Ironman Augusta 70.3

Finished Ironman Augusta 70.3 with a PR of 5:49.  The swim made it faster but I was relaxed on the ride (which was fun).  The run went great.  Felt like a million bucks for the first 6 miles.  Then I started have GI issues.  Stomach cramps and I could not drink or eat anything.  I deserved it.  I broke the cardinal rule of racing "DO NOT DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT ON RACE DAY".  Well I ate some oatmeal in the morning and I think it prevented my system for working naturally and gave me cramps.  I have never had this happen before in practice or other races.

The race went as expected. The weather was great.  Overcast most of the day and no rain, at least while we were racing.  The rain eventually came down but not until later. The swim was slower than expected but I spent more time on form than speed. The CL was keeping an eye on my run pace.  I did  good.  The run was 2:22 the fastest I have ever done in a half Ironman and this race, as the CL pointed out, was not my A race.  Also for the record my best half marathon time is 2:04.

The knee was fine. It did not bother me at all and was fine after the race.

Monday I was very tired.  Much better today.

Two hilarious things happened at the race.  First, after the race I had a bag of ice for my knee.  I had it on there then took it off.  I was walking down the sidewalk and went to put the bag on my knee inside a compression sleeve I had on and the bag popped.  Water came gushing out. A guy walking towards me stopped and took a step back. I know what he was thinking. He thought I pissed my pants.  I assured him it was ice water.

Then I saw a woman with the best shirt slogan on it.  It said, "If I collapse, please pause my Garmin." :)

Today I ran 4 miles per the CL.  The first 2 were hell, then I settled in and started to feel better.

46 days to go.  A lot of training left to do.

Train Hard, Train Smart,

XXX

Waiting for the CL

57 Days to the Ironman. We're doing a open water swim this morning.  It's going to be 4000 m. Half of it's going to be in a wetsuit. It's going to be hot. I'm riding over to swim with the CL and I'm out on my front porch right now waiting for her. This training is really wear me down. So are the mosquitoes starting to bite me.  I'm not sure I'm going to  last very long out here. Yea she got here.

So the swim went really well. 4 crossings at Lucky's.

On Sunday I did a 60 mile bike ride.  It weny well.  With 15 miles to go I separated from Preston, Traci , and Ken. I was just riding mt pace but then I got stopped at every light. Then they would catch me and just laugh. Then we would do it again and again.  I finally got in front of them and finished maybe 4 minutes in front. Oh well!

Looking forward to Augusta.  Just 6 more days.

Train Hard, Train Smart,
XXX

Augusta 70.3

Next race coming up is Augusta 70.3.  The CL tells me to swim bike and run hard. More specifically swim as fast as I can. Bike 20mph. The run is the ? .  It's hard to predict how my knee will feel.  I may end up walking.  We shall see. I thinking of doing a modified IM walk run. Like 5/1s.  What pace? HR zone pace or a set min/mile? I have time to think about this.

Training last week was hard. Very sore. All better now.

Had to order a new wetsuit. Lost my other full sleeve wetsuit. ?? I do not know where it is. I can't find it.

Train Hard, Train Smart,
XXX

Depressed

Why? Is the real question.  For all the training I am doing I am not losing any weight. Things would be better on my knee if  I could drop 10 to 15 pounds.  Took my body fat this am and I am a ridiculous 23%.  This was done by calipers. So I have ordered every fad diet on the Internet and will start them this weekend. This should get the weight off.

And if you believe that I have some dry land in the Everglades to sell you.


Still I am not happy. Don't know what to do. The CL will roll her eyes and get another gray hair   She needs this like another role in her head.

I started an advocare cleanse this am. I need to rest my body chemistry.

Bright spot for the day was beating Andres in the team swimming relay.

Swimming another reason for depression.  I should rule in swimming but in races I do not.  I need to work on this.  For IMAZ I want to be in the top 25% of swimmers coming out of the water. To do thi am going to have to be warmed up and be prepared for the Cold water on my face and body's reaction to that.  Looks like some face down ice baths coming up.

This is temporary. I will overcome.

Train Hard, Train Smart,
XXX

First weekend of September

Saturday started at the UCF campus 15 of us started the ride. Some were going 37 miles 60 miles and the rest 90 miles.  Scot G led the A group and myself  and 4 others.  We were moving out at 21 mph we rode around Ft Christmas a few times met up with the others at the fort. On the way back to UCF I let us miss a turn. Oops. We ended up at the back of this neighborhood seeing UCF just over a creek.   Well we found a walking bridge and got across to the campus.  Our shortcut reduced our extra mileage by a couple of miles.  Oh well.

We got back to UCF and Scott G has to go. We headed out again and ended up at Ft Christmas.   At the fort it was the CL, Hairy, and Preston. We headed out and decided we needed water and other supplies. So I found a circle k about a mile down sr 50. We went down there went and found ourselves in another world. Yes we were no longer in the city. We were in the country and we were the odd people.  Well we stocked up and left.

The CL had to stop for a rest at the fort. We then headed home to UCF. On the way back I was leading but the CL was having problems. Hairy and Preston stayed with her and I went on.  I finished strong.

I then ran 3 miles. No knee pain. Yea

Sunday was a rest day for me.  Yea.

Train Hard, Train Smart,
XXX

Last week - First day running and some riding

August 25 

This was an 85 mile ride.  Great ride. Scott G is the bomb.  He is very very strong cyclist. He was leading the A group and we came up on what looked like a stick but it was a SNAKE. It was huge. About 6 to 8 feet long and it started moving after Scott G went past it. I still do not know how autopsy got by without being eaten.

August 28
Went running for 3 miles. Felt great. No knee pain. The knee did swell but ice does wonders.  

Ended the week with some recovery time at the US Open tennis tournament.

Train Hard, Train Smart,
XXX

I can't Count

Today was swimming. The team shows up to the pool and the CL tells to start warming up with an 800 yd easy swim.  Nothing like a15 min swim to warmup with.  Is there?

Then she tells us to do the following:
100 mod
800 projected race pace

100 mod

800 projected race pace

100 mod

800 projected race pace

100 hard

200 cool down back

So I get to the race pace and ask the CL what I should do. She says 15mn per 800.  Then my brain goes on hold and any cognitive thought resembling mathematics leaves my brain. Because I then determine that 2mn per100 for 800 is 18 mn. Not really, but thats what I was thinking.  Because I want to swim a 1:45 per 100 I then subtracted 2 min to get 16mn, but The CL told me 15mn? Well I decide to do the 15 min and swim each 800 hard.  However I was tracking my laps by time thus because of my math error and counting lap, I was doing 1:40 per 100. Well this equates to 900 yes not 800.  Instead of swimming 3800 today I swam 4100.  

Oh joy!  I will have to come up with a better way to count laps.  

Train Smart, Train Hard,

XXX