Iron Training Week 9 - Mike D.

It's amazing what you can train your body to go to through and the response you can garner from it with dedication and discipline. I say this in reflection to when I purchased my training program for the Ironman from ActiveTrainer.com . All I could really do at that point was say, "We'll see how this goes...." Well, I can proudly say that it went well and I survived the first 9 weeks and the 3 ridiculous build cycles that came with the plan. At this point, I am done with all the major brutal workouts and besides a few long days between now and IM, I pretty much just need to rest up and taper down to get both mentally and physically prepared for the challenge that lies 4 weeks ahead. Luckily, I ave a pretty full schedule over the next 30 days and that should help me to relax and take my mind off of things relating to endurance. Anyways, here's how lucky number 9 went.

I started off and continued the whole week with tons of recovery. I pretty much stretched, rolled, and used my Compex on almost every day. It was all I could do to clear the lactic acid that had built up in my muscles from the previous weekend and try to get back to 100% for my last big weekend. Things were pretty rough on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but I worked my way through training and by Thursday I started to feel better. My calves were the major instigator and were far soarer than they usually are after a long ride or run. I think the 3 hour run is what really broke them off and I really wasn't sure if they would heal in time for my Saturday run. They ended up coing back to life on Friday which was a huge relief. I pretty much had already told myself that I would do the full run and bike even if my legs were still soar which could of led to injury. Glad that didn't happen. :)

Training totals for week 9:

Swim: 6 miles

Bike: 138 miles
Run: 33.5 miles
I've been on a bit of a shopping spree lately snatching up a few things here and there trying to get my set up dialed in for the race and adapt to the PowerBar sponsored nutrition that will be on course. Last week I picked up a set of cogs and chain to get the new wheels installed on my bike and have that thing running like a champ on race day. I also got some new nutrition to experiment with. I have a pretty strong stomach from scarfing down Mexican food over the years, so I'm not too worried about it but might as well test some new things out while I still have time.

Iron Training Week 8 - Mike D.

Grace found me in week 8. I had a good ramp up all week, but I couldn't help but question myself every day knowing the task I had ahead of me on the weekend; a 1 hour swim followed by a 3 hour run on Saturday and a 5 and a half hour swim on Sunday. I'd only ran and rode farther than that once in my life and I never did it on back to back days. Here's how it went.

Saturday run and swim. I got down to Mission bay @ 7:30 and got in the water around 7:45. Hammered out my 4000m swim, took a 20 minute break to change and prepare for the run, and then I hit the road aroun 9:00. I've been running an 8.5 mile lap around the bay for the last few weekends and it's been different every time and never easy. I got done with my first lap and felt pretty good. My legs felt light and I felt plenty fueled and hydrated. Lap 2 also did not seem like much of s struggle except that the sun had started to come out and heat things up a bit. I finished lap 1 and still had about 4 miles to go. I backed it down a bit, stopped for a minute to refuel my water bottles, and finished the run at 21 miles. Once I stopped, I felt my calves were pretty worked and immediately stretched. It helped get me mobile and I spent the better part of the rest of the day recovering. I knew I was not going to get back to 100% after that effort, but gave it a good effort and got to sleep early knowing I had done my best to get ready for the 100 miles I had to put in the next day.

Sunday bike was on the Santa Ana River Trail and I got rolling around 7:30. That trail is great because the terrain and wind is super similar to the AZ Ironman course. It also has zero full stops which simulates a race condition. After about 70 miles of my ride, I still felt really good and was at a 19.4 MPH average. Not only was a riding pretty fast, I also felt really good. All of my 4+ hour rides up to this point had not been all that fun and I was starting to doubt my resolve on the bike. This effort really helped me to get my groove back and I was ecstatic for the rest of the day. I finished my ride at 100.2 and averaged 19.2 MPH on the entire ride.

Training totals for week 8:

Swim: 6 miles

Bike: 130 miles
Run: 32 miles

Next weekend is going to be even harder than this one was. It's the last of my build weeks before I get to start tapering down and making final preperations for the event which is about a month out. Can't wait to get through that and relax a bit. My body is getting through these big training days, but I can tell I'm pushing my limits.

To help with recovery, I purchased a Compex muscle stimulator. It uses electric pulses to clear lactic acid, relax the muscle, and enable a faster recovery. I'm not sure how to measure the benefit, but it is definitley helping and I am a believer.

Iron Training Week 6 & 7 - Mike D.

Past half way. Woohooo!!!!!

Week 6 was a killer. Definitley the hardest week of training of my life. The limited efforts I had to put in due to my cold I dealt with toward the end of week 5 and into week 6 did not have me properly prepared for the long run and ride I had punishing me at the end of week 6. I put in a safe level of effort during my workouts through week 6 and just tried to take it easy so that I would not fall back into being sick. It worked and I am back to 100% now.

Training totals for week 6:

Swim: 6 miles

Bike: 120 miles

Run: 29 miles

I caught a red eye flight Sunday night to visit my friends at Lowbrow Customs in Ohio on Monday. I managed to get in a fair amount of self massage with my tools from Trigger Point and wore my compression pants for about 36 hours. That kept my legs from swelling up on the plane and did a surprisingly good job on helping me recover. Pretty impressive when you consider the 18 mile run and 90 mile bike I did over the weekend. I got back from my brief trip around midnight on Monday and began my full week of recovery.

Pretty light excersise through out the week and then a 2 hour bike on Saturday followed by a 1 hour run on Saturday and Medium - High intesity. At the end of that brick, I was satisfied but not impressed. I had a hard time taking in oxygen on the bike due to the really cold air. I think I'll try using my inhaler next time and that should help my airways to stay open and not contract on me in the cooler environment.

Swimming is becoming easier for me and I am able to think about my stroke a lot more during my time in the pool rather than just surviving. Now is not the time, but once I get past IM I want to learn how to become better at this sport.

Training totals for week 7:

Swim: 2.5 miles

Bike: 65 miles

Run: 13 miles