I took off most of last week to head down to San Antonio to see my brother graduate from Air Force Basic Training. Week was well planned out. Drive down on Wednesday, Sea World on Thursday, Graduation on Friday. During that time frame I had mapped out all of my workouts in SA area and was ready to roll and stay on track.
We made it to Sea World on Thursday and Open/Closed the place with 3 kids. Everyone had a great time no major blowups from kids or parents. We ate dinner that night at Buffalo Wild Wings and then Friday morning hit. I woke up around 4am and knew something wasn't quite right and by 5:00am I was throwing up. 645am rolled around I thought I was feeling better so I attempted to go to the graduation ceremony. We finally got on base around 7:30 and I threw up again in the parking lot. Being the Ironman that I am, I figured I could just tough it out. This will be great training for the IM Marathon. I'll save you all of the gory details but I made it to the ceremony but didn't get to see it. I was really disappointed because that's a special moment for a soldier after he completes graduation and gets to see his family but I was in no condition to talk/visit. All in all I probably saw my brother for 10-15 minutes the whole weekend but I promised him I would make it up to him this summer when we go visit him in Pensacola. My webmd degree tells me I had food poisoning.
Last week was somewhat of a wasted workout week but hopefully I'll be able to make up some ground this week and pick up where I left off. My training plan has this marked as a recovery week but I'm going to talk to Coach and see if we want to adjust based on last week since I barely did anything.
I'm feeling the itch to race in a 5K/10K/Sprint race. I'm going to check the local calendars and see what's coming up....
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Things are rolling and I'm getting in a pretty good routine. The workouts are fun and challenging and I'm enjoying things right now. Volume is minimal but the group workouts (track, interval bike, tempo run) are pretty intense and they are back to back to back, so by Friday I'm pretty tired but by the time the weekend rolls around I'm typically recovered and ready to roll.
This past weekend I drove up to Ardmore to ride in the Arbuckle Mountains (hills). The official ride of 70 miles was rained out but we stuck around until the rain lifted and rode about 30 miles mainly the hilly sections. The route is scenic and hilly and just all around awesome route. I'm going to go back with some of the old seabiscuit gang in early June. I'm hoping to make this a monthly ride, it's only an hour and half from McKinney and a nice little get away.
The training this week will be cut short a bit. I'm heading to San Antonio on Wednesday to take the kids to Seaworld and to see my younger brother graduate from Air Force Basic Training. Also, my sister (who I haven't seen in 2 years) is flying to Dallas tomorrow night and will drive to San Antonio with us. Coco Family Reunion, look out San Antonio....
It's way past my bedtime but I'm hooked on Michael Irving's "4th and long", I'm thinking Steven the DB is going to be the first one cut....
This past weekend I drove up to Ardmore to ride in the Arbuckle Mountains (hills). The official ride of 70 miles was rained out but we stuck around until the rain lifted and rode about 30 miles mainly the hilly sections. The route is scenic and hilly and just all around awesome route. I'm going to go back with some of the old seabiscuit gang in early June. I'm hoping to make this a monthly ride, it's only an hour and half from McKinney and a nice little get away.
The training this week will be cut short a bit. I'm heading to San Antonio on Wednesday to take the kids to Seaworld and to see my younger brother graduate from Air Force Basic Training. Also, my sister (who I haven't seen in 2 years) is flying to Dallas tomorrow night and will drive to San Antonio with us. Coco Family Reunion, look out San Antonio....
It's way past my bedtime but I'm hooked on Michael Irving's "4th and long", I'm thinking Steven the DB is going to be the first one cut....
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Inspiration
Inspiration is a funny thing. Sometimes, it watching movies like Rudy, Friday Night Lights, Rocky... Last year I spent countless hours scouring youtube looking for triathlon clips. I can't even tell you how many times I've watched videos on the Hoyts and Jon Blais. Those youtube clips got me out of bed many of mornings.
I found inspiration somewhere else on Saturday. I was riding on 289 (Preston Road) up in Grayson County when I ran across another cyclist. It was relatively early because we both had our bike lights on. As he got closer I recognized the guy. He is a friend of a friend and I've ridden with him a few times. His name is Kevin and he is currently training for his first Ironman, Coeur D'lane (sp?). So we stopped and chatted for a few minutes. He is currently in the hardest part of his training plan. 6-7 hour bike rides, back to back on the weekends, type of thing. Well to complicate things further Kevin's wife is pregnant and due in 1 week. Kevin had been on the road since 4am riding all over Collin and Grayson County. When I saw him he could barely turn his head because his neck hurt so bad from being in the aero position.
I think the reason I found this so inspiring is because you meet a lot of interesting people in this sport. People at different stages of life, different time commitments, etc. But the thing that always amazes me, is the level of hardship/sacrifice that people are willing to go through to finish an Ironman. In Kevin's case, he's got so many competing priorities - kids, wife, job, ironman, but he recognizes that and does what he has to do to try and balance it (ie Cycling at 4am) so that he can be a good dad, be a good husband and at the same time chase his Ironman. I think this type of effort/dedication is what makes the Ironman so special for so many folks and allows ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things...
_________
On the training front things are going pretty good. I just got over my bi-monthly calf injury and am starting to run again. The calf is just something I've got to learn to manage better. I know I've got issues with it and I have to get in the groove of preventative maintenance with it. This includes a lot of stretching, icing, etc... My coach educated me on the compression socks and I'm going to give that a shot to see if it helps.
Other than that, cycling and swimming are coming along. I made it back to the weekly Negative Split Interval Ride and that was a beat down. I've lost a lot of "power" since last year but it will come back as my cycling gets more consistent. Swimming is going okay, I'm consistently in the pool and I can honestly say that I don't hate it. I'm heading up to Ardmore, OK on Saturday to do a 70 mile ride in the Ardmore hills. I'm really looking forward to it. The largest hill I have ever ridden on is the Windhaven Hill in Plano so this should be an interesting experience. So no complaints, I'm having fun and enjoying this initial stage of training... Ask me again in a few months and you might get a different answer.
I found inspiration somewhere else on Saturday. I was riding on 289 (Preston Road) up in Grayson County when I ran across another cyclist. It was relatively early because we both had our bike lights on. As he got closer I recognized the guy. He is a friend of a friend and I've ridden with him a few times. His name is Kevin and he is currently training for his first Ironman, Coeur D'lane (sp?). So we stopped and chatted for a few minutes. He is currently in the hardest part of his training plan. 6-7 hour bike rides, back to back on the weekends, type of thing. Well to complicate things further Kevin's wife is pregnant and due in 1 week. Kevin had been on the road since 4am riding all over Collin and Grayson County. When I saw him he could barely turn his head because his neck hurt so bad from being in the aero position.
I think the reason I found this so inspiring is because you meet a lot of interesting people in this sport. People at different stages of life, different time commitments, etc. But the thing that always amazes me, is the level of hardship/sacrifice that people are willing to go through to finish an Ironman. In Kevin's case, he's got so many competing priorities - kids, wife, job, ironman, but he recognizes that and does what he has to do to try and balance it (ie Cycling at 4am) so that he can be a good dad, be a good husband and at the same time chase his Ironman. I think this type of effort/dedication is what makes the Ironman so special for so many folks and allows ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things...
_________
On the training front things are going pretty good. I just got over my bi-monthly calf injury and am starting to run again. The calf is just something I've got to learn to manage better. I know I've got issues with it and I have to get in the groove of preventative maintenance with it. This includes a lot of stretching, icing, etc... My coach educated me on the compression socks and I'm going to give that a shot to see if it helps.
Other than that, cycling and swimming are coming along. I made it back to the weekly Negative Split Interval Ride and that was a beat down. I've lost a lot of "power" since last year but it will come back as my cycling gets more consistent. Swimming is going okay, I'm consistently in the pool and I can honestly say that I don't hate it. I'm heading up to Ardmore, OK on Saturday to do a 70 mile ride in the Ardmore hills. I'm really looking forward to it. The largest hill I have ever ridden on is the Windhaven Hill in Plano so this should be an interesting experience. So no complaints, I'm having fun and enjoying this initial stage of training... Ask me again in a few months and you might get a different answer.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Here we go...
Got back from San Jose, CA on Friday night. I was there for work all week, so my workouts were not so great. I mainly just ran, did P90x a few times, ate and ate again... I missed my bike and San Jose/San Francisco area has so many great places to ride. We drove up to San Francisco one evening and I was amazed at all of the people on the bikes and the great places they had to ride. Bike paths, bike lanes and plenty of quad busting hills. People even cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge. I may be spending a lot of time in San Jose over the next year and if I do I'm bringing my bike.
Ironman training officially started this weekend. I'm still a little worn out from all of the travel last week but I'm motivated to get into a routine and be consistent. I'm proud to report that I skipped a crawfish boil on Saturday to get my bike ride in. For a guy who is a Louisiana native and loves crawfish that was not an easy decision. So perhaps my motivation and will is coming back.
I did a legit swim workout today. This is first decent swim workout I have done in a while. Needless to say I've got a lot of work to do in the pool.
Just checked my schedule from my coach. Looks like I've got a full week of workouts. Nothing crazy just consistent workouts. I think the biggest adjustment will just be making myself go to the pool. I need to learn to "like" the pool again. :)
I'm still on Pacific time right now. Can't seem to go to sleep at a decent time and/or wake up. That has to change tomorrow. Not much to report this week. Things should pick up this upcoming week...
Ironman training officially started this weekend. I'm still a little worn out from all of the travel last week but I'm motivated to get into a routine and be consistent. I'm proud to report that I skipped a crawfish boil on Saturday to get my bike ride in. For a guy who is a Louisiana native and loves crawfish that was not an easy decision. So perhaps my motivation and will is coming back.
I did a legit swim workout today. This is first decent swim workout I have done in a while. Needless to say I've got a lot of work to do in the pool.
Just checked my schedule from my coach. Looks like I've got a full week of workouts. Nothing crazy just consistent workouts. I think the biggest adjustment will just be making myself go to the pool. I need to learn to "like" the pool again. :)
I'm still on Pacific time right now. Can't seem to go to sleep at a decent time and/or wake up. That has to change tomorrow. Not much to report this week. Things should pick up this upcoming week...
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