Monday, May 28, 2007

BIGGEST WEEK EVER

Well this was a very tough week. I say tough beacuse the volume was huge for me but I actually feel really good. Totals for the week swim 3.3 miles, bike 202 miles, run 30 miles. Thursday was a huge breakthrough day for me a did a 7 1/2 hr brick. For those of you that don't know what a brick is, it's a workout with multiple parts. ie: swim then bike or bike then run. So what I did was a 100 mile bike ride, which by the way is a long way, then ran for an hour. The ride was pretty tough too I had 7200 feet of elevation. The Ironman course only has ~6300 ft. So it was a little tougher than the race course. I still don't have my nutrition dialed in though,but it's getting better. I need about 500 kcals/hr on the bike and at least that much if not more on the run. This ride I had about 900 kcals total for the whole brick. But I really am getting better. Last week When Jayne and I did our mock half IM I only had about 900 for the whole day. The brick was longer from a time standpoint but the mock half had twice the running, and a 1.2 mile swim.
We have 1 more hard week then we begin our taper. I'm taking the taper very seriously, I think my old ass will benefit greatly. The nerves have started as well. when I start thinking about race day the old stomach starts getting all queasy. But all in all I think I'm ready.....ready or not here it comes. My time goals have wained a little 12 hrs would require everthing to go perfectly for me 13 is a safer bet but I'm not ruling out 14. Hell I just want to finish it on my feet.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

BEEN BUSY

Well it's been a long time since my last post. That's because I've working my ass off trying to get ready for Ironman. I have been train 12-20 hours a week for the past 3 months. With 6 weeks until d-day I'm getting nervous. The other day I was figuring out my training plan for the last 3 weeks prior to the race. When I was entering the worouts for the last week, race week, I thought i was going to throw up. This has most definitly been a test of my self discipline. It's real easy to come up with 4-5 good reasons to skip a workout. And I do admit to change a few mainly cutting some of the long bricks down, do to weather or feeling very tired. But for the most part I've been doing it all. Last week I road my bike 148 miles, ran 27 miles and swam 3.5 miles. This week is a recovery week. Which I kind of need but I really don't feel that tired. Jayne has been doing great as well, She is a little tired though. I'm real proud of her, and she is very proud of herself. A couple of weeks ago she and Janine road the whole Ironman course, all 112 miles, then ran for 30 min. That made for about an 8 hr 15 min day...
Starting next week we begin our last build before we start to taper for the race. Jayne just took her bike in for it's final check up and change out her rear cassette to give her an extra low end gear for all of the hills, and I take mine in on monday. Having 1 more gear will be nice I have been having a tough time spinning up the hills. I tend to want to hammer them, and even when I stay in the saddle I try to power up the hill. Which will make for a great bike split but a real shitty marathon. Swimming is getting better I still suck but I'm not getting passed by old fat women anymore. Today I was actually the fast one in the pool....but believe me I'm not bragging.....I still have a firm crasp on reality when it come to swimming. I predict Jayne will beat me out of the water by 20 min. I may try to draft off of her for a while but I don't think I will be able maintain her pace. In the pool I can stay with her for maybe 600 but that is side by side not sure how would do drafting....we will see. Hopefully we will test that in the lake pretty soon. Bike is coming along I just need a lot of saddle time aerobic work. my running is going quite well, I think. 2 weeks ago we ran this 12 k race here in Spokane called Bloomsday. It's a very big race this year 41000 finishers. And it draws world class runners for some reason. It is a very tough course with several minor hills and 1 big hill at 5 miles that will hurt you.
Jayne and I each posted pr's Jayne at 1:03:53 and me at 52:57. Tony beat me by 12 seconds, little bastard. And of course we still hate Bob 48 min.
Well I'll try to write more later.