The Ironman Journey

still at it

2010-04-21T17:36:00.000-07:00

Here i am midway through week 2 and will hit 9 hrs of training by Saturday. So far it is manageable but difficult because I am so busy at work right now. Thank God for a loving and supportive wife.

Day 3 update

2010-04-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

I had an easy ride on the trainer Monday and another long swim full of drills today followed by a little strength training. It is challenging to train this time of year for me because work i so busy. It takes lots of patience.

Day 1

2010-04-11T12:15:00.000-07:00

Today was the big kick off day. I failed to wake at 6 am to knock out my swim because I stayed up later than usual Saturday night. I waited until after church/lunch/grocery and I really did not feel like going and getting wet. This is SO out of my family routine for Sundays but I committed and I did it and it actually felt great.
Here's the workout:
WU: 300 swim/100 drill for warm up
MS: 300 swim w/ pull buoy – then 100 drill – repeat as many times as you can in 45 minutes. Swim effort on the 300s is steady – not hard, not easy. NO STOPPING.
CD: 100

It was much different than my usual training method of "just swim". It was a real workout, a heart-pumoing calorie burner!
Now off to the couch for some Masters coverage and a short snooze.

I'm back...

2010-03-31T18:14:00.000-07:00

Tee minus 11 days until training commencement!

Bet you thought I gave up....wrong!

2010-01-24T12:26:00.000-08:00

I have been 'maintaining' my good 1/2 IM base so far. I am currently narrowing my search for the right training plan because February is D-day for getting serious. I am the official owner of a Felt B-16 tri bike thanks to the guys at Tri Your Best in Stone Mountain. Dave and Mark are great guys and very knowledgeable.
I had a great ride at St. Mtn Saturday with Kevin & Nicole. 20 mile bike, 5 mile ride.
The Runner's Core workout has been excellent and i highly recommend it for any endurance athlete.
til next time...

still going...

2009-12-19T07:06:00.000-08:00

I have not given up my training effort, just my blogging effort. I am still hitting the runner's core workout on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I've been spending more time on my bike trainer getting use to the tri bike and the new position and trying to get a bike/run brick in once a week.
I got back in the pool on Tuesday and felt good, 8 laps and then my workout. I did a 1/3 mile swim, spin class, and ran 2 miles on the treadmill (ugh) on Friday.
Saturday's long runs have been good. I did 13.28 miles on 12/12 and 10 miles in 87 minutes today!
Til next time...

It's been a while...

2009-12-09T03:39:00.001-08:00

I have been 'maintaining' since the last post. I did have a long run Saturday (8.5 miles) and felt great except for the new shoes I was trying out. I have an eternal search for the perfect shoes that MUST end! Asics always work yet I keep trying different shoes. Thank goodness for Zappo's liberal return policy.
I am also trying out a Felt B-16 Tri bike from Tri Your Best. It is definitely an awkward positon at first but does feel faster and more relaxed than my road bike. I did 3 laps around St. Mtn last week on it and the weather has kept me away this week.
I can definitely feel some benefit from doing the Runner's Core workouts. I've been doing them 2X/week for 3 weeks now and my legs feel more balanced and stronger.
That's it for now. Hopefully I can overcome the weather challenges this week and get outside.

Vacation is over

2009-11-29T05:04:00.000-08:00

I had an awesome Thanksgiving in Texas this year and managed to get some good training in between the festive eating binges.
Monday: short run when we got in town
Tuesday: Hit the YMCA for a good core workout, jogged home.
Wednesday: Spin class at 24 hour fitness.
Thursday: GE Run Thru the Woods 5 mile race, 38 minutes flat!!!!
Friday: nada
Saturday: 10:25 mile run; 8:45/minute/mile avg.

Wow!

2009-11-21T09:24:00.000-08:00

Anna and I hit stone Mountain this morning, sans Ellen, on the most beautiful, crisp Fall morning. My intentions were to get a
7-8 mile run in but I felt so good I did 10 miles and finished the last mile at a 7 minute pace! There is nothing like finding that groove. I did 10 miles in 89 minutes and felt great the whole way and even after. Anna did 5 miles and THEN ran up the mountain! Very impressive dear.
Oh yeah, Thursday update: 12.5 mile mtn bike @ Ft. Yargo. Great ride and great interval training.
Things I must remember: warm up, cool down, stretch, roll.

update

2009-11-20T03:48:00.000-08:00

I've had 1 good run and 1 good mtn bike ride this week. I also started a new workout called Runners Core that really focuses on imbalances in your stride. It is boring but challenging and I really see where my weaknesses are, like my right leg and my glutes. Hopefully this will help keep me injury free as my mileage progresses.

Saturday's Training

2009-11-15T12:31:00.000-08:00

6 mile run @ Tribble Mill Park; 53 minutes with a little ITB pain! Time to roll and stretch.

Great day

2009-11-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

I had an awesome mtn bike ride at Ft Yargo today. 12.5 miles, 1 1/2 hours, 1345 calories and 1 flat tire.
My last 3 out of 4 rides have Included a flat tire! I did have pump today so I didn't have to ride out on a flat.

Update

2009-11-10T16:16:00.000-08:00

I had a great mtn bike ride @ Chicopee on Monday. 1 1/2 hours and 1100 calories on a perfect, overcast day. I think that mtn biking really makes me a strong climber on the road as I usually pass most people on the hills during races.
Tuesday was a good, quick and intense weight workout. I did 75 clean & presses increasing the weight with each set.
Hopefully the rain will pass on Wednesday for a run.
Til next time...

Great day, bad food

2009-11-07T17:00:00.000-08:00

Today was a great day. Started out with a great 6 mile run on a crisp Fall mornng followed by a day with my daughter at the UGA game then home on the couch for more football. My food choices weren't so great; pizza, popcorn, hotdog, and a few sweets.

Not much to report

2009-11-04T13:29:00.000-08:00

I set my bike trainer up on the back deck this afternoon while Ellen Rose napped. I did a 1 hour interval ride where I warmed up for 5 minutes, did 30 second bursts followed by 30 second rest for 5 minutes and then I came up with a new, to me, method for intervals. I rode hard for 1 minute, rested 1 minute, rode hard 2 minutes, rested 1, rode hard 3 minutes, rested 1, rode hard 4 minutes, rested 1 and then rode hard 5 minutes, rested 1; then I worked my way back down and rode hard 4 minutes, rested 1 until I got back to a 1 minute hard ride and then finished off with a 5 minute cool-down and some stretching.
It was a good 620 calorie burn too!
I am still 'shopping' around for a solid IM training plan. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
Later

Back to the basics

2009-11-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

Today was dreaded gym day! I'm trying to hit the gym, weights that is, at least twice per week through the off season. I'm going back to the basics and focusing on power and strength. Today was squats, 75 reps using 25,20,15,10,5 & progressing weight with each set. I alternated pull up between sets to keep my heart rate up. Last I did 3 sets of 12 on clean & press. This will get your heart pumping. I hit 189 on the last set!
Weights are very boring for me but a key element to overall fitness.
Food has been a challenge for me since Friday. Fortunately poor eating makes me feel poor and rundown; so I can't sustain a poor diet for long.

2009-11-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

From the beginning

2009-11-02T12:44:00.001-08:00

I feel like i need to give some background on what lead me the goal of completing an ironman race; I have always been intrigued by people who have the mental toughness to push beyond their perceived limits. Triathletes, Navy SEALS, ultra-marathoners, & mountain climbers to name a few. I was fortunate to 'unlock' this ability in my own mind/body during my stint in U.S. Army Infantry School at Ft. Benning in 1992. Prior to this I never had much self confidence and was severely lacking in the ability to push myself beyond limits.
Fast forward to 2008: I entered the My First Triathlon at Lake Lanier, a sprint distance for fist-timers. I had an awful swim, great bike and run. It appears that open-water swimming is a challenge that will continue to haunt me to this day. I felt confident enough to sign up for another sprint distance called The Sumer Sizzler in Hiawasee. I had a great race that day and felt even more confident. I continued to train through the summer for one more race at Lake Lanier, the Emerald Point Sprint in October. I had another great race to end the season. I felt so good about my first season that I booked the next years season well ahead of time. I signed on for the My Next Tri (with wife), the Peachtree City Olympic Distance, the Summer Sizzler International Distance, and the Augusta Ironman 70.3 ( 1/2 Iron distance). I even signed up for the ING full marathon and started my training and was doing very well until I suffered an inflamed IT band on my right leg somewhere arounf the 22 mile mark in my training. Your IT band is a thin sheet of muscle that runs from your hip to your knee and be extremely painful and frustrating to treat. After several attempts i finally found some good therapy but was too late to recoup for the marathon. I was a little depressed about the upcoming Tri season that started in March with Peachtree City. After some gentle persuasion from my wife I decided to go through with my commitments to race. The whole family traveled south to cheer me on and I finished on my feet after a frightening .93 mile swim, great bike ride, and mediocre run with knee pain. Anna & I had a fun time doing the My First/My Next together. i did miss the Summer Sizzler for lack of training and "want-to". In late July the pain in my IT band started to diminish and I was able to begin regaining my distance running, starting with a humbling 3-4 miles. Augusta was less than 2 months away and would demand a 1.1 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run. I was frustrating with both my ability to prepare and my laziness toward preparing. I was seriously contemplating not racing! In early September i decided to train hard ad see where I stood 2 weeks out from September 27th; it was not a pretty standing. I did a mock run on a hot Saturday afternoon inLawrenceville of a 1/2 mil swim, 30 mile bike and a 7 mile run...I thought I was going to die. There was no way I could make Augusta in 2 weeks! It was a roller coaster of decisions for the next week. I finally decided to go through banking on lots of walking and rest breaks. I also learned a lesson in fueling from my mock run, i need about 5X as much fuel as i thought I did. I needed to be consuming calories every 20 -30 minutes plus electrolytes. I got a great plan recommendation from a seasoned triathlete and decided to implement this for the big race.
September 26th, 2009; headed to Augusta with the family, butterflies, bad. Race check in, bike check in, dinner and bed. Feet hit the floor around 5:00 am on the 27th still not sure about my ability to finish. I made my way to the transition area, donned my wetsuit at sunrise and caught a bus to the swim start...nervous. The swim was 1.1 miles down the Savannah River with a water temp around 68 degrees and a 1 knot current, cool, literally! The first 1/3 mile was slow and relaxing until I got comfortable. I even took a nice rest stop on a kayak to clear my goggles. The next 2/3 mile was great. I found a rhythm and was actually surprised when i reached the finish, I even passed a few people! Whew! The hard part was over. I took my time in transition and refueled. The bike was a nice, easy 23 miles out and 23 back with exception of the headwind on the return trip that was awful. Just over 3 hours on the bike and i was back at transition and suiting up for the run, relaxing, and refueling. 13.1 miles to go now! The run was a zig zag through downtown Augusta, perfectly flat. I was fueling the entire bike ride and run by the way and it was really paying off now. I was feeling surprisingly spry at the half-way mark.
In the end I was able to finish the race in 6 hours,, 20 minutes feeling very strong in spite of poor training and preparation.
I felt so cocky at my accomplishment that I had to make myself wait to sign up for Ironman Louisville. I waited over a month to sign up so that I would not be doing it out of over confidence and cockiness. I woke up Halloween morning and decided that there was no better time than the scariest day of the year to embark on the scariest physical challenge of my life.
This blog will serve as my journal of my Ironman Journey and hopefully an inspiration to anyone who cares to read it.
Your comments, encouragement and suggestions are welcomed.
-MS

Still surprised that I took the step

2009-11-01T16:54:00.000-08:00

I am still surprised that I am officially signed up for the 2010 Ironman Louisville! I am at peace with the decision, though it is going to be a long road of training to get there.