Ironman Coeur d'Alene - Race Week!

It's all come to this week.  A few workouts left this week to keep the muscles engaged, starting a carbo load (detailed below), and traveling to CDA on Thursday.  Training started in mid-December.... 136 hours, 1300 miles Biking (with most training miles not logged on the Trainer), 96 hours, 705 miles Running and 76 hours, 127 miles Swimming

Today starts a huge change in my diet.  When people think of carbo loading, most think of eating a massive bowl of pasta the night before a race.  True loading actually starts a few days before a race.  Three days from the race, my diet will change to be about 85 - 95% carbs.  This will load my muscles to the brim with glycogen.  It wont last through the entire Ironman but will definitely help.  That's why the Ironman nutritinal plan is critical.  I'll detail everything i take in during the race in a race recap.

Here is my plan for this week:

Monday - Morning 2700 meter swim, Evening strength workout
Tuesday - Morning 45 min Run consisting of 15 mins of tempo (half marathon pace), Evening Bike with about 30 mins tempo (Ironman watt zone).
Wednesday - Morning 2700 meter swim, Evening 30 min easy riding
Thursday - Morning Flight, a little run once in CDA
Friday - NOTHING, athlete checkin and packet pickup
Saturday - 30 min ride on the bike to test all is good, check in bike to transition, 15 min run to shakeout the legs, then legs up rest of the day
Sunday - 4:30 wake up, 6:30 SWIM START.

GoPro videos to come once I'm in CDA to capture the Weekend........

Peak is Done! - 4 weeks to go

This weekend capped off a 3 week peak as I'm zero'ing in on Coeur d'Alene.  After Ironman Texas 70.3 on 4/26, I went into a recovery week then into my peak training for CDA.  The weekend after the half ironman recovery week, I did a 16 mile run followed by a 101 mile ride.  One of two that I'll do in the next 3 weeks.  This ride took me up Palmer Lane/Ronald Reagan to I35 north of Georgetown.  Once back to Jolleyville and Oak Knoll, I went to 620 and 2222, u-turned and and then headed to my house at Braker and Jolleyville.  Below is the mapped ride.  During these 100 milers, the goal is to practice my goal pacing and my nutrition.  After this ride, I did a quick 15 min, marathon pace run just to gauge the pace I want to start off the marathon with in CDA

The next weekend, on Memorial Day I raced the CapTex Olympic tri in downtown Austin.  Obviously, b/c of all the rain, the swim was cancelled, so it turned into a Duathlon.  Which was ok with me.  I did a 10 mile run on Saturday, and a 50 mile ride on Sunday (recovery from the 16 mile run and 100 mile cycle the week before).  My goal in CapTex was to hammer the bike.....it's a 26 mile time trial so it's a perfect opportunity to go balls out and check my power numbers on a true time trial.  I wasn't concerned with the run, but ended up running really well after pushing so hard on the bike.  I was 7th/85 in my age group.  I'll take it!

After CapTex, it was the start of my last week of Peak that would end with another long run and another 100 miler.  On Saturday, I did an 18 mile run followed by 100 miles on the bike again on Sunday.  This time the bike consisted of double looping the Dam Loop......jolleyville through balconies, 620 to bee caves to 360 back to Jolleyville.  Turn around, and go back the same way I came (map below)  Physically, a lot of hills and climbing, but the mental challenge of turning around and heading back out to do the loop again was very difficult!  But I just had to settle back in and get at it.  It was a very nice day today so once I got going it was actually a nice ride today.  This ride will be more like CDA than the previous 100 miler b/c of the hills.  CDA's 112 mile bike has 5700 feet of climbing.  Today was 100 miles with 5700 feet of climbing.  After doing 18 miles yesterday, I felt really good after today's ride.

I'll do a little recovery week this week to recovery from this weekend, then start my taper to CDA.  Still a little work to do, but at this point, it's down hill from here to Race Day.  I'll check back in as the race nears.

Ironman 70.3 Texas Recap - 9 weeks to go

4/26 was Ironman 70.3 Texas in Galveston.  This is a good race to see where my fitness is, practice my nutrition and just get some racing in before Ironman Coeur d'Alene in June.  

The week before, I reduced training volume to taper down into the race.  I've been tracking my fitness using a software called Training Peaks.  Essentially, it measures your Form.  Form = Fitness and Freshness.  Essentially, during taper, I want a specific measurement called TSB (training stress balance) to be close to 0 or above.  My graph is below, and after taper and on race day, my TSB was +8.  This said I should be in good Form for racing.  Here is my training graph since early January.  A lot too it, but basically tracking the yellow line to be at or above 0.  

I got to Galveston Saturday afternoon to do packet pickup and check in my bike.  The weather was stormy, but the temperatures were cool.  The forecast for Sunday was cloudy so the weather seemed to be working out for racing.  The line for checkin at Ironman Village (vendors, checkin, etc) was massive......luckily, last year I was awarded All World Athlete from Ironman corp for the races I did last year, and b/c of that I was able to bypass the line and go to the special AWA desk for checkin.  The perks of racing a lot.  My friend from college, Andy Yandell, who started racing tris last year was there to race.  I ran into him at IM Texas last year. After bike checkin, he invited me to his rented beach house for pre-race dinner.  That was nice......chatted about triathlon and had some dinner w/ he and his wife.  Got to the hotel around 7:00, organized my race gear, and went to bed.

Woke up at 4:00, had a bagel with peanut butter and coconut oil.  Wanted to get about 300 - 400 calories in me.  Headed over to the Transition to get my area set up.  Heard over the PA that the swim would not be wetsuit legal.  Meaning, the water was above 76 degrees so no one could wear a wetsuit.  That bummed me out b/c had I known (assumed water would be colder than 76 based on time of year) I would have brought my swim skin (special suit for non-wetsuit swims).  Oh well.  After getting everything setup, I headed down to the swim start.  I went off at 7:28am

SWIM: I usually get out front.  Would rather people swim over me than have to navigate through slower swimmers.  I go hard for the first probably 200 meters, then settle in.  Try to stay on the outside where there’s more open water, then taper into a more streamline route to the buoys once the crowd starts to disperse.  So that was I did in Galveston.  Worked well I think.  Was pretty much open water up until the first buoy where started hitting earlier waves.  From there on, it was open water, swimmers, open water, swimmers.  The swimmers though were not so much clumped up that they were easy to navigate through.  I was faster in than last year and last year was in a wetsuit.  So I think some gain there for sure. 

BIKE: Out of T1 (transition area....1 being first transition; swim to bike) We had to navigate through the Moody Gardens resort to the Shoreline highway that hugs the coast.  This year would be the first time to race with a Power Meter.  Once we got on the highway, I wanted to go off of power first and then see how that felt.  It felt like we were in a headwind, but the speed that I was going kind of offset what I was feeling.  Tried to keep it in a certain range, based on training, knowing that on the second half I’d try to hit the upper limit of that range.  The low end felt like the spot, and actually correlated to what I think I would have done w/out the PM.  Legs felt great all the way to the halfway point.  At the turn around, again felt like we were in another headwind.  Was thinking the opposite of last year had happened.  Headwind vs. tailwind in both directions.  But it wasn’t a strong wind.  Stuck to the plan to up the power.  The second half of the ride was a little more challenging to keep at a steady power.  Started grouping up with similar strength bikers, and we sort had a game of leap frog going.   But it was nice b/c it was nice to pace off of.  Even though we're competitors, triathletes sometimes help each other by taking turns pacing. But at some point, you have to separate yourself b/c after all, we are competitors.  I was pushing a little more power b/c passing in Triathlons, you can’t pass one and settle in between riders b/c you'll end up drafting (5 min penalty if caught).  You have to pass a line of cyclist grouped together so it took some power to get up the front.  Would have been nice for everyone to lay off to make the pass easier but no one was slowing down.  With about 8 miles left, I increased my power a little more to the top end of the my set power range and separated from the group.   Legs were getting tired, but knew I would still be able to get a good run in so I wasn’t worried.   

NUTRITION ON THE BIKE: I took in 3 bottles of Gatorade, and 3 GUs.  I start with store bought gatorade on my bike (store bought so I don't use my own bottles and can throw out at first aid station), then throw out and replace with aid station Gatorade.  Very quick....don't even stop....just grab from the volunteer as I pass through the aid station.   In 70.3, I’ll stick with the GU.  Just tape to my top bar (little packets of syrup like gel that loaded w/ about 100 calories).  In IM, I go w/ a product called EFS in a water bottle b/c of the volume needed (don’t want to carry 8-10 GUs).  Both products work for me so even though I hadn’t been training with GU, I knew it would work (past race experience).   However, I forgot my container w/ my Salt Lick tablets (sodium) so I was a little worried about possible cramping on the run.  Past experience, if I don’t consume salt lick (1 an hour), I’ll cramp.  Was a little worried about that.  But I knew Gatorade Endurance had probably enough Sodium in there to keep me good.  Cramping is usually an issue in Olympic distance tri (~35 miles) b/c of the higher intensity. 

RUN: Came out of T2 feeling good.  Actually grabbed my salt stick tabs and put them in my tri top pocket.  Took 1 immediately, and then 2 more throughout the run.  Just wanted to run the first few miles easy then evaluate where I was.  Looked down at my watch and noticed 7:12 min mile pace.  Tried to slow it down and kept noticing 7:20, 7:30 paces.  Finally was able to setting into a slower relaxed pace.  I wanted to run the second half of the 13.1 run faster than the first.  This would insure that I wouldn't crack on the run.  I tried to stay at a pace that would allow me to push it a little faster for the last lap, or at least the last few miles.  This was a 3 loop run course......after about a 1 mile into the final lap, I started the charge.  It felt ok, but I wasn’t watching my pace anymore but more my heart rate.  At about 2 miles to go,  I started to reach for everything I had.  I had come to the last aid station which was about a mile to go.  I skipped it b/c anything I took in there would have no affect w/ a mile left.  At that point I was digging deep b/c I knew I would break 5, but wanted to beat my last year’s time.  I definitely left it all out there.  Had nothing left at the end, and I beat last year's time, and my 70.3 PR set then by 11 mins.  Finishing in 4:46, 20th out of 332 40-44 age groupers, and 143 out of 2400 total racers.  Good numbers.

End of week 11- 17 weeks to go

This was the second week into the Base 3 phase.  With a little more higher intensity training.  I have one more week in this phase, a recovery week, and then I'll move into the Build phase.  That will lead me into The Texas 70.3 Half Ironman on 4/26.  Weather is was pretty cold this week.......did a run Tuesday morning in 30 degree weather.  Was cold at first, but actually got a good sweat going.....did a 6 mile Tempo run (Half Marathon Pace).  Saturday morning's run was also cold....that was an 8 miler, with middle 4 miles being at Half Marathon pace.  Was too cold on Sunday to ride so I did a 2 hour trainer session which consisted of 2 x 15 mins at my Functional Threshold Power, and then 40 minutes at Ironman pace.  The rest of the time was warmup, cooldown, and some recovery between the 15 minutes sets.  Also on Thursday did a little run hill work, but this next week I'll kick that up to be some intense hill running.

Weekly Totals:

Mon - AM 2734 yard SWIM          PM - 2 mile recovery RUN, Lifting legs/core
Tues - AM 6.4 mile tempo RUN    PM - 1 hour bike trainer - 35 min at Half Ironman power
Wed - AM 2515 yard SWIM          PM - 1.5 hour bike trainer - 2x15 min FTP, 40 min Half IM power
Thur - AM sleep in                         PM - 5 mile hill RUN
Fri - AM 3390 yard SWIM             PM - 3 mile recovery RUN, Lift/Triceps
Sat - AM 8 mile RUN
Sun - AM 2 hour bike trainer

SWIM - 8650 yards
BIKE - 4.25 hours
RUN - 24.4 miles

Total Training Time - 12 hr, 49 min

End of week 10 - 18 weeks to go

Now in lifting/strength maintenance so volume and duration kicking up in the swimming, biking, and running.  Getting race specific in training for Texas 70.3 Half Ironman.  I had a hard interval cycle on the trainer on Wednesday for 1.5 hours.  Hitting a Zone 3 (half ironman pace) for 45 mins, and then a 10 min Zone 4 (burning legs).  I had to modify my weekend workout b/c this weekend was all about hitting Texas wine country on Sunday.  So I did my long run on Thursday.....8 miles.  Saturday was a BRICK workout (combining a swim/bike, or bike/run workout) with and a 50 mile, hilly cycle + a short 2 mile run.  Sunday I took off.

WEEKLY TOTALS:

Mon - AM 2843 yards SWIM                          PM - 2 mile recovery RUN, Lifting
Tues - AM 6.5 mile RUN                                 PM - 1 hour BIKE on Trainer
Wed - AM 2515 yard SWIM                            PM - 1.5 hour BIKE on Trainer
Thur - AM sleep in                                           PM - 8 mile RUN
Fri -    AM 3281 yard SWIM                           PM - 2 mile recovery run, Lifting
Sat -   AM  50 mile BIKE, 2 mile run

SWIM = 8640 yards
BIKE = 5:39 hours including 50 mile ride
RUN = 20.5 miles

End of week 9 - 19 weeks to go

This week was a Recovery week before starting my base 3 phase.   This is where strength training (lifting) will go into maintenance mode and the weekday workouts will get higher in intensity and the weekend run and rides get longer in distance.  This week was, however, time to retest my Power on the bike (every 4 weeks).  So Tuesday morning at 5:30, I did a 40 min warmup on the trainer, then went into a 20 min, all out effort.  A pace that I can hold for 20 mins, but after 20 mins I'm crying......to simply put it.  My power numbers increased by 10 watts.  Not bad.  This will readjust my Power zones that I'll train on the bike.

Weekly Totals:

Mon - AM Swim 2187 yards                  PM - 2.3 mile warmup run, legs/lats/abs lifing
Tues - AM Bike Power Test - 1 hr          PM - 3 mile recovery run
Wed - AM - sleep in                                PM - 47 min Trainer ride - easy
Thur - AM 5.3 mile run                           PM - Off - Company Meeting
Fri - AM - Swim 2297 yards                    PM - 3.3 mile recovery run, no lifing (bday dinner)
Sat - AM - 8.04 mile run
Sun - AM - 50 mile ride

SWIM - 4484 yards
BIKE - 4:47 hours, 50 mile on Sunday
RUN - 22 miles

End of week 8 - 20 weeks to go

After a 8 weeks of base training, it was time to do another Lactate Threshold test on the run.  Basically, retesting what my LTHR is to reset my running zones.  I did this on Wednesday, and consist of a 15 minute warmup (light jog), then starting a 30 minute, all out run.  At 10 mins into the 30 minutes, hit the lap button on the watch.  It takes about 10 minutes to get the heart rate up.  So now, the next 20 mins we'll take the average heart rate which will be my LTHR.  My LTHR turned out to be 166 bpm (beats per minute), and average pace of 7:17 minute mile

The weekly workouts were about the same intensity and volume except with a little heavier mid week bike workout.  Working a little more Zone 3 power.  Zone 2 is Ironman pace.  Zone 3 is a little higher aerobic, and getting into Zone 4 and 5 gets to be anaerobic.....a pace you can only hold for a short time (like Sprinting).  The weekend was nice weather and got a good 9 mile run Saturday and 48 mile ride on Sunday......but very hilly.  (map below).

Weekly Totals:

Mon - AM Swim 2625 yards                 PM - 2 mile recovery run, Power and Core lifting
Tues - AM Run 5.2 miles                      PM - Bike 1 hour trainer
Wed - AM Swim 2570 yards                 PM - Bike 45 min trainer
Thur - sleep in                                        PM - LTHR Run Test - 5.9 miles
Fri -  AM Swim 2953 yards                   PM - 2 mile recoveryrun, legs and lat lifting
Sat - AM 9 mile run
Sun - AM 49 mile bike

SWIM - 8147 yards
BIKE - 4:48 hours, 49 miles on Sunday
RUN - 24.3 miles

End of week 7 - 21 weeks to go

This week started a little slow.  I missed my Monday swim.  Just couldn't make it out of bed.  So I did my swim Monday evening and missed my Monday lifting all together.  Just one of those days.  Really starting to watch my diet these days.  With the volume now getting higher, my appetite is non-stop.  I'll detail my typical day's diet below.  I signed up this week for the Texas 70.3 Half Ironman on 4/26, so even though my A race is Coeur D'alene, I'll now be focusing on that for the short term.  I will concentrate on workouts that will get me to the best shape possible for that race.  It's a good prep race for CDA.  From there I'll have about 2 months to train for CDA.

Some changes this week were some added hill work on Thursdays run, and a hillier long run on Saturday.  Sundays ride was a little less hillier as I went up Palmer Lane/Ronald Reagan hwy to give my legs some rest.  I hit them hard on leg press on Friday, so that and the hills on Saturday's run they were a little tired.

A typical week's diet:

• 5:45 Pre-workout - 1 scoop of Whey Protein
• 7:45 Breakfast - 9 egg whites, 1 egg with Salsa.  Fish oil pill. On Thursday when I typically sleep in, I'll have some kind of cereal with Almond Milk.
• 10ish - either a Banana or some kind of nut (pistachio, almond, cashews)
• 11 - lunch.....something like PJs Organic Skinny chicken burrito, steak/shrimp/chicken stir fry, buffalo spaghetti.  Usually follow that up with a Fiber One bar for the sweet tooth.  
• 2ish - slice of wheat bread w/ Turkey, low fat mayo, handful of Granola and Raisins
• 4:00 - slice of wheat bread w/ Nutella (again, sweet tooth).
• 4:30/5:00 Pre-Workout - 1 scoop of Whey Protein
• 6:30/7:00 Post-Workout - 2 scoop of Whey Protein, 16 oz Gatorade
• 7:30/8:00 Dinner - something with fish, chicken, or steak...... quinoa/brown rice and/or vegetables.
• 8:30 after Dinner - Greek Yogurt with Blueberrys.  Maybe a spoonful of Nutella
• 9:30 Bedtime - 1 scoop of Casein Protein, fish oil pill

This weeks workouts:

Mon - AM slept in                                 PM Swim 2843 yards

Tues - AM Bike 45 min Trainer            PM Run 5.3 miles

Wed - AM Swim 2406 yards                 PM Bike 1 hour Trainer

Thur - AM slept in                                 PM Run 4.53 miles w/ Hill repeats

Fri -    AM Swim 2843 yards                 PM Recovery run 2 miles, lift legs/lats/core

Sat -   AM Run 8.5 miles              

Sun -  AM Bike 42.9 miles

SWIM = 8093 yards

BIKE = 4:13 hours, 42.9 miles ridden outside

RUN = 20.3 miles 

Sunday's Ride:

End of week 6 - 22 weeks to go

This was the start of the base 2 where I'll starting increasing the volume and also incorporate more plyometric exercises that work more of the core.  I'm also starting to now track my diet and calories as I want to begin getting down to a race weight.  Right now I am 150 lbs and want to be racing at 145.  Nothing major to report this week. Was able to get out and do my long run and ride again outside with the nice weather.  Below is my route for the ride.....around 35 miles.  Still very low to what I will be putting in in a couple of months.

Weekly Totals:

Mon - AM Swim 2843 yards           PM - Lift - Plyometric exercises
Tues - AM 5.27 mile run                 PM - Bike Trainer 45 mins intervals
Wed - AM Swim 2570 yards           PM - Bike Trainer 1 hour intervals
Thur - AM Sleep in                          PM - Run 5 miles
Fri -    AM Swim 2843 yards           PM - Lift - Legs, Abs
Sat -    AM Run 8.11 miles              PM - Lift - Chest, Lats
Sun -   AM Bike 36 miles

SWIM = 8257 yards
BIKE = 4 hours, 36 miles on Saturday
RUN = 23 miles

End of Week 5 - 23 weeks to go

This week was a Recovery Week.  Those occur usually every 4 weeks.  Frequency of workouts remain the same, but the volume is reduced.  The saying is, "You don't get stronger or faster during the workouts, you get stronger and faster in Recovery".  You do a lot of physical damage to your body that it needs time to heal and adapt.  Even though the first 4 weeks were light, it's good to get a Recovery week for mental rest and to keep the routine of 4 weeks on, 1 week Recovery.  This next week will start the Base Phase 2 part of training.  After Base 2, we'll start to get a lot higher intensity, volume, and duration as we head into the Build period leading into the race.  I'll be racing IM Texas on 4/26, and CapTexTri here in Austin on 5/25 so racing begins in 3.5 months.

This week I did miss a cycle workout on Wednesday b/c I had coworker friends from Dallas in town and met them for dinner.  Whenever a workout is missed, it's missed.  There's no making it up.  It is what it is.  Was able to get my weekend run and ride done outside which was nice.  It was the first time I have ridden with my new Power Meter so it was interesting to see power numbers out on the road.  Since it was a recovery week, I wanted to keep my ride in zone 2 (very aerobic)......that's zone 2 on the flats, on this hills, into the wind. Keep it constant.  The first thing I noticed was on the hills and wind where I would normally increase the power to get up the hill or to battle the wind, today I kept it in zone 2.  I felt less tired at the end of my ride.  This is going to be such a great asset in my IM bike.

This week's numbers:

Mon - AM - Swim 3281 yards              PM - 1 mile run warmup, legs/lats/abs lifting
Tues - AM - Bike Trainer 45 mins        PM - 4.33 mile run
Wed - AM - Swim 2242 yards              PM - (dinner with friends)
Thur - AM - Sleep in                             PM - 4 mile run, Lift - Chest
Frid -  AM - Swim 2953 yards              PM - 1 mile run warmup, legs/lats/abs lifting
Sat -   AM - 6.45 easy run
Sun -  AM - Bike 32 miles                    PM - Tris lifting

Weekly Totals for Recovery week:

SWIM = 8476 yards
BIKE = 2:37 hours, 32 miles on Sunday ride
RUN = 16.9 miles

End of Week 4 - 24 weeks to go

Major accomplishment this week was performing an FTP (Functional Threshold Power) test on the bike.  New this year to me is training and racing with Power Meter on my bike.  The PM measures the force you apply to the peddles.  When you know your FTP (the power you can put out for an hour), then you can use that power metric to determine power zones to train in, and ultimately race in.  The goal, knowing the Power range that I will race in that will give me the maximum output and bike time that will give me my best marathon.  This is so much better than using HR or using perceived effort Power is just that, Power....no matter the terrain, the conditions, etc.  HR and perceived effort has so many factors.  If say I determine that my power in the Ironman is 215, then whether I'm on a flat road, going up a hill, or into the wind, if I maintain power at 215, then I'm good

The FTP test is warming up for around 45 mins, then going all out for 30 minutes.  The average power number is my FTP.  And now I have my power zones 1 - 5 that I'll do different workouts in.  This week's volume was still pretty light, and I missed a run due to hardwoods being installed and had to miss a run to get everything back into place after they were done. This next week will be a slight recovery week (every 4 weeks), then the volume will start to increase.  This week's numbers:

Mon = AM Swim 2734 yards,  PM Run 2 miles, 45 mins of legs/lats/abs lifting
Tue =  AM Bike Trainer, PM Run 5 miles
Wed = AM Swim 2242 yards
Thur = PM Bike FTP Test, 1:21 hours
Fri = AM Swim 2953 yards, PM 1 mile warmup run, 1 hour legs/lats/abs lifting
Sat = AM Run 6.5 miles
Sun = AM Bike Trainer 2 hours

SWIM = 7929 yards
BIKE = 4:06 hours (no outside miles, cold)
RUN = 14.5 miles (missed a run)

End of Week 3 - 25 weeks to go

This week was NYE week.  The schedule is still a little non-routine with the holiday week, but  managed to stick to the training schedule for this week.  NYE was low key so was able to get my NY day workouts vs the normal NY day of needing to recover.  Finally got over a nasty cold and should be picking up the training volume in the next coming weeks.  Also, I finally was able to get an outdoor long ride on Saturday.  Riding a bike on an indoor trainer is great for short, high intense workouts (~1 hour), but horrible for long, steady pace rides like weekend long rides.  I hate the cold so usually won't ride if it's below 50 degrees outside.

This weeks total volumes were:

Mon - AM Swim 2000 meters,      PM 1.64 mile warm up with leg/lat lifting
Tues - AM Bike Trainer 45 mins, PM Run
Wed - AM Swim 2500 meters,     PM Bike Trainer 1 hour
Thur -                                            PM Run 4.35 miles
Fri - AM Swim 1900 meters,        PM 1.03 mile warmup with leg lifting
Sat - Long Bike 36 miles (2200 feet climbing)
Sun - Long Run 8.13 miles

Swim = 7000 yards
Bike = 3:52 hours (not tracking mileage yet)
Run = 20.1 miles

Total 12 hours training.

End of Week 2 - 26 weeks to go

Ending the second and finally getting over a severe cold but luckily never ran a fever.  Workouts were hard b/c I felt drained since Christmas Eve.  Took Christmas day off, and finally felt better today.  Now the holidays are over, real start focusing on cleaning up my diet......ate great, but terrible in a good way.

Ended the week with a 2 hour cycle trainer ride on Saturday AM, weights Saturday PM, and a 6.5 mile run today.  Wanted to hit the gym/weights again tonight, but still drained from this cold.  Hopefully start this next week feeling 100%.

The Monring after Xmas

Christmas was a good day to take a rest day.  I had a run planned, but w/ early morning wakeup, big meal in the afternoon, some wine, and this nasty allergy or cold that's hit me, decided to just enjoy a day off.  Back at it today although still feeling a little "off".  Will do a swim this morning, but taking the day off of work so there was no need to get up early.....was nice to sleep in.

I'll start posting these on a weekly basis (Sundays)......essentially, a recap of the weeks event around the training.

Day Before Xmas Eve

Yesterday was a swim test to gather data that will be used to set my intervals for upcoming swim workouts.  After a couple of months, I'll do the test again and see what my improvements are.  The test consisted of a warmup, then an all our 400 meter swim, fully recover, and then a full out 200 meter.  The 400 was done in 7:23, and the 200 done in 3:09.  That was done in the Morning, and then I did some strength training in the afternoon (warm up run, legs, and lats).

Today was an early morning cycle for about 45 minutes just concentrating on a high cadence.  Working on an efficient pedal stroke.  This afternoon was a short interval run of a 15 min warm up, 1 mile @ half marathon pace, two 800 meter @ 10k pace, and two 400 meter @ 5k pace.  All w/ about 2 min jog in between.

Actually starting to feel like I'm coming down with something.  Could be that I'm starting to get dehydrated.  Once training starts, I have to consciously increase my hydration during the day.  We'll see how I feel tomorrow.  It's xmas eve, so might be a good day to take off :) 

1st Weekend

This weekend consisted of an aerobic threshold run test on Saturday.  Basically after a warmup, I ran 3 miles holding a certain HR to set a baseline for later workouts.  I was able to manage a 160 HR for 3 miles at 8:00 min miles.  I'll do another test later in training to see how my aerobic base is coming along.  Today, Sunday, I did a 2 hr 15 min cycle trainer workout.  Also, did a weight workout this evening (bis and tris).  Sat in the sauna to get some blood flowing to the tired muscles.  This is the end of the first week.  It's very easy load right now.....concentrating in developing an aerobic base and building leg strength in the gym.

It's the holidays so it's hard not to be gaining weight.  But I have a long way to go, so I'm going to indulge this coming week.  Plenty of time to work it off :)  Tomorrow is a big swim test.......determining a baseline for swim fitness that upcoming swim workouts will be based on.

Friday 12/19

Still getting use to early morning wakeups.  After going into offseason mode in mid October, I have been sleeping in.  One of the mental breaks I can take.  But now it's time to get back to getting up early and getting the workout in.  Usually the AM workouts are a necessity but my current client is 3 miles from my gym so I have the luxury of working out at lunch if need to.  But I don't want to start relying on that b/c anything can come up at work and I could miss the workout.  So it's best to get it done first thing in the morning......b/c I usually have a PM workout as well.  Fridays will usually consist of an AM swim w/ strength training in the PM......and is usually a recovery day.  These will become crucial in later part of the training when intensity during the week increases.  Today consisted of:

2700 meter swim in the AM
1.5 mile warmup and some leg and lat strength training.

Thursday 12/18

Today was a little recovery day after the strength session on the legs yesterday.  Just 1 workout today.....a 6 mile recovery run done in zone 2 (easy enough that you could hold a conversation w/ someone).  Even w/ just 3 days into Training, I can already tell how I'm going to need to up my calorie intake to sustain training.  And this is low intensity.  Later in training, I'll detail a days nutrition.

Cycle / Strength Day

Woke up at 5:30am for a 1:10 cycle trainer workout.  During this base period, will focus on developing aerobic endurance.  The cycle workout was done in an aerobic heart rate Zone 3.  Trainer workouts are typically hard to do b/c its no better than running on a treadmill (boring), but I'm watching Dexter on Netflix.  Once these workouts get into more intense heart rate zones, it'll be hard to watch TV.  Then it'll turn to itunes for some heart pumping workout music.

Then after work I did a 1.5 mile warm up on the treadmill, and then hit some leg, lat, and abs strength training at the gym.  Feels good to be back focused on a race.  The goal of this first week is just get back into my training routine.  My cycling pain cave below:

Day 1

12/16 - Today marks the first day of training for IM CDA.  After a nice weekend trip to Vail to cap off my off-season that started late October that consisted of light workouts, nothing structured, and gaining a few pounds, it's time to get to work for IM CDA on June 27, 2015.  Today's workout consisted of a 3.5 mile run with hill repeats in the AM, a 1800 meter swim at lunch, and a 50 minute cycle on an indoor trainer.   The updates will be on a weekly basis, but wanted to get an entry in to mark the start of the Journey.