37 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? I'm a little tired this morning. The knee is feeling a little better as well. There is still a bump on the side of my right knee. I can't believe it I must have hit it hard. Today I just plan on swimming in the evening at Wildwood with Susan. I need to get my bike cleanup and ready for tomorrow. The plan is to head out to Orient Point with Wynn. We are looking at doing 110 miles. This will be a key ride for me. I would also like to run a few miles afterwards. If I can do that I will feel much better about my chances going into IMWI.

I swam with Susan at Wildwood this evening. We didn't do much just the short way twice. The water was pretty choppy and it became overcast. I would have liked to have done more but I wanted to get a run as well this evening so I headed home. The run was a little tough for a short 5 mile run. I guess the legs are a little tired this week. It wasn't bad though it was not as overcast here as it was over by Wildwood. So not a bad workout for today. Tomorrow I will probably keep it short as well. I will bike and hour and run for 30 minutes or so. I want to save my energy for the long ride with Wynn on Sunday. Plus I want to brick off the bike for 3 or 4 miles if I can do that.

38 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? I feel pretty good and that is saying a lot after my 18 mile run yesterday. Man I'm in good shape lol, I better enjoy it while I can because once IM is over I know I won't maintain this level of fitness. The only thing is my right knee is hurting and is not very happy with me. It's still sore from the fall last weekend. Damn that was so stupid! I would like to do a bike/run brick but I am thinking I will just stay with the bike and give my knee a break. I will probably do 2 to 3 hours and it will probably be on the trainer. The rain is on the way so it'll be indoors tonight.

It's my son Austin's birthday today and he turns 17, damn time flies let me tell you. I can't believe it! I feel so old lol.

It rained so I did my workout on the trainer. I skipped the run to give my knee a break which I iced all day. It is feeling better as well no issues following the bike workout. For the workout I pretty much kept it in a big gear and tried to stay within the 185 to 200 watt range. I was trying to be consistent.

For the last hour I wanted to go a little harder and stayed between 200 and 215 watts. I have to say I probably did not take in enough calories as I was definitely feeling it with 30 minutes to go. The last 10 minutes were very tough. I actually didn't think I'd finish and just wanted to get off the bike.

Any time I feel like that I just think I'll feel 1000 times worse at some point at Wisconsin so just keep going so I did and was able to finish. Overall a decent workout and being on the trainer for 3 hours is not really any big deal anymore. It's funny to say that but it's true after all the training volume I've been carrying I feel like I'm immune to the conditions I train in. Treadmill, trainer, pool, lake, indoors, outdoors it really doesn't matter anymore. I just do what I need to do it and get it done.

JoAnne sent me the Ironman Taper post. I didn't about it but it's something someone posted here on BT over 5 years ago and it is one of the most inspiring, awesome posts on Ironman I've ever read. It's going up on my wall so I see first thing when I get up and last thing when I go to bed. It says everything that needs to be said about what's to come.

39 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? I actually feel pretty good this morning. I thought I would be more tired being I didn't get at least 8 hours of sleep. In any case I will do my long run tonight and am looking for 18 miles. The weather is nice so hopefully it's cool and I'll just run slow, easy and long tonight.

I forgot to mention it but at the pool last night I saw Rick and his wife. He is getting close to beginning his taper for IMMT. He's in great shape and is looking to KQ although he is having an issue with his achillies. I hope it's feeling better for race day because he is absolutely going to kill it in Mount Tremblant. His wife is also going to be doing another IM she is going to be doing B2B in October like Will.

I also got some good feeback from Rick on my swimming as well as from Wynn so I am trying to just focus on those little things that will help me swim a little easier. Next swim will be out at the lake on Friday.

I got my long run in this evening into the night. It was not an easy run, actually it wound up being pretty tough. I kept the pace easy and aerobic but I think my legs were a little dead. If I weren't 39 days away from IMWI I would have called it a day after 10 miles but I knew I could not do that. I wasn't dying or anything but the legs did not have a lot of spring in them tonight. I think my mind and body are finally onboard with the program so I am able to push on when I need to and I needed to tonight. I think 18 miles was my limit I would have ben hard pressed to do some more. I'm happy with the effort and this run tonight. I need to get some work in on the bike this week. I will do that tomorrow.

40 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? I'm a little tired and my knee is still a little sore but otherwise I feel pretty good or as good as I'm going to feel I guess. Today I am going to swim. I would like to do a very long swim so I am leaning towards the pool today. I won't have my swim partners this week so unless someone is going out to the lake to swim today I will probably be over at the pool to swim this afternoon/evening.

I decided to head to the pool this evening I wanted to do a very long continuous swim. Susan did hit me up late though and I did have a chance to go to Wildwood to swim but I really wanted to get this one in tonight. Since Teresa is not swimming this week I expected to be at the pool or finding a partner to swim with.

I wound up doing a 4000m continuous swim which was very slow but I did that on purpose. I just wanted to see if I could swim that far and that long without blowing up. Well I was able to do just that. I felt decent when I finished so this is a big boost to my confidence. I still need to do this at the lake but I am feeling much better. I also need to work on three things, keeping my head down more, keeping my left hand down on entry and working on my pull from the left side. If I can fix that stuff I will swim easier and with less effort. I'll work on that for the next swim session.

41 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? I'm tired and sore. I am totally worn out today. I'm taking the day off and using it as a rest and recovery day. My knee is sore and hurts from where I fell and my hamstrings are sore from the bike ride on Saturday. I aggravated them running yesterday so I really need give my legs a break. I'll be back at it tomorrow and just swim so that will give me two days for my Wednesday long run. I would like to do 18 plus if I can.

Congrats to my friends who all finished at Lake Placid yesterday. It was pretty amazing to watch them and track them. My time is nearing and seeing them all be able to do it just motivates and inspires me. I have to finish Wisconsin, I can do this.

Well there was like 8 or 9 folks who I train with signed up for Lake Placid on Friday and today. I was not tempted in the least to do that but I'm glad to see so many of them signed up. They will all be able to train with each other. I don't think I could go back to back years trying to do this. My wife would kill me lol. Honestly it would be very selfish of me to do that considering all the time, effort and money I've put into this. I already owe my wife big time for supporting me on this but I am excited for everyone else.

No workout today, I walked Luna twice and that was the extent of my exercise today. I'm tired and my body hurts. I hope I get a good night of sleep tonight. I am planning on a really long swim tomorrow.

42 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? Not too bad considering the pounding I took on the bike yesterday. I am a little tired and a little sore. I banged my knee when I fell so that is a little sore but otherwise I am alright. I have to go food shopping soon so I will come back and probably do an hour on the bike, just a recovery sort of spin and then I will probably run for an 60 to 90 minutes. I am also tracking all my friends at Lake Placid today. Wishing everyone there a safe and fun race.

One other note, Wynn said the E. Broadway hill is a 12% grade. Man I have come a long way to be able to be able to climb something like that. I don't do it often but I actually impressed myself by being able to do that yesterday. Unreal!

Just got back from food shopping and I totally bonked out in Target after hitting Sam's Club. I couldn't stay aero on the shopping cart and desprately needed to get some nutrition in me. A venti carmel macchiato and a dark chocolate milky way seemed to do the trick. Still gonna try t get and hour on the bike and an hour plus run in on the treadmill. Man I'm tired.

I got my workout in this afternoon but man it was tough. I did an easy spin on the bike and made sure I kept my power in the 170 to 190 range. I did not want to go above that, this was more about recovery and getting some work in. My legs felt good on the bike during and after the workout.

The run was tough, I kept it easy for the most part but my legs were dead. I had to bascially force myself to stay on the treadmill. I probably should have cut the run short today. When I finished my knee was sore and my hamstring was as well. I'm glad I can tough out the runs and the workouts but this was borderline stupid tonight. I am taking tomorrow off from training and giving my legs a break.

43 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? I'm tired this morning I did not sleep well last night. I'm up early to meet Wynn this morning for another Oakwood repeats run out in Port Jefferson. We are hitting the hills today hopefully for a good long ride.

Today I had a great ride with Wynn. We headed up to Port Jeff and I got 87.5 miles in 6:09. Both are awesome for me, longest ride ever and longest time in the saddle. We did the usual but Wynn also added the steep hill on East Broadway. He said you haven't lived if you've never done that. Great, anytime Wynn says that be afraid LOL! He said get in your lowest gear before you hit the hill and you will wind up standing.

As we were going up he was like we can rest here. I'm thinking resting on the hill damn this is going to be bad and it was. He was right though I wound up standing near the top. I almost made it seated but I just couldn't do it this time around. Not bad for the first time up it.

I wound up doing 12 Oakwood repeats and Wynn did 15. I can't believe it, for a guy who only got 4 hours sleep and had dead legs you would have never know it. I did go down though on Oakwood. It was stupid and I was barely moving. A car was coming and I had to stop but couldn't clip out so boom over I go. The worse part was it must have knocked my cadence and speed sensor out so when I did the first uphill repeat it went flying off my bike and I could not find it. I'll have to replace it.

The way back to Wynn's was tough, we rode in a headwind on RT25, Edwards Ave, RT24 and RT51. Route 51 was brutal I was going so slow I didn't think I would make it but we did. When I got back to Wynn's I actually felt like I could ride some more.

I also ran a mile when I got back there, two times around the block with a little uphill and downhill so not all flat. I felt good and ran faster than I thought I could. I was thinking while I was running that I can do this. I could have run some more but I cut it short so I could get home. Not a bad workout today.