turning up the heat

i am feeling really fit, even though i haven't worked out for three days straight. My weight has been below 160 for a couple of weeks. I am starting to also turn up the heat. No more messing around.

I am going to seriously work with weights for the next six weeks.

Yesterday did 3 work outs speed workout running, spin class, and when got home did 20 miles on the bike. My eating had been good , but I went out of town and kind of lost control. A minor blip. But I am back and healthy eating will resume. Nothing but clear sky in front of me.

A minor problem though, I am nursing a sore ankle after yesterdays speed workout. I am skipping the Ibiprofin until I really need it.

Into training week 20

Eliminating distractions.

First Gulf Coast tri
Second Orlando half IM
Third - Charlotte 600 Nascar race

Now time to get to work. My wife has ideas to mess up my training, but I have other ideas.

Today: Get back on track. Run at least 6 miles this morning, do a spin class. Tonight after work. Ride my bike. Any milage, any intensity, just get some time in. After I get in the routine, I hopefully will ride after work at least 2 times a week. This is my plan and hopefully it will work out.

Training week 22

Training week 22 is not going according to plan. I keep succumbing to outside pressures for my training time. I am still a long way out from Hawaii, so I am not overly concerned. I am learning how to balance my marrige with my training.

Valuable lesson learned to keep in mind: I raced last weekend and did better than my anticipated time. But if somehow, I could have raced faster (I know I could have easily squeezed out better times) it would not have made any difference in my life. I think that I am finally defining my goal: My goal is to finish. Time is losing priority for me. I think that I realize that it is still going to take considerable work and painful workouts just to finish.

More to come.

Race Report

Did (2) races in (2) weekends.

Gulf Coast Tri 1/2 IM - I intentially dropped out after running a couple of miles.
Florida IM 70.3 - I finished pretty good.

I am happy with my results. I did good OA. I did great in swimming. I did pretty good on the run and I sucked in the bike. I have really identified my weekness. I will spend some time thinking and reading and develop a plan to fix my bike split. I will study race results and find where I want to be and set a goal on how to get there. OA I think things are prgressing well.

One problem that I need to work on is time. I need to squeeze more time from my day.

EZ workout week

Monday - swam easy - normal intensity weights
Tuesday - spin class at easy pace and 2 mile run
Wed - more weights, some elliptical training and stretching
Thur - job gets in the way of training - plan to run 7 miles
Fri - Plan to swim, run couple miles
Sat - full day travel to Orlando. Check bike, etc.
Sun (next weeks schedule) - race 1/2 IM
Mon - full day travel.

My weight has been consistently in the high 150's. The long runs have been somewhat tough for me, but they always are. I am feeling no pain presently and am healthy. I look forward to one more easy week and then I will really heat up the training.

My longest bike is 56 miles so far and it hasn't been fun on the end of the rides, but then again it never has been before. I plan on putting in more saddle time and extending out the bike ride duration.

We will see.

Immediate goal: Get to Orlando - do the race.

After Orlando - commence with serious traing.......

Upcoming week - week 23

This should be a full week of training even though I have the race. This race is not for time. This race is for completion. I will carry an xtra tire. I have to finish this race or I can't go to hawaii. No pushing. It will be hot in Orlando. The only thing different is that I will not get my long run in. Hopefully if I don't push, I won't have too much recovery time next week. This weeks swim should be rather mild compared to swimming in the Gulf.

Last weeks training - week 24

Last week was supposed to be light since I had Gulf Coast 1/2 IM. I ended up running the longest lr in a year 16 mi. Gives me a 36 mi. total (run). I had a pretty good swim and a great bike split for the shape that I am currently in. This race was a tuneup for next weeks 1/2 IM. I learned some things and worked some kinks out. I learned that I am not used to riding 56 miles in my speedo. My ass was really sore. I will study the race stats and retrieve some stats.

Last weeks training - week 25

Last weeks assesment. Swam with the masters 3 days. I did 3 weight workouts. I did 2 spinning classes. Ran 13 miles total after the spin classes. I ran 15 miles long. I rode 50 miles 2 days for a total of 100 miles. I avg 17.7 mph. I put the speedo on my bike last week and rode with the heart rate monitor. 2 weeknesses that became obvious to me after I put on the heart rate monitor: Ass and Strength. When I build my effort up to 75% HR, my ass starts getting sore. SOLUTION: More time on the bike!!! Simple. Finding the time: Difficult!!!! Will ponder this one. STRENGTH: Getting ready to address this one in the gym. I need to start moving to longer distances on the bike.

I think that it is time to start 2 work outs a day. Wife won't be happy, but....

I will ponder the time management over the next two weeks, and hopefully have my proposed solutions ready in two weeks after these two races are over. It will be 22 weeks away from IMH and I can start really focusing.

24 weeeks to go.....

Gulf Coast this week! Oh yeah.... I am planning to DNF the Gulf Coast. My legs are fragile + I want to still do work outs the following week. If I do the full distance, my legs will be way too sore to work out the following week. Plus I might get an injury since I am not really where I want to be to race a half. So I will take the safer route. I plan on doing the swim and the bike + running perhaps two miles. This morning I plan on swimming distance with the wet suit. I am trying to get rid of the kinks I had last year for the swim. I felt claustrophobic. I got run over; it was a mess. I am better trained this year, since I have been swimming with a masters swim team.

Cost of IMHawaii so far

I am spending $100 here, $100 there and it is adding up fast. I ordered some new wheels last night so that I can retire those old Spinergy Rev X's. I bought some el cheapos after I read a couple of articles about fast wheels. Race wheels really won't help me at thee level that I am presently riding. More time on the bike will help me the most. I never did really feel safe riding those cool looking wheels. I bought a new transition bag. I am kind of tired lugging around an old bucket in the transition with all the stuff you need t lug. I really only need to replace a few more items and also need to work on a shipping box. But those items can wait. I will spend more this week. I have gas, lodging for the Gulf Coast tri. Then next week I have th Orlando race. Money flowing in and flowing back out......