Bike at Roy's

This morning I went to Roy's house to do the bike ride on his computrainer so he could replace my seatpost with a new, more forward seatpost and readjust my bike fit. The purpose of the new seatpost is so I can get better angle with my riding and be overtop my aerobars. Roy also adjusted by aerobars since they were too close together and it helped spread my shoulders apart a little. These were some major adjustments and I rode for 20 miles on the bike as he looked at how I was riding. It typically takes 4-6 weeks for the body to fully adapt to the adjustments which is about the timeframe until Florida. So, let's hope that these adjustments were right and I feel comfortable during the next two weeks of long rides. Roy is awesome to spend this time when I know he is busy with his own training! Thanks Roy!

Summary for this recovery week:

Swim: 5.3 M <--nice week!
Bike: 34 M
Run: 6.4M
Totals: 46 miles, 6:43 hours

Chesapeake Man Swim Fest

This was a fun event. Part of the Chesapeake Man ironman distance race, the director started just a 2.4 mile swim event and a swim/bike event. Today, Mark and I did the swim portion and it was a solid swim. For all my races this season, each time I get in the water, it just doesn't feel right, that is the open water swims. It seems like I get a little anxious when that has never happened to me. So today, my goal was to be smooth, steady and calm.

The race began at 7:00am in Cambridge at Great Marsh Park and there were about 350 participants. Most were doing the full ironman distance and others were doing the relay, just the swim or just the swim/bike. If we had time, we would have done the swim/bike (2.4m/112m) becuase it is great training preparation. The course was 2 loops, water temp was 72 degrees which was perfect, and for the most part I had a good swim. I still need to work on swimming on the line of the buoys and be more aggressive. The current was pretty strong on both return legs and there were white caps but I was able to cut through pretty good. Probably the most difficult part of the swim for me was it was tough to site the buoys going into the sun, waves and chop. My time was around 1:18 which is about 2 minutes slower the my IM swim 2 years ago. I was quite pleased with this time as it was just for me to continue and stay comfortable in the water.

Busy week!!!!

These weeks are just crazy. I have been slammed at work and it is next to impossible to get all my workouts in. I started the week out on a good start and had a solid 6.5 mile run Monday night. Tues am I had a good swim at 5:30am and then that night biked onthe trainer for about 50 minutes. Then Wed rolled around and I was suppose to run but I ended up mowing the lawn and the time Carol got home from work (8:15pm) I didn't run because I wanted to make the swim tne next morning. So Thur made the 5:30am swim and ended up working until 9:30 that night so missed my bike workout. Being up since 4:30am and not falling asleep until 10:30 or so that night - I was exhausted. But, when I got home, I packed my stuff so I could leave for Cambridge on Friday after work. Friday, ending up getting out of work a few minutes early and went to Cambridge for the Chesapeake Man Swim Fest on Sat. Just got to keep going!

Nice ride today

What beautiful weather today for a bike ride. Low 70's, cool air, sunny, it does not get any better then this. Today we did the Southern Maryland ride and rode 85 miles in about 5:30 hours. I felt pretty good for most of the ride and brother Mike and his girlfriend Marcy came out to do 30, so it was nice to see them. Only drama today was a bee sting to the neck! What are the odds? I saw this bee coming right at me and I tried to duck out of the way and the sucker landed right on my neck and went to town like a little vampire. The sucker got me good too!

In addition to the whole 3 workouts I did this weekend - I did get in 3 days of stomach exercises. AND spent 2 great days with Carol and the baby in St. Michaels, MD for her birthday. I tell you, it is definitely a balance to keep things on an even keel between training and family!

Totals for the week:
Swim: 1.1M
Bike: 95M
Run: BIG FAT ZERO!
Total: 106 miles, 7:45 hours

Goal for next week: run run run!!!! Need to get those runs in!

Losing steam....

I am losing steam!! This now is the hardest part of training where you just lack the motivation to get the workouts in. Actually for me, it is finding the time to get the workouts in which is killing my motivation when I do the workout. I feel worn out and know that I need to snap out of this and have a good weekend of training. I feel pretty good about my swimming and biking progress but am concerned on the run because I am not getting enough run workouts in. It's a tough balance keeping up with everything as I constantly feel behind on things. The next 4 weeks are going to be tough training weeks. I have complete support from my wife and family and friends. Basically, I need to stop whining and get it done. I will get it done!

Nation's Tri - Awesome!

Real quick before I get to Nation's, yesterday I ran 13 miles in Rock Creek, 9min run/1min walk and averaged 10 minute miles. The weather was perfect. My dad, who happens to be training for his first marathon, did 16 miles and did extremely well!

Okay - on to Nation's. What a great race. I was always so skeptical of doing this race because of swimming in the Potomac but this was a class A race. Over 5000 people did the race and it was extremely well organized! I have to thank Scott Talbot for pushing me to do this one!

I had a GREAT race!! I PR'd my oly time by several minutes and finished in 2:43. This course was flat and it sure was fast! I was 13 minutes faster than Columbia in May(a hilly course) and 23 minutes faster than Luray in August (also a very hilly course). Putting the hilly oly's in the past aside - it was a solid race. It was the first time and quite sometime where I was not passed by the world on the bike, avg 19.4, and kept a solid pace on the run, avg 8:18 with a 7:50 the last mile. On the bike, I kept thinking there was a head wind when actually it was just me moving : ). Here is my write up in my journal:

"Very pleased with the race. Felt strong the entire time. Swim - goggles fogged up and I almost cut out a buoy - a total rookie mistake that cost me at least 2 minutes on the swim. had awesome bike as my heartrate was mid zone 4 the whole time. Run was very strong and steady. Kept positive attitude during whole race especially on the run! Really enjoyed this one! Feel like I am getting my legs back as well."

Also, my nutrition was RIGHT ON using Infinite bike mix for the 1st hour on the bike, then switch to my run mix for the last 16 minutes on the bike and then used the run mix on the run. Worked out well!

Totals for the week:
Swim: 4M
Bike: 58M
Run: 24M
Total: 86M, 9:09 hours

This week's events...

Monday - stomach exercises, and made all travel arrangements for IMF. Broke up the 5 gallon water jug change jar to cash it out to pay for the trip.
Tuesday - 5:30am swim - 1-hour, 9:00pm run - 40 minutes treadmill
Wed - Bike 40 minutes on trainer
Thur - Swim, 5:30am - 1 hour, Bike in pm 1-hour!

Busy busy busy. Woke up in the middle of the night last night in a pool of sweat. I have been roasting lately getting hot flashes. I feel like I'm going through menopause! Although I am in denial, one symptom of overtraining is sweating at night and I should cut back. However, there is not time to cut back since I already feel like I am not getting the workouts in that I need.

My swims this week have been pretty solid. I was getting some coaching tips from the pool deck coach that I hope will help me getting a little more efficient to see if I can make a move up a lane in about 2-3 weeks.

by the way - already cashed out $ 500 from change jar and only half way through!

Weekend events

To continue on with my recovery week routine, on Saturday I did a brick work out. Spent 23 miles on the bike and then went to a 6 mile run. During the bike I was not feeling that motivated to do the run but forced myself and ending up having a nice solid run. Total workout time was about 2.5 hours.

Totals for the week:
Swim: 0 (big fat zero)
Bike: 48 miles
Run: 12 miles
Total: 60 miles, 5:38 hours

Back to the massage table!

As I continue on this nice recovery week - bike Wed night, bike Thur morn and run last night, we capped off the week training with a nice sports massage to loosen me up for the next 2 weeks of training. This definitely helps me and my performance in workouts, no doubt. Tomorrow I have a brick workout and then things ramp up again next week.

Just a quick note on recovery week. Not only does it give your body time to recover, it also gives you some time to do the other things you have neglected the past 2 weeks of your life. Such as spending time with your wife and 3 month old son, run errands, pay bills, make travel arrangements, etc... It's tough to get everything in as you need more sleep from the training and your window of getting anything done becomes smaller and smaller.

Stomach - what's that??

Man - do I hate doing stomach exercises but it's time to solid up this muscle in preparation for IM. So I dedicated my recovery week to start doing stomach exercises. One of my exercises is the plank which I used to be pretty good at and now just a minute was tough tonight. I was with Thomas and I laid him on the ground next to me. As I began, both Thomas and I were smiling at each other. As the minute progressed, my facial expression started to strain more and more and as I continued to watch Thomas, I must have scared him because he was down right crying when I finished my minute of plank. Carol said I scared him, I like to believe that he was helping me to not strain so he could continue to smile. We'll have to keep practicing.