Week Fifteen of FC Coaching/Training:!! The time is near…

Disclaimer:  This blog is a documentation of my now second Ironman Journey for AZ Ironman 2013. I’m doing this race for a former patient, Sunny, who recently passed away this summer from a brain tumor. I hope that I can honor her well as I take her on my journey.   Format will be random, i.e. quick journal format, random thoughts, motivational quotes, pictures of random moments and memories along my journey. For the most part, it’s documentation for me and may not be to exciting for anyone else to read, but for those of you brave enough to ever wonder…could I do an Ironman or even just a triathlon?  I then offer you a firsthand account of what goes on in the mind of an Ironman age group triathlete including all the highs, lows, emotions, fears, rants, etc, etc.   Please forgive any spelling mistakes as I’m sure I am just happy to get everything written down, just chalk it up to fatigue from lots of training! 

Current Stats Overall (This Week):

SWIM:  ~190,732 Yds    (7470 yds)

BIKE: ~ 1501.41 Miles   (77:06 Miles)

RUN: ~   437.66 Miles   (26.12 Miles)

Strength: ~ 24:55 hr/min

Other      ~ 11:50 hr/min (PT, Stretch, etc. )

Total Training Hours:  318:22 hours/minutes   (12:40 hr/min)

The week was SOMA Race Week.  My training was toned down just a bit this week, which if I hadn’t been racing, it would have been my longest week yet. But since I did Soma Half Ironman. I actually got out of the 6 hr ride.  I can’t lie, I was kind of happy.  I was mostly calm this week, just being safe and keeping my training in the safe zone, I wanted to have fresh legs for the race.

Monday was my typical day with my swim and bike. I was at the Y and got in my 1800 yds and back home on the bike for my 1:30 hr/min. I was to do 3 x 10 at threshold. It was tough on the trainer, but also, by the middle of the second one, it got easier.

Tuesday I was on my run that was less with intervals for only 2 x 20 min, but I was thinking it should have been longer, and was confused when I didn’t actually go farther. Then I realized that  it was  2 x 20 and last week was 3 x 15.  So I was okay. Wednesday, I was back in the pool and got in my 3300 yds. I made myself swim two of the 500s with no pull buoy, just in case I had to swim at Soma with on wetsuit I was mostly prepared. I had a lot of shoulder pain for some reason; I slept on my back wrong so my right shoulder was really tight. I was very conservative with my swim tonight.

Thursday ended up being a rest day, I came home and while attempting to take a nap, I ended up cleaning the house, doing errands. Relaxing and making dinner and just getting stuff ready for Saturday. I did get a dog sitter for the weekend so I didn’t have to worry about bringing the dogs down with me to stay at my friend’s house.

Friday I finished up any final errands after work. Got home and ran my last six miles. I was a bit sore on my right leg. But I just kept it slow and under control and ran in the neighborhood. I am getting stronger running up and down the long mile hill by my place. I almost like running up hills now. That will be good for Whisky Row next year, and Boulder IM.  I was supposed to do a 2:45 hr run on Thursday, but knowing how I felt after my last long run, I decided that since that would be really close to my race day pace, I opted to switch that with the six miles that I would of done on Saturday after my ride. So I still got both in, but just different days.

( Please see SOMA Race Weekend Report for rest of week.)