Training Log

Tonight was supposed to be a rest day but since I took yesterday day off I figured I better do something today so i didn't have two days off in a row which meant a distance run on my treadmill. I ended up doing 45 minutes on the treadmill and it felt pretty good. Im getting to the point that 45-60 minutes of cardio in my pain cave is getting pretty easy at least mentally. I also decided to post a picture of my pain cave for you to check out. Every Ironman athlete has their own pain cave if they want to be successful and this one is mine. Sure beats the crappy place in the basement I was working out before. Now all I need to get is a nice flat screen television and it will be complete. OK maybe a new treadmill too my poor old free one smells like it is burning up every time I run on it.

Workout :
45' treadmill run

Training Log

I'm sure the one person who actually reads this blog may have noticed that I didn't put any training updates up all week.  Don't worry I did actually train I just wasn't very good about keeping the blog up to date with my training sessions.  This week was week two of my EN training plan and I have figured out that this is going to be a painful 16 weeks.  I have found that the running is the hardest I had to do 1.5 mile repeats and my god they were hard.  I'm wondering if I'm running too fast on the intervals.  Last week when I did my 1 mile intervals they were coming in right about 6 minutes which is fast 5k pace.  I think I may back it off just a little to more of a 7 minute pace and see how that feels.  Over the weekend I did a 30 mile bike ride outside, actually my first outdoor bike ride since Ironman Louisville and if was kind of tough.  I pressed the pace pretty hard to see if my 2 whole weeks of EN have started to pay off, turns out it may be a bit soon to be expecting results ;)  This week is a new training week we will see how it goes.

Training Log

Today was 1 mile repeats on the indoor track at the rec center. I thought the workout would be pretty easy since it was only two but it turns out that 1 mile repeats are tough. Next week I have 1.5 mile repeats so getting ready to really suffer. I just have to remember that this is going to make Ironman day way easier.

Workout :
15' warm up
2x1 mile (2')
15' cool down

Training Log

Today was a bike/run brick down in my pain cave. I was supposed to workout yesterday too but I ended up missing it so i had to workout extra hard today. Im thinking I will get it in tomorrow night after my noon run workout.

Workout:

Bike:
10' warm up
2x8 FTP Max (2)
2x15 85% FTP (2)
5' cool down

Run:
8' zone 2
8' zone 3
5' cool down

Run Test

Today was my 3 mile run test as part of gathering my fitness baselines at the start of the EN outseason training plan.  This is the first year that I've ever done the EN outseason training plan and I'll tell you what testing week is tough.  I warmed up with a mile at a pretty slow pace with a few 30 second pick ups at race pace.  Once I was done with the warm up I went right into the 3 mile run.  The first 1.5 miles wasn't too bad but let me tell you the last half was tough.  I ended up with 20:25 time and my average heart rate came it at 150 which I don't believe, I think my heart rate monitor was messed up.  I'm not sure what to do since this test was about establishing a Lactace Threshold Heartrate.  I think I may just use the standard age calculation method and call it good for a while and possibly test again sometime later this week or next week.  If nothing else I established a 3 mile time that I can test against next time I do my run.

Workout:
1 mile warm up
3 mile run (20:25)

Weekly Totals:
Swim: 0'
Bike: 1:02
Run: 30'

Ironman Training Officially Started

Today I officially started my Ironman training and will be in training for the next 328 days.  Technically my next race is only 201 days away on May 5th but since I'm planning on doing two Ironman races this year, one early season and one late season, I have to train pretty much the whole year.  This year I'm doing an Endurance Nation training plan in hopes up significantly improving my overall race performance and assuming I stick too it religiously I should be successful.

Tonight's workout was my baseline FTP test on the bike.  I can't get the data off of my bike power meter so I'm not able to get my normalized power so I have to use average power instead.  I'm assuming average power is a bit more the normalized power so really all that means is I will have to work harder over the first training 8 weeks of my training until my next test.

Workout:
10' - Warmup
20' - Max effort (avg watts 250)
2' - rest
20' - Max effort (avg watts 241)
10' - Cool down
FTP: 233 watts

Weekly Totals:
Swim: 0'
Bike: 1:02
Run: 0'

Training Log

Having been in Sweden all week and just getting back yesterday at 6pm, this has not been a great workout week. On Tuesday I was able to get 6 miles in on the treadmill but that was the only working I did while I was overseas. Today was a 6 mile run out at the Clarence park. I took the boys out to play on the equipment while I ran around the walking trail. It was extremely windy today and it was a real struggle when i had to run into the wind. After 6.5 laps around the trail I was really worn out and had slowed significantly. Tomorrow I want to get down to the pool for a distance swim and then get a 1.5 hour ride in on the trainer. Monday sees the official start of my Ironman training for the year and this year I'm really wanting to improve my times.

Workout:
Run: 6.0 miles (7.05 MPH)

Weekly Totals:
Swim: 0.0
Bike: 0.0
Run: 12.2 miles

Training Log

Today I managed to get two workouts in. The first one was a distance run on the treadmill for 40 minutes. I ran right at 7.1 MPH for pretty much the duration of the run and it felt pretty good. No injuries to report. I have noticed a bit of soreness on the inside of my left ankle again this year but its nothing preventing me from working out. My second workout was a spin on the indoor trainer at 210 watts. I have found it pretty easy to maintain this wattage so hopefully when i test in two weeks I test at 240 instead of 230 FTP. Next week I will be I Sweden all week so I will be limited to a week of running.

Workout AM:
40' Treadmill Run (4.5 miles)
5' Cool Down

Workout PM:
10' Warm Up
30' 210 watts (145 HR)
5' Cool Down

Weekly Totals :
Swim: 0'
Bike: 3:20
Run: 1:20 (10 miles)

Training Log

Today it was an hour and 1:15 on the bike trainer.  Last night I had intended to get a bike workout in but I made the mistake of laying down on the couch and fell asleep.  I guess I'm not technically in training yet so it was alright to miss my second workout of the day but I still feel bad about it for some reason.  I just have to tell myself that there will be plenty of season to train with 2 Ironman races this year I'm sure I will burn out but right now I have the bug.  I really want to go 13 hours this year at one of my races and to do that I'm going to have to train hard.  Tomorrow I'm going to hit up another run, probably around 5 miles, and possibly a 45' bike.  I guess we will see how I feel tomorrow.

Workout:
15' Warmup
30' 210 watts (135 HR)
5' rest
20' 210 watts (135 HR)
5' cool down

Weekly Totals:
Swim: 0'
Bike: 2:35
Run: 45' (5.5 miles)

Training Log

Today was just a simple run on the treadmill at the rec center.  I headed over around 10:00am, since I had 2 hours free and wanted to make sure I got my workout in today.  Nothing major to report, no injuries to speak of and the run went all right.  I followed the run up with 110 pushups, 85 crunches, 3x15 25lb Dumb Bell curls and 3x12 25lb dumbbell shoulder presses.  Thinking about doing a 45 minute 200 watt ride tonight after the kids go to bed.  We will see how motivated I feel.

Workout:
45' Treadmill Run (5.5) miles

Weekly Totals:
Swim: 0'
Bike: 1:20
Run: 45 (5.5 miles)

The Ironman Is NOT a Cult?

I love these videos. When you aren't an Ironman you just don't understand the lifestyle.

Workout Log

I thought about starting my outseason plan today but ended up deciding to wait until after I got back from Sweden in two weeks to start.  I really didn't want to start it and then take a week off right away.  I may have to take a week off at some point during the plan but I don't want it to be right at week number 2.  It just seemed like a bad way to kick off my training for the year. Tonight's workout went well.  I ended up being almost 20 watts over FTP for most of the workout and was still able to do my lifting afterwards.

Workout:
15' Warmup
3x8' (2') at FTP (240, 250, 250 watts)
30' at 85% FTP (207)
5 minute cool down

Weekly Totals:
Swim : 0'
Bike : 1:20
Run : 0'

Training Log

Today was a hard choice it was nearly a perfect day out and i really considered getting on my bike for one of the last outdoor bikes of the year. Although to be honest by the time I decided to get out to workout it was really too late to do anything but run. Also when i started my run I was feeling really lethargic and quite frankly didn't feel like running at all. Surprisingly, though, I ended up running 7.5 miles in 59 minutes and felt really strong the whole time. I did, like nearly every run, develop a small blister on my left foot but nothing I couldn't deal with. Someday I have a dream when i can run and not actually develop blisters on my feet. It would sure be nice if i could get my feet in shape by Ironman Utah. I don't know if i need to start running barefoot, to toughen my feet up, or what but I need to do something this season because I'm sick of fighting blisters.

Weekly Totals:
Swim: 30 minutes
Bike: 2:15
Run: 1:40 (12.5 miles)

Workout Log

Today I ended up doing 2 workouts.  I started the morning off at 8:00am with a 30 minute continuous swim.  I really don't have to be swimming right now but I decided that I better swim at least one time a week or I will regret it come the start of my Ironman training plan in January.  The swim went alright.  I chuckle sometimes how hard it used to be to swim even 10 minutes.  The monotony of staring at the black line for any length of time just drove me insane but now I can zone out and swim for an hour or more without much issue.  I think that after 4 years of training for Ironman you start to develop the mental capacity for doing long and monotonous workouts. If nothing else you get a lot of time to just zone out and think.  Maybe it's like an active meditation or something. Anyway's tonight I told myself that if the Iowa State vs. Texas football game started to go crappy I would go workout instead.  Well halfway through the 2nd quarter the game went south so I took the boys upstairs for their bathes and then headed down for some time on the bike.  I did 10 minute warm up and then did a 35 minute interval at 216 watts, 5 minute break, then a 25 minute interval at 219 watts and finally a 5 minute cool down.  All in all not too bad of workout day for an off season fun workout.

Weekly totals:
Swim: 30 minutes
Bike: 2:15
Run: 5 miles (40 minutes)