The Little Karate Kid

As promised here's a little snippet of Elena's karate graduation.  For her age she's one of the shortest in her group but still packs a wallop.  She's doing sidekicks which are her favorite for winning points in the sparring contests.  She's on the far right..



Can you believe it?  Ironman Canada is just 2 weeks away.  WOW!

Found it

Okay so I found something in my swim stroke this morning.  I was back to moving through the water at a decent pace.  It's just amazing at how the "catch" is so important that if you miss it you basically don't move forward.  So that's a positive and now I can just hope I don't lose it again.  Argh...swimming.  I am coming up on my one year swim anniversary.  It should be fun to give all my loyal blog readers all 2 of you some comparisons for your amusement.

Now onto Desoto Sports clothing and their customer support...so last week I mentioned that I sent back in my tri-shorts that they make.  The pad sewing had ripped so they said they'd repair it.  Perfect so at that time I ordered another pair of the tri-shorts and I also got a pair of their bib shorts.  My current bib shorts are way old and totally falling apart.  I've waited to buy a new pair of bib shorts becaues they always rip in the pad for me.  I figured since Desoto has such cool customer support that I'd drop the money on their bib shorts.  I wore the new bib shorts for a simple 90 minute ride and they actually felt quite comfortable.  Sweet!  I threw them in the wash with my other workout clothes.  I took them out and wouldn't you know their have stitching coming out in the pad again.  WTF!!  I called Desoto and they sent me a return invoice for them.  I just wanted to give a shout out for sweet customer support on their products.  Once I get these shorts back, I'll probably buy another pair post Ironman.

I'm going to start putting together my "lists" for packing and the entire Ironman event to help reduce my type "A" stress that will consume me.  Plus I'll try to give my cheering squad enough information so they can see me at various points during the race.

Oh yeah I apologize for the Blog sidebar as it seems there's a bug with blogger...

Under 16 days...

Day off

Today was first day off from training for in like forever.  Other than when I travel for business, I'm always doing at least one sport of the three.  It was so nice to sleep in, work and not have to worry about getting outside to workout.  It was extra cool because at my usual afternoon workout time there was this massive thunderstorm.

Tomorrow I have an easy technique swim in the morning at the usual wake up time and then an aerobic 90 minute ride.  This weekend's workouts will be the last real hard workouts although because the duration is short they won't be too bad.

I'm started to get excited that I actually will be able to become an Ironman.  I mean it's really weird but man if I finish it will be awesome.  I mean sure I've been training for almost a year but even when I was a kid I always thought of doing after seeing it on TV.  Sure Canada isn't Kona but man the distance is what was there.  2.4 mile swim which is like forever and then go do a 112 mile bike and just for fun after that run a marathon.  All those distances when I was kid were super huge by themselves.  I was a runner as a kid but the farthest I had gone was 8 miles during cross country.

So yes I'm already getting butterflies and it's 17 days away.  Race morning, I'm going to be a mess.  It's going to be hard to keep focused on the plan for the day and all the little things to make sure the event goes well.

I'm trying my best to monitor my calorie intake as I've cut back on the duration of my workouts so I don't gain 5 lbs between now and race day.  I really don't want to carry that extra weight up all the hills on the bike course as well as for the 26.2 miles of running.  It's hard because my stomach is probably the size of an elephant all expanded over the year of just stuffing tons of food in it.  So it's complaining right now as I've only put a simple cereal bar and a bowl of salad in it today.  I'm going to eat some pasta tonight and try my best to limit after dinner snacks.  The hardest part will be eating healthy while at the race site for the 6 days leading up to the race.

The official athlete's guide is out so it's just a matter of time before they publish bib numbers.  Once they are up, I'll post all the details for anyone wanting to check on my status during or after the event.

Under 17 days...

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...