This morning, I biked to swim practice (17.5 miles), swam, and then biked back for a total of 35 miles.

Enrique coached the workout--I decided to make the whole thing aerobic in nature. After warmup, it was 3x300s descend 1-3 on 30,20, and 10 rest. Then an easy 100, then 6x200s pull that I wound up doing on 3:00 so I could cruise them easy and still have recovery time. He said to do them on 2:30, and I was like.....yeah, that's soooo going to happen.

After that, it was 10x50s kicking on 1:00. My legs are gone, so I didn't make them on 1:00--so I wound up going on 1:10. Finished up with a set of 12x50's (3 of each stroke) and then a warm down.

Going to a bbq (work people) and then Pat's 50th bday party tonight. I'm a little tired.

Monday night, I went to swim practice, for my first double for I don't know how long. I wound up getting out early, being completely exhausted, but it wasn't a bad effort for a first double. Total of about 6000 meters over the two workouts.

Tuesday, I had to work on the later side, so I got a bike ride in during the morning. Went for an hour--about 15 miles, basic easy pedaling--did some work on the pedal stroke on the bottom. I read that it should feel like you're scraping mud off the bottom of your shoe, so I did that. It made the whole stroke feel a little easier.

On Wednesday, I swam in the morning, and ran in the evening. Went to Dr. Tom's workout, and was doing things on a 1:30 base (meters) when I just realized I was doing anything but being aerobic, and decided to back it off a little. Dropped to 1:40 base for the rest of the set.

Evening run was 8 miles--finished just under 1:20--though I wasn't really aiming for 10 minute miles--that's just what it wound up being. I felt much better than last week, so that's a relief. I was very worried about falling apart before the 6 mile mark.

Took Thursday off, and I'm winding up taking Friday off because we're going to see Avenue Q tonight. Woo-hoo! Anyway, it's not officially training season yet, so I've justified that one away.

I'll resume tomorrow.

So, morning workout hurt today. I suppose it didn't help that the warm up was the mother of all boring sets. 10x100s on whatever interval you feel like.

After that, we did 3x50s, 3x100s, and 3x200s on a fixed interval. The middle of each round of 3 was drill, except for the 100 and 200 which were drill/swim by 50. I went on a 1:40 base (meters), to keep it easy/breezy/beautiful.

In all seriousness, it was the right interval to go on. My T-1000 from last week indicated a 1:32 pace/100 (long course) so that's like 1:30s, and 1:30s would have been too fast.

I was tired at work today, and the office politics were annoying the crap out of me, so I left a little early (nothing significant).

Had some cottage cheese and a couple of cookies....getting geared up for swim practice tonight.

So, this week pretty much marks my return to actual training following Vineman. And the time off shows, and the training hurts some.

Wednesday, I swam and did a semi longish run. In the morning, the main set was something like a bunch of 250's or 300's (can't remember) on an interval I barely made, followed by some other stuff. Whatever the case, I was having a hard time keeping up, and it's evident that I've lost some aerobic capacity in the water. I followed that workout up with some yoga (Inhale by Steve Ross, on Oxygen, the channel for women and gay men).

In the afternoon, I went for a run that I intended to be between 10 and 13 miles. The first mile hurt, and I figured it was just getting back onto my legs that was the issue, so I kept pressing and things felt easier for a couple of miles, until around mile 4, when I realized I was in trouble, and decided to turn around. Unlike other runs, I didn't feel like I had to stop due to knee pain or anything, but just that my legs felt like dead weights. I ran a little and walked a little for the next 2 miles, and then just gave in and decided to walk completely for the final 2. I think I was out to hard for the amount of running I've been doing, and it was hot, and it was my first day of doing any sort of double workouts. Next week, I'll try again, but aim for 8 miles total.

Thursday was a day of rest....it felt good.

Friday evening, I went to swim at Victoria and did a timed 1000m test set. 15:17--which is a decent training pace, but wouldn't have been good for a meet. It's just a measure of where I'm at.

Saturday, went for a 30 mile ride with Steve and Brian. Brian took off quickly and I took the bait for a while, before my sanity prevailed, and backing off became the right thing to do--base training is important.

Today, I just did some speed work running. warmed up a couple of miles and then did 4-quarter miles at speed and had difficulty going faster than 1:45s. They were 1:45, 1:43, 1:41, 1:41.

All in all, I'm glad to be ramping back into it--just wish the ramp was a little faster!

I did my first half iron on July 22nd. It went really well.

The swim was smooth. I decided against a wetsuit, even though the water temp was at the top end of being wetsuit legal. I was concerned about dehydrating during the swim and having negative impact on the bike and run. I started out the swim with my wave and just went easy. At the beginning, I wasn't paying attention and nearly swam into branches on the shore of the river!! Pay attention Drew!

I exited the water at about 35 minutes, and transitioned onto the bike. Brian and Brad grabbed my stuff for me, and I was off. Right at the beginning of the race, there was a car that was obviously anti-bike--it was speeding and honking at bikes that were apparently "in his way" though they were on the side of the street and perfectly legal and sharing the road appropriately. Some people just hate bikers. I didn't see any other issues like that the whole rest of the race.

The bike course was beautiful. Constant sights of grape vines on the sides of the road. There was one significant hill near the 43 mile mark--had to get out of the seat to climb it, but aside from that, it was rolling and a nice ride. I dropped my chain at about mile 14, and after the race, I had a flat, so I'm guessing it happened going over the speedbumps (yes, speedbumps) right at the transition area. I took in over 3 bottles of fluid on the bike, and had to stop to pee once on the bike, and then once at the beginning of the run. I think I did a good job with hydration, but probably didn't eat enough. My bike split was about 3:15.

On to the run--Brian and Brad were waiting for me at the transition and slathered me with sunscreen (Thank you!). The run was immediately hot--the temperature climbed to 91 degrees and it was full sun. After my first bathroom trip, I needed no more because all the fluid I could take in was sweating out of me. I got fluids at every stop possible and took in gels when I could stomach them. The run started with an attitude of "I'll walk up the really steep hills, and run everything else," which worked for over half of the run. On the back half, the definition of a steep hill changed dramatically. Anything upward was walked, and even some flats in the rare portions of shade from the occasional tree.

I was out in about 1:07 for the first half of the run and back in a total time of 2:35.

All in all, I'm very happy with my race experience. Total finish time of 6:33. I'm very psyched for Arizona in april, and I think after this race, my goal time will be to try to break 13 hours, just very slightly less than double this half iron time, but I've got over 6 months to train for it, so I'm hoping to make some significant progress in training.

So, I'm wrapping up the second of two trips for work. I get to go home on Thursday, and I've definitely gotten beyond the point of being tired of living in a hotel, and being away from home, from Brian, and from the dogs and cats.

I managed to get a 13 mile run in yesterday. I finished it in 2:19:55, which isn't too bad, given the whole host of factors--tired--not training as much as I should. Tons of stoplights I had to stop at in DC. It was faster than my half iron split of 2:35 but slower than my fastest training run at 13 miles for this season of 2:07. All in all I'm happy with it. I ran from the hotel to the white house to the washington monument to the reflecting pool. Then it was across the Potomac, down the GW running trail, back across the Potomac, then up to the capitol, which made it to 6.5 miles. I turned around and ran back the same way.

Kitchen countertops get installed Friday--yea!!!! It'll be nice to be able to use the kitchen again.

I'm in the middle of my taper for the 1/2 Iron in 8 days, and I've decided that tapering is obnoxious and difficult. I constantly go back and forth between thinking I should train more, and knowing I should train the amount I've set out to.

The problem I think, is fear and doubt. I have this thing, likely instilled in me from my swimming career that longer training is better, and that tapers should be overswum if anything. I know, however, from past performance that better results are achieved from excess rest, if anything. Fear just creeps in because this race is longer, and I wonder what the effects of taper are for that.

Last weekend was heavy training. 14 mile run (which hurt like hell from the running during the week) and 50 mile bike, which also hurt. My bike fit is better though, so that's good. It's better to be in the aero position than before--so I think it's a possibility to use for the race.

The bike seat angle is bothering me though--I tilted it down a little more to alleviate numbness in the nads, and that makes me feel like I'm sliding forward a little bit. I feel like there's a sweet spot I'm bouncing around.

Monday, I swam 45 minutes, and then got out (was tired). Tuesday, I didn't run (it was optional). Wednesday, I swam an hour in the morning and then biked an hour in the evening (mountain bike to Belmont Pier and back home). Today, I'm running about 4.5 miles.

I went sans les chiens today. I was just horribly unmotivated and didn't want to blame them on stopping at the 2 or 3 mile mark when I dropped them off. Wound up going 8 miles (straight shot of 4 miles out toward the beach and back) in 1:13:23 (average 9:11/mile pace).

So, I guess I'm starting to get some signs that my training plan is working. The 8 miles didn't hurt that bad (was clearly a negative split effort), and yesterday's bike ride that probably would have put me in a cath lab a couple of months ago didn't wear on me too badly. The drop in the 1000 meter swim time was encouraging too.

I came home today to two things:

1. Josie and Max bouncing around gleefully loving to see me. I wonder what they're thinking when I get the leashes out. I'm sure it's something like "If I don't spin around enough times and bounce up and down off the floor, he might not follow through with the walk."

2. 3 sets of the blinds Brian and I had thrown away in the city provided trash cans had been taken out and shoved into the hedge that runs along the kitchen side of the house. What the fuck did I do to deserve that? If you didn't want the blinds--they were in the fucking trash can--you should have left them there. I hope for your own sake you enjoy the other two, and they don't wind up in my hedge on another day. THANK YOU--damn freakshows.

Today's Thursday--my rest day. We went out to The Pizza Place for dinner last night, since it was my birthday. It was nice and relaxing. I ate probably way too much, but that's ok sometimes.

So, Monday morning I swam (I think about 3000m). The main set was a lot of pulling. I think it was 5x100s, 3x200s, and 1x400, but can't quite remember the intervals...they were fast, and I was hovering in the 1:15-1:20 per 100 for what I was coming in on them.

I ran Tuesday morning, and went faster than I probably should have. Started with my standard warm-up of a couple of miles with Josie and Max, and then dropped them off. Returned to the LA River path, and then picked up the speed for a good hard 2 miles--ran a 14:14, which is really encouraging. I didn't think I was capable of getting down to speeds close to 7min miles yet. But it hurt in the couple of days that followed.

Swam yesterday morning. Main set was a repeating set of 3x100's starting on 1:40 (meters again), and dropping 5 seconds per round. I made it to the 1:20s and then missed the second one....feeling very stiff and drained.

Biked last night, but not very much--went about 12 miles on my mountain bike, and just couldn't get the speed going at all.

I had a complete and total meltdown on a Bach piece I played at a piano recital today. I screwed it up...started over...screwed it up again...then had Lisa call out "b-minor" for the chord I was missing, and pulled my hands completely off the piano. I then proceeded to announce to the crowd that I was moving onto the next piece, and played Moonlight Sonata, and then The Storm ("L'Orage" by Bergmuller) and managed to trudge through it. Nothing was all that good, but at least the other two pieces were marginally passable.

Life goes on.

Then I came home and ran 5 miles. 2 and some change with the dogs, and the rest without them....I think I averaged about 10 minute miles after I dropped them off, but I kept running faster and telling myself to slow down.

So, I had a recovery week, and didn't do much during it, and also didn't write in my blog. I swam 2000m a couple of times, ran 2 miles a couple of times, and biked 15 miles a couple of times during that week. But now it's back to training.

I started yesterday with 4 miles of running--roughly 2 miles of it was warm-up with the puppies, and then I dropped them off and picked up the intensity. Went 3 half-miles, coming in at 4:30, 3:45, and 3:40. The 4:30 was a little on the slow side but the other two were a good level of burn--not all out, but definitely a hard effort. My legs were sore from it when I woke up this morning.

In the evening, went to swim practice (LCM), and the main set was 4 times through of a 400 IM and a 200 (alternating free and back by round). Breaststroke felt stronger than normal, which made up for my fly not feeling good. Was coming in around 6:45 on the 400's.

This morning, I went for a bike ride--was aiming to go 40. I wound up going north on the LA River path, which was a mistake. From the part where the other direction is a split off to the Rio Hondo River trail, it just turns into crap. Graffiti everywhere--trail is not well kept up, tight turns at the drops from the bridges. A couple of times, I thought "Gee, I hope nobody pulls a gun on me. Would I be able to bike fast enought to get away from them?" I finally gave up at the 16 mile mark when I was going to have to get off of my bike to cross traffic, because one of the bridges didn't have an underpass....and told myself I'd make up the additional 8 miles by going past home.....and that so didn't happen.

I think at this point, it's important to ride out half of the distance I'm going to go, so I don't have a choice when I get tired.

Going out for my birthday tonight (though I whole-heartedly deny any act of aging on my part). We're headed to Mick and Mack's (which is Asian night tonight), so hopefully we'll be moving on before hoards of twinky-bopper gaysians show up.

Got a bike mount for my truck today--so I can travel with the bike easily, and the bike clears the garage door opening when mounted, so I can load it up the night before...party time!!!

So, morning swim practice hurt. Right from the beginning with warm-up, I had problems getting going--and it's all in the legs.

The end of the warmup set was pulling and I did well on that--descended the first 3, and then went easy on the last one--I went 2:00, 1:52, 1:46, and 2:00 for 4 x 150m pulls.

Workout was (SCM):

3x200s on 3:15
6x50's kick on 0:10 rest
4x150's pull on 2:30

Main Set:

12 x 75's, twice through this order (on 1:40):

50fly/25back
25fly/50back
50back/25breast
25back/50breast
50breast/25free
25breast/50free

I hit the wall at about 1:05 on the first one, and thought I was just going slow and went a 1:35, so I left at 1:10, and confused the hell out of everyone. Oops!

Warm down was 5 x 100s on 1:45, breath control, 4,3,2,3 breaths per length.

4 miles. Dropped the dogs off at 2.3 and then kept going. My legs are obviously tired, presumably from the 30 mile bike ride yesterday--I'm a little surprised that the bike hurt as much as it did. I guess that's what I get for getting out of shape. In any case, I was 39:53 for 4 miles, including the time it took to drop off the dogs (I think about 2 minutes), so I probably averaged about 9:30s.

On another note, I need to buy a new hat to run in now. It seems that somebody made a chew toy out of my old one sometime this week. I've told Brian that he really should floss instead, but I guess that old habits die hard.

Forgot to put Friday morning's run in here. Ran 3 miles with the puppies. As I was running (it was really cold), I started wondering how far Josie and Max really like to go. I know they're physically fine with doing 3 miles, but what's going on in their heads while they're keeping up with me? Do they realize that if we run out a certain distance, we're going to have run back the same amount? Max has a harder time than Josie--I think Josie could easily outrun me at any distance, as long as she didn't get hot and lie down in the middle of the course. But Max is big and furry, and not really as muscular as Josie, so I get concerned about him more easily. In any case, next week's runs are 4 miles, so that's the point at which I'd been looping back to the house to drop them off before I finish the run. Maybe I'll do that today--2 miles with a doggie "assist" and 2 miles without.

So, this week was basically ok for training. Monday started with a morning workout, and the pool was friggin hot. It was an hour long, and I don't remember exactly what the workout was. I should probably post more often so I can remember.

Tuesday, it was raining in the morning, and I just can't bring myself to run or ride in the rain, so I went to the gym. 3 miles on the treadmill--who knows if it was accurate or not, followed by 30 minutes on a stationary bike....then off to work, and then piano in the evening. Piano seems to be suffering due to this training so I'll have to buckle down there.

Wedensday morning was another workout, and my legs were obviously tired. I guess it caught up with me a little. There was a kick set at the end of the workout, and I did about half of it, and then just said f'it. The rest of the workout was ok--though I wish the coach would show up on time....I think he got there at 5:30 and 15 seconds....

Thursday was off--and I think some guys on the swim team might be future training buds. Steve Richards said he's going to sign up for half vineman later on in the year, and Peder finally got back to me about riding this weekend.

Friday was an evening swim workout, with a main set of 4 x 800's negative split. It was long--I've been a sprinter for too long, but I held on. Of course my negative splitting was more dramatic than Brian's--while he dropped about 7 seconds from the slow 400 to the fast, I dropped about 30.

Saturday, I swam in the morning, then went to Jax to get new tubes for my road bike. I managed to buy CO2 cartidges that aren't compatible with my adapter, so I've got to return them. Went 30 miles with Peder, who got a flat with 5 miles to go--and had no tube, patch kit, or way to get air into the tires, so it was a good thing that I'd picked up all of that from Jax before we went.


Actually feeling like I'm getting back into training now--