Thursday

Didn't get much sleep last night. Tired throughout the day. Switched to recovery.

2 hour ride. easy.

Wednesday

a.m. 3 hour bike w/60min at 240-270w. Felt ok for the hour of 240-270w, but was lacking energy for the the first and last hour.

p.m. 4 mile run. 6 months to go, run needs a lot of work. Relative to the same time last year, I think I am actually behind on the run (ahead on the bike; and about the same on the swim as I only started swimming in the summer last year). Overall, I didn't feel that good today.

Tuesday

3 hour ride. Easy. Tomorrow starts a 3 day block.

Monday

a.m. Bike 1 hour super easy.

lunch. run 30 min.

p.m. run to pool. swim for 25 minutes. run home.

Sunday:

Ridiculously hot day. I wasn't trying to get my heart rate up but it was around 100-105bpm at 190-200w. That concerned me a little. Was feeling very light headed. 2 hours easy ride. 90rpm.

30 min run. easy.

Saturday

a.m. 3 hour bike. 136bpm. 85+ rpm.

p.m. 2 hour ride outside on the tt bike. 90-100rpm. Easy, but heart rate high. I find that if I ride two times in one day, my heart rate is generally much higher on the second ride for any given power output. 100 miles for the day.

30 min run. Easy.

Friday

a.m. 3 hour ride w/90 min at 240-280w, 65-75rpm.

Wednesday + Thursday

Flying back home, my flights were delayed so that I only got in at about 3 in the morning on Wednesday. As a result, I have been too tired to do the block I had planned and so instead I have switched to recovery mode.

Wednesday: 2 hour bike; 30 min run.

Thursday: a.m. 2 hour bike.

Tuesday

a.m. 2 hours on the spin bike at the gym. Very easy, 95+ rpm. I didn't have a heart rate monitor and no power on the spin bike so I erred on the side of going as easy as possible. Because a large chunk of my rides will be done at very low cadences over the next 4 weeks, I will lift my cadence to 95+ during some recovery days.

Swim 1000yards.

p.m. Travel back home. Will try for a quick run when I get in, but my be too late. Tomorrow starts a 2 day training block.

Monday

Recovery day. In my old stomping grounds for the night. No training.

This week I begin a 4 week phase focused on developing my upper aerobic zone and building strength on the bike. Running will still be very slow.

By the end of the phase, I should be able to comfortably stay within 250-280 watts for 2+ straight hours at 65-75rpms. The low cadence builds strength by adding on the bike resistance. The rides are still aerobic. My heart rate ranges from 151-154bpm. The rest of the rides are capped at 156, though I rarely get close to that.

I did this phase before IMFL in '07 (on much lower volume) and had a breakthrough on the bike. I got sick last year and missed it leading up to the race. Despite being much stronger and in much better biking shape in '08, I averaged similar watts both years. I think missing the phase, amongst other things, played a role. I've decided to incorporate these rides throughout this year (I've been doing them for 1 hour so far), rather than waiting until the Ironman build. However, because of the higher intensity of the rides, it will be important to throw in more recovery.

Sunday

Day 3 of 3 day training block.

Tough one. 5:12 bike (w/60min @250-280w; 65-75pm). Followed by a 6.09 mile brick run. 52:05.

Honeynut Cheerios and pasta for breakfast. Gatorade, Coke, water, and a Snickers bar on the bike; nothing on the run. I'm trying to figure out a better nutrition plan. My stomach was hurting on the bike.

Saturday

Day 2 of 3 day block

4:20 bike w/ 2+ hrs outside on the tri bike. 3 mile run. Had good legs on the bike, but energy was dipping during the last hour; had nothing on the run.

Had a small piece of chicken and small serving of pasta for recovery.

Friday: 85 mile bike; 9 mile run; abs

Day 1 of 3 day block.

3 mile run. Easy

4 hour bike (w/60min at 250-280w, 65-75rpm). 216w. Followed by 6 mile brick run. 8:41min/mi.

Thursday: 41 mile bike; 4 mile run

Run 4.17 miles. 9:12min/mi.

Bike 2 hours. 41.68 miles. 86rpm.

Have a big 3 day block coming up. Looking forward to it.

Wednesday: 24 mile bike; 11 mile run

a.m. run 5.25 miles. 46:09.

p.m. missed masters. bike 24 miles. 1:10. run 6 miles. 52:39.

Tuesday: 20 mile bike; 10 mile run; 0.6 mile swim; abs

a.m. Run to pool. 4.25 miles. 38:45. 9:07min/mi. Swim 20 minutes. Still painful. 0.6 miles. Run home. 37:38.

p.m. 60 min easy ride. 182w. Run 18:58. 2.3 miles. Ankle feels okay once I get 10-15 minutes into run, but otherwise hurts while walking and first starting out.

Monday: 30 mile bike; 5 mile run; 0.5 mile swim; strength

1 hour 30 min easy ride. 30 miles. 183w.

Run 50 minutes. 5.58mi. 9:07min/mi. Ankle still bothering me from a couple weeks ago.

Swim 0.5 miles. 16 minutes. Painful. I found a masters swimming class which I can go to: Mon and Wed at 7pm. I'll start this Wed.

Strength (4x15 push; 3x3 pull; abs)

Upcoming Training

I've decided to end my foundation period a couple weeks early. I've gained a lot of fitness but am now ready to enter my endurance period. I will be adding more volume in all three disciplines (not hard to add more for swimming!) and will be biking at slightly higher power levels (not as hard as last week). I will also run more, but I am going to continue running slow. My run needs a lot of work. 9:30s this week (for whatever reason) was still tough. I need consistency over faster running for now. I guess it's also about time I really start swimming so I can at least finish the swim at FL70.3.

FL70.3 is 5 weeks away, but I don't care about my time as I still plan on training slow/easy. I'm doing it just for racing experience. But I won't be doing any half ironman (or even Ironman) paced training. My goal is to peak in November. That means building as a big a base as possible, before heading into more specific training.

Saturday + Sunday

Back from the bachelor party. Good to catch up with some old friends. Not so good for training or recovery. Little sleep.

Saturday: 30 min run. 3.18 miles. Ran in the gym, which had no circulation. Was tough.

Sunday: 56 mile ride. 2:35:52; 216w; 87rpm. Tired. Hurting. Just getting it done. 30 min run.

Friday

a.m. Bike 56 miles. FL: 2:28:56; 244w; 85 rpm.

Off to New Orleans for a bachelor party. Will run when I get there.

Thursday: Bike 32 miles; abs

Bike 1:31:56. 32.42 miles. 212w.

Wednesday: 56 mile bike

Feeling incredible on the bike. Rode 56 miles at 258w. Felt great. (I did it wearing nothing but a speedo as I was doing laundry and had run out of cycling shorts--wasn't bad; my try it in a race just for fun).

Was pushing around 300w for the last 30min. If I train smart, there is no doubt in mind that I will comfortably hit 260-270 come November. As much fun as it is to ride harder, I need to back off a little for now. The key for me is to build superior endurance. And that means slowing down and riding more. I have enough strength to hit the power targets. And I am way ahead of last year.

I have two more weeks (this one included) in my foundation phase, and then I will start my endurance phase, where I will start riding more miles and at slightly higher power numbers (200-220w) than I have been for the last 12+ weeks (180-200w). But the fact that I am already able to ride close to 260w without an extraordinary amount of effort and I am not even done with my foundation phase, I am thrilled.

FL: 2:25:44; 258w; 82rpm

Tuesday: 56 mile bike; 3 mile run; strength

Have hit another level on the bike. But am going to ease up a little. Too early to ride at this pace I think. (I think I started riding too hard too early last year and then broke down). Also seems like my run has has taken a few steps back. Huffing and puffing while running 9:30ish min/miles. Not sure what is going there but not particularly worried about it.

Bike 56 miles. 221w. Run 30 min. 3.09mi.

Monday: 62 mile ride; 3 mile run; abs

56 mile bike. Back on the computrainer. FL: 2:33:30; 226w; 82rpm. Feeling very good.

30min run. 3.14 miles.

20 min ride. 200w.

Sunday

Another beautiful day. And it's my birthday. Going for an easy spin outside. 2 hours. 115-125bpm.

Saturday

Perfect weather today. So I took my rode bike outside. It was awesome. So much more fun than riding inside. And so much easier. I will definitely be doing more outside riding this year. I am going to try to do my Saturday and Sunday rides outside from now on.

The time flew by and I could get my heart rate up high without much effort. Did 3 hours with the first two hours at an easy to moderate pace and then the last hour moderate to hard, with my heart rate at 155-161bpm. I don't want to bike that hard this far out, but I was having too much fun. I don't have a powermeter on my road bike and the distance and speed were not working so I don't know how far I went. I averaged 143bpm for the ride.

If you wondering about my running this week, I twisted my ankle walking up the escalator, so I haven't been able to do much this week. I tried to run yesterday, but it still didn't feel great so am just taking it easy.

Friday: 43 mile bike; 4 mile run

2 hour bike. 220w.

40 min run.

Thursday: 20 mile bike; 3 mile run; 1 mile swim; strength

The problem with swimming is that it takes so much time just to get in a 1 mile - 30 min - swim. In the same time that it takes me to leave my place, get to the gym, swim, shower, and then come back, I could have biked just about 2 hours. And if I swim for 2 miles - over 60 minutes--that's almost a 56 mile bike ride. Swimming is not very time efficient. Nevertheless, I need to swim more.

Wednesday: 56 mile bike; abs

56 mile bike. 186w. Almost back to normal but not quite there. Last week rocked me. I had never run that much while biking that much before.