19 miles @ 6:59 or Faster

Seventh week in: 84 hours and about 606 miles of training. Only 27 weeks left! This week yielded only 8 workouts; however, they were all very hard key workouts.

Swim: This one is easy, the pool was closed all week for swim meets so I didn’t have to swim at all. HAHA, I’m sure I’ve lost all the great form I’ve built up too (HAHHA, what form?).


Bike: I didn’t spend a lot of time on the bike this weekend at all. I went to one spin class and one trainer night at the bike shop where I had a relatively hard workout for about 1 hour each. Legs were just a little shot from Monday’s strength training and a got a very long ride in the weekend before, so I focused on the run this weekend. Jeff went out and rode the Hell of the South race course (we both signed up for the race this weekend) with a group of about 25 guys. I wish I could have gone, but my plan called for a long run. Oh well, maybe next time.


Run: Now this is where the week’s work went down. Tuesday, I did 4 mile repeats at 6:20, 6:30, 6:23, and 6:27 (total workout was 6 miles). Thursday, I did a 5 mile tempo at 6:53 (total workout was 8 miles). Saturday, Mark and I met up for a long close-to-race-pace run on the Tom King course (just 3 weeks away). I ended up knocking out a 13.5 mile run with 10 miles in the middle at a 6:59 pace. I’m very sure that was the best run I’ve ever had (races included).

Strength Training: As always, three days a week, full body, for about 1:30 each day. Monday’s workout with Jasper though was very rough and left my legs tired the rest of the week; I barely got recovered in time for Saturday’s long run mentioned above. After the workout was done, we ended with suicides. I was ready to die. One of the exercises on Friday (yes, only ONE of them in the 3 circuits that I repeat five times) required a total of 375 reps. I just did the calculation too, between every workout rep I did (total body) on Friday, I had 1,455 reps (shoulders, arms, chest, legs, etc.). No wonder I’m sore.


Best day of the week though was probably Friday. Kristin and I both were off work we had a great day together (granted, she hasn’t had a day off in a month and I had to work the whole weekend). I still lifted early in the morning and she took the dog to the vet and dog park, but after that, we had lunch, bought her some nice boots, went and painted pottery (ironman theme on mine, can’t wait to see it done), went to the See Spot Bakery, she went to McKay’s, then we went and had dinner at a new place and had ice cream. It was like a daylong date.


IZZEs are back in my diet (Clementine of course)! WOO WHOO! Also, just started up on my new USANA personalized vitamin packs; I’ll update next week on how well USANA is working for me.

On the 15th day, I rested

Six weeks in: 74 hours and about 540 miles of training already! I am very glad this week is over as it turned out to be a combination of some very hard key workouts.

SWIM: Thankfully, only because I hate it so much, the pool was closed most of the week and I only got two swims in. The pool is also closed all of this week for swim meets, so I won’t be swimming at all. YES! I do plan on spending the extra time on the bike though.

BIKE: I got one hard spin class, one trainer night, and one long ride in. Trainer night at Trace Bikes was good because John and Kristine stopped by to give the team a presentation on nutrition and USANA supplements while we road. Turns out my current vitamins suck and I’ll now be taking USANA (at a team discounted price, THANKS!). The long ride was probably the hardest bike ride I’ve had since I started riding; I was very sore once I got back home. It was about 35 degrees and came on the 14th day in a row without a rest day. My legs were toast before Jeff and I even began. Ended up with 72 miles, 4:16 total time in the saddle, 16.8mph, average HR 155, 4060 feet of climb and supposedly 4009 calories (Garmin cannot always be trusted in caloric burn). Anyway, it was a great base building ride and good for me mentally to push when I didn’t have much left to push with.

RUN: This week picked up with speedwork outside with a track coach Johnny Pryor (yes, another coach/trainer). We did mile repeats at 6:38, 6:36, and 6:30. The second session was a tempo run. After warm up, we did 3@6:53 (splits were 7:02, 6:56, and 6:40 – really kicked on that last one). The temperature was in the low to mid 30s during these runs… hopefully I can keep it up when it hits the mid 90s this summer. Since Mark and I did a hard long run last week and I needed a rest day (and had a long bike on Sat), I did not get a long run this weekend. The addition of speedwork was enough I think.

Weight training is really progressing. The quantity of workouts that we pack into an hour and 30 mins is out of control. Friday, we packed in 5 circuits that I went through 5 times and each circuit had 3 exercises that I repeated 15-20 reps. That’s 75 things that I did sets of 15-20 of. INSANE. Most of the individual exercises were single leg stuff that I had to do on each leg too, so even another multiplier. The workout was NON STOP, had speed sessions on the bike between circuits, and lasted one hour and 45 mins too… very tough and nearly all legs. Maybe if I can every fully recover, I’ll notice a some improvement on the bike.

As noted from the picture above, it snowed again on Monday (that much came down in only 1.5 hours too). Unfortunately, I’d just lifted weights and it was dark or else I’d been out running in it. Snow running is awesome. I also cooked some great food this week. One such dish to speak of would be the mesquite grilled pork chop, mixed steam veggies with almonds and ginger, and the

steamed potatoes with garlic, chili powder, and cumin. ALL organic and all natural. Healthy and tasty! Rest day was Valentine’s Day; however, Kristin had to work until about 3:30. We still celebrated with some Chipotle (how romantic right?) and watched some movies at home with the dogs. It was a great rest day.

Hmmm, I wasn't sleepy this week?

So this week turned out to be a very proportioned IM training week. I got in a long run and long bike, along with my all of my other runs being outside (regardless of how cold it was). This is the first week that I feel a lot of things coming together (being able to withstand the quantity and volume of workouts). I’m not nearly as tired and I’m not requiring as much sleep at night (8 hrs versus the 9+ I was getting the first 4 weeks or so). Granted, I am only hitting about 14.5 hours a week right now, but I feel really good and not completely wiped out. The weekend endurance workouts were not as difficult as I thought they may be given that I’d completed 9 workouts during the work week prior.

The long run took place Saturday on the Smyrna greenway. This was a nice 14 miler flat run with Mark. We had intended on keeping an 8:30 pace, but I guess the 30 degree weather, sleet and wind hitting us in the face, and Mark’s frozen and swollen fingers caused us to pick up the pace. We ended up running the 14 miles at a 7:51 pace.

The bike ride was a 47 miler at a base building pace on Sunday (16.7mph I believe, with about 2,400 feet of climb per my Garmin – the perfect winter long ride). However, it was 28 degrees with a windchill of 24 when we started. Much like the run, snow and sleet were coming down at times. These were not Louisville conditions in August.

I also got signed up for some more events. So far, the race schedule has the following:
-Tom King Half Marathon – 3/13
-Hell of the South bike race – 3/20
-Oak Barrel Half Marathon – 4/3
-Cheaha Challenge (bike century and training camp weekend) – 4/18
-Country Music Half Marathon – 4/24
-Three States Three Mountains (bike century) – 5/1
-Taylorsville Half Ironman – 5/15

These should help build the base and provide some higher paced workouts for Louisville in August. So far, YTD totals for swim, bike, run, and lifting are: 60 hours and 412 miles in 5 weeks.