Smooth as butter

Today was a total workout yin and yang.  My morning started off with a typical 200yd interval swim workout and my times were horrible.  I had no speed and no stroke.  My rhythm was totally off and I could tell as it was a struggle just to get each 200 done.  My arms were flailing around like I was trying to swat mosquitoes at a campground fire.

I got home and started beating my head against a tough work problem which I still can't figure out.  Ugh...it's so close but yet I can't find the solution.  I hate those type of problems.  It soon became time to go hit the pavement with a 90 minute ride at a decent clip followed by a 45 minute run with tempo at the end.

I loaded the bike up with some "throw-away" water bottles to test their use with my bottle cages for the actual Ironman.  If they could survive the major bumps in roads out here, they'll be no problem for the IMC bike course.  I set off for my typical loop and started easy as described by the Going Long book which I'm following for the peak/taper period.  I warmed up the legs and just sat the pace right around half-ironman effort.  I finished, changed real quick and flew out the door for the my run.

The plan was to run my nice out and back 6.3 mile loop.  I'd cruised the first 2 miles, tempo the middle 3.3 and just relax the last mile.  The last mile has that downhill section back to my condo which I always take it easy now after my hamstring injury.  It seems almost no matter how hard I ride for that 90 minutes I always feel good at the start of the run.  I cruised an easy 7:10 first mile.  I really feel like with my racing flats and a perfect day that's the pace I can hold for the entire marathon.  I started the tempo and just clicked off 6:30 miles without too much trouble.  I'm starting to get that running feel back in my body and legs.  It's just being able to cruise without a lot of effort.

I so happy that my run is coming around just in time for the race.  I just need to stay away from any injury. I'm icing every day the key injury areas: foot, hamstring and knees when they feel sore.

On a totally funny note, check out this YouTube video.  It's hilarious.



17 days..

Bubble boy

Right now, I wish I did live in a quarantined bug free bubble.  There's still a stomach flu/bug going around and I've got just a slight scratch to my throat.  I hope it doesn't develop into a full blown sore throat.  I'm taking Airborne daily even though I heard there was a class action lawsuit which was won because it's fake.  It has helped me in the past so I hope it boosts up my immune system.  This is always the part of the taper that I dread is getting a cold.  I'm hopeful I can keep it together until after the 24th.

I had a decent 60 minute run yesterday except for having to make a pitstop midway and barely making it back to the condo before making another pitstop.  I still have some bug but I'm hoping it just keeps getting better.  I actually felt good on the run which is the first time in a long time.  I was cruising at a 7:10 pace which felt pretty easy and relaxed.

I set up my entire 2 "peak" weeks this morning while I waited at the Maryland DMV.  It doesn't open until 8:30 but I got there at 7:30.  I was fifth in line and by the time the DMV actually opened, the line was already 100 strong.  Of course once I got my ticket, I wasn't called for another 30 minutes while about 30 people went in front of me.  I guess the new car registration isn't high priority in the DMV view of the world.  I got my plain white plates and left.  So no more vanity plates, oh well..

18 days...

The Last Dragon

On Friday, it was Elena's big karate camp graduation ceremony.  The camp rented a gym to hold parents and friends.  They had a little skit at the beginning before all the students from 3-15 years did their form and then they all had a chance to break boards.  My little one was able to break her one board.  We got it on video which I hope to post to YouTube soon.  She really likes karate.  She graduated and went from white to yellow to 3rd degree orange belt.  They ran out of orange belts as the organizers aren't the best planners but she got her yellow one.  For the entire weekend she was always talking about how she is suppose to get her orange belt on Monday.

The ceremony had a special guest, Taimak the star of Berry Gordon's The Last Dragon. It was wild because the guy was at least 6'2".  I saw that movie a bunch when I was kid and I always thought he was short based on the movie.  I guess the magic of the movies was in full effect.  He and the instructor are good friends.
 

Here's Elena on the far right in her stance during the ceremony.

Well it's under 3 weeks to go and the modified taper will begin.  Thank god.  My left leg is completely wiped out.  The weak hamstring and foot has me favoring it which is making it extra sore.  I proceeded with my most difficult running workout.  I was planning to do a 10 mile tempo run on fairly flat terrain.  I did the mile or so warmup and started cruising out my tempo pace.  I was planning on trying to just sit at a 6:30 pace.  The pace felt hard which just amazes me considering this is the pace I ran my entire first marathon at just 10 years ago.

I was cruising along and when I roughly got to mile 3 I decided to cut it to an 8 mile tempo run.  I was feeling my legs and didn't want to risk a chance of injury plus I didn't think I could hold the pace for 10 miles.  I made it to the rough turnaround and proceeded to head back.  This is where I really had to focus mentally to complete the work.  I ended up with an 8.6 mile tempo run at an average of 6:24 pace.  Not bad but my legs were pretty cooked at the end.

On Sunday, my plan was to ride for 5 total hours with 2.5 hours of half ironman pacing and the rest at Ironman pace.  My legs were a complete mess as I started the ride but this was good as I used that to control my pacing.  It's crucial during the Ironman not to hammer the first part of the bike.  At Canada, the first 40 miles of the bike are the easiest miles with a lot of slight downhill.  Conserve, conserve will be the motto for that portion.

I think I locked into my run pace.  My goal is going to be to shoot for 7:15 miles.  I think if things go well on the bike I should be able to hold that pace.  The last 10k is going to suck but that's how marathon's go probably at any pace.  The legs just get tired.

20 days...

Decent

I'm hopeful that the stomach bug is on the last days.  I've lost 2lbs since it started which explains why I was able to do my hill bike workout yesterday at a pretty fast pace.  I was feeling pretty fast on the ups even though my legs still feel tired.  My easy run after the bike was pathetic as my stomach just hurt and the legs were just tired.  I took it real easy and for the first time in awhile came over 7:30s for the simple 4 miles.

I was able to keep in last nights dinner for the most part which really helped my swim this morning.  I decided to try something new by doing a 45 minute "tempo" swim.  My plan was to keep each hundred under 1:50.  I probably shouldn't actually document my times because they are so slow and most triathletes would laugh at such a slow time split time.  Obviously my swim stroke is way better than when I first started but still pathetically broken in just a bunch of little pieces.  I just have a little bit here and there that just isn't right.  I keep messing with my stroke and trying to bring it all together.  After having a rest swim day yesterday, I was able to keep everything just right at 1:49 splits.  I swam for 49 minutes since I really wasn't exactly sure when to stop.  It's hard enough seeing the splits on my watch but I can't see the little "total time" number at all so I go by the clock on the wall which isn't exact.

No one was at the pool this morning which was strange but it was even hard for me to get myself out of bed again this morning.  I'm glad I made it so it's another workout out of the way.  I just got to keep pushing through these workouts to get to the Ironman.  I was happy with the workout as it was my fastest continuous swim for the time and with the baggy swim trunks.  A couple more 75 minute swims to go and then some swim taper which for the half really rejuvenated my swim.

I did some Mac research yesterday and I'm going to go with an IMac instead of the Macbook Pro.  It's cheaper and the portability isn't necessary for me.  I'll wait until this fall as I think they're some conference that occurs then when Apple announces stuff.  I think it will be cheaper and plus I'll have a ton of time since I won't be Ironman training and just getting fat.

I keep holding onto some anger towards Montgomery county where I live, drive and train.  I just can't stand it anymore...the roads out here are pathetic and the road workers are even more pathetic.  Every time I see a road crew, I cringe because I know they are going to screw up another road that I'll have deal with.  Every time they dig up the road, they do a horrible job at the repave.  It's always one big wavy, bumpy, half-sunken blacktop.  It's even worse when they get called to fix their past screwup they don't even have a clue how to fix it.  Combine the worst road crews in all the US with the harsh temperature changes and there are cracks and bumps all over the county.  Ahh...that's better...phew!

Only 22 days left...

Bowel Bug

I got some sort of thing going on with my stomach.  I think I got it from Elena this past weekend as she was having tummy trouble and so were Joe and Amber last week.  Oh great, anyway it's a real pain in the ass and that's both figuratively and literally.  I was going to run for 75 minutes yesterday but ended up with just over an hour after a mid run pitstop.  My stomach was just in knots the entire run.  ***WARNING NEXT SENTENCE CONTAINS GRAPHIC INFORMATION*** I just can't seem to keep any food down, it goes in and it comes right back out in about 10 minutes.***END OF WARNING***  I'm worried that I'm not getting enough calories. Plus the humid weather and staying hydrated is a pain.  Hopefully it will gone soon and that my immune system is full kick virus/bacteria butt mode.

I slept in today.  Woohoo!! I decided to skip swimming for a couple of reasons.  First, I was planning on just a swim off day.  Second, with this stomach bug I was up 3 times during the night to take care of business so I didn't get much sleep anyways.  Oh well, it was worth a shot.

I might try to get me a cheap Mac computer.  Yes, I said Mac.  I saw the cool video editing that Joe was able to do with a movie he took of Elena's karate sparring that I might just go the Mac route.  The only thing I ever did on my PC was play games and I haven't done that in ages.  I just hear from friends that they are so easy to deal with and my PC with XP is just pissing me off.  I mean the thing takes forever to boot up and shut down.  It's storing all my pictures/videos/music on it but that's about it.  I have my Polar software for tracking my rides but I rarely use it.  I'm not sure if the Verizon music store works on Mac but now with Amazon and other music services offering DRM free music I won't be using the music store anyway for new stuff.  Plus if I go with a small Mac laptop its just more convenient overall. I know nothing about Macs though so we'll just have to see how they sell on Ebay.

Just under 24 full days...

I can't feel my arms

OMG, being a year older about killed me in the pool this morning.  What a way to start my 38th year(yes it's my birthday and I'm 37) on the planet but getting up at 4:30am and heading to the pool for the death pyramid workout.  It reminds me of the movie Apocalypto when the Aztecs/Mayan who knows are sacrificing people at the top of the large pyramid.  Heads rolling down the steps...brutal is all I can say.  I did the workout at one of my faster paces for this workout but man was it tough.

I decided to skip the pool tomorrow and just sleep in.  We'll see if I can.  I've been going to bed earlier than usual every night for the past week trying to get out of this tired feeling but it's not working.  On the bike yesterday, I could tell that my legs still hadn't recovered from the 2 hour Sunday run.  They were trashed even though they slowly warmed up but still I decided to bag the easy brick run.  No need to risk an overuse injury at this point for a stupid 4 miler.

I got my new chain for the bike as I already have just over 2000 miles on it since May.  I put it on yesterday but still can't quite get it to ship smoothly for all cogs and chainrings.  It's because River City messed up the rear derailer cable routing.  They didn't go through the guide correctly under the bottom bracket.  I could fix it if I had one of those nice little cable ends but I don't.  I might try to go pick one up at a bike shop and redo the routing before the Ironman.  Although, I'm worried to change anything too drastic before the big event.

I must be getting too old because now I can't get over some of the lyrics in songs today.  They just crack me up like the Pussycat Dolls new single When I Grow Up.  It cracks me up with appears to sound like this, "...When I grow up, I wanna see the world, drive nice cars, I wanna have boobies...".  I mean this is what it sounds like but maybe it's something else.  The other song is by Estelle, American Boy.  There's a line in there about a 5' 7" man.  5'7"...really that's a dream man height.  I'm 5'11" and I'm relatively short but 5'7" is pretty damn short for a guy.

As I was just typing this I saw the circle of life in action...too bad I didn't get a picture.  I'm looking out the window in my office/bedroom.  Well there's a tree right outside my window and they're always birds in it.  Anyway, on the screen for my window there was a big moth just hanging, a bird swooped in and grabbed it.  Good stuff.

I have a long 75 minute run today which I hope will go well and then this weekend is going to be a ton of fun.  I'm going to do a 10 mile tempo run at hopefully 6:30s on Saturday.  This will be a good test for the legs and the hamstring.

24 days...

Tired

I just can't get enough sleep these days.  I always feel tired.  I read a thread on Slowtwitch a couple of week back which basically had someone asking if it was normal during this phase of training.  Everyone chimed in with "YES" in various wise cracking form.  We are on the last push for the big event.

I had a great 2 hour run yesterday.  Well as great as it could be with 80% humidity but it was only in the upper 70s.  It wasn't too bad.  My pace was pretty good and my legs weren't completely wiped out at the end.  I might have a chance to come up with something during the marathon.  The run will be where I try to make up on all those fast swimmers and fast bikers.  It's a single loop run course so everyone I pass will count.  I'm hoping that little bit of competition will help get me through the tough spots in the marathon.

I swam for 75 minutes this morning and it was awful.  The first 100 I felt tired and knew it was going to be a long swim.  I just never got going.  Oh well, I guess all the swims can't be good. I'm back to my swim goal of 75 minutes for the 4400 yards even though I only got thru 3900 yards today in that time.

I have only 3 more weeks of tough workouts.  1 week of some serious work and then 2 weeks built for shorter duration but hard efforts and then the week of taper.  Ahh, I can't wait to taper.  I find it amazing how people train too hard through the taper.  Every taper I've made it to, I'm so happy to take it easy.  I'm counting down the days.

I can almost smell the Doritos that I'll be eating coming the 25th of August and if lucky maybe on the evening of the 24th.  Although, I may not be able to eat them.  I had trouble making it through half my tub of popcorn yesterday during the Dark Knight. I also didn't do so well with the popcorn during my visit to Oregon and watching Hellboy 2.  God I am getting older but man if I lose the ability to eat junk food what will I do?  A life without being able to eat mass quantities of chips, popcorn, candy and greasy food would not be worth living.  I'm sure the Frito Lay YTD financial results are having troubles meeting expectations since I haven't had any since August last year.  That's easily 52 bags of chips that have not been purchased.  Don't worry the 2nd half of 08, I'll make up for my year off.

27 days...