200 Days!!!!

200 Days to go!

That's what the countdown timer says. This is getting real. That is, it's going from conceptual, as in, I'm going to do an Ironman, to operational, as in, what do I need to do today, tomorrow, and the next day to make sure I'm at the starting line on top of my game come September 13th.

One of my b-day presents from Heidi was a DVD from Endurance Nation (http://www.endurancenation.us/) (or see them here: http://endurancenation.blogspot.com/), called the Four Keys to Ironman Execution. I was able to watch it over the weekend. Thanks Heidi. I can't wait to see you at the finish line.

Week 8 went mostly as planned. Here's the rundown:

Monday, 2/16: A rest day.

Tuesday, 2/17: More Turbo Sprints. My best session yet. I've picked up over 1 full average MPH since the first of the Turbo Sprints. Yeah Me.

Wednesday, 2/18: Lower Body & Core Strength training. Victoria and Cole helped with this workout. Thanks kids.

Thursday, 2/19: Swim workout, about 1850 yards.

Friday, 2/20: Upper Body & Core Strength training plus an easy 2 mile run.

Saturday, 2/20: A swim for time workout. 30 minutes and about 2100 yards. Not to bad. Then, 3 hours on the bike. This is where I got to watch the DVD.

Sunday 2/21: This was supposed to be an 8 mile trail run workout. Winter in Chicago did not cooperate, so I was on the treadmill. Heidi was competing in the "Hustle up the Hancock" stair climb in the John Hancock building -- 94 floors in just over a half-hour. WAY TO GO HEIDI! Victoria decided I should not be on the treadmill and should get her breakfast, go figure. So I had a very short 2 mile run on the treadmill.

Week 8 wrapped up the "Adaptation" phase of my training.
Here are my totals so far:
Swim: 13.7 miles
Bike: 275.1 miles
Run: 67.9 miles

Week 7

Quick recap on Week 7. All good. Busy week. The rundown:

Monday, 2/9: Off Day

Tuesday, 2/10: Swim Day. About 1700 yards.

Wednesday, 2/11: More Turbo Sprints on the bike trainer. This is getting a little easier. I guess that's the point.

Thursday, 2/12: Timed run intervals on the treadmill. A little over 4.6 miles in about 40 minutes; plus core strength training.

Friday, 2/13: Upper body and core strength training. Also, happy b-day to me!

Saturday 2/14: About 2100 yard swim workout and an hour on the bike (it was supposed to be three hours, but I had a swim meet to get to).

Sunday 2/15: 6 mile easy run.

Another cool IM video.

Week 6 Review, a little late...

So week 6 went very smoothly. It's been a very busy week this week, so I'm a little late in posting, but here goes.

Monday, 2/2: an off day.

Tuesday, 2/3: Bike Turbo Sprints on the trainer. A little easier this time around.

Wednesday, 2/4: An easy swim workout, about 1750 yards.

Thursday, 2/5: Lower body and Core strength training.

Friday, 2/6: I was supposed to go about 7 miles on treadmill. I was not my normal up-and-at-it self. I ran about 4 miles on the treadmill.

Saturday, 2/7: I traded my Saturday and Sunday workouts again this week. Saturday was supposed to be a swim day. Instead it was a brick day. 40 miles on the bike (trainer) and 6 mile run (treadmill) -- Thank goodness for movie channels.

Sunday, 2/8: I got my swim in, about 2800 yards.

All is going well. I got some nice birthday presents today: a book on nutrition for endurance athletes, some after-run sandals, RoadID bracelet, reflective bands, and a DVD on keys to the iron-distance tri.

Week 5: Another Good Week

I did get a new pair of running shoes last week. I'm back to Asics: Kayano. As life would have it, this was my first running shoe when I got back in to running six years ago. After several other shoes: some Asics, some Mizuno, and a try at Newtons, I'm back where I started. I do have to say that my Achilles tendinitis is feeling a bit better. Maybe it's the shoes.

I got all my workouts in for last week. It was nice to not have to compress the week down into 4-5 days.

Monday 1/26: Off Day

Tuesday 1/27: About 6.5 miles on the treadmill doing some drills and some speed variation work.

Wednesday 1/28: Lower body and core strength training plus a short swim workout. The folks at Triathlon Geek must not be swimmers because their swim workouts so far have been pretty easy, even at the "pro" level. This is fine by me, since swimming is my best discipline of the three. If only I could get the IM people to double the swim distance and cut the bike distance in half...

Thursday 1/29: My first (of four) "Turbo Sprint" bike workouts on the trainer. This involved a series of high RPM sprints of increasing time.

Friday 1/30: Upper body and core strength training.

Saturday 1/31: I switched my planned workouts for Saturday and Sunday so I could take my son and his buddy snowboarding for the day. So on Saturday I did a 6 mile steady pace endurance run on the treadmill. I hope the weather improves soon. The treadmill gets a little boring.

Sunday 2/1: My first true back-to-back workout of the season. Not an official "brick" as it was a swim workout followed by a bike workout. I swam about a mile then road the bike, on the trainer, for about two hours.

As a bonus for Sunday, I got more swimming in. For swim team we had our "silly meet" on Sunday evening; a fun practice for those who chose to come practice instead of watching the Super Bowl. We had some Coaches Races (I won, even then the other coaches made me swim with only one arm. When I had to kick while they swam, it was a close call -- I think I won.). We had some relays where we swam with the kids. For the older age group, I participated in a little water polo and a some sharks-n-minnows.

I also discovered, courtesy of some of the other blogs I follow, the Wisconsin Brick Adventure. A weekend program, June 26-28, in Madison. The idea is to swim the swim, bike the bike, and run the run of the IM course. Heidi even signed on to me going for the weekend. As I'm learning, more so than my other races, the support crew for an IM is a critical component to the training. Thanks Team IronVince!

Overall a good week. I'm definitely feeling like I'm on the right track.