Big Week Over

Well I finished the big week no worse for the wear.  I finished at 17 hours and 28 minutes of exercise time for the week.  Without a doubt my highest week of the training program so far.  I finished the week with my "Big Day" yesterday.  I won't lie, it was an ass kicker.  The logistics of the day were made easier because Conor and Kristina's games were cancelled becasue of the Memorial Day Weekend.  We only had to worry about Emma, and my sister watched Conor to make it easier on Cathy so she would not have all three kids by herself while I am out training again.  Thanks to my sister and brother in law for watching Conor for me.

Summary of "Big Day Workout"
I tried to wake up at the time I will on Ironman Lake Palcid morning around 5:15am.  For a meal I had a Clif Bar at 5:30am, the a Gu at 6:45am.  I started with the swim right after 7am.  I maintained a nice even pace of just under 2:00 per 100 yards.  I think at Lake Placid my adreneline will make me faster, but in the pool by myself I was shooting for under 2:00 per 100, and I made that goal.  After the swim I ate a PB and J sandwich and drank some Gatorade, then put my feet up until 9:30am.  I felt good during the swim and think I can hold that pace for all 2.4 mile in LP.  If I do that, I should be able to complete the swim between 1:15 and 1:20, which is my plan.

I was able to get on the bike by 9:35am.  I had a multiple loops planned to get in the 4:30 I was shooting for on the ride.  I used my house as the main point, then planned on loops from home, just in case I needed to stop at home since I had never gone that far on the bike before.  Overall the bike was good and I learned alot.  During the first 1.5 hours I got a flat, I had a chance to practice changing a flat on the side of a busy rode.  Now I just have to remember to get another tube.  I thought I had enough fluid with me but I had to stop and buy some extra.  It was really hot and humid, so I went through alot of fluid.  I went through three 20oz bottles of dilluted Gatorade and a 64oz Aquacell bottle.  When I stopped I bought another 32 oz Gatorade and a soda.  I was feeling a little stomach fatigue from the gatorade, so the soda was a good change.  Fuel: I was well prepared I think.  I took in 300-400 calories per hour between Clif Bars and Gu.  I feel like I had enough nutrition to help me on the ride and prep for the run.  When I got done with the ride, I got home, took a quick shower, then put my feet up for a rest.

The run was tough.  I had eaten mostly light after the bike just like I would do at LP.  I ran with my 20oz water belt on filled with Gatorade to start.  At mile 6 I went into a Wendy's to refill with water.  I was keeping about a 8 mph pace during the entire run.  After 75 minutes, I had to run past my sister's house and refill my water bottle again with water from her garden hose because she was not home.  It was a quick pit stop, as it had just started to rain and felt so good cooling me off. As the run came to a close I could really feel myself running out of energy.  I had not eaten anything on the run and probably needed to.  Lesson learned.

Overall I think "Big Day" #1 was a great training tool for me.  It let me know how my body would respond to some of the stessors of an IM, not all of the however.  It is boring being out there for 8 hours alone.  I will be eager to see how much more energy I have during an event.  Eagleman 70.3 is in a few weeks so that is my next good training tool to check my progress heading into LP.

Recovered all day today with good food at my parents house at the beach.  I took the kids to the Boardwalk and spent time riding the rides, playing games, and people watching.

Good week going on

So far its been a really good week of training.  I am at 10:19:36 in total time.  I say this because tomorrow is my first "Big Day Workout" according to my plan.  Big Day is 1 hour swim at race pace, 90 minute break to eat light and recover, followed by a 5 hour bike ride at race pace, then another 90 minute break to eat and recover, then finish with a 2 hour run at race pace.  It gives me a chance to take in 8 hours of training at race pace, practice my nutrition plan, and see how my mental state is during the day.

This is a critical workout and I skipped going to the beach so I can get it in.  I already have 2 good swim sessions in, 30 miles of running in, and over 70 miles on the bike.  I am sure I will be glad when its over.

Check back to see how it went.

Riding a good groove

Last week may have been my best week of training to date, over 14 hours of training.  The weather has picked up, so I am getting outside for rides more often.  I put a dual water bottle holder on the back a few weeks ago and am having trouble keeping the bottles in it.  It seems after some good bumps the bottles start to move up than drop out on a really good bump.  I guess I need to adjust the angle of that thing because I hate stopping to retrieve a bottle after it falls out.

I am in a point in my training program that calls for more race specific workouts, so thats my focus right now.  It was a tough week to stay disciplined.  Cathy had oral surgery on the left side of her mouth and it really has knocked her out.  She can't eat or open her mouth too much, so all she eats is jello, banana, pudding, all soft stuff.  I had to be Mr Mom a bit once I got home from work so Cathy could go and rest and take her pain medicine.  Thursday and Friday it wasn't so bad because I workout in the early AM, and swim in the afternoon after work.  The weekend was tougher.

All three kids had games on Saturday, so we had a tough decision to make on Friday night, how to be in 3 different spots at about the same time.  Thank god for some rain because Emma and Conor had their games cancelled.  Kristina still had her game so I packed everyone up, left Cathy at home to rest and went to Kristina's fields.  Kristina plays in a challenger league, so I like when Emma and Conor get to see some of the other kids playing, it really shows them how much fun "other" kids can have playing sports.  Once we got done the game, we went to the playground at the fields for about an hour, good daddy time for me.  We had a nice afternoon.

When I got home I told Cathy I had to go for my 2 hour run.  I could not miss it.  I put a movie on for the kids, I figured I would get home when it ended.  It was a good run, 16 miles in under 1:54.  I did this run around 1:30 pm, I usually run in the early AM, so this was different; hot and humid.  Later that night I had to go to a graduation party for one of my cousins.  It was a late night for me and the kids as we did not get home until 11PM.  Luckily I stayed away from the bar most of the night.  Cathy stayed at home resting.

Sunday I rose early and went for a 3:30 bike ride.  I covered around 62 miles during the ride over a hilly/rolling terrain.  I am making sure I pick routes that are hilly to rolling, as IMLP is one tough mother of a bike.  I started the bike around 6am and ended and stretched by 9:50AM.  Again, I was Mr Mom.  After I ate some breakfast the kids and I went to the movies to see Rio.  Cute little movie for kids.  At one point Emma pushed my arm and said "Daddy you are snoring!"  I think I dozed off for like 10 minutes.  I wore my compression socks to help aide recovery, and they worked pretty good.  I am still not sure if I will wear them during workout, but after I think they help.

This is a important week coming up.  Normal workouts planned during the week, but on Saturday is my first "Big Day" workout.  Big Day is 1 hour swim, followed by 90 minute break, followed by 5 hour ride, followed by 90 minute break, and finally a 2 hour run.  I can't miss this workout so I think we will be skipping going to the beach for Memorial Day Weekend.  I know my parents understand.  Plus they live in a beach town, so we can go when ever we want.

Off to a good start!

Well I am off to a good start this week.  On Monday, I did a nice upper body weight session followed by a 30 minute walk session.  I just wanted to flush my legs some from yesterday's ride, so I did a little walk.  My program calls for a day off and weights are optional, but I needed to do a little something.  I figured getting 60 minutes in was a good thing, even though it was very light.

Tuesday started back into a regular training week.  I am in week 2 of Build I training block.  I went for a nice 10 mile run in the morning rain.  People at my work must think I am crazy when they see me heading out for a run in the rain.  I decided to go out in the rain even though I am battling a nasty sore throat.  I figured once out there and I am wet, I can't get any wetter.  And besides what if it rains on race day.  I need to know how my feet will hold up and what clothes to wear.  My pace, speed, and HR all were within my normal 10 mile run range, so the rain did not slow me down.  I wore my normal running gear except for a shell jacket that is water resistant.  On my way home from work I stopped at the Y for my swim workout.  Sometimes I think the other swimmers in the pool think I am slow.  They don't realize this is my 2nd workout of the day.  I swam for 45 minutes, going 1.5 miles.

Wednesday I have the day off from work because Cathy is having a medical test done, so I need to be Mr. Mom.  Kristina also has her IEP today at her school, and I need to get to that session.  It is still raining/drizzling so I went for a 40 mile (1:36) session on the trainer followed by a 8 mile run OTB.  I am amazed that my run time OTB seems to be just as fast as my stand alone run time.  I guess the bike really has my legs ready.

Kristina had a great IEP.  She is way smarter than Cathy and I give her credit for.  Her teacher says she is such a good student and follows her directions well.  We have some life skills to work on this summer, tying shoe laces, zippers, buttons, etc but all things considered she is doing great.  Much more than any doctor had told us she would be able to do.  After all some doctors had warned us she may not make it through the birthing process.  Now we are trying to prepare ourselves for puberty.  Good luck with that process for me.

Getting Back on Track

Now that the Golf Outing is over, we raised $7,200 for Our Lady of Confidence Day School, a school serving special needs children, I am getting back on track.

Friday I helped end the week with a swim at the Y (1 mile) and when I got home from work I went for a nice 18 mile bike ride.  I really did not want to swim because I was still beat from the Golf Outing, but forced myself to go and I was glad I did at the end.  The bike ride, I only had to convince Cathy that I would get home for dinner.  I did.  Saturday I went for my longest run in a month, a 14 miler in the early AM.  We had such a busy Saturday, that I was on the road before 6AM.  My Garmin 305 was not working, so I ran without a pace watch, just my Timex HR watch, so ran soly based on HR and not speed.  It was a good run to do like that since I know the 14 mile route very well.  After that run, we had 3 kids baseball/softball games in 3 different locations.  Cathy had a bridal shower for a cousin, so I had to fend for the last 2 games alone.

Once those games were over, I had promised the kids some daddy time.  They chose McDonald's with a playground.  I said ok, as long as it was the one next to the bike shop I frequent, Guy's Bicylces.  This way after lunch we could go in the shop since I needed a get a rear mounted water bottle holder for my Felt B16 bike.  I had a planned 3 hour ride Sunday and wanted to break it in on the ride.  Saturday night, Emma still had to attend a birthday party; so that made it 4 activities in one day for 3 kids.  While she was at the party I still could not get my Garmin 305 to turn on, so I went to Best Buy to purchase a Timex Global Trainer GPS.  They were selling it for $359.00, but online it was $249.00, so I printed the online price and went in to get it.  Of course when I got home from picking up Emma I was eager to play with the new Timex GPS.  As luck would have it, my Garmin was now working, I guess the battery was  so low it needed time to charge.  I returned the Timex watch on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday was my longest outside ride of the year, a good 3 hour ride over hilly, mostly rolling terrain in a cool misty rain. Could have been easy to roll over, but it could be like that on race day.   My training plan called for a 3-4 hour ride and I did the lower end as to not over train this week.  I finally crossed back over the 10:30 hours for the week in training time.  It was 4 weeks since that happened.  Now that my life has calmed down some, I fully expect to crank it out now.

The End is Near!

The end is finally coming to an end.  The past 3 weeks have been really crazy/busy in my house.  It all comes to an end with our Annual Golf Outing.  The outing raises money for a school that teaches special needs children.  We hope that this year helps us surpass $30,000 raised to date.  The school, Our Lady of Confidence Day School, must use the funds we provide to them for their Tuition Assistance Program.  This ensures that those student who need the help with their tuition can get it.  The weather looks great for Thursday, May 12, so we hope to have a great day.

With the golf outing finally passing by, I can now get back on track on the training front.  I am a little tired from last weekends 50 miler, New Jersey Devilman, but am getting through it.  I ran a 10 mile in under 1:10 today on very heavy legs and a real tight right hamstring.  Thursday is a planned day off and I am looking forward to it.  Once Friday comes its balls to the walls with the training plan.  I need to start logging long miles on the bike.

New Jersey Devilman Done

Just a quick not about today's race.  It was the New Jersey Devilman in Cumberland County New Jersey.  This was my first event of the year in triathlon for me, so I was eager to put my training to a bit of a test.  The event is advertised as a Half Lite 50 Mile event.  Below are the splits.
Swim .80 miles
Bike 40.3 miles
Run 8.8 miles

My GPS total were off big time.
Swim .80 miles
Bike 41.18
Run 9.10 miles

I know my GPS is usually off some from the total, but this seemed a good amout.

I have realized I am just not that comfortable with the swim.  I seem to run out of gas or get a lazy with the free style stroke.  I revert to breast stroke to quickly.  I need to get past this and need to figure out why I do it.  I guess I just feel better with the breaststroke because I know I can do the distance without killing myself.

The bike was ok.  I thought I would go faster, but on the return loops we had a good headwind that slowed me down to 18 mph.  On the out loops I was at 23 or 24 mph.  I think I had a good plan for nutrition on the bike, 2 Gu's and half a Clif Bar, 30 oz of Gatorade and 10 oz of water.  I needed to experiment  this because I have Eagleman in a month.  I thought I had enough fuel in my system to finish, no bonking or fuzzy feelings.

The run is by far my best event so I did ok.  I passed alot of people on the run and had the 23rd fastest time on that part.  I averaged 8.7 mph, so around a 7 minute mile.  Only needed 1 Gu on the run and a diluted Gatorade of 20 oz.

Truthfully I was around 14 minutes slower than I had anticipated, but am still happy.  I was aiming for 3:15 as a stretch and under 3:30 to be confident in my training program.  The event was well run from Piranha Sports.  Nice tech shirt and hat as swag, normal stuffing otherwise.

Tough 2 Weeks are Over....84 Days!

Well its 84 days until Ironman Lake Placid, 42 days until Eagleman 70.3, 6 days until New Jersey Devilman 50 mile triathlon and first of the year for me.  According to Joe Friel's book, Your Best Triathlon:  Advanced Training for Serious Triathletes these are the most critical days leading into an Ironman.  Admitidly having never raced this distance before, I have jumped into Joe's methods and philosophy.  I am a certified Personal Trainer, Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Sports Performance Coach, and USA Triathlon Level I Coach, but I learned so many valuable tips for Ironman training in this book.  After reading it, I had adjusted my training plan to follow Joe's outlined Ironman plan and Bobby McGee's Run Workouts for Runners and Triathlete's pretty closely.

The past 2 weeks have been pretty poor on the training front, each week logging only just over 10 hours and missing 3 or 4 sessions in total.  We have been really busy with baseball starting and some home improvement nightmares are finally being resolved, still need to go to small claims court however.  I know these are weak excuses, but they have thrown me off the training plan slightly.  I am not a "pro" or "elete" triathlete, so I still try to be a good dad to 3 small kids.

The crazy 2-weeks ended yesterday with Emma's First Holy Communion and party.  She had worked so hard the past few weeks to get ready, and looked beautiful on April 30, 2011.  Below are some pictures of me, Emma, and Cathy before the ceremony at church.

Here is Emma and Kristina before we left for the church.  Kristina turned 11 this year and Emma is only 8, so you can see how small Kristina is which is a typical for a Downs kid.  Emma had a great time in church and even played an instrument during the ceremony, which she did not tell us about so we were surprised.  She really liked the party after, especially when she opened a new American Girl Doll, Kanani.  She is the Hawaii Doll.  I only wish the doll and Emma would have been going to Kona this year, but maybe next year. 

Based on some runs this spring, I know my fitness level has improved dramatically, especially running.  Since the Disney Marathon, I have PR'd 2 different 10 mile road races.  Today was the Broad Street Run in Philadelphia, a fast slightly downhill point-to-point run.  Last year I ran this race in 1:10:03, a PR at the time.  This year was WAY better.  My time was 1:03:25, which is a 10 mile PR by 00:4:40.  I was 316 out of 25,197 finishers, the 286th man, and 24th in my division.  Triathlon season for me starts next weekend with a 50 mile triathlon.  This should be a nice start to the season for me.

As May 2011 comes in, I have made a deal with my team support at home and work.  The have agreed to keep my nutritional plan in check by throwing out any food I should not be eating or drinking, like cookies (any more than 3 at a time), soda (not more than 1 in a day), and not eating out for lunch more than 2 times in a week.  This will force me to bring in fruits and salads more often.  84 days will go by really quickly if I am not careful, so I need to be focused during these final weeks.  


My goal is still to finish healthy first of all.  After that I have some time goals.  I think I can break 12 hours!  I think I may even be able to break 11 hours if its a really good day.  I have the results of a true Ironman hanging in my office, Bryan Payne.  He trains hard and party's just as hard.  I have his results hanging because it reminds me that you can train really hard for an Ironman, and still  live a great life.  Bryan's blog posting's were legendary.  Not all about training, but life and how much fun he was having, even when he was revealing his darkest secretes to his followers.  I never met him, but I followed his blogs and race reports once I found them just last summer. Thanks Bryan, hope to catch a beer after IMLP this year, while we laugh at the meaning of life!

April Totals!!!
Strength:  3.75 hours
Swim:  24,900 yards, 8 hours
Bike:  520 miles, 20:52 hours
Run:    149 miles, 17.81 hours