ONE WEEK!

I can't believe race day is one week away! I am excited and nervous / anxious / scared. I keep telling myself that I have logged the hours and the miles and that I am ready. This is a personal journey and I will be telling myself over and over again on race day to just swim, bike and run my own race.

I looked at my race logs to remind myself how far I have come - I just finished my 23rd week of training and have logged the following:

Total Hours: 166.72
Total Running Miles: 435.63
Total Biking Miles: 1189.35

Weekly Average:
Hours: 7.25
Running Miles: 18.94
Biking Miles: 51.71

My understanding is that Athlete Tracking will be available at www.ironman.com -- I will try to update the blog with additional details as I learn more.

I couldn't end this post without saying thank you. Douglas, thank you for your endless love and support - without you this journey would not have been possible. To my boys who help me keep things in perspective. To our parents who take every opportunity to brag about me to everyone they know (and even people that they don't know!) To my friends and co-workers who generally think that I am crazy and humor me by listening to me talk endlessly about training. My training buddy Mark who logged countless bike and running miles with me and made the training hours go by that much faster. And of course, thank you to all of you on the other side of the computer for being a part of this journey.

Week 1 of the Taper

It was nice to have some down time during the week but I felt strangely guilty on the days that I was free at lunch and not heading to the gym. Next week will be even stranger as I cut back even more on the time. I will be traveling though, and that will help keep me preoccupied so I will not be nervous all week about the race!

Training week of September 8:

Monday – a.m. - 1 hour swim (2300 yards)
Tuesday – a.m. - 1 hour spinner
Wednesday – a.m. - 1 hour swim (2100 yards)
Thursday – a.m. - 1 hour run (6.75 miles); Lunch - 45 bike /15 run
Friday – a.m. - OFF
Saturday – a.m. - 2 hour bike ride (30.5 miles); 15 min run
Sunday - p.m. - 1 hour run (6.75 miles)

Total workout time: 8hours, 15 minutes
Total distances: Run: 15.25 miles Bike: 58.50 miles

Favorite workout this week -- Doug and Ryan accompanied me on my bike ride this week, which was a lot of fun.

Let the Taper Begin!

Well, it is 2 weeks until race day! I just completed my 22nd week of training (I started April 21!) and I am ready for this hard earned taper. I am getting nervous about the race but I keep telling myself that I have logged the training hours and that I am prepared for the 70.3 miles that lie ahead of me.

I found out that the race will be tracked on ironmanlive.com, so those of you who want to track me from afar will be able to do so. My race number is 830 and I am starting the race at 7:44 a.m. I will find out more about tracking and post the information here.

... Speaking of waves, I am particularly nervous about the swim start. There are 14 waves and I am starting nearly smack dab in the middle in wave 6.

Here are the waves:

Wave 1 - Pro - 7:30
Wave 2 - Men 24 and under and Men 50+ - 7:32
Wave 3 - Women 40+ - 7:35
Wave 4 - Men 35-39 A-K - 7:38
Wave 5 - Men 35-39 L-Z - 7:41
Wave 6 - Women 25-29 and Women 35-39 - 7:44
Wave 7 - Men 40-44 A-K - 7:47
Wave 8 - Men 40-44 L-Z - 7:50
Wave 9 - Men 25-29 - 7:53
Wave 10 - Women 20-24, Women 30-34, Athenas - 7:56
Wave 11 - Men 30-34 A-K - 7:59
Wave 12 - Men 30-34 L-Z - 8:02
Wave 13 - Men 45-49 - 8:05
Wave 14 - Clydesdales, Relays, Aquabike

I think that I have established that I am S-L-O-W swimmer and there are a lot of fast swimmers starting behind me, which means that I am going to have people swim OVER me (literally). I am going to just have to swim on the outside to give people a lot of space so that I don't get kicked in the face!

Hurricane Ike Stinks!

Two weeks of peak training partially interrupted by the stupid hurricane!

Training week of September 8:

Monday – a.m. - 1 hour swim
Tuesday – a.m. - 1 hour brick (45/15)
Wednesday – a.m. - 1 hour swim
Thursday – a.m. - 1 hour bike; Lunch - 1 hour run
Friday – a.m. - 1 hour run
Saturday – OFF - Hurricane Ike interrupted my training! I missed my long ride.
Sunday - a.m. - 45 min run

Total workout time: 6 hours, 45 minutes
Total distances: Run: 20.17 miles Bike: 30 miles

Favorite workout this week -- My swims, my coach actually said "you are starting to look like a real swimmer" !!! Yahoo!!

Training week of September 15:

Monday – p.m. - 1.5 hour run (9.7 miles)
Tuesday – p.m. - 1 hour bike (est. 16 miles)
Wednesday – p.m. - 1 hour 42 min run (est. 11.2 miles)
Thursday – p.m. - 1 hour bike (est. 16 miles)
Friday – OFF
Saturday – a.m. - 1 hour swim (2100 yards) and 3 hour bike (47 miles)
Sunday - a.m. - 15 min recovery run, 1 hour swim

Total workout time: 10 hours, 30 minutes
Total distances: Run: 23 miles Bike: 79 miles

Favorite workout this week -- I feel like I hit a stride with my runs this week

Hello seventies ... degrees that is!

Training week of September 1:

Monday – a.m. - 1 hour swim; p.m. - 1 hour bike
Tuesday – a.m. - 1 hour run (6.75 miles)
Wednesday – a.m. - 1 hour swim; Lunch - 1 hour brick (45/15)
Thursday – Lunch - 55 min run (6.1 miles)
Friday – a.m. - 3:45 bike (61.5 miles)
Saturday – a.m. - 2:00 run (13.75 miles)
Sunday - Rest Day

Total workout time: 11 hours, 40 minutes
Total distances: Run: 28.35 miles Bike: 89.5 miles

Favorite workout this week -- The weather was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L towards the end of the week which made my long bike ride on Friday and my long run on Saturday just delightful! Send your good weather vibes for October 5 my way please!

One month and counting ...

Taking a deep breath ... one month until race day!

The next two weeks will be "peak training" meaning that I will have the longest workouts yet followed by two weeks of taper so that I will (supposedly) be in peak physical shape and ready for 70.3 miles of fun!