Sick...

I guess I'm officially sick today. I was feeling pretty bad yesterday but I went ahead and did a 12 mile run which was probably not a great idea. Anyway, I'm paying the price today. Luckily this is a rest week, but I really didn't plan on resting this much.

Anyway, New Orleans is creeping up and I've still got a lot of work to do if I'm going to make my goal. Oh by the way, in the Dallas Area the high is projected at 70 degrees with winds 10 mph. Could it be any better for cycling??? I'm sure by the time I heal up, that winter will be back...

Consistency... Getting There

Crazy week at work but I was able to get most of my workouts in. My primary goal for the week was to hit my cycling workouts, as this has been my most inconsistent sport this winter. I think I've finally got my cycling motivation back this morning at WR Lake at 4:30 in the morning with 38 degrees temperature and light rain....

My wife's birthday was yesterday and she made it very clear early Sunday morning that I was not going to go and ride my bike for 3.5 hours, even though it was an absolute perfect day. Fair enough, she puts up with my Ironman Crap throughout the year, so after a few tantrums, I finally gave in, took the day off and said I'll make up the bike ride on Monday morning. (extend the workout week by 1 day)

I woke up this morning at 3:15am because I had to get to WR early to finish the ride before a 9am meeting. Well I woke up got dressed and one of our dogs had crapped in the house and I stepped right in, keep in mind this is about 3:45am. I'm not a happy camper. Get outside, it's freezing, raining, downright miserable, so the whole time I driving to WR I'm thinking this is ridiculous. Is this really worth it??? I finally get down to WR and start the ride. I almost quit after 15 minutes and then finally it hit me.... What the hell am I complaining about? I'm doing something I love. So what if it's cold, so what if it's raining, so what if I stepped in dog crap at 3:30 in the morning. I love to train regardless of the weather. Weather is a mindset. Put things in perspective and appreciate the fact that you found something in your life (besides your family) that truly makes you happy. So that was it... For the remainder of the ride I just enjoyed it. I WAS JUST HAPPY TO BE THERE!!!!

For the week I ended up with:

• Cycling - 6:30
• Running - 3:45
• Swimming - 2:00
• Weights - 1:00

I'm going to take a day or two off this week and just try and absorb some of the training over
the past few weeks. I'll probably also do a swim time trial on Friday to see if I'm improving.

I think I'm having fun again!!!!!

Consistency... Not Yet.

This week mirrored last week, in the sense that I cut one ride short by an hour and I missed a swim. I'm not overly concerned about the swim as I feel like I can build this up pretty quick but the consistency on the bike is really beginning to be a concern. It's hard this time of year to get outside and ride and I've clearly demonstrated that I do not posses the mental toughness to go over an hour on the trainer... So as expected my bike feels WEAK!!! True to form, I think today I officially entered "Fear of Failure" mode. My fear is that I won't hit my goal time for New Orleans. So hopefully, this is the kick in the pants that I need to man up and get my butt out of bed when it's cold and put some miles on the bike.

Running/Swimming are going pretty good. I'm seeing improvements in both and right now I'm running @ about 95%. Calf is still delicate but I think I've learned how to manage it and maintain it.

For the week, I ended up with:

• Cycling - 5:08
• Running - 3:48
• Swimming - 2:00
• Weights - 1:30

Work is still pretty crazy so this week will be a challenge workout wise. This was initially going to be a "rest" week but I think I'm going to delay this by one week so that I can coordinate some personal life items a little better. My goal for this week is to hit all of my bike workouts outside and on the prescribed time. (Bike Goal Time: 6:30)

On the personal front. I taught my middle son (Reed - Age 3.5) to ride a bike today. He was quite a trooper today and WOULDN'T QUIT until he was able to ride the bike about 30 feet. I was very happy for him....

Weekly Review

Crazy week at work... And the craziness will continue for at least a month. I missed working out on Tuesday because of work but hey that's just how it goes sometimes. I'm a slave to training plans and it puts me in a very foul, irritated mood when I don't hit my plans for the week.

For the week I ended up with:

• Cycling - 5:03:
• Run - 3:38
• Swimming - 2:00
• Weights - 1:35

I was off about an hour on my cycling and swimming goals for the week. One thing I have noticed is that I don't have the same "Whatever it Takes" attitude that I had last year at this time when preparing for IM AZ. Last year, I routinely left my house at 4:30-5am and would ride in 25 degrees weather for 4-5 hours at a time. Now, if it's any colder then 50 degrees I'm bagging the ride and jumping on the trainer. I keep telling myself that it is going to be a long year with both New Orleans and Florida on tap for the year and that I need to pace myself and not flame out to quickly. However, my "bike" is not quite where I would like for it to be at this stage so I'm hoping my "fear of failure" mode kicks in soon.

On a happier note, I finally joined a master's swim group. Smartest thing I have done since I started training for triathlons 2.5 years ago. I joined the lifetime master's group in Garland. Small group 3-4 people which means plenty of 1 on 1 time with the instructor. I've learned a lot this past week. My stroke isn't terrible but it definitely needed some tweaks.

That's it for now... One more 12-14 hour training week then I'll back off for a week, do some testing and rest a bit.

Just Relaxing...

I'm currently sitting on the couch watching a Mickey Mouse Show with the two older boys. I've seen every episode of Sponge Bob - multiple times, each episode of Star Wars at least 10 times, Kung Fu Panda - 4 times and the list could go on and on. I guess I should be happy the kids still want me to watch TV with them.

I met up with JT and Kevin this morning at White Rock. We left McKinney @ 4:15am so that we could be there for 5am. We rode for 2.5 hours and then ran for about 30 minutes. It's hell getting up a 3:45am for this workout. The first 20 minutes of these early morning rides are the worst. It takes me forever to get loose and warmed up. I usually catch myself trying to think of an excuse to turnaround and go home and/or get get in the truck and go back to sleep but that's why we train with other people to keep us motivated. Anyway, the ride was enjoyable and the company was good. There's a lot of BS flying around the lake when we all ride together.

I think I can recite every word of this show....

Jennifer and I are celebrating our 13 year anniversary tomorrow. Time flies, it seems like just the other day she was asking me out or should I say, I was begging her to go out with me :)

I missed Tuesday because of work so I've got a little bit of making up to do on my workouts. I'm going to do a long run tomorrow and hit the weights. Then I'm planning on swimming and cycling on Sunday.

Let the good times roll....

Weekly Review

I'm highly motivated on the bike and the run and making progress on both. However, swimming right now SUCKS.... I dread getting in the pool. Part of the reason for this, is I don't have a good feel for the water and my stroke feels inefficient. Well, something has to give this week, as tomorrow is my self imposed deadline to join a master's swim group. I'm going to try out the master's program at Lifetime either tomorrow or Wednesday. Hopefully this will help and the group environment will hopefully keep me motivated.

For the week I ended up with:

• Cycling - 5:00
• Running - 3:30
• Swimming - 2:20
• Weights - 1:10

I was off about an hour on the cycling and this was mainly due to the fact that I was supposed to do a 2 hour bike ride today. It was too cold in the DFW area (at least for me) so I did an hour on the trainer instead. These days my max time on a trainer is about an hour. After that I just totally break down and lose focus on the ride. I've tried watching movies, listening to music, etc but no luck with the trainer monotony. It amazes me how some people spend 4-5 hours on those things. So, since I've now figured out my trainer load, I'm going to have to start scheduling my bike workouts around the weather.

My typical workout week looks like:

• Monday - Swim, Weights
• Tuesday - Bike Intervals, Brick Run
• Wednesday - Swim, Tempo Run
• Thursday - Long Run
• Friday - Swim, Weights
• Saturday - Long Bike, Brick Run
• Sunday - Long Bike, Brick Run (Sometimes)

All of the kid activities (school, karate, basketball, etc) start back up this week. I'm going to start coaching my oldest son's basketball team this week. This should be interesting. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to take the Bobby Knight approach with 6&7 year olds. Basketball is my favorite sport and the one I actually know something about so this should be fun and hopefully I won't make too many kids cry on the first day of practice :)