Weekly Review - Officially Sick...

Took the Louisiana Family Tour this past week and we had a great time. We stopped and visited my folks in Alexandria on Monday & Tuesday and then headed down to Baton Rouge to visit Jennifer's folks. We drove back on Saturday. 8 hours in the car with 3 kids is a long freaking time. But all in all the kids did great and we made it without too much screaming.


On the workout front, things started off great. I had a great ride/run on Wednesday in Baton Rouge along River Road, Alligator Bayou and the Miss. River. (No, I did not see any alligators in alligator bayou) and then Jennifer I ran for 2 hours around the LSU Lakes and Campus on Thursday. The campus has changed quite a bit since Jennifer and I were in school there but it is the most beautiful college campus I have ever been too. Everything was going great until Friday when the Coco Family Sickness finally caught up with me. Sickness in my family tends to take several weeks to clear the house as we gradually pass it around. Gage has had a cold for about a week now, Reed got it and now I've got it. Stuffed up head, sore throat, runny nose, achy muscles, etc... (Jennifer & Ben are next) I didn't work out on Friday or Saturday and I did a very basic weight routine at the gym this morning so needless to say I'm behind on my weekly goals. I'm trying to be smart and let the sickness pass so it doesn't linger for a few weeks but I'm not very good at "resting"... Totals for the week:

• Cycling - 3.5 hours
• Running - 2. 5 hours
• Weights - 1.5 hours
• Swimming - 0 hours

This upcoming week is typically my busiest week of the year at work (annual user's conference) so I'm not setting any specific workout goals. If I can get in 2 runs, 2 bikes and a swim I'll be happy. I officially start training for IM New Orleans on 12/8 so technically I'm still in offseason, I'm hoping by 12/8 that I am highly motivated to get back to structured training.


Here are some pics from the trip:




Luke #25 - (My Nephew), Ben, Reed & Myself at LSU in front of Mike the Tiger's Cage and the PMAC



Jennifer, Luke, Reed & Ben in front of Mike the Tiger's Cage...

Gage getting ready to take Christmas Pictures....

Ben, Reed and my Dad hanging out in the clubhouse that they built...

Past week has gone okay. I had some "bike" issues at the beginning of the week and I didn't get it resolved until Wednesday thus I missed my "Tuesday" bike ride and today's ride was about 30 minutes off of the goal time. The run(s) went pretty good. I had 4 solid sessions. The calf is still bothering me but as I mentioned yesterday I can work around the calf issue. I can't run as fast as I would like but I'm getting in some solid miles which is my primary focus right now. As far as the swim goes, my stroke feels okay but it's hard to stay motivated in the pool without a race in the near future.

For the week I ended up with the following:

• Cycling - 3 hours (1.5 sessions, the .5 session was a crappy trainer ride at home. I hate the trainer!!!)
• Running - 5 hours (4 sessions)
• Swimming - 40 minutes (1 session)
• Weights - 1.5 hour (2 sessions)

We (the coco family) are doing our Louisiana Family tour next week. We are visiting my folks in Alexandria, La the first half of the week and then heading down to Baton Rouge, La the second half of the week to see Jennifer's parents. This will certainly impact next week's training as we will be traveling for 2 solid days. I do plan on doing a lot of cycling in Baton Rouge. I'm hoping I can get in a 2.5-3 hour ride and a 4 hour ride while I'm there.

For this upcoming week, my goals will be:

• Cycling - 6-7 hours
• Running - 3 hours
• Swimming - 1 hour
• Weights - 30 minutes

Happy Thanksgiving,
Jon

Much better then last week

Did my long run this morning and it was 10 times better than last week. I ran about 16.25 miles and I felt really good. Had something left in the tank afterwards and my HR stayed steady throughout the run. It's always interesting to see how your body reacts to exercise. For me, it seems like it's been a crap shoot recently. Calf is still causing me some problems but it's not preventing me from running which is good. As I've gotten older I've noticed that preventative maintenance (stretching, icing, etc) has become very important....

I'm going to put in a short ride (1 hour) on the trainer this afternoon and then take the older boys (Ben & Reed) to see the movie Bolt. Tomorrow, I'm going to ride for 3-3.5 hours in the morning. I'm behind on my training goals for the week but I still have a day and a half to make it up. This blog has really served it's purpose as I'm actually feeling the pressure to workout so I can have a "positive" blog update tomorrow telling everyone how I achieved my goals for the week.

Weekly Review/Sunday Ride

Got a hallpass from Mrs. Coco today and met up with an old friend at White Rock that I haven't seen in 6+ months. We had a great time cycling around WR and catching up. We hammered it for right around 2 hours, our original plan was 2.5-3 but I ended up getting 2 flats so we had to cut the ride short.

This past week went okay, I missed a few workouts but the ones I missed were not what I considered key workouts. For the week I ended up with the following

• Cycling - 4.5 hours (3 sessions)
• Running - 3.5 hours (3 sessions)
• Swimming - 1 hour (1 session)
• Weights - 1.5 hour (2 sessions)

For this upcoming week, my goal will be:

• Cycling - 4.5 hours
• Running - 4.5 hours
• Swimming - 1 hour
• Weights - 1.5 hours

I had initially planned to swim twice a week during this time of year but I'm going to drop this down to one session for the next few weeks so I can focus on running.

Baseball & Soccer just ended so it's going to feel strange not rushing off to practice and games this week. I'm sure we will adjust quickly to the additional freetime :)

One of those days....

My calf was finally feeling good enough to put in a long run on the "road". I woke up this morning and was excited; ready to start getting back into the swing of things with running. I have a 15 mile route in McKinney. It's a great route, 97% sidewalk, some hills, nice mix of terrain. I ran this route about 3 weeks ago and felt great, and I felt like I had plenty left in the tank after I completed the route.

Well after the first mile, I knew it was going to be a long day. HR was high, legs were tight and my stomach was not too happy with me. Needless to say, it was pretty miserable. My Avg HR was 15 beats higher then it was 3 weeks ago and my pace was about 20 seconds off from what it was 3 weeks ago. The whole time I was thinking... Have I lost this much run fitness in a 2.5 week layoff or am I getting sick. One thing I've learned from the IM training, is that some days you just kind of suck no matter how much you prepare, rest, etc. So I'm assuming today I just sucked but I do feel that "SOMETIMES" it is important to complete these types of workouts regardless of how bad you feel. Gotta work through the pain because you know it will be there in some shape or form on race day and I feel that it is important to know what you can and cannot handle.

On a positive note, my wife is in the final stretch of training for White Rock and she is doing great. She's got that "Eye of the Tiger" look these days and it is inspiring to watch someone put their heart and soul into achieving their goals. (She's also making me feel like a slacker on my running which is good motivation for me)

Offseason/Injury Update

Well I'm officially in offseason mode right now. I'm trying to do 2-3 rides per week, 2 swims per week, 3-4 runs per week and lift weights 1-2 times per week. The rides haven't been over 3 hours and the swims are right around the 2K mark. My primary focus on the swim is technique and just keeping a "feel for the water". I need to join a master's program so I can get some coaching but just haven't done it yet.

My primary focus this winter/offseason is going to be the run. I'm traditionally a weak runner and of the 3 disciplines this is by far my limiter. My original plan was to train for a marathon this winter but only compete in half marathons. However, I injured my calf about 2 weeks ago and haven't run until this morning. This morning I ran about 3 miles on the treadmill and the calf felt okay but still not 100%. I'm going to stick to the treadmill this week and then hopefully get back on track running wise next week. Assuming everything goes okay, I'll probably target a half marathon in Jan/Feb and try and meet some time goal. Haven't determined that time goal yet, but my initial thought is around 1:40.

Ironman New Orleans 70.3 is April 5th, so I'll officially start training for that race the week of 12/8. I'll execute a 17-18 week training plan and see where it takes me. The toughest part of an early season race is cycling in the winter. With young kids it's important that I'm home at a decent time on the weekends for family time so I typically leave by 5am on Saturday/Sunday. This time of year it's tolerable, but December-February it's downright miserable to cycle in 30-40 degree weather. Last year, I had my IM AZ traning partner JT to accompany me on these days but JT is trying to qualify for Boston right now and is focused on running. (JT if your reading this, give up that running stuff and come back to Triathlons remember it's all about the bike my friend) JT is really kicking some serious tail right now and I feel confident that he will nail that Boston qualifying time at White Rock in a few weeks.

One thing I will say, is this lay off from running has really made me miss it, so I'm motivated to get back to running.....

Introduction - Purpose of Blog

As my profile states, I'm a triathlete wanna be. I completed my first triathlon in April 2006 and ever since then I've been hooked. I completed my first Ironman in April 2008 (Ironman Arizona) and I can honestly say this was one of the proudest moments of my life.

I'm trying to achieve the delicate balance of being a competitive triathlete and at the same time being a good father and husband. Sometimes these can be conflicting goals, but I do my best to always put my family first.

The purpose of this blog is to provide some level of accountability for IM training in 2009. I'm signed up for Ironman New Orleans 70.3 (April 2009) and Ironman Florida (November 2009). I'm going to coach myself and my plan is to divide up the 2009 season into two halves. The first half will be base work and preparing for New Orleans, the second half of the season will be preparing for Florida. I would love to sit here and tell you that my goal is to qualify for 70.3 World Championship or the Ironman World Championship but I know that I'm not there yet and in fact I feel like I need 2-3 more years of solid training before I can compete at that level. But regardless my time goals for these two races are 5-5:15 for the 70.3 and 11-12 hours for the Ironman. At this stage I feel like these are achievable goals based on my current fitness levels and the amount of training I will do in 2009.

So for the next year, I plan on documenting my training, how I physically feel, mental state etc as I try and achieve my tri-goals for 2009. Hopefully, this blog will serve as my conscience and keep me on track!!!