"midnight swim"

I must tell you going for a swim session at midnight at the local 24 hour gym sucks big time..But I needed to do it..Since I missed one of my swim workouts last week, I have been feeling so out of it in the water and my swim stroke shows it..

My midnight session starting out sucking ass, I think I was 5 strokes past my usually swim stroke count per 25 yards. Not feeling it at all...But since I was here I might as well make the best of it..

For some reason there was people waddling in the pool lane next to me..Shouldn't you be home sleeping.. There is a reason I swim this late.. To get away from all the floaters in the pool..

But one floater I must talk about, I give him credit for trying, but this 300+ man was trying to do his water exercise, which was cool but he kept on hanging on the lane lines and invading my space...WTF...After a while I had to move to another lane..

Then comes the big exit from the pool..After watching him trying to hoist himself on some wench located besides the pool, it was getting kind of funny to watch, even some people lifting weights was looking though the glass to stare...

Enough of fun and games, I had to continue my practice..After a lap or two I looked up and he was gone. How he got out I will never know..

On with the swim, later around 12:30 am, 2 ladies show up, one trying to put her water MP3 player on with no success..Thinking to myself only crazy Triathletes would show up this late doing swim laps..That actually woke me up, because I got hyped up and didn't want to look like a slacker...But I continued my Total Immersion drills..

So around 1:30 am, I had enough..but at least I think I got the feel of the water again..

Now only 3 to 4 hours of sleep and off to work...Man this sucks ass..I'm soooo tired..

8th week

Another tough training week..Not really tough as in the amount of time needed or even the schedule..But the tough part was trying to schedule a major housework project around this. This Saturday was paint the 2.5 car garage weekend.. Pretty much an all day affair on Saturday..But it is done.. Thank god...

Thursday, I did my long run around my neighborhood...9.5 mile loop, trying to stay at a low heart rate zone and not worry about what type of pace it was at all..Woke up early and started my run at 5:30 am..1.5 hours later I'm done... Feeling not to bad, I also did a tempo/Interval workout on the treadmill during lunch...It actually seemed alot tougher.. But another 7 miles in the training log for the day....Man I was tired...

Friday, I actually took the day off, because off my big house project on Saturday so I could get my long ride in...Went out to the Chicago Lakefront early in the morning.. To my surprise there were alot of people running and cycling along the Lakefront..I even saw some sporadic Triathletes out there riding there high end bikes...One guy was training on his bling, bling, bike with disk wheels... Me, this would be the first day trying out my Aero racing wheel set with narrower tires... Kind of windy and cold that day, lower 60's, typical day along the Chicago Lakefront..

So 4hrs 30 minutes and 73 miles later, thank god that bike ride is over with...Just tried to stay in a groove the whole way through, but it was tough staying in that Aero Tri bike position for that long.. My neck started to hurt something fierce..So I thought my $$$$ bike fit was supposed to take care of that,,maybe I need a small refund from that...

Off the bike and a short 20 minute casual run..Okay done with my planned brick workout for the day...

Well, Saturday was paint day..Thank god, man created paint sprayers...

Sunday rolls around, sore from painting and feeling like an old man.. I did a local 5k in the city..Kinda of a family affair..My 3 year old ran a tot race.. The best part is she actually ran it.. Actually a proud father moment for me...

well for me, I ran a 21:45 5k, a 7:00 minute pace..Still trying to get under 21 minutes for a 5k..But not a bad day....But I must say I got totally ripped, I registered that day, looked at the race results and placed 2nd in may age group (small 5k race) , but my name was nowhere to be found....Oh crap, I even think they duplicated my number so SOL for me..First time I place and I get NADA, oh well,,,

It was a fun family day. Alot More Important....Off to the Mad City half marathon in Madison, Wisconsin next weekend...

7Th week..

Tough start to my 7th week of my 24 week Ironman training..Longer training sessions. Sometimes just adding 30 minutes to a workout is always tough when you are trying to squeeze all the spare time you have to train, especially when I try to train early in the morning..

But so far I have been able to get my workouts in for this week. Tomorrow will be an optional/rest/recovery workout day.. But I think I need the rest day..

Just finished my 70 minute hill spinervals workout followed by a 30 minute brick run on the treadmill..I must be listening to "Zinn and the Art of Triathlon" podcast to much, because I did all my brick run barefoot.. Actually was not to bad, kept my heart rate in zone 2 using my new garmin 301 watch I just picked up..

My swimming I must say is still sucking ass. I was only able to do 2100 yards today because of time...Still having problems perfecting my stroke..Why oh Why is swimming so technical..A slight adjustment throws my swim stroke counts all out of whack..

Finally got to see the doctor about my foot. I was getting shooting pain in my foot after my runs. He said one of my bones in my foot is a little larger than usual and that is what is causing my foot pain..He had some doctor lingo for it but it's all foreign to me..But hopefully in a couple of weeks I will get my orthodics and all will be well..

Already May and time is flying..I think I'm getting used to these 15+ hour training weeks..I think so anyway..Still need a lot of work but again I have no choice...

My motto I live by " impossible is nothing"...

"Suddenly Century"

Big bike ride on Sunday, well for me anyway...5 hours and 72 miles later...What a ride..

Start time was at 7:15, At the usual place where we do our group club rides.

Off we go, the 4 of us to register at the century sponsored bicycle ride. Trying to hopefully catch up with the rest of the club members at the starting line..

At the onset, 2 of them cycle off, me at the back of the pack just trying to keep up to the 20+ mph avg at the get go..Somehow I knew it was going to be a long day..

Finally get to the starting line of the ride.. Thank god, hopefully I can catch my breathe, feeling like I was in some chase group in a peloton and trying not get dropped.

40 miles later, thank god for drafting, just trying to keep up with most of them in our group was a challenge I will not soon forget. I'm sure all this time the rest of them were just having a good relaxed ride.

After going 40 miles with an avg of 20+ mph, I had to bite the bullet and let myself get dropped.
After that, I came to a realization that riding 116 miles is really going to suck...

But I'm glad one of them hanged back with me, because riding solo would of sucked, since I had no semblance of where the hell I was at on this ride..These roads seemed to last forever..

Mile 60...Finally familiar territory and the a final SAG stop on my journey....

Grab something to eat, relax, and back on the bikes. The end is near...Ohh crap was is that pain on my inner leg.. Cramp , cramp, and wholly crap..Try to ride it out and take in some fluid..

Leg feeling better and just trying to "hammer" the last couple of miles the best I could...

Finally back, 72 miles, I wish I could have gotten my act together and recorded all my heart rate average and distance properly..Wearing 2 watches and all the numbers are off because I forgot to turn them on when I stopped at the SAG stops...Oh well...

Okay lock up my bike and went on a 15 minute run in my bike shorts..Not the best feeling in the world if you know what I mean. Felt like my ass was twice the size..

Now that is all done..Great day riding with great people, even though they made me suffer they did not totally break me..Longest ride I've ever done at one time..Need to do more of those to get ready for the Ironman race...

At least I was able to work on my nutrition, and found a bike route to do my long rides on.

The most eye opening things is realizing how suck ass it is going to be to run a marathon after riding 116 miles... I must do what I got to do...

"Breathe Through I tell you"

Okay, after two years of swimming I finally had a breakthrough in my swimming. For the longest time I have been struggling to figure why my breathing has been so labored when I swim..So I finally asked my swim coach how to "Breathe"...

Breathe in the mouth and exhale out the nose...Interesting concept I thought..Never tried that before, all this time a pure mouth breather...

Went to the pool on Friday to test this theory out..Low and behold I was able to do 2050 yards without feeling tired or have this feeling of trying to catch my breathe all that time..mann what a miracle, somebody should have told me this before....

Positive note, it has been a crappy health week...Training week was fine..long story...

I know 2050 yards is not a lot, especially training for an Ironman..But now I think I can starting doing those 3000+ yards swim session without feeling like I need oxygen...I guess not everything is written in those swim books..Score one for the coach..

"Sodium, A Necessary Evil"

It was a tough day yesterday, went to try to get my Lactate Profile done at the University's "Human Performance Lab".. I'm trying to complete this test so I can determine my maximum lactate performance level so I can finally figure out my training zones and train properly for this crazy "Ironman" event I signed up for.

This has been the second time I've tried this. The first time was a couple of weeks ago, my starting Lactate level was a 2.4.. I needed a 2.0 to start the test, since the test is completed when my levels reached 4.0 or was it 5.0.. Safe to say that this test did not happen..So, okay 3 weeks later another appointment.. My starting levels was still 2.4 eventhough I concentrated on drinking lots of water a rearranged my training schedule so I could have a good rest day..

Okay at this point 2.4 was good enough to start the test, then my blood pressure readings sound off to what we call the "danger zone".. 140/100 she calls out (120/80 is normal).. What the hell is that I said to myself...No wonder I have been feeling like crap the past 24 hours...Another person checks it, then another, same readings...This day is starting to suck..

Now I think back, what is causing this, besides my family history, I exercise, I'm not over weight, don't drink, wholy crap, it must be those high sodium sports drinks I've been drinking.. It has been jacking me up and I didn't even know it...

I guess a blessing in disguise.. So the administrator of the test says..I guess so anyway.. Crap ..I need to figure out my endurance nutrition and nail it down before this crazy race....

With all that craziness on my mind, all I could do to relax is exercise a little bit..Did some stationary bike work and went to my masters swim class that night...

At least that went well, constant 15 strokes per 25 yards..Not bad for a guy who used to do 25 plus strokes per 25 yards...

At least the day was not a total loss...Sodium I need you but I must live without you, for at least now...