last post before my date with MICKEY

Yes that is right I have a date with mickey this weekend, I am running the Dinseyland 1/2 marathon. My original plan was to strive for my fist sub 2 hour half but I may be hanging with my wife and taking some pictures. Just enjoy the race. So here is how my week went:

Monday-Long swim. I am in a recovery block so my long swim was 1500 meters. It was slow. I didnt feel like swimming. I got in the water and did it. 40:11.
Tuesday-Recovery run. 3 miles without a watch and right before softball practice. It went well.
Wednesday-Ride on some hills. I found a new hill to repeat on. I went a total of 21 miles in 1:25:34 . I felt the best I ever felt on the bike. The hill I climbed to start was 3 min faster than the last time I biked on it. It felt fresher and faster. My ave was slow at 14.7 but I took it easy as I could on the down and pounded the ups.
Thursday-Swim easy. I decided that I just wanted an easy swim. I did some weights and then swam for 20 min straight. Just get it done.

My next block is going to be big again. I have 2 big blocks planned and I am looking forward to it. I am looking forward to it because I am starting feel like an endurance athlete. I began this journey without any specific goals. I had let myself get very out of shape during physical therapy school. Then I starting getting winded with the littlest things. I decided I would walk. Walking turned into running and running started me on a journey to see how far I could go. Can I do a half-marathon? 10 years ago I would have said hell no. A year and a half ago I would have said may be. Then I did the Palos Verdes half. It was brutal. Not the intro to halfs you like. VERY VERY HIlly. Then we decided to try another one. Disney. While training for Disney I still didnt believe that I could do it. Then something funny happened. I was running last years disney and I got mile 10 or 11 and I was dying. I was cramping and I was tired and not having fun. I looked around and said to myself...you know what? I dont feel so bad and I started to push it, and I pushed it and I finished with confidence. I reached down deep and I found something inside me that said I can do this. As my brain drifted off I thought about pain and training and what that does to your brain. I have let my old soft ways rule my life, training, and my perception of what I am capable of. It was then that I decided I wasnt going to limit myself anymore. It was at Disney last year that I fully bought into my new lifestyle.

When I say new lifestyle I mean NEW. The life I live today is light years more healthy and active than I have ever lived. As I sit here reading IM race reports I am excited, encouraged, and jealous. What would I be doing now if I didnt have a few years of "break time." Would I be an IRONMAN now? My new lifestyle constantly evolves. I lost 50 pounds and then my weight just stuck. I havent lost any weight in 8 months. Until this last week. I had an excellent nutrition consultation (thanks MARNI) and have received some excellent information that has resulted in a 7 pound loss. You would think that given the training load that weight loss would come right with it. NOPE. Now I feel in control of my body for the first time in my life, All the baseball, football, basketball, running, cycling, and swimming I have ever done was limited by what i put into my body. If I grew up with these tools what would have gone different? I was never thin. I remember being embarrassed about husky jeans. I played lineman, I hit homeruns, I got rebounds....RUN? Thats for punishment. How much weight in the weight room can I push? How far can I hit the ball? Box me out? i dont think so. Triathlon? Ironman? THATS NOT ME. I CANT DO THAT. THATS FOR LITTLE DUDES. Stick to what I do....power. Here I am reading triathlon blogs and writing one myself. I am running my 5th half marathon and in the midst of training for a 1/2 iron distance triathlon. Im going to use this half marathon as a TRAINING RUN. What? 13.1 miles as a training run? Yes and I am going to train right through it and make a push to silverman. Im going places and as I sit here ranting I am proud of the distance I have traveled. I have a lot more to accomplish and each step of the way brings on more knowledge about how to go about this active life. I love it. My body and brain are the healthiest they have every been and I am just getting started. My next entry will be the happiest race report on earth. Thanks for the rant. QUOTE:

“A healthy body is a guest chamber for the soul: a sick body is a prison”
Francis Bacon, Sr. quotes (English Lawyer and Philosopher. 1561-1626)

Boy it feels good to be free.

yeah Im definately sore....

I foreshadowed the week and it unfolds like this....Wed, 3.73 miles at 9:36 pace just wanted to get away from 5K mentality. SO I went a bit longer and slower. Thursday swim, 2 warm-up laps, 14 with gloves on, 2 cool down. I really think the gloves matches the intensity of the open water. Its the frequent stopping that doesn't make it comparable. Fri rest. Sat softball tournament 4 games. Not bad. My fitness level was remarkable. My teammates were walking around very sore and tired. I had a few more in me. I was sore but not till sunday morning. Sunday morning the running club met so no open water this week. But I went for a mini-sprint with transitions and everything. Swim at the gym 14 laps in 16:48 (700 meters, I was trying to do more on the swim since the open water will be harder than 10 laps in the pool) transition 5 min on the nose. had to go to the jeep to get the bike n stuff so a longer not so normal T1. 8.3 miles in 37:43. Nice to have a happy/healthy bike back. Probably need more bike this week. T2 2:29 seconds right on the money with what I will do during the race, Then 2.1 miles running. 21:16. Total continuous motion today of 1:18:28. WINDY, COLD, SORE, and not nourished or hydrated. did I mention I am sore?

weekly totals:
Swim 2900 meters or 1.8 miles but no open water
Bike 1:37:00 8.31 miles plus however I went in the spin class
Run 4.8 miles one long run and one get a feel for post swim/bike legs...WHEW
about an hour of strength
softball tournament 4 games

Next week I need more bike and keep up lots of swim especially open if I can and with gloves at the pool. My body is changing week by week it seems. We seem to have established the santa barbara half as our next running race. It fits perfectly into the RAGE tri where I will be making my olympic distance debut. As long as tritonman goes accordingly: QUOTE:

Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn't know that so it goes on flying anyway.
--Mary Kay Ash

boy that sounds familiar

Scheduled Rest Week

Last weekend took its toll. Sore legs and slightly painful knee. Havent felt the knee in 5 days though. Wednesday repeated last weeks hill repeats. 3.17 miles...7:56 to the hill, 1/2 mile up 4:24, 1/2 mile down 5:03, 1/2 mile up 4:13 then 7:52 back home. I was wondering if I can do a 5K in 25 min.....Thursday swim of 16 laps, 12 with gloves on, afterall its the closest thing to the resistance I felt in the wetsuit. Fri rest. Sat 20 min on trainer in big gear to poop out my legs before the MLK 5K. I ran 26:24. The plan was for art to pace us at 8:15. He died...lol...when I realized it I had a 2nd mile of 8:47....8:08 (1st mile), 8:32 (3rd mile). So a new PR for me in the 5K. Julie won her age group with a time of 27:14 and Susan my tech in her very first race got second in her age group with a time of about 32 min. Joni, jay, and cathy ran thier first race. Congrats all who raced. Sunday another open water swim. Much better. Same time about 22 m in the water but traveled about 400 yards. Tried to transition to bike but got 2 min in and noticed I had a flat tire. My first bike trauma. Its due for its tune up anyway.

weekly totals:
swam 1500 meters and 700 of those meters were in open water
only 20 min on trainers this week
ran about 6 miles including my PR in the 5K

QUOTE:
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden

so true, so true

YO DUCKS!!

Since I am blogging tonight I should mention them ducks puttin the smack down. YO DUCKS!

Monday-did a long swim. in the water 35 min approximately 17-20 laps. I lost count. lol....then a quick 20 min bike ride on the indoor trainer. P90X ab ripper workout and yes they are sore. Today did a bike workout known as "toes on top" where you concentrate on keeping your toes on the top of your shoe and it removes the mash aspect of the stroke relying on everything else to pedal and I can attest to it. Hammies were fired up, ant tib too. 10 min warm up, 20 min toes on top, and 10 min cool down. Then P90X arms and shoulders pooped too. Tomarrow run, thursday swim, rest fri....long weekend with multidiscipline action.

I can attest to my friends notion that you should exercise a cold. I have and each time I feel better. DO IT.....if you have a fever though seems to me like you shouldnt push through that. Otherwise go for it...

quote:

"No-one can make you feel inferior without your consent"
Eleanor Roosavelt

happy training,,,,happy new year to all!! (I suppose thats you Karl)