Thursday - June 29

Good news. I will be getting my trail 70 in pretty soon. The guy finally shipped it. Better late than never.

Physical Therapist: Went to see him and liked him. He thinks he can get me running again in 3 weeks. I will see him again today. He has me stretching and doing some stuff I have never done before. I went to see him about my heel and he found a problem with my calf!!!

Yesterday I took off. I slept in.

Monday - swam and weights.

17 weeks till Ironman

Today I seek the advice of a foot specialist. Planter is healing up and I want the advice on how to best proceed.

Biking is coming along nicely. Friday I biked 75 in searing 100 degree heat. I was miserable after about mile 50-60. Sat was a rest day. Sunday did 75 miles. I can feel myself getting stronger. I am still getting butt and back in shape. Mph avg for fri was below 18. mph on sun was over 18 and sun was a lot windier.

My swimming is going along OK. I will return to my normal routine today minus the running. I hope to get in my afternoon bike workouts. If all goes OK this week, I should have 60 during the week + 160 in the latter part of the week + spinning. This my friends is a lot of biking for me. I cannot help but get better.

Week 18 day 1

Swam at least 3000 yds yesterday. My allergies did not appear, so that scare went away. I did my leg weight workout, my cool dip and did some minor stretching.

I continue to investigate on the web about bicycle gearing. I am studying the inclines on the hawaii bike course. I will hopefully solve this puzzle over the next couple of weeks.

Dave Scott's triathlon camp recomends: As regards gearing, we recommend that you have a minimum of a 23 - 25 gear on the rear. In addition, if you are looking for more gear rations, we also recommend using a compact crank on the front to get better gear ratios so you can spin up the rolling climbs in case there is a lot of wind.

I don't want to add a triple, so I think the recommendation will work for me.

Today, I hope to add running back into the mix.

Beginning week 18 training

My wifes trips are out of the way. We finished the Jeff Gordon driving school.

This is a assesment week for me.

1> Find out about swim alergies.

2> Test my running injury.

3> Start back at full weight training.

4> Continue the incremental milage on the biking.

Accept no more excuses.

Today: swim, weights, stretching, cool dip.
Tuesday: Spin, run 6 miles, stretching, cool dip, ride outdoors 30 mi.
Wed: swim, weights, stretching, cool dip.
Thur: Spin, run 6 miles, stretching, cool dip, ride outdoors 30 mi.
Friday: ride outdoors 75 mi.
Sat: offday
Sunday: assess my running and maybe try out a 13 miler.

Week 19 is coming to a close

My training is so unstructured compared to my last IM. For instance, I am heading to Dallas for a long weekend. I would have never done thaat last time. I will get my long ride (70 mi) in today. I am still recovering from my allergy attack. I skipped swimming all last week. I am still hoping that when I get in the pool Monday that I don't have another attack. I didn't do any weights last week. I will start that up again. And my running has been shut down for a full two weeks. Nothing but riding!!!! Hopefully I will be back to all four next week and for the remaining 18 weeks.
I will be in Dallas for the weekend watching my wife go round and round a track in a NASCAR race car. I hope she likes it.

Training for IM is a humbeling experiance

Training for an IM is a humbeling eperiance. Just when things are clicking, things happen that bring you to your knees. My 17 mile run a week ago introduced me to plantar fasciitis.

The pain was bad, I have been icing and stretching it and I stopped running for a week. I decided to give it a two week rest.

Since I suck on the bike, I have put in the extra time biking that I would ordinarily be running. Over the past week: 25 miler Tuesday, 30 miler Thursday, 60 miler Friday and 65 miler Sunday. This equals 180 miles. A lot for me. I also spent some time spinning at the gym.

I am nervous this morning as I am recovering from a bad alergy. I was sick all weekend, but I still managed my bike ride. I experianced this allergy from the pool before. It was the indoor pool, and I switched to the outdoor pool and magically I could swim again. I hope that I am not allergic to the outdoor pool. This would kill my chances for Hawaii.

Today is my swim workout/weight workout day. I am skipping both. I don't dare try the pool till I am better (hopefully today). My weights would not be very beneficial, because I feel weak.

I have 19 weeks left till IM Hawaii. I will not panic about my running injury till 16 weeks away.

My swimming, I will not panic till Wednesday, when I swim again.

Good news! I solved my long biking problems by buying a more comfortable saddle.

IM Training just humbles me.

Week 19 is a test

Sunday - did my long run. 17 miles. Miles 1 & 2 are not fun, then I settle down and evrything is good until about 14 and things begin to hurt. Man I do not like running far. Woke up Monday and I have that Planter disease. I am none too happy. Took the brown pills, iced her down and my feet feel great today. I don't think I will run on it today. I will spin for two hours this morning and soak it in the cool dip. Then i will ride tonight. I hope I can win this battle. Yesterday swam and went up on my weights by 50%.

Saturday - rest day

I ended up getting in my extra ride on Tuesday, but I missed my Thursday ride. I was supposed to ride longer on my long ride, but I messed that up also. Overall, I didn't meet all of my weekly goals, but I am not far off track. I just purchased a newer more comfortable saddl, and hopefully that will help my long rides.

Weekly total.
M - travelling from Nascar
T - 1 hour run interval - 1 hour spin - 1.5 hours bike
W - 1.5 hrs swim - .5 hurs weights.
T - 2 miles run, 1 hour swim
F - 1.5 hrs swim - .5 hours weights - 3 hour bike ride.
S - off day - visit with my wife and grandson.

10.5 hours not including the long run will make on Sunday.