Scott Gibson's Ironman Journey

Mixed things up a little tonight.  30 mins on the bike trainer then right into alternating between pushups and situps.  Only a moderate intensity workout, but I came close to blowing it off so at least I got something done.

Talking to my buddy John today about the sprint tri coming up in a week and a half and he let me know that wetsuits may not be allowed at the event.  Double checked the official USAT rules and it’s based on the temp of the water as follows:

• USAT rules state that competitors may wear wetsuits if the water temperature is 78 degrees or lower.
• USAT
  rules also state that if the water temperature is between 78.1 – 83.9
  degrees, competitors may wear wetsuits but will not be eligible for
  awards.
• If the water temperature is 84 degrees or above, participants may not wear wetsuits.

It is very likely that the water could be over 84 degrees since it’s lake water, but I’ll have to see how that goes.

Feeling just a little tight from Sunday’s workout, I still managed to get in a 5 mile run.  While the Gu Roctane helped with the energy, I might have run a little too soon after dinner because it was sitting pretty heavy in my stomach.

Looking at the Ironman.com website, I found that there are quite a few Ironman 70.3′s all over the country.  Depending on how my 1/2 and full go, I may try another 70.3 somewhere else.  I think 1 full Ironman will be plenty though.

Not happy that I went so many consecutive days without training, but I feel pretty good that I made today a strong training day.

Got up and hit the road with an 17 mile bike ride.  I really enjoy the route that I ride as it is a fair mix of flats and hills.  There is 1 killer hill going out, but I get to enjoy it on the way back.

After my ride, I headed out for a run and quickly realized it was going to be too hot and humid to get any quality running in.  I ended up doing about 1.5 miles outside and finished the other 1.5 on the treadmill.  Followed up with 20 mins of stretching.

Later in the afternoon, got in a quick .5 mile swim in between playing with the girls and cleaning our boat.

Since the sprint tri is the weekend after next, I want to train everyday this week with the exception of a rest day on Friday.  We will see if I can stick to that goal!

Yet another rest day, but to make up for my missed training days, going to do a full day of training tomorrow with a bike ride, run and swim.

Rest day.  Family stuff to do.

Rest day…

Run-Bike brick tonight and I got to enjoy running outside instead of the treadmill.  However, I did use the trainer for the bike portion as it was a little too dark to bike outside.

Spent some time stretching tonight too…I am still way too inflexible.  I should probably be stretching a couple times a day or I am never going to get there.

Headed out to the lake tonight for some swim time.  Got in a 1 mile swim, again focusing mostly on technique.  I think for a novice swimmer, I have pretty decent form, making sure I get in a good body roll, full strokes with the arms and a consistent leg kick.

My last .2 miles, I pushed it as fast as I could and everything came together fine.  However, it made me realize that the day of my sprint, I will want to make sure I warm up by swimming for about 10 mins.  It takes me awhile before I can get into a groove and the swim in a sprint isn’t long enough to get to that point.  Not worried about that in the Ironman though…plenty of time to work that out!

Mapped out a good 30 mile bike route today too so I will get that in sometime this week.

Holy Crap!  It just dawned on me that I now can say my half Ironman (70.3) is next month!  I am sure I will be ready, but time has really gone by fast.

Taking another rest day and handling the kitchen and kids so Dawn can have a long workout night.

Good week of training with the major accomplishment of the 100 mile bike ride.

I am pretty much recovered and actually had an itch to ride the bike today….crazy!  I forced myself to relax and recover from the ride.

Looking forward to next week of more riding and running time.