Sunday, August 31, 2008

Sunday: 77 mile bike; 2 mile run; 2.5 mile swim; abs

Today was another great day on the bike, but I didn't feel that great on the swim.

I felt like both of my arms were going to fall off within my first two strokes of the swim. I swam too hard yesterday. I struggled through 2.5 miles, cutting the workout short of the 3 miles I had planned.

On the bike, I felt awesome again, and even better than yesterday. I was averaging 252w at 136bpm for the first 73 miles. But then I suddenly got nervous that I was pressing my luck and going too hard. I don't want to risk overdoing it at this stage as I am not in Ironman specific training yet. So I shut it down and warmed down at 200w for 10 minutes. I should have stayed in the 120s bpm from the beginning and gone longer, about 100miles, but by then I was too nervous that I would have been doing too much. Total ride. 77 miles. 3:26. 248w. 135bpm. 80rpm

Followed the ride with an easy 2.26mile brick run. 9:17min/mi. I have made a few mistakes in my training this year, but the biggest one I made was by running too hard too far out from the race. I should have run much easier than I did.

I went to McDonald's for dinner, not because I was really feeling like it but more because I go completely hardcore diet-wise starting tomorrow until the race. I have been pretty good over the last couple of months. I weighed in at 154.8 lbs this morning. I hope to be 5-7 lbs lighter for the race.

Week summary. This was a great week. I felt very strong and was back to running though I really only ran three days during the week, four if you count today's brick run. The volume is starting to get up there. I will say though, that it has been a couple of hours since I got off the bike, and I am feeling pretty shelled. As for as altitude goes, I am now up to 9,000 feet, where I will stay for the week.

Next week, the volume will be high again, but everything will be easy as I prepare for more specific Ironman training starting the following week.

Week total: Bike: 486 mile bike; 42 mile run; 8.5 mile swim.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Saturday: 135 mile bike; 11 mile run; 3 mile swim; abs

Wow! I love this sport! There are some great sports out there but I can't think of any other one that rewards hard work as much as Ironman. Ironman is effing awesome.

Today I had the best workout of my life. I have never felt so good. I literally had tears in my eyes during the bike ride, and not from the sweat and salt that was running into them--yes, I am a bit of a puss.

Started out with a 9 mile run this morning. Warmed up with with the first mile at 9:14 (6.5mph) on the treadmill and gradually increased the pace every ten minutes by .1 mph. I also ran 9 minutes and then walked one minute. 9.05 miles. 1:22. 9:03 min/mi.

I then went to get breakfast. I had a bagel with lox, onions, tomatoes, and capers. And then I had two more bagels without anything on it -- a chocolate chip bagel and a salt bagel. I knew today was going to be a long day so I wanted the carbs. But starting September 1, bread is out of my diet.

I then digested for 1 hour, drank some Gatorade and then went to the pool for a 3 mile swim. I don't know how fast I swam--I am sure not that fast--but it was the best I have ever felt in the water. I felt like I was gliding. The one thing that has helped me most for the swim is that I switched to bilateral breathing every other stroke about a month ago. I was getting some pain on my left lat and thought I was overusing it relative to my right lat. So I made the switch. At first, I couldn't breath to my right side; it felt very awkward, but now I feel like my whole stroke is much smoother, though still slow. I felt awesome though and know I definitely went harder than I usually do as my triceps hurt a little tonight--and I rarely hurt after workouts these days--but in a good way, like when you first go lifting. 3 miles. ~1:30.

I then went to buy some water, Gatorade, and Cliff bars for the ride. I passed by this pizza place, which smelt too good to pass up. So I got a slice, which is also off the diet starting September. Got the drinks. Ate a Cliff bar. Chugged a Red Bull. And got on the bike. I wanted at least 112, but was hoping for more depending on how I was feeling. As soon as I started, I felt awesome. I went through a couple of rough patches during the first 56 miles as my legs were warming up. I think it took longer than usual because of the morning run. But once my muscles opened up, I felt like I could have ridden all night. I really had to hold myself back. That is the hardest part of every workout these days, but the key for me is to not get so tired that I can't train the next day.

Once I crossed 56 miles, before I knew it, I was already at 112, and my legs kept getting stronger and stronger and my power just kept increasing and increasing. I felt invincible. So I staid on. I really did want to stay on all night. But I ran out of Gatorade. So I got off a little over 6 hours.

6:05. 135 miles. 246 watts. 137bpm. 22.2mph. I drank 4 32oz. bottles of Gatorade and 2L of water and ate 3 Cliff bars. I probably didn't need so many calories, but I ate two Cliff bars during the first 56 miles, when I was going through the rough patches, thinking I needed more calories.



Then I wanted to do a quick brick just to see how my legs would hold up. Chugged another Red Bull and went off for a 20 minute brick run. 8.09 min/mi. Felt great, but a marathon is a long way to go. Hopefully, I still have enough time to get to where I want to be.

I had some pasta and milk for recovery--though I wasn't really hungry, I thought I should eat something.

Wow. I feel great and am really happy with where my fitness is 9-10 weeks out. If only I could get my swim and especially my run better....

Friday, August 29, 2008

Friday: 40 mile bike; 1 mile swim; abs

I was a lot tireder today than I thought I would be. My legs were fine, but I just didn't seem to have much energy, which may have been mental more than anything else.

a.m. 1 mile swim. ~30 minutes. Swam a little harder than usual.

p.m. 2:02 recovery ride. 40 miles. 194w.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Thursday: 36 mile bike; 16 mile run

I ordered some compression socks, and compression short and long tights. They arrived today, but I haven't tried them on yet. They look cool though. I'm going to start sleeping in the long tights and wearing the socks throughout the day.

Now that I am 10 weeks out, I can't wait any longer to get the long runs in. Yet I still don't have the confidence in my shins to run long. So here was my workout to try and get most of the benefits without the wear and tear of the long run.

4 straight hours. Started with a 1 hour 20 minute run. 9.05 miles. 8:50 min/mi. Then I immediately got on the bike for 1 hour and 40 minutes. 36 miles. 242w. 140bpm. 82 rpm. Then I immediately did a 60 minute brick run. 7.34 miles. 8:11min/mi. Total workout. 4 hours. 36 mile bike. 16 mile run.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Wednesday: 93 mile bike; abs

a.m. I missed the morning workout. I woke up in time, got on the bike for 10 minutes, but was just too tired to ride. My heart rate was also pretty high, especially for an early morning workout. I had planned 56 in the morning and 56 at night. The problem was then I was already up, but still had little desire to ride. So I landed up getting a jump start on work.

p.m. I wasn't going to have time to hit 112 so I just rode as much as I could. I felt pretty good throughout, but never great. I reset the course at the 45 mile marker so I wouldn't be tempted to get off at 56 miles. It kinda worked. I hit a rough patch at around 60 miles and then was pissed that I had reset the course. But it went away after 10 minutes or so and then I felt better. I was tempted to get to 100 miles, but it was getting pretty late. 4:25. 93 miles. 221w. 134bpm. 81rpm.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Tuesday: 40 mile bike; 12 mile run; 1 mile swim

a.m. 9 mile run on the treadmill, running 9 minutes, walking 1 minute. 8:57min/mi. For breakfast and recovery, I had a glass of milk and tried a mint chocolate Cliff Builders bar, which is Cliff's version of a protein bar. It was great. I highly recommend it. Tastes like a candybar/cookie.

p.m. 1 mile swim. ~30 minutes. Did not feel as good as yesterday and was just trying to get it done. After the swim, I really didn't feel like working out tonight, but then I was talking to my brother who reminded me I only have 10 weeks left, the U.S. Open was on, and to stop being such a puss.

So I got on the bike and watched Federer. 40 mile ride. 195w. 123bpm. Follow by a 3 mile brick run. 9:12min/mi.

I am exhausted. I have a big workout planned for tomorrow, but it is going to be tough to wake up early enough to get in the morning workout.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Monday: 65 mile bike; 1 mile swim; abs

I felt really fresh today, both in the water and on the bike and even had to hold myself back on the bike. I am pretty sure that my taper will be similar to what I did last week, at least as far as the bike is concerned. It may be a little different depending on where my fitness is come mid-October, but last week seemed to work well for me. The run taper is still yet to be determined of course depending on whether I can get my run in shape.

1 mile swim. ~30 minutes. Felt pretty smooth.

3 hour bike ride. 65 miles. 224w. 134bpm.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Sunday: 56 mile bike; 5 mile run; 1 mile swim; abs

1 mile swim. ~30 minutes.

56 mile bike. 205w.

5 mile run.

Week Summary. I needed the easy week. Was starting to get tired, especially sleeping at the higher altitudes. I am now at 7,000 feet. Next week will be 7000-9000 feet. I got back to running 30+ miles for the week, which is not a lot by any means, but as much as I can handle right now. I will say, today, the first signs of doubt crept into my mind as I was running. I feel very sluggish and don't have much confidence running. I made a mistake by running 7:00 - 7:30 minute/mile brick runs in June and July--despite feeling the first signs of shin problems, and I think that running that fast has contributed to making my shins worse. That was stupid--I was feeling great aerobically at the time, but should have controlled myself given how far out I was. My run now sucks. I am very nervous about it. The good news is that my heart rates are very low at the pace I am running, which leads me to believe that I still have fitness and have time to get to where I need to be, but I am not as certain as I once was that I will get there. I'll give it everything I have though.

I start two very high volume weeks tomorrow and then move to 3 weeks of Tempo pace on the bike, by which I mean upper aerobic pace, or upper zone 2, or close to Ironman pace. Week Total: B: 309; R: 32; S: 6.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Saturday: 56 mile bike; 14 mile run; 2 mile swim; abs

9.45 mile run. 8:42min/mi. First time I have run more than 5 miles in almost two weeks. Felt very sluggish.

2 mile swim. ~1 hour.

56 mile bike. 202w. No heart rate. Just went easy. Easy week.

4.60 mile run. 8:29 min/mi.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Friday: 26 mile bike; 1 mile swim; abs

Swim 1 mile. ~30 minutes.

Bike 26 miles. 200 watts.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Thursday: 20 mile bike; 4 mile run; abs

20 mile bike. 225w. Followed by a 4 mile brick run. I feel fine on the bike, but feel terrible running (and swimming for that matter). I was hoping for a longer run but don't have the confidence that I can run further without my shins acting up. I feel very sluggish, completely out of shape, and I am afraid to run longer than 3-5 miles. I haven't liked my new shoes and have gone back to the old ones I was wearing. Now the old ones don't feel good either. This isn't really the time not to be comfortable with your shoes or not to know what shoes you will be wearing for the race. Even still, I believe I have enough time to get my run right so I can achieve my goal.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Wednesday: 41 mile bike; 2 mile swim

a.m. 2 mile swim. ~1 hour.

p.m. 41 miles; 214w; 125bpm; 81rpm. Rode till midnight. Didn't want to ride more which would screw up tomorrow's workout.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Tuesday: 30 mile bike; 3 mile run

a.m. 20 mile bike. 1:03. 173w.

p.m. I went to get some ART treatment after work. Let me tell you, that was one of the more painful things I have done in my life. I'm not doing it again. I was just about in tears. I'm not kidding. I don't know if it was the place I went to or all ART treatment, but I don't know how that can actually help. It was excruciating.

I was in a lot of pain when I got home but wanted to get the blood flowing, so anything would do. 10 mile bike. ~200w. 3.72 mile brick run. 8:13 min/mi. I have a feeling tomorrow is really going to hurt.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Monday: 80 mile bike; 5 mile run; abs

a.m. 24 mile recovery ride. 1:15. 173w.

p.m. 56 mile recovery ride: FL: 2:49:45; 188w; 122bpm; 19.8mph. Followed by a 5 mile brick run. 9:01min/mi. I couldn't wait any longer. Hopefully that won't come back to bite me. Shins felt good but I don't like these shoes; they hurt the arches of my feet.

I took in zero calories for the the evening workout, bike and run; only water. I ate a plum, banana, a Special K Protein bar, and a Cliff Bar right before I got on. That was enough to keep me going for recovery pace. Drank a glass of milk afterwards.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Sunday: 40 mile bike; 3 mile swim

Today sucked. Weekend sucked. Started off with what I wanted to be a 3 mile swim. The pool was packed. The only open lane was with this older lady. She looked at me and said "Come on!" I said "okay." She then said, "Are you fast....well, you look fast." I replied, "C'mon honey, I aint fast, I go for a looong time." I got a little chuckle out of her. That was the only good part of the swim as the rest of it sucked.

It seemed to be taking a lot longer than usual. I was swimming and swimming and swimming. Over 2 hours later, I finally finished. I'm pretty sure I miscounted but can't believe I would have miscounted by a mile. So I was really slow today. I will count it as 3 miles. But 2 hours in the pool wrecked me for the rest of the day. Swimming by far and away wipes me out much more than any other discipline.

I then fell asleep without setting an alarm and landed up sleeping away most of the day. By the time I woke up, it was too late to get any good miles in without having to bike too late in the night, which would ruin next week. I'm pissed with myself. 40 miles. 217w. At the same time though, if I was tired, I was tired.

Week summary. This is not the week I had in mind. What motivates me though is that I am still striving to hit my perfect week. I now need to put a string of them together. I will continue to take off running until the middle of the week. With respect to the altitude, I am now up to 5,000 feet in the tent and starting to get used to it.

I have 9 weeks of training left and then 2 weeks of taper. The next 3 weeks will be about continue to bring the volume up before I head into Tempo training. I am definitely getting nervous as time is running out. B: 368; R: 6; S: 7.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Saturday: 80 mile bike; 2 mile swim; abs

a.m. 2 mile swim. ~1 hour. I didn't feel as smooth in the water as I have been recently.

Hopped on the bike for 56 miles. I am feeling great. My fitness continues to improve and I have yet to do any Ironman specific training. My confidence and my motivation is sky high. FL: 2:27:37; 254w; 138bpm; 82rpm; 22.7mph.



p.m. 24 mile bike. I was pretty cooked. My legs felt fine, but I waited too long to back on the bike and by the time I did, I just wanted to go to sleep. Heart rate was high and so I switched to recovery. 202w. 125bpm.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Friday: 56 mile bike; abs

56 mile bike. Felt really good. At the beginning of the week, I was extremely tired. Now, I feel like I have reached a new level of fitness. FL: 2:35:51; 224w; 124bpm; 82rpm; 21.6mph.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Thursday: 80 mile bike; 2 mile run; abs

a.m. 24 mile bike. Easy ride to get the blood flowing to the legs after having not biked yesterday. I didn't wear a HR monitor and didn't check my watts throughout the ride because I just wanted to bike comfortably without chasing numbers. 1:13. 186 watts.

p.m. 56 mile bike. Legs felt fantastic. If it weren't so late, I would have ridden more. 2:37:16; 224w; 130bpm; 81rpm; 21.4mph. Tried to brick it. My shins suck. It's really upsetting. I am in the best running shape of my life and the irony is I can't run. 2.41 miles. 8:08min/mi. 136bpm. I may just stop running for rest of the week and hit the elliptical and run in the pool. Not ideal and more time consuming, but it is what it is.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Wednesday: 1 mile swim; abs

I don't know whether it is this altitude stuff or something else. But I have been unusually tired ever since I started sleeping in the tent. I read that it takes some time to acclimatize and get used to it, even at lower altitudes. So hopefully it won't take too much longer until I'm feeling back to normal, but I'm telling you, I feel like I could have fallen asleep at any moment throughout the day. I took it easy this morning and then again tonight to rest. 1 mile swim. ~30 minutes.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Tuesday: 56 mile bike; 1 mile swim

a.m. 56 mile bike. Was pretty tired from last night's ride. 200w. 123bpm.

p.m. 1 mile swim. ~30 minutes. I am definitely feeling tired so far this week. I think it probably is a combination of the cumulative effect of training as well as trying to acclimatize to sleeping at higher altitude, even though it is not that high. I also couldn't stop eating today. I think I'll skip tomorrow morning's workout and try to sleep a little longer.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Monday: 56 mile bike; 3 mile run; abs

a.m. 3 mile run. 8:23. Felt great. I got off to a late start as I didn't sleep well last night. I slept at altitude for the first time -- I got my hands on an altitude tent which took me 3 hours to set up yesterday. Anyway, I set the unit for what I thought was supposed to be 3000 feet and let it fill the tent for 30 minutes and tested the O2 levels and it was sitting on 18.9% - 3000 feet. Perfect. Then I went to sleep. I don't know what happened while I was sleeping, but I was tossing and turning the whole night and never felt like I got into a deep sleep. I woke up this morning and tested the O2 levels again and now it was sitting at just below 5,000 feet--while supposedly not that high, obviously too high for me to start. I'll have to figure out how this thing works. I'll start tracking my altitude acclimatization on the right column of the blog.

If you haven't seen this, you need to.



p.m. 56 mile bike. I felt incredible. My legs opened up right from the beginning of the ride and so I knew I would have a good one. On the other hand, my heart rate was ridiculously low. One night in the altitude at 3-5000 ft. Wow! I'm joking of course. It was actually kind of scary until it started to rise gradually during the second half of the ride. Hopefully, I am not overtraining. Tomorrow will be easy recovery efforts. Total ride. FL: 2:25:22; 263w; 138bpm; 23.1mph.





I tried to brick it, and actually felt great. I had run about half a mile at 7:30min/mi pace until I literally ran into two deers, one male, one female. I live right by a wilderness park. I have seen deer while running before and it is always very cool. Usually, however, I see them when I am actually running in the park. Tonight, I was running on the sidewalk of a major street. And there they were. It completely freaked me out. I stopped literally in my tracks. The male was huge. They were staring me down, and I didn't move. I just stood there for what felt like an eternity until they lost interest and went back into the bushes. I then walked home. It was awesome. I wish I had my camera.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Sunday: 11 mile run; 2 mile swim; abs

I was pretty tired today. Swimming really takes a lot out of me. Started with a 2 mile swim. Took about an hour. Then ran for 11 miles. 8:14 min/mi. Felt easy. I had then planned a bike ride and a shorter run. The saddle sores are getting out of control though so I skipped the rest of the workout and rested for the remainder of the day.

Week Summary. Decent week. Not great. Obviously I couldn't run for the first part of the week so that ruined my running volume. My bike volume was also lower than where I want it. Overall though, I am pleased with the training. B: 354 miles. R: 30 miles. S: 7.75 miles.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Saturday: 84 mile bike; 5 mile run; 4 mile swim; abs

So apparently my blog was posted on Slowtwitch and there seem to be quite a few critics out there. I'm fine with that. I'm not doing this for anyone other than myself, and if anything, naysayers just motivate me even more. So I don't really have much to say about it. I am confident in my training and am enjoying the journey.

a.m. 5 mile run. 9:05 min/mi. Followed by a 2 mile swim. Took about an hour.

lunch. 84 mile bike. 201w. 120bpm. I was feeling good and had to hold myself back. It's great having the Olympics on. Makes the time go by pretty quickly.

p.m. 2 mile swim. I didn't time it but it was probably around an hour again. Swimming, much more so than biking and running, really wipes me out. Probably because I am not in good swimming shape.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Friday: 112 mile bike; 12 mile run; abs

Back home. The trip worked to my advantage this time as I got to come home early and now have an easy day.

a.m. 3 mile run. 27:25. 9:08 min/mi. Shins (right in particular) are just messed up. I had to stop after 3 miles. I don't know what to do about it. How can this be? I am not even running a lot, nor have I been. It's frustrating to say the least.

lunch. 6 mile run. Can't give up yet. I stretched a little and loosened up my shoe a lot to make sure that I wasn't restricting blood flow. Felt good. 8:45 min/mi.

p.m. 112 mile bike. 3.33 mile brick run. This is probably the best workout I have ever had.

I felt incredible. My quads were a little tight until 2 hours into the ride when they loosened up. Even still, I felt great from the get go. Heart rate was back to normal which means the day off yesterday served its purpose and was a good choice. I did have some cardiac drift once I hit the 80-85 mile marker, but I still felt great. I think that may have to do with the fact that I haven't ridden past that point enough times yet. I will. Total ride. 112 miles. 5:02:37. 234w. 135bpm. 81rpm. 22.2mph.

I then followed the ride with a 3.33 mile brick run as I wanted to test my legs out after the ride. I really felt great and as if I hadn't even ridden. I got inspired by watching the Olympic opening ceremony during the bike. 24:31. 7:21min/mi. 158bpm. My splits were as follows.

7:28
7:16
7:18

While 158bpm falls within my Ironman heart rate range, if I am honest with myself, I don't think I could hold that pace for an entire marathon at my current fitness level, even after biking easy. I haven't run that pace long yet--actually I haven't even run long at any pace yet. Quite simply I don't have the running endurance right now. I have 12 weeks to build it up. Nevertheless, I felt great throughout the run.

For the bike, I drank 3L of water and 2 x 32oz bottles of Gatorade and I ate two Cliff Bars. For the run, I had nothing. Following the workout I had a Special K protein bar and a large glass of milk. It's funny but after a workout like that I used to go pig out on whatever I wanted. Now, I barely get hungry from it.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Thursday: Day Off

I took today off, first day off in awhile and also allowed myself to cheat on my diet. It however has not been a real rest day as I have been working and traveling all day.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Wednesday: 56 mile bike; abs

Heart rate was stil sky high but I actually felt pretty good. I've noticed that I am starting to get these massive veins protuding down my legs. On the one hand, it's pretty nasty; on the other hand, it's kind of cool. I'm starting to feel like I am getting in good shape. 56 mile ride. FL: 2:37:40; 211w; 136bpm; 83rpm; 21.3mph.

I am now in the airport on my way for another business trip. I'll be out tonight until Friday night. I feel like now is a good time to take a day off on the bike, so I didn't bring it with me this time. I may run depedning on how my legs feel tomorrow morning, and if not good, then and again tomorrow night. Other wise I don't mind taking the day off completely. I'll pick up the bike again Friday night and get in at least 56.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Tuesday: 46 mile bike; 2 mile run; abs

I was going to hop on the bike this morning but I have some major saddle sores and so was not looking forward to it, especially after having just gotten off the bike right before I went to sleep last night. Instead I went for a run, which was only the first stupid thing I did today. Anyway, I hit the treadmill. There was this really hot girl there who was running 9.2 on the treadmill next to me. 6:31 min/mi. Needless to say, I wasn't about to get on and run 9 minute miles. So of course like an idiot, I pretend my 8 minute mile pace is my warm-up. And then I cranked it up to 9.3. 6:27min/mi. I don't know how I thought of that brilliant plan. That's almost the fastest I have ever run in my life. One minute into the mile, I was huffing and puffing and in serious pain. I looked over and she was cruising, barely breaking a sweat. I barely lasted the mile, practically drowning in sweat. She looked at me as if to say, "what the hell are you doing?" I had no choice but to then fake that something was wrong with my shoe--it's a brand new shoe, as white as can be, what can be wrong with it? Anyway, I took my shoe off, examined it thoroughly as if something was really wrong with it, all while still standing on the treadmill, and then mumbled "F%cking shoe" before I went to do some abs. She ran at that pace for an hour. I have been hurting all day. Again, pretty dumb and embarrassing as well.

Tonight I got on the bike. My heart rate started out sky high. Again like an idiot, I rode much harder than I should have given the high heart rate. After 28 miles my power was steadily declining and I was pretty toast. I hit 40 miles and I felt better but still didn't have any power. I was going to finish off the ride anyway, but my knee started to hurt a little, so I got off. Total ride. 2:07. 224w. 140bpm. 82rpm.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Monday: 56 mile bike; 1.75 mile swim

I started by swimming 1.5 miles. As I was getting out, this guy in the lane next to me started chatting about swimming. He was clearly much faster than me. It turns out that he was the masters swim coach at the pool. Anyway, I wanted to get out. But he convinced me to do 5 x 100 with him. I had to quickly calculate what that was I am used to thinking in miles. Anyway, I did it. I was struggling to keep up especially since I don't do flip turns. I (as well as my ego) was toast afterwards. I got a lot of work to do.

56 mile recovery ride. FL: 2:50:12; 183w; 123bpm; 78rpm

I went to the podiatrist this morning. He specializes in athletes and is a runner himself. So I felt in good hands. I told him about the shin pain I have been having and that I can't seem to build my miles up. He looked at my orthotics and said they were still good. He then examined my legs and said everything seemed fine. He said there three things probably causing it. First, he asked me if I stretched. I told him no. He said that I need to stretch my calf muscles more often. Then he said that I have a huge muscle imbalance between my calf muscles and the muscles surrounding my shins. Finally, he said that I was running in the wrong type of shoes. He said I needed a motion control shoe. So I went to buy the Brooks Beast. Hopefully that will take care of the problem. I'll still rest for the next few days and try to pick up running later on in the week.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Sunday: 112 mile bike; 3 mile run; abs

I went to bed late last night and as a result got off to a slow start this morning. Tried to swim, but my shoulder was a little tender so I stopped not even before I finished 0.5 mile.

I then tried to run but my shin was acting up so I stopped. It's really frustrating. 1 mile. 9:09

Then got on the bike for a 112. This is the first time that I actually did the Ironman Florida course as I normally ride the 70.3 course. I was a little nervous about the distance; it's a long ride on the trainer without breaking it up. I felt fine from the beginning but mentally I was struggling at first. I just kept thinking how much further I had to go. My legs though felt good. My heart rate started out very low but gradually rose throughout the ride. Once I reached the halfway point, then it became a lot easier mentally as I knew I only had the 56 remaining. I kept telling myself that I had just started the ride and 56 is something I can do almost daily. I felt strong thereafter and actually was surprised when I got to the end as I didn't hit any more rough patches. Total ride. IMFL: 5:10:16; 227w; 133bpm; 84rpm; 21.6mph.

I then followed the ride with a 2.01 mile brick run. I was feeling very good and so I wanted to test my legs, hoping that my shins had magically cured since this morning. Obviously that was wishful thinking. But I managed the 2 miles and felt great aerobically. 15:06min; 7:30min/mi; 157bpm.

Week summary. This week was the start of my real training leading up to the race. Everything was slow and will continue to be for the next 5 weeks. I am really upset about my shins and my running especially considering that I am not and have not been running a lot. But it is what it is. I'll make an appointment with the podiatrist tomorrow and hopefully new orthotics (and maybe new shoes) will take care of it. My swimming sucked as well, so I need to pick that up. The time is now.

Total week: 440 mile bike; 31 mile run; 3 mile swim.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Saturday: 80 mile bike; 1 mile run; 3 mile swim

a.m. 56 mile bike. FL: 2:39:41; 216w; 136bpm; 82rpm. Heart rate started out high but settled by the end so that fr the last 30-40 minutes i was pushing 230-240 watts at around 138-140bpm. Tried t follow with a brick run but my shins hurt. It may be time for some new orthotics. 1 mile. 7:39 min/mi. 150bpm.

lunch. 3 mile swim. Took about 90 minutes. Actually felt pretty good.

p.m. 24 mile bike. 1:10; 204w; 127bpm; 81rpm

Friday, August 1, 2008

Friday: 24 mile bike; abs

I fell asleep last night at 9:30, the earliest I have gone to bed in a long time. I woke up around 1:30 and couldn't fall back asleep for another hour. I then slept until 7:30 this morning and so I missed the morning workout. My body obviously needed the rest.

24 mile bike. 1:12. 191w. 81rpm.

Tried to do an easy brick run, but my shins hurt so I stopped.