be interesting in the weeks following my race. I have a few decisions to make as to my "tri future". The decision is between sticking with the shorter races or committing to a full Ironman. The full is my ulimate goal, but don't know how realistic it really is. It requires so much time. It would be an amazing feat if I could complete it. Something less than 1/2% of the people in the world could say - They are an Ironman.