An amazing experience

Tuesday PM - I had a technique ride today. I rode down the coast and did one leg drills for 32 minutes. This is to make sure both legs are equally strong.

With a 10 minute warm up I was now 13 miles from home and 45 minutes into the ride. With the drills and head wind it was a very slow steady ride south.

I turned around at the boardwalk in Hampton and decided I was going to ride hard back. That headwind has now turned into a tailwind and I felt strong. After 3 minutes of riding, I knew it was an opportunity for me to absolutely shred this ride. I had my cadence at 100 and I was moving at 25mph.

Something clicked in me and I felt like a machine. I have never felt this strong on the bike. I kept up the cadence, but shifted into a harder gear. Still spinning fast, but pounding out power as well.

I flew through the Hampton wall section and realized that this was going to be a breakout ride for me. My teeth were clenched together and my mouth was open. I had to of looked crazy.

5 miles into the ride back, a car pulled out in front of me and I would not let them pull a way. I kept up with them until I hit mile 10 and I was three miles from the house. I rode the 10 miles in 22 minutes. I averaged 27 mph! Granted there was a tail wind, but what an experience. For 22 minutes, I felt like a pro. Absolutely amazing.

Finally back on it

I swam 2000 yards and felt pretty good. The last couple of weeks I have been very consistant with swimming. That is the complete opposite from previous years.

Ran with Kate for 40 minutes. I just needed to make sure I still remembered how to run. We got caught in a pretty good down pour. Kind of fun.

A weeks worth of updates.

Not much to write. Awful week.


5-21 Wed.

Ran 30 minutes and weights for 45 minutes. Still tired from the half marathon


5-22 Thurs

Rode the trainer for 30 minutes... Still tired. This is so annoying, I can't build up the energy to train hard right now. In addition Kate is a way and I have two nights of work stuff to do.

5-23 Friday

Swam 1300. Strong workout for swimming. Not a lot of distance, but nice speed. I am supposed to run, but I dogged it. Common theme lately... Not good.


5-24 Sat.

3 hour bike. 51 miles with an average of 17mph. Kind of slow, but I did the Mooseman course. Man, that is such a tough course.

5-25

Swam 2500. Felt good in the pool.

Missed ANOTHER long run. I have to get my ass in gear for the long runs. I was supposed to do a 2 hour run. Moving forward, I am not going to miss any of the long workouts. If I have to miss one, it will be a speed workout.

I swam, but obviously didn't want to bike

I had a nice swim workout this morning, but obviously didn't want to bike in the PM.

I got dressed and was ready to go and realized I didn't have an extra tube. I would have been screwed if I got a flat. So I decided to hook my bike up to the trainer. I went and got groceries for dinner and planned on riding it when I got home. By the time I got home, I was hungry and basically gave up on the idea.

DAMN IT! I now feel guilty about it. I had the time, I just didn't prepare properly. I am annoyed with myself now.

I think my coach is trying to kill me

We swam 2300 yards on Sunday. This was the first time I was able to complete a full swim workout in the hours time. I actually did a little more...

We then went out to the track. That is where she tried to kill me. She had me running a 1000 meters (damn Canadian) or .62 miles in 3 minutes and 45 seconds. Basically a six minute mile. Which I am fine with, but she said it should be a controled pace, yeah right! That is a six minute mile after biking 3 hours the day before and swimming a mile and a half. THe best part was I did five times!

I absolutely love it at the same time. Sometimes it is so hard to motivate myself, but it is all worth it.

Saturday Ride

Kate, Greg and I rode the Moosman course on Saturday. That course is so hard. I never felt like I got my legs. Greg and I did it one and a half times and it wasn't until the second pass that I felt like I was moving.

I was going at a good speed, but I felt it. My heart rate was completly jacked and I was breathing super hard. Fustrating.

The pizza on the way home and a great meal in York ME that night, definetly made up for it though.

Weights only and a night with Kate- Wednesday 5-14

Weights = gross.

I can't believe I used to only lift weights. It is so boring. An hour of weights feels like a 3 hour bike ride. Actually, a six hour bike ride.

So I lifted weights in the am and had wanted to do a ride/run at night. Instead I spend the ENTIRE night with Kate. I am very appreciative of her understanding for my workout schedule. We both work a lot of hours and throw a ton of training in, not a lot of time to spend together. I need to remind myself of that sometimes. (she helps me with that too!)

Ride at my old stomping ground

I had to work in Manchester, so I threw the bike on the roof and rode out from Mom and Dads house at the end of the day.

BIG HILLS.. I worked on my cadence and was able to keep it around 90 rpms the whole time. It was roughly 45 minutes out with a 30 minute ride back. Up hill the whole way out, so a much easier ride back. Round trip was around 25 miles.

The best part of it all, Mom was home when I got back. Got to spend some unexpected quality time and then I was on my way.

Ride with the fiance AKA Captain Kate

I was a little tired from the half marathon the day before, but Kate and I went on a nice 22 mile ride. It was super windy, but the air was great. My legs felt good considering and I had no issues at all.

It is always great to go out with Kate. She is a machine! She never seems to be pushing it to hard, but keeps up just the same. A truly remarkable athlete.

1/2 Marathon

I ran the half marathon yesterday and didn't know exactly what to expect. The last two weeks have been soft for training, but I still felt good.

I started off the first mile a little faster then I had wanted to do, so I had to reel it in a little. The next five miles I tried to keep my heart rate around 15From mile 1 to 5, I was probably passed by 200 or 300 people. I kept wanting to pick it up, but knew better.

At mile 7, I stared to pick it up a little, but was still trying to conserve. I have never been on the course and it was very hilly. The last thing I wanted to do is bonk. From mile 7 to 10, I passed around 100 of those people who had passed me earlier.

At mile 10, I picked it up and was going hard. Heart Rate 170-175. I am now starting to pass groups of runners at a rapid rate. Huge pain in my left calf, right shoulder aches and my right hamstring is gripping. Grit the teeth and push on. I have stopped taking water from the water statons and begin to breath heavy. One thing is on my mind now, finish hard.

The last 3/4 of a mile, I got a huge emotionally lift from a fellow runner. (He had an Ironman tattoo, so you know he was the real deal) He started to verbally push me and was able to motivate me pass around 4 more people. I thanked him after, it was awesome! I did feel a little pukey, but it passed relatively quickly.

Something funny - The fellow runner who helped motivate me,kept saying "you better start running faster you young'n. I better not beat you." All in really good fun and helped to speed it up. The funny part was, he must have thought I was much younger, because I was in the same age group as him! By motivating me, he placed himself lower in his age group. I didn't tell him, but I had a good laugh.

Tough race, but I ran hard and left nothing on the course. I came in 75th of 1500 and feel great about that.

1/2 Marathon on Saturday

First real race of the year. I still don't feel like I will kill it, but I have been doing alright on my training. I am going to try and push a little bit. I would like to get as close as possible to 1:30.

A little fustrated, but good ride tonight

Traveling for work put a major crunch on training. The trip was great, but I really struggled with sleep and that affected my training. Oh well, can't change it now.

I just got back from doing a 56 mile bike tonight. I felt good considering my training has been weak lately. I left my house rode out to UNH, shot west to Lee and then circled back through Stratham/Exeter area.

I was able to catch several people on the ride today. It always makes me feel good to pass someone, but it feels especially good when I already have 30 miles under my belt.

I didn't bring enough calories though. The last 45 were pretty sluggish from lack of energy. It was a little colder then I had expected, so my body was also burning calories to keep warm as well as peddle.

Oh yeah, I almost threw up around mile 40. I took a huge swig of my protein/carb drink and it was awful. It tasted like rotten milk mixed with spoiled fish. (It was warm too) So the minute it hit my stomach it was coming back up my throat. I really wanted to blast it out, but I needed the damn calories. So I choked it back down. Friggin awful, but pretty funny now.