4 Weeks to go!

Hit a Brick workout today. Felt strong... but it was only a small portion of what I wil be doing on May 17th.

Thursday I ran the IOA 5K. Last year my time was 27:30. This year I ran the race in 23:01. Next year, I want to run a 5k in under 20 minutes. 

I have 4 weeks of training left. That means three solid training weeks and then one week of tapering. I have my work cut out. 

Did a Lake swim last week. I will repeat this coming week and try to do the full 1.2 miles that I will be swimming in the Ironman.  I don't think that I will go 56 Miles on the bike or run 13 for training. I'm sticking to 50 miles for my long bike ride and stay at 10 miles on my long runs. Hopefully my tactics get me to the finish line! 

Well, I hit 182 lbs today. I have not weighed that since High School. My Goal was to be 185 for the race. I think that I may be in the 170's by then! 

Off to get some needed sleep. Monday is just a nap away.

AFN!

Countdown- 6 Weeks till IRONMAN

I am down to 186 lbs and feeling strong, but not sure if I am ready for 70.3 miles of punishment. I am progressing well on the Bike but still feel slow on my runs. I ran 8 miles last week for my long run and did a 5 mile tempo at 8:15ish per mile.  I am still confident in my swimming, but that's in the pool. I am unsure of what 2000 swimmers all thrashing in the water will do to me mentally. I am planning on not panicking in the water as I did on my Olympic TRI. 

I am having small bouts of anxiety that quickly go away since I am 6 weeks away from the event. That's 5 weeks of training and 1 week of tapering ( gradually decreasing my workload to prepare for that weeks race).

Ready for my next workout. Some Bike time.

AFN everyone!

Countdown- 8 Weeks till Ironman.

I have 8 weeks of training left until I compete in the Ironman Florida 70.3. Goal will be to just finish the race. I have up'd my training this week to try and prepare myself for the grueling distances of this race. This week I will hit 7.5 miles on the long run and advance that every week by one mile. My long ride this week will be at a distance of 40 miles and advance that by 3-5 miles every week until the race. Swimming will also be a series of drills and long swims. I am going to start lake swimming with a couple triathletes from a local club.
Not as nervous about this race now that I have one under my belt. One stress point is the fact that there will be 2500+ competitors swimming at the same time. Hopefully I can do better in this swim than I did in the Wildman Triathlon.
AFN!

Official Times for Wildman Triathlon

Swim (0.9 mile): 28 minutes

Bike (25 miles):  1 Hour 7 Minutes

Run (5.5 miles): 48 Minutes

Total Time: 2:29

By the way, I did beat my goal of 2:30 by 22 seconds! Glad I didn't stop for that pee break!

Wildman Swim Start

Race Day PICS

Race Day!

Well, I couldn't sleep at all last night. I don't think I was anxious about the race, but I guess my body was telling me that I was. Woke up at 4:45 and didn't know what to do first. We were some of the first people to arrive. Got parked, and strolled over to the transition area to load my bike and gear for the event.

After getting my numbers scribed on me (I was #141) and got my timing chip (wear it on your ankle and the computer keeps your time) I again didn't know what to do next. I felt as if I forgot something.... of course I didn't cuz I'm anal! Kaeli and Debbie were there with me and Steve showed up a little later. I strapped my wetsuit on and headed to the water at 7:30. Did a few warm-up strokes, took a deep breath and before I knew it the race was on. I have never seen so many flailing arms and legs. Hard to take in air with everyone so bunched up. I finally got out to the edge of the crowd and was able to find a good rhythm. When I stepped out of the water after swimming almost a mile, my legs were like jelly! I wobbled a little and pulled the top of my wetsuit down and headed for transition with Kaeli yelling "go Daddy go!". It was awesome.

Pulled out on my bike and I felt strong. I guess I passed 30 people or so during the bike leg. After 25 mile of pretty boring cycling I headed to transition with Kaeli and Deb cheering me on! 

Racked the bike and strapped on the shoes and headed out for the run. It was a crushed shell road. Not the ultimate running surface. I struggled here. There were no mile markers so I couldn't get calculate my pace. Felt like I was doing 10 minutes per mile....SLOW!!! (after the race Steve calc'd me doing 8:30 per mile... ) I wanted to walk so bad during the run... I just kept saying "pain is only temporary, quitting is forever". That's a Lance Armstrong quote by the way. It kept me going. 

Finally I could hear the music at the finish line. SWEET! I turned down the woods and there it was I gave her all she had and headed to the finish. The clock showed 2:26. Unadjusted Time. I will post my official time as they get posted to the website.

I will post some pics here in a minute! I am not quite sure I am ready for an IRONMAN....