Mr 18 Miler You Can Kiss My.....

I owned you today. I am so happy about my long run this morning. Turns out it was actually just over 18.5 but who is counting. I AM.

The weather was a little cooler and less humidity it seems. So that gives me a little relief that come race day it should be a little different than the conditions I have been training in.

I have been reading a lot on nutrition. Do's, dont's and the experimental suggestions.

This morning I got up around 4 a.m. and decided to drink an Ensure for my pre-run meal. I do love the taste of the Homemade Vanilla Ensure. Now before you start with the AARP jokes and the old man comments, Ensure is suggested in some of the articles and it is Doctor #1 recommended. And as far as an old man, I am only in my 40's. Well even though the Ensure has no fiber, at mile 3 my body was not told this. I shall save you the details on that event.

Today I drank plenty of fluids. I did not mix my Accelerade with GU like an article suggested. I alternated Accelerade alone and then GU with water. This worked like a charm today.

I got to mile 10ish and still felt pretty good compared to last week. I began to smile a little. Seems a little dorky but I need that long run mental boost. I also walked at the water breaks but just to get water. My last three miles were at a low to mid 8:oo minute pace. I was so damned surprised. I kept doing the math in my head just to make sure it was the right distance. 7+6.7+5=18.7. I also ran without an ipod.

And as far as songs playing in my head. All kinds of thoughts were going through my mind. Some were songs, jingles, poems, odes, final credits and movie scenes.

Next week is a 20 miler. Well all I can say is......

A day off is good and recommended....I read somewhere.

I took the day off of training this morning. Since my long runs are now on Wednesday mornings, I figure I might as well take Tuesday off to let the legs, arms, back and all else have a rest day. I felt a little guilty about it but it did not last long. I could always spin or swim if need be. Or not.

Yesterday morning I swam 1300 yards just to start the week. I then ran hills Monday evening with the BRA group. I have started back doing hills since Jan suggested it would help. I would have to agree. This is the fourth week back at the hills and i have noticed an improvement. I have been surging up the hills and then relaxing on the flats and the downhills until last night. Dorcas, one of the BRA runners, was running with me. I would pass her on the hills and then she would go by me on the downhills. I guess she had seen enough of this and yelled at me about giving in to the downhill and let the momentum take me down the hill. I gave this a try and it sure worked. This will be my new hill plan.

I have recently begun to mentally focus more on this long tri I have coming. I like it. I still have other matters to deal with but like I said earlier, all the pieces fall in to place. Just let it happen and don't force it. Why get all worked up. In the end are you really going to need it.

I have my long run of 18 miles in the a.m. I have been visualizing the route in my head all day. Not that I am worked up about it. I am just wanting to make sure I don't short myself or run too damn far. The only downside about moving my long runs to the middle of the week is that they are done alone. Just me and the ipod from here on out. All of the BRA runners do their long ones on Saturday mornings and it is tough for me to do that and turn around the next day for a long bike ride. Oh well. An ironman is an individual sport when it comes down to it. Right?

I can see clearly now the rain is

I have to learn not to do any bike maintenance or replace parts the day before a long ride or race. Or at the least, test ride my bike first. Anyways.

Yesterday I put a larger cassette on my bike to help on those lovely little hills in San Antonio and Clermont. I also took apart my aerobar so I could clean the bolts and replace them if needed. No bolts needed replacing. By the time I put it all back together, it was too late and dark for a test ride. Nothing like sleeping with your fingers crossed.

On the way to San An, it began to storm. A little. Normally I would turn around because I do not like to ride in the rain. I will ride in it if I am already out there but not from the get go. Once at San An, it started clearing. I grouped up with some fellow riders and we headed out. As fate would have it, I was about 2 miles from the start when I hit a good size bump in the road and it then that I was reminded that I did not tighten my handlebar neck enough. My handlebars went from level to.....not level. Well you get the point. I rode back and fixed this mess.

I was able to catch back up with a couple of the riders.

I again rode my pace and tried to ride either alone or off the back. The new cassette worked out and have I mentioned how much I love Accelerade. Accelerade also has gels so I will be ordering those.

I was able to ride 62 miles and run 4. I then stood under the outdoor shower for another 20 minutes. I felt so good this time that I was going to swim at 3 but the pool was packed and Brooke did not show so I will swim first thing in the a.m.

Look for the corner pieces first.....

Wow. More than one post this month. Something is going on. Not sure if it is good or not but right about now I will take it.

This morning I ran the short 7 miler with some of the Brandon Running runners. For me these short Saturday runs turn in to a speedy 5k to the first water stop and then a slower run to finish. That was not going to be my plan today but as nature and nutritional tuning will have it, things change. I decided to drink a vanilla Ensure about an hour before I started running and the Ensure was wanting to run now. And coincidentally, a fellow runner was also having some #2 issues. There was going to be a race to the bathroom at the water stop. So now there was an unofficial 5k underway. Brandon Bathroom Dash 2011.

I let him take off with the lead. I know he has a tendency to lead out a little too fast. With about a mile left, I passed him and told him that I would be getting to the bathroom first. I also let him know there were two bathrooms so he should be fine. Little did he know that one of the two men's rooms was always locked. There was the women's bathroom as an option.

So I arrive first and take my seat at the stop. I then hear the locked door get banged on. Then my door gets banged on. I told him to use the ladies. Turns out he did. Poor ladies. I then asked him how it was. He said it was pretty nice. There were hand towels and a scented candle. Damn Them.

Well anyways, I had a pretty good run and post run yap session. This ironman thing feels like it is coming together pretty good. Like one big puzzle, work on the easy pieces first.

I am reminded of what Trent told me. "Every day is exactly the same."

And boy are my arms tired....

This morning was my long swim. The plan was to swim an hour and a half or 4250 yards (2.4 miles). Which ever came first. This would be my longest swim ever. With only seven weeks to go til the GF, I have to ramp it up. Doesn't mean I have to stand at the top of the ramp, but what the hell, why not.

I looked at the clock and thought, "an hour and a half. Crap." I decided just to start a swimmin'. No warm up laps in this 25 yard pool. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Well you get the point. It was a treat. I was told it would be easier, mentally, if I broke the swim in to 1000 yard sessions and maybe had some music. I had no music so the 1000 yarders was the plan.

Between the 1000ers, all I did was get a splash of my Accelerade and back and forth I went. Just over half way, I started to feel a little twinge in my left shoulder and neck. I relaxed my stroke and neck a little and this took care of that.

After 3000, I looked at the clock and saw that it was just under an hour. It did not feel like I had been swimming an hour. Surprisingly I was not tired at all. With 1250 to go I was just going to swim this one without stopping. I was done before the hour and a half. Well the swim leg is secure.

I will have to admit that I feel pretty darn good right about now. I had no fatigue at all and if it weren't for work, I would have done some spin.

We shall see how this weekend goes with the short run on Saturday and the long bike and run on Sunday.

As Mick told me once, "You can't always get what you want. But if you tri sometimes, you just might get what you need."

Does the weather matter?

Well hell yeah it does. This morning was my long run of 16ish miles. I started at around 5:15 with the temperature at about 73. That made a big difference this time around. And I also changed up the frequency of my fluid intake.

I ran out a mile and a half. Got water at the usual stop. I then ran out another mile and back to the water. I did this again and then back to the start for some Accelerade mixed with Carboplex. This combo has been working for me lately. Took in a Gu and then off for another 3ish to the next water stop. Another Gu and back to the Y. I cut out two hills but not the distance. I didn't feel bad about dissing the hills since I did the hill workout Monday night.

I felt pretty darn good until about 13ish mile. A little queezy in the gut but sucked it up back to the start. Got some more Accelerade and then headed off for the final 3. So 16+ in the books today.

I have some minor aches but just because of the distance. It is something when you have to put on your underwear and shorts by dropping them on the floor and using your toes to get your feet in the holes. And for those of you that were introduced to the "Twins" on a previous post, they are just a little heated right now. I shall leave you with that lovely visual.

I have realized that when I am a good dog I sometimes get thrown a bone.

61 Days 14 Hours and Counting Down

Well it is obvious that I have not posted in a while. It's not that I haven't had anything to say. I have lots and lots to tell you. And boy do I. Ever heard of Showdance Mercury? Anyways, I have been so busy. So many things have been going on in my personal life, my social life, my career life and then there's that Ironman thing I am training for. Whoops. Did I say Ironman. I am so sorry. It is not officially an "Ironman" branded race but it is the same distance as one. They don't make it any shorter or longer with or without the name.

From the title you can see that I am about 8 weeks out and have much more training to do. That would be about 7 weeks of hardcore workouts and a week of tapering. Now somewhere in there, September 25th, I am going to either do the Augusta 70.3 or the Six Gap. Not sure which one yet. More on that in a future post.

I have been having some training/nutrition/mental issues the past month when it comes to my workouts. Training here in Hell really gets hot. No matter what time you decide to do your workouts, it is just plain miserable. The heat is something I will just have to deal with. I am the one who decided to make my first ironman in October which put my training over the summer. Great for me. Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate.

I have been bonking on some of my long rides and runs as of late. I think this has a lot to do with the heat and my nutrition. I recently asked some of my running friends and Ironman veterans for some assistance with my nutrition woes. I got some great tips, information and advice. I thank all of you....for now.

Today I decided to ride alone for three hours. I was not concerned about the miles as much as I was my pace. I dialed it back to a 17-19 average. Riding alone gave me a chance to reflect on how my training is going, among other things. I also did not have to pull any other riders so I was not obligated to increase my speed. And I did not ride any other wheels to pull me along. I concentrated on my nutrition. I was told that I would need to take in about 2500 calories while on the bike during the race. That is a heck of a lot of gels and I just can't do that. I have been experimenting with other foods and today I think I found one that works. I thank B.o.b. for this one. Fig Newtons. I put some in a baggie and was able to eat them while I rode. A couple of them did get a little soggy but the added salt flavor wasn't bad. I got back to my car and felt pretty damn good for the first time in a while.

I then ran for 30 minutes. At about 2o minutes my legs started feeling good and I was getting a better feeling about the run. I still wanted to only go 30 minutes. It is great when a plan comes together. I kind of feel I shorted myself today but in retrospect, I did the distance I wanted to do. I have built back up a little confidence about this whole Great Floridian thing.

So with the help of my family, friends, closer friend and the occasional visit to my Psychotherapist, I should do all right.