5 weeks to Ironman

My calendar says June!  My training plan says I just finished week 13!  My wife says, I'll see you July 8th!

The training has been exhausting.  Very time consuming.  Almost tedious.  But honestly, I can't imagine my life any other way right now.  I admit to being consumed by this process.  When I wake up, the first thing I think about is the workouts that have to be done today.  When I find myself with a free moment, I find myself reviewing previous workouts and planning the next one.  And of course during my workouts, I'm visualizing myself in the race, tackling one thing at a time.  Everyday I think of something else I need to improve on, read up on, change, fix, alter, etc.  It has become my life.

Since my last post, I've completed a number of great workouts with a number of great athletes.  Working out with a partner has always been a great help to me, not only in terms of learning, but more importantly as a confidence builder.  This is especially true for the bike and the swim.  May was a great month for the bike, and I feel like my legs are coming back to me on the longer runs.  Here are the mileage totals:

May totals - Bike=262.8, Run=73.4, Swim=5.3
YTD totals - Bike=910, Run=347.4, Swim=15.6

This includes a Sprint Tri I did in Lawrence on June 26 in 95 degree heat at  4 pm!  The swim was indoors, with a hilly bike course, but the run was absolutely brutal in the heat!   I enjoyed the company of Chuck Alfrey at this race, and have enjoyed helping him get into the sport, as well as being motivated by his quick success.  I've also enjoyed long rides with Brian Riggins, Dale Anderson, and especially today with Gary Thomas who did his first 70.3 last year, and is now training for 140.6! 

With week 13 down, I see the next 3 weeks are nearly identical, but with longer mid week interval workouts.  I plan to race my second Olympic distance next weekend, and hope to improve some on the bike and especially the run which I had to walk quite a bit of last time.   After that I will try to get a 13 mile run in on the actual course, as well as a full 56 mile bike workout  in the following week, all before the last two weeks of taper!  Looking forward to that!

As I gear down, my wife gears up!  Those last two weeks will undoubtedly be her most stressful time!  She can't imagine training for 70.3, and I can't imagine organizing 1400 volunteers!  If you've not signed up to help out with this event on July 7th yet, I encourage you to do so - besides the boost it would give me to see you out there while I'm racing, it truly is an unforgettable experience to be around some of these world class athletes that will be competing to earn a spot in the world championships!  


Thanks to all of you for your support in following my crazy adventure.  Even if all you did was read to end of this post, it really means a lot to me!  See you on the road...