IRONMAN........ I on my way to earn this title

This is a Journal to my trials and tribulations of my journey to conquer the 140.6 miles of pain and mental anguish.

So, I plan to journal daily.. if you want to be apart of this journey.. follow by blog.. You will see the up and down days of training for an event.. hopefully it will be something that can inspire you to do something crazy.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Life Got in the Way

It seemed that work and school took away the vision of completing Beach to Battleship 140.6 this year.  So i had to pull my registration.  I was very reluctant to do it because mentally i feel that i could have completed.  But reality set in.. I wasn't making the cut on weekly volumes.  The commitments of school and weird work hours made this goal unattainable at this time.  BUT.. Im slowly get the wind back in my sails for training and racing...

I havent raced all year.  good and bad thing.  good, because im healing old injures.  Not training hard, just maintaining what i had.  Bad, because i feel very unproductive.. no new medals this year.. bummer.

The days anew.. time to get back on the horse..

GET SOME

Monday, May 28, 2012

Today, is the day

Its the official start date of training plan.  Time to get busy with it..

Started the day with a 25 mile bike..  Felt great throughout the ride.  first 16 miles where great.. i felt good legs felt strong..  breathing and shoulders were relaxed.. all in all, things were going good.  the back half on the ride changed..  good ole wind and heat increase.. the 49 mins it took to make the 16 mile mark.. the temp went up significantly.   Sweat was dripping from under my helmet on to my sunglasses..  needless to say.. it was tough.  Seems like there were more lights or i caught them all in the return home.  The wind was tough as well.. i guess winds from the tropical storm near georgia/south carolina. it sucked big time..


Sunday, May 27, 2012

LIFE.................

I have been slacking lately with training..  Mainly because of work schedule and long hours..  I have had some time off..  So Im using this time to rest up and heal some nagging injuries..  as well as, get my mind focused to the task at hand.   From the 3 days of resting, im feeling better physically and getting more mentally focused daily.   I hope to be more consistent with this blog.  This will be a good look back tool for later.

I have a tendency to go hard to often, I intend to get more quality training done.. I have 21 weeks til this events takes place.   I have to be in top form for this.

Im excited, pretty pumped up....

LETS GET IT DONE.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Great month so far..

Today, my leg were tortured.. I did a 40 miler, with some training buddies..   Sucks because it started with a blowout at mile 3..  So my buddies with, brought a new wheel to me.. Sweet, back riding..  Different cog, than i was use to.. I typically ride an 11-23, switched to 12-25..  I struggled to find my comfy gear..  None the less, i got it done.  The idea was to keep pace around 21+..  My legs were cooking. Legs spinning faster that normal..  This cog came in handy with climbs that came later in ride..   I got my ass handed to me.. At one point, my legs were so tired, i couldnt get over 19mph..   Starting taking down the added nutrition, and popped a stringer. Started feeling better.. Got back on the prowl.. Speed was over 21+ .. Feeling great only to have my bubble burst.. At mile 36.  This mammouth of a bridge.. So i get psyched to climb this beast.. I shift to a higher gear.. Then im dance on the pedals.. Thinking i got this and i was moving at a decent pace.. I looked down.. I was only going 12.9mph.. What a deflating moment.. But i kept hammering..  Finally the apex.. All down hill.. 30+ on downhill.. Felt great..

I have been on my bike alot this month so far.. 135miles so far. Rides are getting longer.. I can see being at 1000 miles by august, if not before....

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Been on the up.

Training has been going really well..  Legs are getting stronger with each outting, whether running or cycling..  Swimming is work in progress, but its in the forward direction.  I have to get some ows in. My weekly volumes are increasing.  I really trying to take advantage of time available. Sucks sometime when i have to choose one or the other..  Im gonna have to start waking earlier so i can get volumes in.. It will probably be swimming and weight training in the morning. Running and biking in the eves.. With exception on weekends.. Weekends, ill ride in the morning..

I have some good training partners.. They are doing a good job of pushing me and keeping me motivated. 

Getting pumped for Beach to Battleship..

Monday, April 2, 2012

One Windy Ride

Sunday myself and a few riders set out on an adventure.  The intent was to get in 2 hours on the bike.  The temps were in 50's starting out, which wasnt to bad.  We hit the road bright eyed and excited for getting out of the bike.  Initially the is was pretty cool the route the shaded,, BRR..  i just wanted to go to go faster to so i could get warm.  The ride was relatively calm the first 11 miles.  But afterwards that 11 is became a mofo..  We encountered headwinds the entire ride out to turn around.  My quads were on fire, screaming for mercy.. but we kept hammering. We got to the 24 mile mark.. i noticed that there wasn't any signs on the road.. I was looking for a particular road to turn down.. wasn't there. We stopped, i had to adjust my cleat on my shoe.. One of the riders had to get back.  so we march on back.. FUCK, the winds shifted it again.. seems like the wind picked up. 

So i recommended that we paced line it, so everyone would have a turn in the wind.  1 to 2 mins pulls is what i recommended.. it worked really well.  we got back really quickly. we took a little break at mile 36 or so.. My quads were spent at this point and we still 10+ to go i was thinking.. wind isnt dying down..  so we start back.  HR was moderate, but my quads were screaming at me..  we reach the trail, like 6.5 miles left. i tried to get in a rhythm, wasnt happening.  at the last mile is decided to blow my legs up with a sprint.. oh man did that hurt..  i tried another, i failed miserably.

I cramped up so bad later in the day.. Cramps were so bad i started sweating and couldnt breath.. lol

mistakes: i drank most of my fluid on the ride..  i didn't eat prior to ride.. i was really in the hole in the nutrition category..

My data is off, i forgot to start watch after a stop.

http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/LMM67PE24ITQ4CHAPMVH5DPISQ

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Last couple days

Wednesday was a great workout.. Great ride.  I got to course a little earlier than expected.  So I decided to race the clock.  I wanted to do one loop on the course before another rider showed up... I was windy as hell out too..  So the elements were against me in my venture to have a high speed run...  So i grunted it out..  First 6 miles were great.. breathing was good, shoulders were relaxed.. My speed showed it..  avg was around 20.1 mph.. i was stoked so i turned it up even more.. But, there's always a but. A guy had caught up with me.  We chatted for about a mile or so.. slowed the average some.. gave him some time to recover..  We got into some crosswinds.. they were tough..  so, we worked together to get though it.. the pace average went back up and so did my HR.. i sustained 183 bpm for the last few miles.. hammering the pedals in a head wind.. we got to the end..average was high.. 21.5.. we were cranking along at 24ish for last mile and a half..  21 mins one way.  We started the trek back to start point.. we separated.. i darted.. i had a decent tailwind for a little while.. my quads were on fire... holy shit was all i could say..  then i said shit, i have to do this again.. damn.. 10 mile mark i saw that i was making good time.. i hammered even harder.. i dont know where i was on the course.. i saw 44 mins,  i glanced up and saw i was near the end.. i let go..  7 mins later i was done..  i was feeling great.. leg felt like i pounded them.. not much recovery though.. other people showed up with in 5 mins of my return...  DAMN IT.. So back out again.. Second lap we had to been the sunset.. it was 58 mins to complete second loop.  Man my quads were really smoked...

slow loop
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/AEXH72HE5TRC33P7FALTRXCKF4
Fast loop
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/XVO5EZKCFIZ3NAP7R7C3ROOPNI

Todays run was good..  temp was great.. i set out to do 4 miles... I was worried my legs wouldnt be able to handle it.. but i very surprised.. legs felt great.. lil tired but not enough to hinder my run.. I tried keeping my HR in check.. for the most i did..  My recovery is a lot fast these days.. which is good.  show that fitness is coming back.. im pretty excited about this..  on way back in.. i was still feeling pretty good.. so i decided to keep going.. i added a mile an a half.. i hit the 5 mile mark.. still feeling good.. HR is was hoovering at 166..  so i picked up the pace.. and just blew it out.. 

great week..
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/N4IC2BNP74GFAWF4UXJR5CDNBA

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Last week

Last week wss great.. I worked out consistantly.. 5 days straight.. I had school stuff and horrible weather that monkeywrenched saturday and sunday.....

Yesterday was a great workout.. Run and biked..  I did a 4 mile run. Actually it felt pretty good.  HR was up.. So i tried focusing on my breathing and pace to keep it under control.. It was very windy, felt like i was running uphill the entire run..

I used and exercise bike for biking.. I pedaled for an hour.. 23 miles on the bike.. Level 13, random hills.  HR is hovered arounds 145 the entire session. I thought was ok, considering the course.. One time it popped up to 163-165. Big hill climb.

Yes once a break through.  I got two workouts done.. I feel relatively good about them.. So, training can only get better from here..

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

BIKE and run

The bike yesterday was pure torture.  We were out the haulin ass...  the first two miles we were at 23 mph.. i was thinking there's no way i will be able to sustain this the entire ride of 20-25 miles.  so we began to pace line.. speeds crept up a little high.  then it was my turn... minor tail wind.. but so i opened it up.. held around 25 for about two miles or so.. then we turned, i stepped off lead, they then turned up the gas.. i lost contact... i was doing over 20 to try to catch them no luck.. so i just continued to hammer the pedals until the stop sign..  so we link up again this was the torture part but, i gave it what i had..  but to the ultimate sprint zone..  shane was pulling.. i saw him shifting as he settled in.. i was thinking oh shit.. then all of a sudden we were at 27+ mph..  my HR was around 182 at the time.  i kept hammer the pedals though.. i wasnt gonna stop..   needless to say, it was a great ride.. i felt really good.. quads were on fire but i was good..

Decided to do a 2 mile run when i got back to my car.. to kinda flush out the legs.  shane joined me..i was really tight in the lower leg region.. i noticed my HR was up and not coming down.. I guess because im not adjusted to the warm temps yet..  so eveything it got passed 165, i walked it down to 145-150, then started running again.


great workout yesterday...

http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/S6ZHJVUI3SSRGPQO77HIKACIKY

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Project consistency..

my biggest problem this year so far is consistency.   Im becoming more motivated with each training session..  so with that in mind.. more consistent will equal big gains as well as more motivation for B2B and any other race i do this year..

I got on the scale.. i wasn't happy with what i saw there.  it totally explains why i feel like im carrying a bookbag with bricks in it..

Today work was good.. legs felt great on the bike..  i was feeling pretty strong pedaling into the wind. so it feels that im making some progress on the bike as well as everywhere else.

Run after bike was good.. only ran a mile after torture my legs on the bike..  found my stride after about a 500 yards into run..  breathing was a little off.. HR was high but, thats typical in this stage.. building fitness is a tough job.. especially to be better.

training chart from today.. the bike portion.  i got my HR to 181.. in a sprint into the wind... whooo hooooo

Friday, March 9, 2012

Swimming

I found an old workout card i had for swimming.  Since ive been havibg trouble in the pool lately.. I decided to use that workout..  I finished the workout, and felt pretty good afterwards.. So im thinking ill use this workout of 1600 to 3100m for about a month or so. Then jump on IM swim plan one i swim the 3100m meters consistently.

I picked new goggles.. Wow what a difference.. The gaskets in old ones were really worn.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Tough Ride

Went a bike ride today.. did 20 and some change.. I have the Timex Global Trainer, still figuring it out.  So i pretty much have an inaccurate account of todays ride.  I also left HR strap in my car.. That was probably a good thing.. i would have break because HR was high entire ride.

Ride started off ok.  wind were blowing from the west. the winds were frickin howling.. WWWOOOOWW.  i will keep this short. but the winds sucked ass today.  felt like i was riding in a wind tunnel.  winds had to be over 35 mph in some area.  my quads were on fire.. I also ejected my two water bottles somewhere along the ride.

my bike fitness is in the toilet. but i will get better.. it all starts now.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

two a day

First time i completed two workouts is a day.. one in morning and other in the evening...

the run this morning was tough initially. first 5 mins. felt like my body was wrapped in concrete.  holy shit..i founds my stride later in the run.  only ran 2+ miles.. nothing to brag about.  my legs were killing me.  the overhead squats and bike. were definitely felt this morning. DAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNNNN...   even walking around, my quads hurt like holy hell.

i did some stretching after the run. and some active stretching afterwards.  actually i felt great all day.  maybe its a combination of working out and being more consistent.

so the pool.. OMG it was tough..  i think i swam maybe 800 meters..  the first 400 felt ok.. the last 400 felt like death.  the pool was pretty warm at 82 degrees.  my stroke is off..  i need to get on the ball with swimming.  i need a swimming partner.. someone else swimming. not necessarily with me, i don't mind that. having someone else there. would help the time pass.. swimming alone bites. especially for training.  in a race there several others doing the same thing.

Ill get it together.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Hump Day

Im still adjusting to being home from travel.. sleep habits are all screwed up still..  i stayed up til 0200 yesterday morning doing homework.  went to sleep for about 3 hours.. then went to gym for an hour

i did some work on the bike. 35 mins on the exercise bike.. i chose to do alpine pass.. so some climbs.. i used the climbs as sprint intervals..  14.4 miles in 35 mins.. avg 24 mph. with avg power of 189 watts.  max power output was 340 watts.

prior to getting on bike.. i did 4 sets of overhead squats with 15 lbs weight bar. 4 sets stability ball crunches.

feeling awesome working out..

Monday, February 20, 2012

Running

I ran yesterday.. It felt really good.. Temp was decent, around 46 degrees.

The first mile of run was good. I felt great breathing was ok.. Two miler things started changing.. I looking at my watch.. HR was 179.. I was like holy shit, need to slow down a little bit.

Physically, i felt awesome.. But i was gased.. I lost my stride after that. I hope to get out tomorrow for a run.

Purchased a new toy.. The timex global trainer.. Hell of a tool.. Cool thing is that its a direct interface to training peaks. Which is aawwweeeesssssoooommmmeeeee.

Tomorrow is a run swim work out. I will probably run/bike though. We shall see..

I weighed myself today.. I wasnt happy about what i saw.. Gotta turn up the intensity..

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Back on US soil and motivated

Im finally home.. Feels good to be home. to bad its frickin freezing.. brrrr..  it sucks leaving a hot climate to come home to snow.. DAMMIT

But Im on the move.. had a good work out this morning.. legs feel really good..  back at it tomorrow..

happy to be back rolling.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

I pulled the trigger

Im currently on travel for work.  So, I had a lot of time to think about this year and goals i have for myself.
I started school.. the work load seems to be very manageable. im happy with that.  Work is work.. glad to be employed.

Now, my race schedule had not been determined.  I though alot about it.  Figuring out what i wanted to do.  I mentioned to some friends that i want to do B2B Full.. hence the start of this blog.  I had a great month last month of training.. so, im on the race to a good season so far.   As i sit in a foreign country.. i pull up setupevents web page and begin to register.. while registering,  i get this scared but excited feeling..

Im now on the road to become an IRONMAN.. so PUMPED!!!!

LET THE TRAINING BEGIN.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Gotta get focused.

Thinks were looking great initially with the new year.. Work seems to always throw a curve ball my way.. Grrrrrrr.. When i start ti get in a groove.. Murphy has a tendency to show up alot..

But, today i ran for first time.. It felt so good run sucks it was on a treadmill. But oh well.. I suppose to do a 45 min run with a RPE of 3..  I did 4.53 miles in 43:25 mins.  I was running out of gas.. I walked last min and some change to get HR down.

Was suppose to swim after run.. Walked to pool afterwards.. Pool was really busy.. No lanes.. So many kids, you would think it was summer break.  So i didnt swim. Went and stretched for about 20 minutes.

I plan to start splitting up my workouts.. Seems like i dont have enough time to fit it all in the evenings.. I hate daylight saving simetimes..

Speed work

Today was suppose to be a brick.. 

It was raining and cold out. So i jumped on the dreadmill.. Good old speed intervals..  Typical one mile warm up. The started the torture..  One qtr mile on (80-90%) RPE one qtr off (60-65%).  I did this 8 times, then a 1 mile cool down.

I got hungry right after.. So i didnt eat enough before working out.. I was suppose to swim. I didnt bring wallet to purchase something like a power bar..  I went to the pool.. And looked around.. I was full of people.. People never want to share lanes.. Then there was a class with 6 people that occupied 2 lanes and swim lessons the took two lanes as well.... Gggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Next time

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Saturdays ride

Saturdays was one of many challenges.  So i meet a friend from tri group to knock out a 30 plus mile ride..  So, i go to meet him, i slowed on my bike, and my foot didnt come unclipped.. I was like oh shit, im going to bust my ass..  So i scramble to unclip.. Finally my feet come out.. So we (mat and i), talk for a bit, then decide to take off.  So i try clipping in left foot.. Damn, its broke.. Now what do i do.. I drove to get a ride in.. So fuck it im going.. I had enough cleat to stabilize my foot on pedal..

So we are off on this trek torture.  It felt good.. I was crusing, gradually gaining speed.. Matt passes me, we steady at about 20 mph..  Lets were feeling pretty good. So im hold in his.. His speeds were up and down.. So i passed him so i could pull some.. Then i looked down saw that i was going 22.. I backed off.. He caught up. We cruised..  Legs were feeling really good.. I was very surprised.  HR hung around 150 or so.. We turn on Balahack.. Holy shit, the headwind was killer..  This was bad for me. I couldnt drive me legs.. Everytime i pushed my left leg down. Foot slipped off pedal and bike turned right (towards a deep ditch)..  So i had to gear up to gain cadence speed then back down to get some bike speed. 

Started to feel some aches in my leg.. Only the left.. So told matt all i had was trip back to car.. Headwinds and broken cleat made it rough.

So 22.25 miles later.. 1hr 15mins.  Not bad for one legs..

Great ride, felt good. Breathing was stellar.  Overall conditioning wasnt to bad.. Shocked.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Great day

I had a great workout today.  It was a swim and a bike today..

Swim workout was really tough..  400m warm up, 8 x 100s main set, 150 cool down..  My main goal was to finish it.. i didn't care how long it took..  workout took about 45 mins..  im ok with that.

so the warmup.. felt good, shoulders were on fire about 250m mark..  breathing and pace was comfortable.  some where, i started speeding up.. i guess its a mental thing..  finished the warmup..  Started the Main set...
Now, my plan was to relax and concentrate on stroke and pulling while maintaining a decent pace. 

So, i get through first 4.. i was breathing like i just ran the sprint of my life..  I was like shit.. HR was up and it took about 30sec between each to get myself together..  The last 4, felt a lot easier.. i guess i had settled into the workout..  breathing was easier.. and i recovered a little faster.

cool down, was the easiest of all..  150m.. 6 x 25m...  10 secs between each..

after the pool.. when to get on a spin bike for 20 mins..   i was suppose to do 45 mins, but im suppose to ride outside tomorrow. so i wanted to save my legs.  i did some single leg drills on 30.. some 20s sprints on 50. 

pretty stoked about outside ride tomorrow... whooooo hoooooooo


Thursday, January 5, 2012

On the Path to success...

Its been a while since i have blogged here..  So this shall be a long entry...

Mon:

First workout of the New year.. It felt pretty good to get out and run.  I was a little cold out, so i had to break out the running tights.  The first two mile felt really good.  2 mile split was 18:23..  Then started to feel the burn of not running in a long time.  Lungs started burning and quads started to fatigue. Good thing the run was almost over, because it began to really suck..  So back from run, then had to move on to the bike.  I jumped on a spin for about 15 mins.. yeah it was short.. i was running out of gas.. So I did some high rpm spinning just to loosen the legs  from run..   After spin, i felt  i could do something else.  So i jumped on the new elliptical..  cranked out 2 miles on that thing.. SHIT that was tough.. felt harder than the run.

Tues:

Day 2.. Feeling awesome and motivated for workout.  Started on the treadmill. 30 mins.. after i finished working out. i looked at schedule i was suppose to do 45 mins.. DAMN IT!!!  On the treadmill, i did a mile warm up at 9:40 pace..  felt ok. After warm up, i started to intervals at every 3rd 100..  Interval speeds were between 8:30-7:00 pace.  After that shifted to doing intervals on every other 200m.. speeds were 7:30-7:00 pace.  that finished up the run.. Legs felt great afterwards..

Now off to the pool.  i was suppose to do a long workout.. 800 warm up, 1000 main set, and 150 cooldown.  I called an audible did 20 x 50s..  considering i haven't been in pool much seemed to be best option.  The first 10 felt good..  breathing was surprising ok.. shoulders and lats were good.  The second 10, sucked ass..  so i sped up and incorporated the flip turn... i got tired a lot faster but the workout was finished and i was happy about it..   After workout.. sat around until i dried off.

Wed: 

I had another swim workout..  looks like the stars werent aligned.. A light broke and fell into the pool.
So know swim.. It was a little to cold to go running.. (like 26 degrees) UMMMM HEEEELLLLLL no.. i couldnt switch and do something else because i promised to run on thursday.  wore wrong shorts to jump on the bike and didn't bring spin shoes.  So i went home...  :) i know lazy right.. lol

Thurs:

 A day of triumph.  I went for a run with Sammy.  i had no expectation about how far we were gonna go.. because i haven't really run much.. last months run volume was in the toilet.  i think i may have run like 20 miles last month..  but nevertheless who knows.  I wanted her to set the pace.  She ran beside me.  We are cruising.. all i hear is music and breathing.. so i look over to see if she was ok. she looked ok and strong.  around the 1.75 mark... i got into a groove.. and i started to pull away.. i just felt good..  i didnt hear music and breathing.. so i looked back.. SHIT, i left her behind. i wasn't on purpose..  2 miles.. whoooo hoooooooo.. This time she was tired her breathing was pretty labored..  so looked at and gave hand gestures for her to slow down and get her breathing together.. Got her to take some deep breathes.. and we were on our way.  On way back in my Tibialis Anterior began to get tight.. so i had to stop briefly to stretch it out..  we took back off..  we got to the bridge on Brambleton.. i began to pull away again..  mile 4 whoooo hooooo.  i stopped to see if she wanted to continue.  i was stretching..  she said lets go..
i told to keep going, id catch her.  we then took out again..  physically i was feeling pretty good other than muscle tightness...  man the temp, took a chance.. got a lil cold out there.. the breeze of the water gave me chillss... brrrrrrrrrr it was time to get moving.. so i sped up a little.  Took one last walk break.. then we were off to complete this long ass unanticipated cold run..

Good thing tomorrow is a bike day. My legs are gonna hurt in the morning.