Ironman Texas Training 2013, Week 5

In last week's post I said it looked like the kid gloves were coming off in terms of my schedule, and that was an accurate assessment of things as my schedule took a big jump in hours and volume. My swim, run and bike volumes all increased this week and were each at their highest weekly volume since I returned to training. Also, other than having to shorten a swim workout by about 500 yards due to a cramp, I got all my scheduled workouts in this week. The most interesting event in the training week was my long bike ride on Saturday being temporarily halted by a parade and then the kids on the parade floats tossing candy my way.

This next week will be partly affected by some work conflicts, as well as my volunteering at the local Woodlands Marathon next weekend. I will be one of the lead runner bicycle escorts.Considering I was not going to be able to do the race this year due to my injury recovery, I am glad I got a really cool volunteer slot! 

The volume of this past week has left me quite tired and run down, but it was awesome to get in a good 9 mile run while feeling exhausted before the run. It is workouts like this one that get a person through an Ironman race.

This last week's training:

Swim: 7000 yards in 2:42:30
Bike: 129.38 miles in 8:02:37 These numbers include workouts were done on the trainer or spin bike and the distance numbers are estimated based upon effort for those.
Run: 23.22 mile in 3:48:08
Other: 50:00 minutes of other training, such as strength training, stretching, etc...

Total Time: 15:23:15


83 days until Ironman Texas.....

Ironman Texas Training 2013, Week 4

This past week was a "rest" week. I put rest in quotes because it was not really restful, except in that my muscles were not taxed as hard in terms of pacing. I did have to take a zero for my of my swim workouts due to a work conflict with my workout schedule, but this was also a good week for that to happen (if it had to happen). I felt good this week and had some high quality workouts. Despite some general feelings that I'm way behind where I'd like to be, part of me can't help but feel I am doing better than I give myself credit for--and I am certainly better off than I probably have any right to be considering I'm still only 4 months (to the day) from my whole getting hit by a car thing. 

Sometimes I feel perfectly fine. Other times I feel a bit limited and every now and then I feel an out of place pain. All in all, as I said above, I'm doing pretty good. I'm not really all healed up yet but I am good enough to start looking at taking this to the next level--which is good since I'm entering the next build phase and, considering what my next week's schedule looks like, the kid gloves are off.


This last week's training:

Swim: 2600 yards in 0:59:38
Bike: 80.23 miles in 4:51:57 These numbers include workouts were done on the trainer or spin bike and the distance numbers are estimated based upon effort for those.
Run: 19.16 mile in 2:55:33
Other: 15:00 minutes of strength training

Total Time: 9:42:08

  87 days until Ironman Texas.....

Ironman Texas Training 2013, Week 3

Having my body hold up for two consecutive 8+ hour weeks was pretty good as I am attempting to go from injury recovery mode to training mode. Now I upped the ante and aimed for a double digit week of training hours. I am pleased to report that I held up pretty well this week, too. I definitely finished this week feeling tired, but also feeling good about my progress. I got all my planned workouts done this week, only shortening one swim by 500 yards due to scheduling constraints. This coming week is a recovery week and I will have a chance to get in some extra rest time for my body before taking my training to the next level.

This week included my weekly highs for swim, bike and run distances since my injuries last October. Some of my workouts are not as fast as I would like, but right now just covering the distance is more important to my being able to complete Ironman Texas in May. I can worry about doing some of these workouts more quickly in future weeks when my body is more prepared for it.



This last week's training:

Swim: 4500 yards in 1:40:31
Bike: 95.36 miles in 6:06:46 These numbers include workouts were done on the trainer or spin bike and the distance numbers are estimated based upon effort for those.
Run: 18.06 mile in 3:02:08
Other: 20:00 minutes of strength training

Total Time:11:09:25

  97 days until Ironman Texas.....

Ironman Texas Training 2013, Week 2

Week 2 of training for Ironman Texas kept my momentum from injury recovery going as I worked on re-establishing my athletic base. I made some slight advances in my workouts, other than having to skip a swim workout due to schedule conflicts. Overall, it seems that things are beginning to come together for me. I am still not at a point where things feel normal with my workouts yet, but I do feel like I am slowly getting back to that point.

Next week presents an opportunity to jump my training time up a couple hours if I can get in all the workouts and hold up to the increasing physical stress. One high point from this week was that I passed the point that marked the midpoint of the time between my injury and the day of Ironman Texas. I am now closer to IMTX than to that injury in terms of just time. Another important point this week was finally getting my tri bike into the shop for evaluation and possible repair--with any luck I'll be taking her back on the road soon instead of riding my old road bike as I've done recently.

Last week's training:

Swim: 2500 yards in 0:57:59
Bike: 77.06 miles in 4:37:02 These workouts were done on the trainer or spin bike and the distance numbers are estimated based upon effort.
Run: 17.10 mile in 2:40:30
Other: 20:00 minutes of strength training

Total Time: 8:35:31

100 days until Ironman Texas.....