DO WORK

This one's long so sit back and grab a PowerBar and Red Bull!

The week worked out pretty good as I had bit of correspondence with good friend and mentor Dave Latourette early in the week. We talked strategy going forward with my remaining build. Needless to say, this gave me some peace of mind as well as some structure in the weeks leading up to race day.

On an interesting note, I'm still on the road bike. To be honest, it's working out better than I expected. Riding upright is much tougher than I ever expected and takes much more strength mentally and physically to reach the speeds you'll see on a TT bike. Eh, maybe not mentally....but riding long sure does. I could ride hours on end in a TT position, lets just say it's a much different story riding road. Those long days just laying over the aerobars....relaxing the upper body and letting all the work go to the legs.

If you haven't tried riding a road bike...you might want to give it a try. A friend of mine last year use to tell me every day to buy a road bike. "You'll see so much improvement", he said, almost on a daily basis. Anything will do! "You don't need anything fancy", he said...just a beater you can log a bunch of miles on. He's the fastest cyclist I've ever had the pleasure of meeting so maybe he knew what he was talking about. With regards to how it will affect me....we'll have to wait for the 07 season to start.

After Ironman Florida, my buddy Adam Wilk lent me his Serotta and I've been on it ever since. Adam is a National Track Champion not to mention a pretty stellar Triathlete. He's also been an invaluable asset to questions I've had regarding cycling these past few months.

Once I make the switch, I'll be extremely excited to see how my power from the road bike transfers to the TT position. The few times I've put myself on a TT bike this year, I've been extremely pleased with the results. Another week or two on the road bike should be plenty. After that....I think I'll put it in the corner for a rainy day.

Monday:

Workouts were an easy swim and an easy run.

This was the first day my body felt 100% since getting a stomach flu last Wednesday. Heart rate was back to normal. Seeing how my heart rate didn't get above 130 bpm, no matter how hard I pushed last Fridays 2 hour run....I was happy to see higher numbers today.

Tuesday:

Workouts were a continuous run with intervals in the middle followed by an easy bike later in the day. Winds were gusting up to 35mph so the bike and run were a little tough.

Continuous Run as a 3.5 mile warm-up...easy to steady over to the track. Once at the track....straight into 4x1 mile repeats with / 75 sec jog in between. After the 4x1....follow straight into a 1.5 mile cool-down. Pace per mile during the intervals as well as heart rate listed below.

• Mile 1: 6:50 / 165avg/173max
• Mile 2: 6:26 / 173avg/181max
• Mile 3: 6:19 / 177avg/184max
• Mile 4: 6:10 / 181avg/187max

This was a great workout for me this week. I really like workouts like this. Using 75 second cool-downs allow for me to take an easy jog which usually runs 200 meters. Once I hit the other side of the track...it's time for the next repeat. Dave Latourette introduced this workout to me last year, and it has consistently made me faster and more importantly, stronger since I've put it in my regimen.

Other than the occasional pickup, this was the first true speed workout I've done since last year (Pre Ironman Florida). My times today were faster than anything I've ever laid down during an interval set. I guess all the cycling base and easier paced running paid off this winter. Last year before IM Florida, I did the same workout and my times were 30 seconds slower across the board. The next few weeks should be fun....

Wednesday:

Workout was a brick: Structured swim followed by a steady/easy bike. Wind was up to 35+ mph again. I honestly think I live in a hair dryer. If Arizona is anything like North Texas, I should be well prepared.

Thursday:

Workouts for the day were a structured swim followed by an easy run through the hills later in the day.

Friday:

Workout was a brick: Long bike followed by a 3.5 mile transition run.

This was the longest workout have done to date and I did it alone as usual. It was also the longest bike I have done to date. Wind was a steady 18mph which is normal for these parts. Bad was it was gusting up to 25mph at times.

The workout was a long bike out through Keller and Ft. Worth. I'm still on the road bike so this was a real test of mental strength. Total ride for the day was 6hrs 40mins / 125 miles. I kept my heart rate pretty low, 135 average and just tried to get the time in the saddle....not miles covered. Ben, our Timex Team Manager and I have been chatting about this for a few weeks. Ben's a former Cat I cyclist so he's had some good thoughts.

The transition run went extremely well as Julie met me at the Track and I changed in the back of the truck. I wanted to get an idea of pace coming off a ride of that length. I also got the chance to run on flat ground coming off the bike. See...I live at the bottom of a 200 foot hill that unfortunately has only 1 way out.....straight up. Any and every time I run off the bike, I run up that stinking hill.

Total time was 7 hours 07 minutes.....

I learned a couple things on this ride that I should remember for the future. I'll jot a few down in the bullet points below.

• 1440 Calories as 770 calories of PowerBar Endurance, 1 Can of Coke, 3 PowerBar Gels, 200 Calories of Gatorade are not enough for a ride that long....regardless of how hard I push the pace. At mile 124 I literally hit a wall and my heart rate just dropped...I think it went down to 120.
• When I got off the bike, I had 210 calories of PowerBar Endurance in a 24oz water bottle ready to go. I took 4 minutes to change and drink the entire bottle. That was key to a solid run.
• I met Julie at the track and changed in the back of the truck. That was good move. Run was totally focused and allowed me to monitor pace.
• When I took off for the first lap, my legs were so tight and my heart rate was so low. I told myself to just relax and keep your legs moving. Everything will open up.
• After 3 laps, things started to open up. At this point I took in another PowerBar Gel....my heart rate responded and my legs became nice and loose. After Mile 1, I was back in a groove and brought my heart rate up to 146 and held steady. Mile 1 - 8:01 (hr - 132)Mile 2 - 7:35 (hr - 145)Mile 3 - 7:32 (hr - 146)
• After 3.5 I figured it was enough for the day and why not save a little something for tomorrow.
• Most important lesson was my nutrition screw-up. While not that big of a deal. At least I was pro-active with the bottle at transition. I went through about a 10 minute low point but stuck with my guns and made it through feeling awesome in the end. Powerbar has definitely got something special in there nutrition.
• Road bikes are tough! The position is so different from riding a TT bike, especially when your alone. You can't get under the wind...you spend the whole time holding your upper body up....therefore wasting energy that could be transferred into power and speed. On the flip side....I think riding a road bike makes you stronger cyclist. If you can spend 5+ hours on a road bike....riding a TT bike will be a blessing. I cannot tell you how many times I thought about my aerobars during this ride.
• In the end....this is one of the best rides I've ever had, hands down!

Saturday:

Workouts were a structured swim and an easy bike. Could the wind please go away!

Sunday:

Workouts were a long run and an easy bike later in the day.

Run was structured as followed. 21 miles total as (8 miles through the rolling hills to the track, 5 miles on the track @ IM+ pace, 8 miles through the hills back home.)

• 8 Miles build to steady (1:02:01) (hr 138 - 142max) (hr avg - 136)
• 5 Miles @ IM+ (36:49) (hr 142 - 158max) (hr avg - 154)
• 8 Miles steady home (1:03:24) (hr 151 - 165max) (hr avg - 153)

21 Miles Total in 2:42:17

.5 mile walk to cool-down.

Nutrition was spot on. PowerBar Endurance / PowerBar Gel / Coke

This was my longest run to date and I feel like I executed it extremely well. I chose to stay in some pretty big hills to get ready for Arizona. I've heard through a few people that there are a couple hills out on the course and I definitely want to be ready. While I could definitely feel the last couple hills on the way home, it was a true pleasure to close down those last two miles.....

The next few days will tell the story as to how well my body can recover. The hour spin I did afterwards really helped loosen things up and should help with the recovery.

Other than that....it's all good. I'll be back next week with a recap on Build 3...

Mg