Sunday, June 28, 2009

This weeks Ironman Training 6/22-28/2009

Hello Dear Readers!

It's been a long week of training and the heat in Houston has not helped. Pretty much every day we broke a heat record. Work has been pretty crazy so I finally have some time to blog about my training exploits. A lot of people have asked me how I train for these events and also find the time to work and be with the family. I tell you it isn't easy sometimes but it breaks down to these things:

1. Great Time Management
2. Flexible Work Hours
3. Have Support from your Family

I cannot stress enough how important item three is. I am sometimes gone for 6 hours at a time on the weekends and it takes a angel of a wife to put up with my absences, aches, pain, crashes, cuts, bandages, well you get it.

Anyway, on to the training sessions!

Monday's Swim Workout 6/22/2009

This day's session was a 4000 meter swim. It broke down the following way:

Warm Up: 3 x 300 as 1 free/ 1 kick 1 choice on 20 sec. rest, 9 x 100 free or pull easy on 15 sec. rest.
Main Set: 14 x 100 as: 25 drill/50free/25drill on 10 sec. rest.
Cool Down: 15 x 50 as: 4 free/ 4 drill/ 4 kick easy on 10 sec. rest.

It was a terrible workout. I felt like poo poo and struggled the whole time. But I got through it.

Later that night I did a weight lifting session.

Tuesday's Bike Trainer and Transition Run 6/23/2009

This was a combination of Biking on the indoor trainer and then running 4 miles right afterward. The bike session was as follows:

40 MIN WARM UP
6 X 5 MIN. AT HR#4 HIGH to 5a with first 2min in aerobars, 2min standing and 1min fast spin/ 3 MIN EASY BETWEEN
10 MIN COOL DOWN

My 4 mile run was done at a 9:30 per mile pace. Felt pretty good actually and things seemed to be clicking in place.

Wednesday's Bike and Run Session 6/24/2009

This day was a doosey. I had two separate workouts. The first was a 6 mile run in the morning. I did the first five miles at a pace of around 10 minutes per mile and then I ran the last mile in 9:36. It was really early in the morning and so I didn't overheat.

After work I did a 40 mile ride. It was so darn hot. heat index was about 107 degrees and I felt like I was riding in a oven set to broil! About 20 miles in it started getting a little cooler and I felt much better. Finished the 40 miles in just over 2 hours at a 18 mile per hour pace.

Thursday's Run Session 6/25/2009

I only had to run on this day. I did 8 miles with some really great times (minutes per mile):

Mile 1: 9:52
Mile 2: 9:27
Mile 3: 8:33
Mile 4: 9:37
Mile 5: 9:50
Mile 6: 9:28
Mile 7: 9:57
Mile 8: 9:09

Later that night I did a weight lifting session.

Friday's Swim Session 6/26/2009

This swim session was 3500 meters performed as:

Warm Up: 4 x 400 as: 1 free/ 1 pull/ 1 free/ 1 kick on 30 sec. rest
Main Set: 2 x 500 at IM pace on 1 min. rest, 4 x 150 pull on 15 sec. rest
Cool Down: 200 choice easy

I was really really happy with this workout. I had my 100 meter splits in about 1:45 and that is very fast for me.

Saturday's LONG Run Session 6/27/2009

I had a very long workout that day. Ran 22 miles. Started a little later than I should have and by the time I got done, the temperature was over 100 degrees again. I did 4 loops on this one as:

7 Miles in 1:10:27
6 Miles in 1:03:19
5 Miles in 1:02:27
4 Miles in 0:47:50

Note I was doing great for 13 miles or so, but the heat really started getting to me. The last miles were agonizingly slow. At the end of each lap I was putting ice under my hat, in a towel around my neck and (yes this works) in my pants!

Sunday's Bike/Run Combination Session (and they call me the sprinkler and water bandit!) 6/28/2009

This was a really great day for me. I got up extremely early this morning and rode 80 miles and then immediately ran 5 miles after that. I kept myself as hydrated as possible (which still really isn't enough) and got the ride done in 4 hours and 25 minutes. I then threw on my running shoes and ran the 5 miles in under 50 minutes. This is what really pleased me the most because that shows I was not too banged up from Saturday's run and I was not overheated. Did I mention it was over 100 degrees again? Since I was overheated the day before, I took advantage of the people who were watering their lawns. I am sure there was some kid looking out the window saying "Mommy there is a scary man standing in our sprinkler system!". Just kidding, I asked the owner who was moving the sprinkler around if I could stand in it for a few minutes. He was very cool and said sure. Then at mile four, I ran onto the local golf course and poured water over my head from the bucket at the first tee. I am a member there so I don't think they will mind.

This coming week is my last hard week before the taper for the Lake Placid Ironman. We are almost there!

Well that's all for now!

Tri your best,

Bill

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