July 14th - Back to normal. Kind of.

After the training camp that wasn't this weekend, today was a day for me to get back in to my normal routine, while still observing my taper.  Since I skipped yesterday's brick workout, I modified my workout for today to make sure that I got in a run and a ride.

This morning Kelly and I did an hour run.  I noticed that there was a little bit of pain in my knee but it seemed to go away as we continued.  My run/walk ratio is working well and I am hoping that I will be able to stick to it after riding 112 miles.

After church I decided on a 1 hour trainer ride.  This crazy weather was going back and forth between sunny and impending doom, so I thought it would be better to do my work inside while watching the 2012 Ironman World Championships on YouTube for inspiration.    Soon I will have to make some last minute tweaks to my bike.  I am going to put a new tube in each tire, clean and lube it one more time and take it to the Trek store to have my new cable tightened one last time.

One of the things we did talk about while camping was getting all of my gear needs and nutrition plan written down so I can study it and know exactly what I will do on race day.  The last thing I need to do is to lay out the schedule that I will follow in the days leading up to the race so that I will know where I need to be and when I will be need to be there.

Here is what Kelly calls the happy folder of Ironman fun:

July 13th - "Training" camp part 2

Today we were supposed to do another training session at the campsite.  Of course that didn't really happen.  Shaun and I did go out for a 1 mile run at his pace just to see what kind of shape he is in.  He has some time before Ironman Florida but he realizes that he needs to get to work. 

I was thinking about doing a ride when I got home but the weather wasn't cooperating yet again, and Kel and I were getting ready to go to the Toad the Wet Sprocket concert.  Another day of rest isn't a bad thing.

July 12th - "Training" Camp

A couple of friends and I went down to West Point Lake with the purpose of doing a training camp.  I wasn't able to get there until about 5pm so I got in exactly zero training today.  That's OK though because it was a regularly scheduled rest day and if I am not serious about tapering and resting until the big day I could be in for a struggle to get through the race.  Even though the trip was supposed to be about training, it was more about spending time with some friends that have already completed an Ironman event and learning from them.  Both Shaun and Eddie taught me some things that I will need to think about and do to prepare for the race as well as do during the race.

July 11th - Doesn't feel like resting

Since I am in the taper portion of my training, I should be reducing the intensity and duration of my workouts.  I am doing a good job with the intensity part, not so much with the duration. 

I was supposed to do an easy swim of 1800 yards, but ended up going 2300 yards.  I added the extra yardage because I took some very long periods of rest talking with a friend that was at the pool.

Our weather is typical for a GA summer and I was going back and forth between an hour and a half road ride and an hour long trainer ride.  In the end the road ride won, and I headed to the other side of the county to do a late afternoon ride with Eddie.  We rode for about and hour and 45 minutes when all was said and done, and we covered about 28 miles.  The roads out his way are very hilly and are really good preparation for Lake Placid.

Tomorrow was supposed to be a rest day, but instead we are going to make an impromptu training camp trip to West Point Lake.  There we will camp and do some training swims, rides and runs.  I might even lift the alcohol ban for a day and have a beer or 3 with the boys. 

July 10th - That's more like it

Today was a better representation of what my taper should be.  Kelly and I did an hour and a half run this morning.  This might have been a little long so I think I might have to cut back the time on my upcoming run workouts.  We kept a pretty good pace and ended up covering about 8 miles.  This was a little bit slower than usual but as I start my recovery for the race it seemed about right.  Also, I was pretty sore from my experience with the spin class yesterday so I am sure that contributed to my slower run pace today.

This afternoon we were finally able to get out and swim in Lake Peachtree.  We had some rain early in the afternoon, but it didn't last very long.  The water looked quite a bit cleaner than I expected after all the rain we have had in the last few weeks, and fortunately we didn't have to deal with any of the leeches I have been hearing about. I didn't time or measure the swim, but if I had to guess I would say we swam for about 30 minutes and ended up going just a bit under a mile.  This swim was pretty important for me because I have not been in open water since our trip to Lake Wedowee and I wanted to guage my comfort level in the open water.  I felt very comfortable today which was good and set my mind at ease.

After the swim we had hoped to get in a short ride of about 25 miles.  As soon as we headed out the sky got dark and we heard quite a bit of thunder, so we decided to cut it short.  We only rode for about 20 minutes and did a paltry 8 miles.

I have a short pool swim scheduled for tomorrow and if the weather holds I may try to do 25 to 30 mile easy ride, since we had to abort that mission today.

July 9th - Im supposed to be tapering

My PT appointments have dropped to once every other week, and I had an appointment today.  I actually had to cut my swim about 300 yards short so I could there on time.  I swam 1500 yards today at a comfortably increased pace.  I am feeling pretty good about the swim at this point.  Kelly and I are planning on swimming in the lake tomorrow afternoon so we will see how that goes.  And of course that is if the weather cooperates. 

My PT session today went really well again.  She did some more ART on my knee and she told me that there should be an ART tent at the event in case I feel like I need it.  Most of the work today focused on core strength and bike/run range of motion at the hip joint.

I had also planned an hour and a half ride for this afternoon with a friend of mine.  He decided to mix things up a bit and suggest that we go to Atlanta Fitness and do a Group RPM Spin class.  Even though neither of us has ever done a spin class, he talked me into it.  I'm pretty sure the ladies that are regulars in the class put us to shame and make us look like idiots, but it was an awesome workout and after the hour was up I was completely beat.  It was similar to riding the trainer, but having a leader tell us when to increase the resistance and when to stand up on the pedals made it that much better as well as made it harder to slack off.

The last thing on my plan for the day was a core workout.  Since I did some core work at PT, I cut my at home work a couple of sets short:

Core 10x25

July 8th - Last long run

We almost had a full day with no rain.  It didn't start raining until 8pm so I had plenty of time to get in my last long run on my training plan.  I went out for a 2.5 hour run and decided to try intervals of 6 minutes running to 4 minutes walking.  This seemed to work really well and I was able to cover 14 miles.  It looks like this is the ratio I will use in Lake Placid and of course I will modify it if necessary as the race goes on.  I felt really good on today's run, even though it was extremely hot today.  The weather in Lake Placid should be better than here in Georgia, although there is always a pretty good chance of rain at the race.  If anything it will at least be cooler.

I was also supposed to do a core workout today, but since I was tired from the run and it was finally not raining, I decided to cut the back grass and change the oil in my truck instead.  I also made a new mounting system to carry the bikes in the back of the truck for the drive home. 

Tomorrow I have a PT session, and I will do an easy swim and hopefully an easy ride outside if the weather hold.  I will also try to squeeze in the core work that I missed today.