Sunday, March 26, 2006
Week 11 3/20 through 3/26
Highlight of the week,, a twenty mile run. I ran around Town Lake twice. First time around 1 hour 44 minutes,, second time around 1 hour 49 minutes,, you got to give me credit for consistency.
Highlight number 2,, 50 mile bike ride with an average speed of 18 MPH,,,
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Week 10 3/13 through 3/19
So far in training,,,I have 105 hours of training, 400 miles on the bike and 123 miles of running...
This week was the first open water swim in a long time. I actually did two open water swims. I swam 3000 meters on Wed. for 45 minutes and then on Friday, I did 3200 meters in 1:15 minutes. I am pretty consistent at about 7:45 per 400 meters.
I took Thursday off. I was not feeling well. It took a lot of mental gymnastics to convince myself that it was okay to take a day off. I think the word is compulsive? or crazy,, it is weird that with almost every workout that I miss or take off, I feel like the whole program is going in the toilet. I automatically start thinking that I am losing my endurance and am gaining weight.. Yes,, Crazy is the right word...
We were supposed to ride 100 miles. I say supposed to because the weather was the worst that we had seen in a long time. After about 10 miles of rain, wind and cold,, I said the hell with it. 100 miles is tough enough without having all the crappy weather to put up with. Went back to the car and headed over to Starbucks... Maybe I am not crazy...
Next days long run was 16 miles. I ran with Claudia and Mike. I went faster than normal. That is good in one way but it also made it a tough workout for me in the long run,, no pun intended.
Missing the bike ride on Saturday has thrown me into a mental funk. I feel like I have list focus. That is so screwed up. I know it is nothing,,, but for some reason it really takes me off track.. and that takes us back to the discussion about crazy..
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Week 9 3/6 through 3/12
I finally made a track workout. This was the first in a long time. It went well. I love running fast,, even though it may not be for a long distance or a long time,,, the fast runs are fun. Hopefully my fast times will improve as we go along.
The long ride on Saturday (82 miles) was good. Nutrition was right on. I felt string all the way through.
Starting the long run on Sunday morning was awful. The pain in my thighs was the worst I ever felt. My legs had not recovered from the ride on Saturday and they sure let me know it. I felt like I just climbed off the bike and started running without any recovery. I wanted to stop so badly. A couple of times I walked for a few minutes. I kept going. It took me 40 minutes to get to a point where I felt good. After 40 minutes, things started to get better. It was a tough run but I did it.
Highlight of the week,,, I did not stop running even though it felt so bad. Mentally, I stayed on track. I have never wanted to stop so badly but I fought the urge and I am happy I did.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Week 8 2/27 through 3/5
Saturday ride was good. The wind was blowing hard and it was in our faces most of the way. We worked as a team and supported each other out on the roads. I know some people gave up their pace to make sure that no one on the team was left alone.
I had my bike cleats adjusted last week prior to the long ride. That seemed to help a lot. I was getting some knee pains when I rode and it was due to not having my shoes and cleats in alignment.
My Sunday run was similar to the one I did on 2/19. It was 15.5 miles along Bee Caves road. My splits were faster this week. The run was a lot harder at the end,, probably due to the long ride. It could be due to running faster? Who knows,, All I care about is that I ran 15.5 miles in 2 hours and 41 minutes.
The big highlight of the week would be the back to back long ride (72 miles) on Saturday and the long run (15.5 miles) on Sunday.
Total of 13 hours of training this week
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Reason - Team
One of the reasons I enjoy this Ironman training is the team. I train with an organization call T3. The T3 team is a multi-dimensional group. There are people with all sorts of backgrounds, who are training for all sorts of different reasons. Some are fast, some slow, some have dreams of winning their age group, some have a simple dream of completing a sprint distance triathlon,,, and there are others that are just out to stay healthy. Some are very serious about what they are doing and others are just out to have fun. Whenever we get together people are always checking on one another, comparing injuries, complaining about the heat, bragging about improvements, discussing setbacks or just whining about the workout. Above all, each seems to be genuinely concerned about each other. On long rides, slow riders can usually count on someone hanging back and waiting for them. People who have flats can depend on their teammates to help them get started again. On weekends when someone is competing in an event, they can count on having someone from the team either there at the event to watch them or else they know that there are people waiting for Monday to get a race report. On one long ride, there were four of us out riding. At about mile 85 I was lagging behind. I told the others to go ahead because I knew I was holding them back. Instead of leaving me, they stayed with me saying, “It’s not a race, it’s about finishing together”. As corny as that sounds, after riding a bike in the heat, up and down the hills of central Texas for 5 hours, it means a lot. When you do well, someone always notices it and is quick with a compliment. When there is a set back, someone is there to offer advice and sympathy. When you are not really putting out a good effort, there is always someone there to talk some smack and challenge you to get off your ass.
When you look at the everyday world, you do not get that kind of camaraderie, concern, and sense of unity. That is a shame.
