Recovery after a hard weekend.

On Monday my legs were shot! I took the morning off- It was planned. I really did not sleep in I just did not jump on the trainer. Lunchtime would be in the pool.


The pool was a little crowded – not much but Chad and I had to share a lane. I am fortunate that I rarely have to share lanes. There just are not than many swimmers at lunch. So Chad and I decided to swim in a circular fashion.

We played a game where I would start first and he would be right behind me. Now I am not a blaze in the pool but I am a little faster than Chad. The game was that we would stop the set whenever I caught him. I was not sure how many laps this would take.

The game forced me to pick up the pace. I was swimming at a good effort but my stroke count increased. I tried to keep the strokes at 17 while maintaining speed. I was able to catch him after 7 laps (6 laps for Chad). We played this game 3 times.

After this game I did some 100 yard repeats – fast. The first two were great and I was coming in about 5 seconds faster than normal. I think I can chalk some of that time to the fast paced ‘warm-up.’ But after that the times fell back into the usual range. The swim felt strong.

The Fitness Assessment results were posted. I was pleased with the results except for that dang agility test. Among all men I ranked 2nd in flexibility, 3rd in sit-ups, 4th in pushups and 20th in the shuffle run. Overall I was 5th. Richard was ranked 10th and Vic was ranked 15th. We had a good showing.

Due to the taper the STADIUMS have been cancelled for this week.

Bad mojo and starting the taper.

“What are the chances” I asked myself? I met the group at Jackson Station at 8AM. I was on my race bike. I do not have a saddle bag for my race bike. I do have a patch kit that I stick in my jersey pocket. Well, I forgot the patch kit.

I arrived at Jackson Station and immediately realized my mistake. I did a quick analysis. The bike has newer tires. We would be primarily on the trace. I have not had a flat in months. I should have known better.

I mentioned that I was going to be “riding naked.” The group reassured me. After last week, they had me covered. I was not with them last week but I guess there were three flats last Saturday. Raland told me he was carrying 3 tubes. I felt reassured. I hoped that his over preparedness would offset some of my bad mojo.

Robin, the one who orchestrated of the pump and run challenge commented on my 70% bench press. He called me a “Pocket Hercules”. I do not know that phrase. I was not sure if this was ridicule or praise. I looked it up later that day. What a compliment. Naim Suleymanoglu.

Today’s ride would be a moderate ride since many of us would be racing next weekend. The only question was moderate for how long? We made our way west along the trace. After a few miles we jumped on 4th street and headed towards cane brake. I was at the back of the pack but the pace truly was moderate. Although my running game is spot on I do not feel my bike is where it should be. But I was in the pack and not suffering. I felt like I could ride this pace all day – or at least 56 miles. After a couple of loops we headed back to the trace and headed west again. We would take a quick pit stop and then tackle Epley Road. This is a fast, hard, hilly road that we have traditionally conducted king of the mountain type challenges. I have contested this title in the past but not recently. Lance and Keith got a break on the group and they were hammering hard. So much for the moderate pace.

Raland was about 10 yards ahead of me and I was going to try and jump on his wheel. I was looking at my heart rate and I did not want this ride to climb into the red zone. I hung back and raced at my half ironman pace. Robin was behind me and got tired of watching the break pull away. He flew around me and I grabbed his wheel. He reeled in Raland and now we had our own pace line. In the draft I was near the top of my ‘moderate’ heart rate. I was thinking that I would not have much of a pull. Then Robin started to drop me. It was almost like I had the brakes engaged. Robin opened a gap of a few feet and I pulled left to let Raland jump on his wheel. I just didn’t have it!

I slowed down a little bit and realized – yep – the front tire was flat. It was like the brakes were engaged. I turned around and removed the wheel. I had nothing on me. I tried to roll the tire off of the rim but I just couldn’t get it started by hand. Then I remember a tip I had heard long ago. If you have nothing then you can use the skewer quick release handle. Although this might have damaged the tube during removal it did allow for me to remove the tire.

Sam and Chris rolled by in a few minutes. More of my friends. They stopped and gave me a tube and CO2. I would return the bag and inflator when they passed me back. For whatever reason I could not get Chris’ CO2 inflator to work. I also damaged the tube Sam had given me. I was not sure what was going on. I have changed my share of tubes before. I have no problems in this area.

A few more minutes passed and then Lance and Keith came by. I had to flag them down. I am normally the guy who is prepared. I am the guy that has extra tubes and CO2. I felt bad for being so needy. I got another CO2 inflator and tube from Keith. The bad mojo was gone.

It took another couple of minutes before Raland and Robin went by. Robin said – “Oh that is what happened to James”. I told them that I had everything I needed and they rolled on. I finished up the tube replacement and started back towards Epley Station. It was not a minute until Sam and Chris roared by. Sam told me to hop on. I grabbed his wheel and we let Chris carry us home. I was out of my ‘moderate’ pacing but I was not going to blow up.

I did not get all of my planned miles. I also canceled the brick. I just headed home for some yard work. I got the lawn mowed. It made me think – Is there still snow on the ground in some places? I bet that there is.

Sunday brought a short personal duathlon. I just king of winged it. Someone had suggested an easy 30 minute run followed but a 2 hour ride and then another 30 minute run. I did not think I had the ride in me so I altered it a little bit. I also put the unitard on for the first time since August of last year (my ironman). The suit is a little tight in the chest and a little loose in the waist. I’ll take that but I should look at getting another suit.

I ran 5 miles at my marathon pace (average 7:11 pace) and then jumped on the bike trainer. I thought 45 minutes at race pace would be a good training session. My legs were tired. I was not able to push ‘race pace’ on the trainer. I dialed it down to an easier level and rode the trainer for 30 minutes. The thin pad in the unitard was noticeable. Immediately after the trainer ride I did another 5 mile run (average 7:06 pace). I was pleased with the running but the cycling was less than desired.

70.3 New Orleans is next weekend!

Last run before race.

I ran my last run before the marathon this morning. I had brought clothes to the gym earlier in the week so I was able to run straight. The training plan only called for an easy mile and then 2 miles at race pace.




I tried to play it safe but work is 6 miles from my house. I did an easy 2 mile warm up (about 8 minutes per mile) and then ran two miles at right 7 minutes per mile. This was about 7 seconds per mile faster than race pace. I wrapped up with another couple of 8 minutes per mile.



I felt pretty good other than the cold. When I left the house it was about 29 degrees. My feet were blocks of ice for about 1 ½ miles. They were very uncomfortable. I had run a half marathon in early January when the temperature was 23 degrees. It is funny how I do not remember the pain of the cold feet from that run but I am sure that my feet were frozen for much of the race.



The pace was not difficult but it was only for 2 miles. I cooled down for another 2 miles at 8 minutes per mile. My heart rates at speed have definitely dropped. 7 minute miles are in the mid to high 160’s BPM – I can maintain this cardio effort for a very long time while running (cycling is a different story). This race will be much more about muscular endurance!

Strength to weight bench marks!

I jumped back into P90X again and did the chest and back workout on Monday morning. As you know, it is a lot of body weight exercises. I really like the workout.


At lunch, to continue to rest the legs – I have no kick after all – I swam 3000 yards in the pool. This was an easy swim with just 2 x 1500. My times were a little off from my best (less than a minute) but the swim felt good. I need to get in the pool on a more regular basis and pick my swim up. I am ready to get in the open water!

Tuesday I did my last speed session before the marathon and I did it on the treadmill. I had done a similar workout a few weeks ago and this one seemed better. After an easy mile warm-up I did 6 repeats of quarter miles at a 5:42 minute per mile pace (10.5 MPH). Now, the treadmill takes a second or two to get up to speed and a second or two to come back down but it was a solid workout. The recovery consisted of quarter miles at an 8:00 minute per mile pace. The total was 5 miles in 40 minutes with 3 of those mile taking 20 minutes.

After the speed session I did my pull ups.

About 8 years ago I set a goal for myself. At the time I could not do ANY pull ups. I had just started to embrace fitness and a healthy lifestyle. I laid down the gauntlet and wanted to be able to do 30 pull ups (I quickly revised the goal to be 30 pull ups in 3 sets). I used to run around this park that had a jungle gym and I would stop on many of my laps and try to crank out as many as I could. I would then walk a short path for about a minute and crank out some more. I tried all variations of the number of repetitions. Once I was able to get 10 pull ups in a row I add a few more. Maybe a combination of 12 / 10 / 8 would be the secret or maybe 14 / 10 / 6. Nothing worked. I remember the first time I was able to get 20 reps and then 22. I was stuck for a long time.

About 3 years ago I finally achieved my goal. I got my 30 reps in 3 sets. Now that has become my bench mark for my strength to weight ratio. I started doing them again this past month. Eight pounds ago I was topping out in the high twenties.

Twice this past week I have had success -2 out of 2 actually. The first time was 15 / 9 / 6 and then yesterday after my speed work I got the 10 / 10 / 10 (and then added 5 more in a fourth set).

It might be time to try the 40 in 4 – I love a challenge!

A Chink in the armour?

I Saturday I woke up and volunteered at a new 5k race. This race was a brand new race in the community and I really like to support people taking the initiative. I would have like to have run the race and I think I could have PR’d but I thought better of it. I needed to get a last good tempo run in this weekend and I did not want to compromise my recovery. So instead I just showed up to see if I could help out. There were a lot of pacers at the event and it turned out to be a huge success!


After the race I was going to get a nice bike ride in – there were 2 scheduled. One was at 11AM and the next at 1PM. In my foolish mind I actually thought about doing both of them. I showed up at 11AM and although there were a lot of cars at Jackson Station there were no cyclist. Not to be discouraged I set out on my own. I made this a good tempo ride and pushed a little harder than I would have on a normal solo ride. My bike fitness has really suffered. On the way back I ran into Raland and Lance. They were getting a few extra miles prior to the 1PM group ride. I turned around and added 10 extra miles to my 20. I enjoyed catching up with the guys. At this point I knew better than to jump on the 1PM ride.

I went to a wine tasting on Saturday night and had a good time. I did not go overboard but it was definitely not in the race plan.

On Sunday I was going to run a comfortable 10 mile tempo run at marathon race pace. This would be at a 7:06-ish minutes per mile. I was not looking forward to the run. I dragged my feet for about an hour waiting to see if the rains were going to come. It was in the low 40’s and I did not want to be caught in the cold rain. The skies did open up and it poured for about an hour. I was glad I waited.

My enthusiasm did not increase but after the rains stopped I did venture forth. I was tired from the night before and overdressed for the run. The rains had brought much warmer temperatures and coupled with the humidity – I was burning up. That is a fear that I have been having – training in the cold and then the heat gets turned up. Fifty degrees and 100 percent humidity takes precious seconds away from my pace.

I started the GPS watch and lined up with my ‘virtual nemeses’. I have been running a lot faster than 7:0X and this show have been confidence boosting. The run was hard from the first mile. Not cardiovascular wise but muscle fatigue. I was getting worried. I completed the run the appropriate time span but all I could think about was 16 more miles… 16 more miles… I took some post run nutrition and relaxed. I did not want to take any chances and grabbed an afternoon power nap. I was tired and enjoyed the rest.

Five weeks ago I did a very similar run. 10 miles at 7:0X pace. It was a hard effort. It was challenging. It gave me so much confidence to be able to run a hard effort in training. This was the same run but this time it was demoralizing. Looking back at the data I actually ran this 10 mile tempo at an average heart rate that was 6 BPM lower (Jan 14 – 171 BPM / Feb 21 – 165 BPM). That is encouraging.

I don’t like to make excuses, however, I do like to analyze the data and make corrections. I believe that the harder than normal cycling played a large role in my legs feeling fatigued. I also think the night out and the alcohol played a factor. And last I believe the weather played a role. The good news is that I can completely control 2 of the 3 prior to race day.

Speed work tapering

Giving the legs a break I did another P90X Chest and Back DVD on Monday morning. I decide to wear one of my racing unitards for the P90X session. You know what? I actually liked working out in this outfit. I hate doing pushups when your shirts dragging the ground. In addition, some of these workout sessions involve a lot of jumping around and such – the unitard works great.


During lunch I did an easy swim. I started with a warm up and then cranked out 10 x 100 yards. It felt pretty good. My first few repeats were quicker than average but quickly leveled off.

No workout on Tuesday morning.

During this taper I am trying to cut my volume substantially while maintaining my intensity. The idea is to have my body recover from all of the training during the last 2 months while also not losing any of my fitness. Therefore I continued speed work this week. Due to the Mardi Gras Track on Tap on Tuesday night I had to fit my speed work in during lunch. This was not a problem because there were no classes on Monday or Tuesday – that’s right, there are no college classes for Mardi Gras.

I did the indoor track at the Payne Center. It is an eighth of a mile track and the turns are pretty tight. I warmed up with 1 minute per lap (8 minute miles) for 1 mile and then did 800’s. I clicked off 6 of these 800’s – all less than 3:00 minutes. It was a good workout and I never left my comfort zone. There is only one conclusion. The track is short. These were too easy. I am going to borrow the distance wheel from the pacers and measure this track. I am not being modest – the track is short…

The track on tap was a lot of fun but there were no actives going on for Mardi Gras. The town was dead. We started at the Keg and Barrel and then hit downtown. We all had our masks on and were decked out in beads but there was no one to throw them to. There was a beer wagon and a stage for a band but nothing was going on at 7PM. We were not going to stand around in the cold for a couple of hours waiting. We ended up running only about 3 miles. Oh well, we all still had a good time.

I did a P90X abs workout on Wednesday morning and plan on doing the bike trainer thing tonight.

Half Marathon race plans

I played a little racquetball at lunch on Thursday. After work I jumped back on the trainer and got another 30 minutes. Easy peasy – no sweat (not really – this is the trainer after all).
It was only 30 minutes because I was meeting a group of guys at a local sports bar to discuss this weekend’s race. There are a bunch of us going down to New Orleans for the Ole Man River half on Sunday. There were 5 of us at the table and Charles orders a ‘goal post’ – this is a 120 oz (10 beers) pitcher with a spigot. We had a fun time talking about the upcoming weekend and watching the Colts play. I got some razzing but I did not have a single beer. I did however have a nice grilled chicken salad. Look at me – I’m being good!

After discussions, we unfortunately determined that we are taking about 4 vehicles to the coast (it is only 90 miles – but…). Some are going down on race morning but most are going down the day before. I will be going down the day before. We are staying in a vacant house that is for sale – it has power and water but no furnishings. I am packing an air mattress, blankets, towels, etc.

There is also Saints game on Saturday and we are planning on watching the game in New Orleans – that should be fun. Jim wants to go to the post game radio show – I think I will pass – it will be a late night anyway. For Sunday, there are several heading back but I might just stay one more night and play in the French Quarter. Charles has already got a room near the quarter for him and his step son – Charles said I was welcome – and since I am home alone right now I just might.

I was talking with fast guy Terry during the outing and trying to gauge whether I could hang with him – he said he would be running between 1:25 and 1:30 for the half – (6:30 – 6:51 pace). That is a little too fast for me – however – I have set the bar pretty damn high after my last race. I PR’d with a 1:37:xx under less than ideal conditions. If I do not SMASH that time then … I am working on my game plan.

Heading out - this is not a drill

I heard about a study where they took ordinary people and put them on a stage in front of 10,000 people. They measured their brain waves and asked them how they felt. The emotions and feelings ranged from sheer terror, to panic, to fear, to despair. They did the same experiment with Bruce Springsteen. They measured his brain waves and asked him how he felt. He said that he felt overwhelming excitement. He had almost a euphoric feeling because he was about to perform in front of so many people.

When they analyzed the brain waves and compared the terrified and panicked people with Bruce Springsteen they found that the brain patterns were the same. The only difference was how the people categorized the emotion.

I don’t know if any of that is true but right now I am feeling all of the emotions – excitement, fear, etc.

I’m leaving town today (Thursday). I am staying somewhere a little more than half way and will arrive in Louisville Friday morning.

No pizza during taper!

Since I removed my cassette on my race bike (in hopes of swapping in a 12 – 17 cassette) only to find that the 12 – 27 cassette that I borrowed was a 9 speed. I needed to take my bike out for another shake down test just to make sure everything was clicking just right. I met Keith and Lance at Jackson Station at 6AM. I was only doing a short (super short) ride and I was there for camaraderie as much as anything. Lance and Keith wished me much luck and I got about 8 miles in a little less than ½ an hour.

At lunch I jumped in the pool to just mess around. Sam was in there and we chatted while waiting on Chris to show up. Sam told me all about the age group national champs – Sam finished 9th in the brutally tough 35 – 39 age group. He told me all about the tough swim (Sam’s time was 28 minutes). The city had opened up the flood gates and the race was against the current for much of the course. I had heard that you really needed to hold on to the dock or else you would end up downstream. For example, Chris is a stronger swimmer than I am – he can easily cover 1500 meters in about 20 minutes and his last ½ ironman swim time was in the low 30’s. He swam the 1500 meters in 37 minutes. The swim would have killed me – I can imagine if you ever stopped to take a breath or look around for just a few seconds then you would be losing ground – maybe even 10’s of meters. Many of these athletes took more than an hour to complete the swim.

We did some bilateral breathing exercises in the pool – this is still very awkward for me. This is something that I will need to work on this year. I ended up with a challenging 1300 yards in the pool.

After work I met up with the pinebeltpacers for the Trek on Trace. During August we do predicted time 2 mile runs. This week you had to team up with a partner and finish together. I teamed up with Ben with a predicted time of 15:45 – a comfortable pace for me. Jim and many of the other pacers were present and we had a truly fun run. Ben and I ended up a little over our predicted time (damn) and were not in contention for any prizes. Jim and I decided to run a couple more miles for fun and Laura joined us. She has her first ½ marathon coming up on Labor Day. She is super excited!

The best part of this fun run was that I did not partake in any of the goodies after the run! The pizza, brownies and other treats were tempting but I refrained. This is hard for me but I know that I am not exercising much this week and I do not need the extra calories. I do not want to go into this race carrying extra pounds. I have been eating tons of fruit and vegetables this week – lots of carrots and I am proud of myself for being proactive.

My bib number for this Sunday is 1354. Jim’s number is 1232.
You can track us at: http://ironman.com/events/ironman/louisville?show=tracker

RUN / WALK BRICK

I slept in on Sunday and enjoyed the morning. The weather has really changed for the better this last week. The high was only 84 degrees and the humidity seemed reasonable. It actually felt rather cool in the morning.

I put my race wheels on my tri bike and did some last minute adjustments – lubing the chain, etc. After lunch I headed toward the trail head for the Sunday group ride. I arrived and there were just not very many people. Several of the regulars were away. There were quite a few people chatting (including me) and we got a late start. As we headed out a few minutes late the group was still not together. I was with a front group of about 8 guys and we were all soft pedaling. We were going really slowly for about the first 5 miles. At just past Jackson Station I decided to start riding at my ironman pace. I was again just feeling out the bike and the intensity level. I took the group out for a few miles and then yielded to the group. No one was contesting the lead but I did not want to hold anyone back. I dropped to the back of the pack and shifted to the left to stay out of the draft. The others continued to pull us out to Sumrall at a good pace. However, I was able to stay at the back and continue with my ironman pacing plan. I was staying up easily and staying in my zone. I did push it a few time (I know – not very smart) just because I felt like hitting it. It was fun to feel fast for a little while. I dropped back and chatted with Stephen for a few – he was not feeling well and was not able to hold the pace. I watched the pack get a good gap on me – 3 or 4 hundred yards and then put the hammer down. My heart rate climbed quickly and I caught the group with ease. It felt great.

At the Sumrall turn around we waited and waited for the rest of the group. A lone rider arrived within a few minutes. She said that the rest of the group had stopped at Epley. That is out of the ordinary. No one wanted to venture any further today (including myself) so we headed back. The pace stayed high but again it was within my ironman pacing. I got a lot of last minute advice from John P (the legend) – number one thing said was to stop and pee while on the bike. Good advice – I do not think that I will be peeing on the bike this time.

As I pulled off towards home, just before Jackson Station, I made up my mind to do a shirt brick and test out my run / walk strategy. I have talked about this but have never really practiced it – I know – once again not very smart. I did a quick transition and put my long distance running shoes on – no socks. I headed out of the garage and picked up the pace immediately. I was not really sure what intensity to run this run portion of the run / walk. I let my heart rate creep up out of my comfortable zone. It felt good. The one mile mark came up quick at 7:36 and I started the fast ‘power walk’. My heart rate dropped way down into recovery zone and then I hit the run again. One mile down but I was feeling good. I started running after one minute with a near spring in my step. Mile two (with the walk) clocked at 7:28. It was faster than the first mile and the first mile had no walking. Yes, I was running fast during the run – I doubt that I will be able to hold that for a marathon but it was encouraging. Mile three was a little slower – but not due to fatigue. I happened to run into Tony on the trace and we talked about my training and the race being so close. Tony has been very encouraging this year – it was nice to run into him. With good luck wishes I finished out mile three at 8:14 and started the walk. I was only running 4 miles for this brick and ended back at the house with the last mile being 7:35. All of these miles were much faster than I would have thought them to be with a minute walking. I know the weather played an extensive role but, with my fingers crossed, next Sunday in Louisville should be beautiful!

This brick was very satisfying! I know that the pace during my ironman will not be anywhere near this fast but it felt good today. And yes – this will be the last real session prior to the race. I got 30 miles on the bike and 4 miles running.

1 week out - the hummingbird wars have begun.

Just one of the hummingbirds fighting for control of the feeder.


I ran into work on Friday morning (Jodie would be driving so I could get a lift home). With my volume cut down so much this week I decided to push the pace. I started pretty hard and pushed the pace once I got on the trace. It is a nice, flat 6 miles from my house to the campus. I did not have my GPS watch on but I did have my heart rate monitor. I was not going to push any higher than my LT zone but I was going to try to ride this edge. The temperature was not a factor but the humidity has SKY HIGH. This would be another one of those workouts were you are immediately soaking wet. I had planned for this by wearing some tri shorts. Regular running shorts just do not perform well in this kind of humidity!

I clocked off laps with my heart rate monitor at known distances and tried to do the math to see what paces I was running. I wanted to keep it at 7 minute miles for the 6 miles. I usually run this route in about 48 minutes (8 minute miles). I was able to complete this run without incident in 42:06 – exactly 7:01 minutes / mile. Now, this is not race pace but it is a hard effort. I have been much faster in 5k races (nearly a minute / mile faster) but those are races. I believe that this is the fastest that I have ever run into work! However, looking at the pace, I am surprised that I have been able to have sub 7 minute miles in my most recent triathlons. I think my run for a standalone 10k can be much faster. I will have to try this distance out in the near future.

At lunch I hit the pool for some easy swimming. I have been practicing the swim with zero warm up. There will be no swimming prior to race start in Louisville! So I am trying to train like I race. It can take me about 500 yards before I am warmed up – during this time my arms and back really feel heavy and sore. They burn a little bit and swimming is hard. Once these first 500 yards glide by my whole upper body feels better. My back and arms just start going through the motions by themselves. There is no pain, burning or discomfort. The swimming is definitely getting easier, although, during races I am not pushing the pace. I still have that ‘panic’ fear in the back of my mind that says if I push too hard I will blow up. Therefore, I am not nearing my best race times by far. Although my swim racing has improved by leaps and bounds the next hurdles will be mental. I need to learn to start to trust my swim. Those bad swim experiences will die hard but I will be able to make them a distance memory. Spending more time in the water will see to that. The swim was one set of 3000 yards – easy.

I had planned on meeting Jim at the lake at 6AM on Saturday morning. Jim contacted me at about 5:30AM saying that he was not going to be able to make it do to family issues (he has a small daughter). I was a little bummed out but I always have contingency plans – there was a 5k race at the Oak Grove High School – put on by Robin. There would be a pretty big group of guys that I know. I would not want to race the thing this close to my big race but it could be fun to hang out. There was also the Saturday morning group ride. I chose the latter.

I left the house at about 6:40AM and rode to the trail head located at campus. The weather was near perfect. The humidity had dropped and the temperature was in the 70’s. As I rode to campus I came up on Steve, Marissa and her husband Dan. We rode the couple of miles to the trail head and just enjoyed the morning.

At the trail head I got to catch up with Jen who had just finished up a run. There was a couple of other cyclist milling around. When we headed put there was a total of 9 cyclists. A pretty good turnout.

We headed out to Sumrall at a comfortable pace. The only pull that I did was at my approximate ironman pace. This pace is between 82 – 88 % of my FTP (functional threshold power). Fancy acronyms. What this really means is that the last race I did I rode for just over an hour and I took my average heart rate for that hour (171) and multiplied it by 82 and 88 % respectively. This gave me a range that I should be able to ride at for the entire 112 miles during my ironman.

That being said, this is not a super fast pace but it is pretty quick for me – no walk in the park – a good semi-hard effort. About 5 miles out of Sumrall the group split up. I chose to ride a little bit longer and went further out with Steve, Ty, Matt and John. These guys can really push the pace. Since I was not looking for a ‘hard effort’ I just sucked their wheels. We got out to the countryside and enjoyed a few hills. It was a good ride and I wrapped up with 50 miles.

I got to do some yard work the rest of the day. I was not sure what to do with all of this extra time tapering. My perspective is funny - a 50 mile rides feels like I did nothing – feels like I have been lazy.

Must need more supermans...

On Friday we were to wear out ‘dirty clothes’ to work. We had a lot of cleaning to do and also move a lot of heavy equipment in our data center. I was planning on getting an early run in before work but I just could not get out of bed – stayed up a little later than usual the night before. So I got to work early and knocked out my routine tasks. The rest of the morning was dodging the rain while we had to move large heavy things from one side of the building to the other side. With Vic out this week that makes me the next biggest guy – kind of sad – I’m 5’9” at 160 pounds. The other guys I work with are in the 120’s and 130’s. However, we did have some help from Kyle who was able to put his back into it! I took my hex weight set home – we have not been using the much at work but I had 5 / 20 / 30 / 35 / 40 dumb bells in my work area. I also recycled the 20 or so ‘whey protein powder containers’. I had been collecting them and I was going to make a raft. We determined through minimum math and lots of trial and error that it takes 3 containers to float 20 pounds. I would need 27 containers to be successful in keeping me and the vessel afloat. But alas, the raft will have to wait for another day.



I took a late lunch and with all of the rain and storms and such I decided to get my run in on the treadmill. I was going to run a fast 8 miles in about an hour but I wimped out. I warmed up slowly and did the first mile in 10 minutes – real slow warm-up. But, like I said I wimped out on the last mile – I’m not sure why I wimped out but I ran the next 6 miles in 42:xx so I the total run was 7 miles in 52:xx. It would have been easy to wrap up the 8 miles in 7 something more minutes but I just stopped. It was a hard run but not that hard.

Back at work we finished up the cleaning and moving. I often preach about functional strength and I am pretty strong for my stature. In the bench press and doing body weight exercises – I am – pound for pound – about as tough as any of the guys I work out with. But when it comes to maximum lifts, etc I top out pretty quick. Now, back to this functional strength – I always say that it really does not matter how much weight I can lift or pull or anything else – I just want to be able to pull myself up, run up some stairs, carry something around the yard, swing an axe or even climb a rope – this would be functional to me. And I think that I have done a good job achieving this goal. I have also always tried to keep the whole body strong – this means a strong core as well as extremities and cardio. I am fortunate that I have had very few injuries and I think that this balance has a lot to do with.

However, Friday night my lower back was killing me. I have never had back pain. This was not spinal pain just one of the muscles in my lower back was very sore. This would not allow for me to rest. I had trouble laying down, sitting up, rolling over, etc – there was no position where my back was not hurting. If I breathed deeply it hurt. I took some ibuprofen and suffered though the night. I always thought that I never had back pain because I lifted properly and I did back exercises (pull ups, chin ups, superman’s, and back extensions).

I had plans for Saturday afternoon so Jim was coming over at 6AM for a 3 – 4 hour ride. I was questionable about my back. Funny enough my back felt fine on the road bike – even in the drops. There were a few positions that it would sting and feel sharp but I tried my best to avoid those situations. Jim and I rode towards Jackson Station and we picked up Terry L and Marisa. We then headed out of Jackson Road to Classic Drive and ended up in the hilly section of the avenues to tackle 40th street and Richburg road. Terry proved to be a strong climber and Marisa easily held her own.

We had a few fast pulls when back on the trace but all in all it was a fun easy ride. We did cross paths with Robin and crew. They were doing a broken brick – bike 10 / run 2 REPEAT. I think that they said they did this 3 times for a total for 30 bike miles and 6 run miles. It looked tough. I split off from the group and ended my bike at about 52 miles. Jim eventually got over 100 miles with a short brick thrown in for good measure.

Saturday night was not much fun. My back was much worse and I used a heating pad, aspercream stuff and more ibuprofen. I did not sleep well. I think that I am going to have to 86 this entire day. I don’t want to but I know that a couple of days off are better than a couple of weeks off. Friday morning I was ready to do this ironman – now I am having trouble just standing.

Things sure change quickly.

The home stretch

Thursday morning was a light group ride. We had some new blood in the group - Marissa which is good since JD and Keith have been AWOL for the last couple of rides. There was nothing crazy this morning – I think my legs are still recovering from the 10 mile run yesterday and from the race last weekend. I raced the Heart O’Dixie well but I was a little surprised at how long it has taken for my legs to bounce back – bounce back completely that is. I had a pretty good taper for the race – about a day and a half and I just think that I quickly forgot what tired legs feel like. I mean, I have had tired legs for what has seemed like months but you get used to it – until they are not as tired anymore.

We left Jackson on time, just at sun up, and headed to Sumrall. This was a chat fest and I enjoyed the camaraderie. There was lots of talking about the race last weekend and my upcoming Ironman race. I arrived at school with a good 28 miles in before work. Not too bad.

Once again I took a workout with me to the pool. I do not know what it is but with workout in hand the swim sessions are so much more productive – You would have thought that I would have caught on to this earlier. For lunch I had a strong 2900 yards of various mixed speed sets. The 5 x 300 yards with laps 4, 8, and 12 hard are really challenging to me. I think it is because for the 25 yards I am way out of my comfort zone and then I have to actively recover while swimming. This should pay dividends in the long run – like when I lose a breath in the open water due to congestion or something. It should allow for me to settle back down into my rhythm without any panic or struggle. After the swim, Jim paid me a compliment – he said that my swim stroke was looking ‘even better than in the spring’. I’m not sure what my swim looks like but he is right – I am feeling much stronger and more efficient. It is really cool to swim faster AND easier. I still need to refine the swim but I am so encouraged – I know that I have said this before but I really think that I have drowned my swim demons for good this time.

On a side note – ouch – the pool will be closed for the next 10 days due to maintenance.


Uncharacteristically of me, I went out to eat at lunch on Tuesday and I went out to eat with friends on Thursday night. Ever since my race last weekend my diet was been off and it has been reflected in my weight. For these next few weeks and especially with the taper – the diet will be even more important. I will be exercising less and that in and of itself will require even more diet discipline.

Looking at my training plan for the next month – it looks like I have a long run tomorrow and a long ride next Sunday – everything else is easy peasy. This is the home stretch and I feel like I am ready to do this race tomorrow!

NOLA 70.3 - T-minus 2 days

I went to the Keg and Barrel last night for the unveiling of a new brew - a Smokey Porter. I know Sam (different Sam - not local fast guy Sam but brew meister Sam). It really was dark and smokey. Very smooth but definitely the kind of beer that I can only drink one of. They also had an all you can get Bar-B-Que spread. Pork and beef and corn and all the fix'ns. Good stuff.

The fecal count of Lake Pontchartrain has gone through the roof in the last few days due to heavy rains. The beach where I will be swimming has gone from 24 to 350 MPN (mean probable numbers of colonies per 100 milliliters - or turds per square inch). They advise that swimmers use caution at anything about 200 MPN - not sure how to use caution while swimming - avoid the dark spots I guess. LINK

On a side note, someone sent me a funny onion article yesterday and then I saw this in the store and thought that life truly does follow art (I guess it is art). LINK


The market? Listen, we make the market. All we have to do is put her out there with a little jingle. It's as easy as, "Hey, shaving with anything less than five blades is like scraping your beard off with a dull hatchet." Or "You'll be so smooth, I could snort lines off of your chin." Try "Your neck is going to be so friggin' soft, someone's gonna walk up and tie a goddamn Cub Scout kerchief under it."


That's right 5 + 1 baby!

Swimming and leg cramps

I went to the gym today and decided to go for a swim. I was really just playing around and boosting my confidence in the swim. No warm up and 500 yards turned into 1000 yards and the one set ended up being 3000 yards (60 laps). Nice comfortable pace. However, between 2500 - 3000 yards I started to experience incredibly painful calf cramps. I mean these cramps were excruciating. I had to stop on at the end of one of the laps for my left calf and just stretch it out. It hurt really bad. I started swimming again since I only had about 5 laps left and on the 59th lap the other calf caught on fire. This one stopped me mid lap. Even after the swim was over sitting at my office my calves were more sore than if I had done a demanding leg workout.

I looked up possible causes of this can came across the following from here.

Triguy asks:

I often get leg cramps in my calves toward the end of my swims. How can I avoid this?

Triguy - firstly let me say that you are not alone, lots of athletes and especially triathletes suffer from calf & foot cramps while swimming. Here are some things you can do to help solve that problem:
1) Go into your swims well hydrated. This means water of course but not water alone - also include an electrolyte drink. A muscle is far more apt to cramp when dehydrated so keep yourself topped off.
2) Include ankle stretching in your body maintenance routine. Running often stiffens the ankles making it harder to point your toes very far. Swimming requires a more flexible ankle so that the foot becomes a long, smooth extension of the leg rather than a flat surface plowing through the water. One approach would be to simply kneel down on a soft surface, point your toes so the tops of your feet are on the ground, then sit back on you heels for a few minutes. This will stretch your ankles and improve you flexibility. This must be progressed into gradually!
3) Relax while swimming. Too much leg tension will over stress the calfs and all that does is elevate your heart rate without any benefit from propulsion. Keep your legs relaxed and your kick small and easy.

All the best, Ian

I'm not real worried about this upcoming 1/2 ironman but foot and leg flexibility will definitely be in my training regime prior to IM-KY!

70.3 NO - T minus 4 days

I had a great swim in the pool on Monday at lunch. A couple of 500's here and there and then a 1500 yard set. I was cruising and felt like I could just keep swimming. I was not timing the sets but I was feeling the water! That just does not come naturally to me.

We won our first softball game on Monday night. The frat delta delta sig pi something or other did not show up. They thought that the game was at 7PM - nope 6PM. Brains over brawn. Sometimes you get the W by just showing up! Here I come New Orleans!

Yesterday was just a strength training day - abs and chest. During the bench press I felt uber strong. I was crushing the weight. And with this taper stuff I have rested my legs for two whole days. I'm not sure why but my appetite has really increased even though my work load is way down. Struggling with the weight but I am okay with it.

I'm not sure why but my legs have been aching like I have worked them hard. They are rested. I'm not used to these feelings. My legs usually feel fine or dead - right now they are achy. I hope that these days off are allowing them to recovery fully and I will have one of those super compensation days - like the chest work out yesterday.

Another softball game tonight - we might actually have to play.

Weight - ???

My original weight goal was to be 155 by April 5th. If you look at the chart – this simply has not happened. My weight has bounced around like a fart in a mitten. It would seem like it was trending down but jump right back up. Now my weight will fluctuate easily from water weight but it should be dropping. There have been just too many activities (crawfish boil, St Thomas Italian / Irish fest, Beer Club, Running Club – separate clubs but basically the same, meatball cones, founders day celebrations, ballroom dance socials, etc.). Add to the fact that I have been putting some serious mileage in and my appetite has been through the roof.

The diet is easy to control at work – I have a regimented schedule except for various work place social functions. But at home, especially on the weekends, it is a different story. I’m working on it.

I do try to do the right thing. For example – at the duathon last weekend, due to weather, the turnout was a little lite. There were whole pizzas left and we were encouraged to take one. I looked through them trying to find a cheese pizza. All that was left was pepperoni or sausage. I grabbed a sausage pizza. Jody has grad students that work in the field everyday with her. They crawl around on the ground and wear fatigues and stuff and it has been cold and rainy. I thought that I would be a hero and bring them a pizza.

Well, I got home a little late from the race and they were gone. I stuck the pizza in the frig and I would take it to them in the morning. I told Jody my plan. It turns out that in addition to Jody being a vegetarian (I knew this of course) that so is another of her students. Also, one of her students is allergic to meat (beef, chicken, pork). So guess who ate the pizza (or half of it) – that’s right – from hero to zero.

If there is any consolation prize – according to my bio-luminescence, bio-mechanical, bio-electric thingy thingy scale I have lost 2 percent body fat. This is not an accurate measurement device but it has proven to be precise. I’m going and get my Dexa body fat measurement when I won’t be embarrassed by the results.

Group Ride and taper

I went to a crawfish boil Saturday night. Too much to eat. I got into a 3 hour volleyball game. It was just for fun - I had a great time.

Slept late on Sunday - after all that is what tapering is all about. I did end up going for a 40+ mile bike ride with the Sunday group ride. It was a cool day and I was wearing arm and leg skins. I let the fast group pull away and stayed in the back. No need to push it this late in the game. The fast group slowed and waited for everyone at Epley and I was able to bridge the gap. I still was not pushing a hard pace. For one of the first times I headed back at Sumral. I would have liked to continue the ride but I had softball practice a little later in the afternoon.

I got back to campus and just had time to change for softball. We threw the ball around and batted for about an hour and a half and then I headed home on the bike. Vic took my softball bag home with him since I was on the bike. It occurred to me, after the fact, that my drivers licence, school id and cell phone were in the bag. Luckily I had keys to the office where my bike was - glad that key was on a lanyard or I would have been walking.

With no way to get to the gym this morning (no ID) I slept in again for a little bit - probably a good thing. At lunch I decided to swim. I got 3000 yards and I feel strong in the water.

I am excited about this weekend.

The lake conditions for Pontchartrain Beach -: http://saveourlake.org/water_quality.asp

Fecal / Coliform = 24
Water Temperature = 68
Salinity = 5.8
Disolved Oxygen = 6.62