Thursday, December 23, 2010

Preparing...

These last couple of weeks I have been slowly increasing my distances as I get closer to the "official" start of my Ironman training. Weekday training runs are now nearly twice what they were a few months ago and my swim distances are increasing beyond my half Ironman distance preparation distances, while my long bike distance training is still down around the 2 hour timeframe, but this will change soon.

In the meantime, I get to enjoy some recovery time over Christmas weekend with a few lighter workouts and some family before I turn up the training a notch.

149 days until Ironman Texas...

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

IMTX Run Course

Today was my first run on the Ironman Texas run course. I ran one loop of the main part of the course (right at 8 miles today). I ran based on my heart rate, staying at the top of Zone 2 (approx. 75% of max heart rate) for most of the run. It wasn't my best performing running day, but it was fine for a training day.

The course is about half through residential areas near (and sometimes in view of) Lake Woodlands and about half through the shopping corridor along the Woodlands Waterway (with nearly all of this part being run along the path alongside the Waterway. I think it is a good run course for the coming race, with the potential for outstanding race support along the way. The map image below that shows the course is from the race website.



I am sure I will spend a lot of time running this course over the next 5+ months!

In other events, my youngest daughter moved out of the house this past weekend. She's only about 10 miles away but it's a big step for her (and us as well). Seeing some items getting pulled out into the open (old artwork, toys, etc...) seemed to carry bittersweet feelings along with them. For what it's worth, she's about 3 months older than I was when I left home, which seems somehow appropriate. However, she did make it back here tonight for dinner to celebrate my birthday (a day early due to the weekend and our schedules)!

167 days until Ironman Texas...

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Closing Out November

November was a banner month in several ways.

First, I opened the month with a huge PR in the half iron triathlon distance while feeling good all race.

Then, after taking some good recovery time I had a 3+ minute PR at the 5K distance, where I managed to get my time down to its fastest since 1991.

The only downside was that November was the first month this year where I had a weight gain. However, since the weight gain was at 0.1 lbs, I can't really consider this too much of a negative--especially since I had just followed a recovery period and the Thanksgiving holiday.

If I remember correctly, I have achieved all but one of the goals I set out for myself for the year in my January blog entry. The one remaining seems out of reach, although I will still strive for that goal before my year-end accounting of my goals.

As we enter the last month, I am shifting my goals towards completing Ironman and focusing my attention on that goal.

170 days and counting....