Have I done enough?? or to much??

I have 13 days left to train for the Ironman. I am very happy to see the end come of the long training sessions. I know others are happy about that too. The uncertainity of knowing did i train enough for this race or did I train to much. I am usually on the side of overtraining but I hope I am on the side of just enough! I am tired and ready to get back to the faster races.

I am in Vegas right now and just did the Rage Half relay. I did the swim and bike portion and Scott did the run for me. He also did the sprint race!! My swim felt really good and I was comfortable in the water. I had a lot of room the whole race so that made it feel just like a training swim. I came out of the water and took my time in transition and put everything on like I would in the Ironman. My bike was good. I didnt know the course had so many hills but ended up being the hardest ride I have had since biking. I kept my heart rate a little higher than i should of but due to just being in a race I had to pick up pace some. I didnt charge the uphills but for some reason I was charging the downhills!!! I was never passed going down a hill and flew by everyone going down the hills. I guess not having my speedometer working made me fearless!! It was very strange because I am very conservative going down hills. So overall the race was good. I now need my legs to recover so I hope i didnt do much damage!! I have two weeks left and am getting very nervous. My nerves are dealing with fear of injury or sickness. All this work and no pay off!!! I will die!!!!! I will keep you posted. Thanks

Pain in the butt- setback!!!

All setbacks during hard training are a pain in the butt!! I had a good week going before the pain in the butt setback visited me! I flew out to Utah to do the Moab 1/2 with the clint, jimmy, scott and tyler. I trained during the week and on Thursday Jimmy and I went down to St george so I could ride the course. We headed down early Thursday morning and I started at the water and rode to the Vejo store- 50 miles. The ride went good and I felt pretty strong. I kept a good pace and rode steady. Jimmy was a good support partner and helped made it possible. We finished up and headed to In and Out and enjoyed a burger!! We then headed to Moab for the race on Saturady. We had a really good time there and the race went good for me. I locked in at a good pace and then at mile 9 i had to pee so i stopped and Scott kept going and I was to catch up so I peed and took off. I couldnt catch him where I thought i should so I assumed he picked up the pace to leave me. I caught him at mile 11 and was putting the hammer down- 7:20 pace so I just continued the pace to finish line. It felt really good and took heart rate to 160 and held it there. My legs and all felt good. We all went out to dinner and had a good visit!! I will leave my pain in the butt setback alone for now!!! I am off to weak week of training due to setback but will report something next week. Race time was 151.36, 8:28 pace and the last 4 miles were 7:30 pace.

Body still holding....

Well another week has past and still no injuries!! My body is holding up and the knees are hanging in there. I do have a lot of pain during the nighttime which keeps me awake but seems to ease up during the day. I had a big week of training with a long brick on Friday. I swam 1:20 min swim at 5:30 am and then went home to ride the bike 6 hours which included some steep hills and then I ran for 30 minutes!! It was a long day of training. I had a rest day the following day and my body needed it. Overall not a bad week of training but tough mentally with thoughts of "Why do i put my body through this?" I have those thoughts a lot. However I did get to ride outside for a few hours this week and that felt really good!! I needed to get outside!! I am heading to Utah to run the Moab half and do a training ride in St. George on Thursday. I am excited about riding the course! Well one more week down and cant wait to get this done!!

Pain in the butt...

Had a pretty painful week of training! Due to a very painful situation involving a certain body part in which I smash as I sit on the seat of my bike made riding extremely painful!!! I had a 5 hour ride, a 3 hour ride, and a 2 hour ride to complete this last week. I completed the rides but suffered extreme pain!! I did make a trip to the Doctors office and exposed myself to him for help!! He helped some. Also, I still cant stand to pedal due to a knee problem so that made the ride more painful due to staying seated the whole time. Of course all rides were completed on the indoor trainer due to snow etc. My long run this week was an 16 miler with lots of hills like the st. george course. My knees had a rough time with the hills. My (2) two plus mile swims went pretty good. Overall it was a pretty good training week and my body is holding up pretty good! Mentally I am trying to stay tough but all this indoor training makes it pretty hard. So each day I am getting closer to race day and not really sure how my body will perform!! I need to not worry about it because its is out my hands- all I can control is how much and how hard I perform my training! Lets hope its enough!! Keep you posted!

Another week down..

Well another week of training has past!! Not really sure how many more weeks of this indoor training I can handle. Snow Snow Snow that's all we know!! This week I put in a couple of two miles swims, I had a 4 hour bike ride for my long ride and my long run was 14 miles. I did 1.5 hour bike and then jumped off and ran on treadmill for 1.5 hour. I had an easy run on Tuesday and easy bike on Thursday. This week was good on the amount of training I put in. My knees are tender but they are holding up. I lost 5 pounds so that helps some. Well I cant wait to get this thing done so life can get back to normal for all. I am taking my bike out to the Moab half marathon this month so I can ride the St. George course again and see how I perform. Should be interesting!! I will post again next week.

Still hitting it....

Well I had a pretty good week of training. I did 2 mile swims on monday and friday. I got 3 runs in and 3 bike rides this week. I had a 5 hour ride on trainer Saturday and that was tough. I would say more mental tough then physical. Except my butt was screaming with pain!! I mean real PAIN!!! I kept heart rate 135 for the whole ride. Today I had my long run which was 13 miles and I kept that at 9:16 pace with some good hills. Legs were somewhat tired from the 5 hour ride the day before. Still working on fluid control and getting closer to the ideal fluid intake. T training is getting harder and harder due to winter and snow. I cant wait to be able to ride outside!!! My heart rate is dropping a few beats and allowing me to keep the same pace so that has to be contributed to the altitude tent!! That is good news. Plus my weight has dropped to 155 lbs. Keep you posted!!

Trigger pulled!!!

I guess the bullet is fired and time to bite it!!! I am now signed up and facing a tough few months to get ready for the big one. Its a tough course so it adds some pressure to me mentally and physically!! I havent decided which is tougher on me- the mental part or physical part? The mental seems a lot harder to control. It is such roller coaster ride on the mental part. I call it the "Chatter"- the mental battle of the I can-I cant-I want-I dont-I will- I quit etc. . How do you stay mentally strong when your body is saying "no more" plus a ton of other negative feelings trying to make you stop this obsurd quest!!! When you train long you have lots of time to deal with your thoughts! When you train short and fast you really dont have any time to think, you just survive the moment and get it over with!!! These long training sessions opens the door for a lot of chatter coming at you! So the task at hand is to control your "Chatter"!! How? I am learning to do that slowly. Its strange how powerful it is. You can actually change the whole mood of your workout by getting control of this Chatter!! I am still learning it and continues to be a constant challenge! Remember, natures roll in this is taking"the least path of resistance" so that is where this battle starts!! Keep you posted!!



Well my workouts are going pretty good. I am up to 1 hour swims twice a week and doing a 4-5 hour indoor bike trainer workout!! That is torture!! I am very anal about keeping track of weight, pulse, water loss, nutrtion intake etc. I lose an average of 34 oz of fluid per hour on the trainer!! So my challenge is to try and replace most of the loss fluid and electrolytes etc.

Now that I am fully committed I will keep a short log of my weekly workouts! Keep you posted!!

Have not pulled the trigger...

Well I have yet to sign up for the St George Ironman!! I have been training hard and putting the preparation needed to complete this quest of mine! I look everyday to see if there are slots still available for sign up. I hold my breath each time I look, sometimes I wonder if i secretly hope it is filled up so I cant torture myself any longer! I guess I have to just suck it up and make the decision!!!!

Training has been very tough due to the winter months. I am forced to train all indoors on the bike and swim. However, my runs I do outside due to I enjoy the cold on my runs. Not really enjoy but dont mind it. I get hot very easily so I can take the extreme cold. I dont like the slippage but I manage ok out there.

I did my longest brick last weekend. I rode the trainer (st. george course) for 4 hours and then jumped off to do a 12 mile run. My plan was to start on treadmill for 2 miles and then head out front door for rest of 10 miles. I ended up doing 11 miles straight on the treadmill (shoot me)!!!! It was tough but I just kept on going. I managed to get some hill runs on the treadmill etc. Overall it felt pretty good. I did weigh myself every hour on the bike and treadmill to keep track of my water loss. I ended up losing 4 pounds overall with a consumption of 23oz of fluid per hour!! That tells me of course that my intake of fluids is still low. I am a big time sweater!!! Lisa loves it though!! In fact I soaked 4 towels during my bike ride alone. 72.4 degrees in my bike trainer area. Well, overall my training has been good, legs are good, mental is ok, belly is big still, knees are good, so I am happy with most everything!! I guess i have to just grow some kahonies and pull the trigger!!!!! I will admit I have fear of this race. My fear is just having a stinkin injury before or during the race and all this work is for naught!! I guess I should be more worried about doing all this work and not being even signed up!!! Stupid is- Stupid does!!!!

Thanks to my wife, kids, and stepkids for there patience during my training! Especially my wife for all her help during my training runs and rides. She is the sexiest water-girl ever!! Most of all putting up with my training crankiness!!!! She thinks I have Ironman PMS!!