The Road to the Ironman – I am back and it is only 50 days

6:26:11 my time in the Racine 70.3 on Sunday. Then on an airplane off to Hollywood for three days of Harman meetings. Flew back on Thursday and now it is Friday. It has been quite a week. Having the three days off since the race was great. The legs where a bit sore, the mind on meetings instead of training was a good break. Now it is the final push to the day that has been in my mind for almost a year.

Coming back on Thursday it allowed me to hit the gym work off the rust and start the final push. So what did I do? Well something that I never did before, I swam 4,000 yards. How long is 4,000 yards you might say, well that is 160 lengths of the pool or 80 laps or 2.27 miles. Ah that is only 200 yards short of going 2.4 miles. The actual distance of the Ironman swim! Hmmm.

Friday I was suppose to wake up at 6 am for a 50 mile ride. I did get up to check the weather and what I saw was some major storms headed this way, so it was back to bed. I woke up at 8 and you guessed it no storms. I did wake to what would become the hottest day in the Chicagoland area in 4 years. It did get up to 95 degrees with a heat index of 110. So when I am whining about all the bad winter weather coming remind me of this day. Being a light day of work I was able to hit the road (yes I did ride in this stuff) around 1 and boy I have never rode in anything like this. It was hot, humid, windy and sunny. The plan was to go out and see how I felt. I haven’t been on the bike in a few days so there was a little rust. In turn I went 40 miles, 16.3 mph which is slow but considering the weather, not bad. The nutrition seems to be working sucking down all four bottles in the 2:30 ride, plus the Halo sweatband works like a charm keeping ALL my sweat from running down my face and glasses.

I still should go to the gym. Running inside tonight, because it is storming out as we speak. My legs feel pretty good. I did buy some compression tights, which I wore last night while I slept and a foam roller (or as some call the Satan Stick of Pain). The foam roller is great because you simply roll the sore muscle back and forth (yes it hurts, a lot) but after presto the soreness is gone.

So tonight a run on the good old treadmill, probably some weights and maybe a short swim. We will see.

Update:

Plans changed once more. I didn’t go running on Friday night, the legs were to tired. The plan was to wake up early (raining) go to the gym for a run and weights. Well, everything was fuzzy. I tired to run through it but only got 30 minutes in before I had to stop. Kim and I went out for breakfast (#2 for me) and it work on the fuzzies, I am just one big eating machine. The plan was to go back later in the day and resume. The whole afternoon I was highly unmotivated. As the time approached I resorted to an old trick, playing YouTube Ironman videos. IT WORKED! Off to the gym to swim and getting back on the treadmill. Well the swim went incredibly well and increase my record to 4,500 yards or 2.56 miles or 180 lengths or 90 laps in 1:20 (I will not go past that total and probably won’t go that far again until the race.) I put on my workout clothes headed up to the treadmill, stood on the stupid thing for a few moments and just did not get the feeling. I headed to the StairMaster and did 30 minutes instead. I just love that machine.

Sunday’s plan is open. It is suppose to be nice, so I am waking up early 5-5:30 and off on the bike. How far? Well I did map out a 100 mile route, we will see.

Totals:

Running Miles: 617.30

Number of Hours: 93:15

New shoes: 112.40 miles (for my record keeping)

Biking Miles: 1,463.70

Number of Hours: 85:30

Swimming Miles: 68.98 miles or 121,900 yards

Number of Hours: 28:45

Swimming laps (25 yard pool): 4,708 lengths or 2,354 laps

Weightlifting hours: 25:35

Stairs in Cancun: 1:05

1 pathetic game of volleyball: 1 hour

TOTAL HOURS – 247 hours and 45 minutes