Today was a great 30 minute run (3.5 miles) and 55 minutes in the pool (3000m) and the swim was good! The first 2000m was done as 100m repeats witha nd without a pull bouey. The last 1000 was done straight, and my second half was faster then my first. I felt good in the water, my pacing seemed ok, i didn't feel any anxiety like i do in open water. Also my last 200 meters was good because i found out i can lengthen my stroke a bit more by twisting a bit. When i utilized this, i was able to get down to 13 strokes per lentgh for my last 200m after i had already swum 2700m. Thats a good thing. I really spaced out in the water today too which is good. i got into a rhythm after about 1800m and my arms went a bit numb like my legs do when i'm zoned. I was really comfortable.

Well instead of pussing out, i ran :30 minutes (3.2 miles) and after making some MAJOR adjustments to my bike, did a 1 hour tempo around the lake at 20 mph. I feel more powerfull in the position i'm in now, but it won't yeild much power for hills. But Panama is flat! so no biggie.

So i wasn't "BOB" today, i trained and i feel good about it.

My hamstrings are still very tight and sore, and i overall feel very lethargic today. I'm going to listen to my body (my lower back is bothering me to) and not do my hill ride today, instead i'm going to do a 4-5 mile ez run, and maybe a 20 mile ez bike. That should give me close to 2 hours. Apparently my 'hard week' last week was too hard, Jay seems to think after my breakthru run, then moving, was like doing a big race...and i need a few days to recover. So today is hopefully the last recovery day cause this is getting a bit depressing.

Today i decided to take the day off. My hams are still very tight and tomorrow is a hill ride (all hams) and a run. I ate like crap and didn't love it, so i must be over it. Back on track tomorrow!

My legs are totally thrashed. I could feel it yesterday as the tightness began to set in around 4 pm. Right after i helped move Michelle into her new place. This morning i tried to stretch my hams, but even lifting my leg straight was hard to do, so i did my best and geared up for a 4 hour bike. That bike ended up being 1.5 hours for a couple reasons. One: My legs are thrashed, and i wanna take it easy considering i broke through some heavy barriers yesterday running. Two: since biking is my strength, it's not a big deal that i take a few hours off this week. Overall i ended with 9 hours of training total.

I need to do more swim practice, thats my new worry: going out too fast in the swim and bombing. I don't want that to happen, so i need to find a swim partner and swim in the open water more. I'm fine in the pool, but once i hit thta open water, i always swim too fast, my heart races...i gotta overcome whatever anxiety i have in open bodies of water.

Awesome, AWESOME SUPER run! Oh my god, i'm so high right now.

Today i decided to throw caution to the wind and go back to my old running style since i ran without pain on Thursday. Not only did i do 7 miles today without pain (I had tightness in my hip wher ei previously had pain but tightness is better then pain!) but i cruised to my old running times! Check these splits out!

Mile 1: warm up: 10:58
Mile 2: 10:28
Mile 3: 10:06
Mile 4: 9:40
Mile 5: 9:21!
Mile 6: 9:01!
Mile 7: Cool Down : 10:32

I still have my old times! If my hip wasn't tightening up, i could have kept that 9:01 pace for a few more miles no problem, i was still in my upper aerobic. Not only that but i didn't feel fatigued at all throughout the whole run. Based on how i felt, i could definitely hold a 10 minute pace for 12-13 miles. This is such good news, i was really starting to get worried that my run would be my biggest limiter, but after this run i'm really really happy with the results and confident i'll be ok for the rest of my training. My patience and positive attitude has really paid off. I tried to 'fix' my running form and it didin't work, but most importantly i kept my fitness up to the point of being able to go back to my old times. This came as a suprise ...a really pleasant one!


By the way, my newest article was posted on triathlete.com!

I helped Michelle and her roomate move today, after the move i was still full of energy while josh and jeff sorta conked out on the couch. heheh. it pays to be in shape.

Day off today...thank god. I really don't feel that stiff. I think i felt worse yesterday morning then i did today. So i'm hoping for a full recovery of energy by tomorrow morning where i tackle a 7 mile run.

No pain! no pain! finally! I ran today in my old running style (after a very difficult 21 mile tempo ride around the lake..it was VERY windy today) right off the bike. The first mile was pain free at 12 minutes, then my legs 'emptied' of lactic acid and i burned up the pavement to record a 9 minute second mile, pain free! There was some tightness there, but no pain. Damnit, iw as getting really worried that i'd have to walk the half marathon at the end of Panama City but this is a good omen! I'll see how it goes on my saturday 7 miles. If i run pain free for 7 miles, i'll kiss the ground and take off my shorts!

Tomorrow; DAY FRIGGEN OFF. and boy are my legs glad.

i'm beat. My whole body is stiff. One more day though, get through today and i get my day off tomorrow. Gotta do my 1:30 tempo then a half hour run after. I'm gonna do tons of stretching right now before i go out...

Had a nice run out and back. 3.75 miles 46 minutes. Every 12 minutes, i'd walk 1 minute in an effort to postpone my hip pain. When the pain came on at mile one i was getting annoyed (not only that but my HR monitor is acting funny, there's no way i'm at 198 HR!) and somehow miraculously began running my old way. Running on the outsides of my feet. This put a lot more strain on my achilles (which i've had no problems with so far) but seemed to keep my hip from hurting (besides the residual pain from the first mile). I think all this 'the perfect gait' or best stride is just honkey bullshit if you think of what is comfortable for you. Once i develop more calf and achilles strength i think my hip pain will be a thing of the past. One thing i noticed is when i try to run 'normal' my ITB 'snaps' over my hip bone if i push my finger in my hip to feel it. Thats why the pain is not a fatigue pain but a pain pain. If you know waht i mean.

I got my wetsuit back from the altering fellow. He did a good job, besides the fact that the right arm was cut a bit deeper then the left, so my nipple sorta shows on that side heheh. But i took it out into the lake today and had no more strain on my shoulders on each stroke. I do need to do more open water swims too, they're much different then pool work. It's kinda scary out in that lake all by yourself, so i cut my swim short. I'd like to have 2-3 other people in the lake with me or else my imagination gets the best of me (Gators). Tomorrow is a 1:30-2 hour ride, not sure what yet, probably tempo around the lake.

Today was an awesome day of training. My schedule called for a 1:30 hill ride but since i've got all the time in the world i went quite a bit longer. After a nice warm up around the lake, i proceeded to beat myself to death up and down hospital hill a bunch of times, then moved on to Washington street, up and down Grassy Lake, then back up Hospital hill, and around the lake one more time. It was 2:20 of leg burning action. On my way back i stoppeda t the waterfront and decided to take a dip. Ahhhh how refreshing! The water was beautiful! it's march and i'm swimming in a lake without a wetsuit, florida rules.

Tomorrow is a run and swim. My legs are really wrecked from this workout, and i'm very happy for it.

Today i ran 3.4 miles in 36 minutes, biked half hour, and swam half hour. I'm starting to appreciate my situation more and more...the lack of responsibilities i have, the all day i have to train..etc. I'm going to take full advantage of it and get into some serious shape!


Here's an extended version of what went on this last weekend:

Friday night the boyz arrived, along with the three amigos! The three amigos are computer dudes who decided, "Lets do St Anthony's as our first ever race!" This coming from a guy who's using a road bike older then me, another using a hybrid that has a stop light that flickers and comes out of the bike when the kickstand is pushed down...hehe these guys are awesome! They just soaked in the environment and did a great ride on saturday. I'm getting ahead of myself though.

The first time i meet Matt, he's got a case of Corona in his hand. "I come bearing gifts." So when BD arrived with dirty, we were all downing brewskies and laughing hysterically at oen thing or another. I gave the three amigos some group ride etiquette lessons, then we all went to bed.

Juanjo's beutiful wife locked him out of his house, so he didn't get to the house until like midnight in his super DOPE M3 silver sex machine! He let me spin the tires a few times and coming back from Outback on saturday night, i pushed her to 115 on the road. MMMMMMM it was nice. I'm getting ahead of myself agian though.

So Big daddy was lucky enough to get the bunk in my room, and i must say it wasn't as unpleasant as most make it out to be. He's not THAT loud. Though he DOES get up ever 39 seconds to piss.

Saturday morning Mark wanted to do his swim after our bike, so we all decided that was ok. We headed down to the park and both Juanjo AND BigD got lost. The park is 1 mile away from the house....

I met Ironsteve, and Ruben. Dirty (Steve S), mark, matt and others were already at the park all geared up. Big D finally arrived with the three amigos and we all started off on the ride. I knew my way through the route, though i'd done it backwards the first time, so this was a bit different. I just told Dirty, "Follow the arros on the road, they're still there from last year" Ok he says.

4 miles from the start he breaks off the front with Matt, Mark, and Juanjo...right passed the first turn off of Old 50. I yelled but they didn't hear me. Oh well, Ruben behind me i decided we'd do the route by ourselves. Ironsteve joined us a few minutes later and off we went.

Let me tell you, doing that 56 miler frontwards is WAY WAY harder then doing it backwards. You don't realize how many slight slopes there are until you're going UP them, leading to huge hills. I sat and managed every hill in my seat while Ironsteve drilled up em like a champ. Ruben was strong on the first few hills, but died shortly after...he's the first skinny guy i ever beat to the tops of hills!

After the hills we got to a lonely flat part for many miles, slight upslope, big head wind. I was struggling to keep a 15 mph pace. Another reason for this is my HORRIFIC underestimation of nutrition. By the time we were half way done with the ride, i was out of my 4 gels i brought and down one bottle of gatorade. The gatorade didn't bother me, it was the fact that i was hungry as hell and had nothing to eat.

Ironsteve saved the day when he came up and said he had to unload "Six pounds of piss". We stopped and i mentioned i was hungry. Ruben said he had a powerbar and gave one to me. Now, any other time i would have declined because i've had really bad experiences with bars (just not settling or tasting right). But this one was peanutbutter and i was starving and on the edge of bonking so i ate it...and it was good! It settled good, and i had no problems with it. I finally found a bar i can eat on the bike!!

So that down, i found some more energy and brought then to Sugar loaf. Sugar loaf is fun, it's probably 10-11 percent grade, about 1/2 mile long. I was managing the hill at 4.5 mph (+.5 mph from last week), Ironsteve danced on his pedals, and Ruben was out of his saddle huffing and puffing his way beside me.

"Sit down dude, yer gonna explode."
**Ruben sits down**
"Push with your hams and glutes (like Rich taught us). Manage the hill, you can't attack this hill yet."
**Ruben begins to breath semi normally at 4.5 mph, his eyes light up**
"Wow thanks man, this is much better! i thought i'd not make this hill, thanks a bunch."

This was my first feel good moment of the weekend.

As we ascended the hill, i noticed the three amigos and BD up at the top just watching us torture ourselves. When Ruben and I got to the top, Ironsteve wanted to do the hill again, so off he went. I took the much needed rest to eat the other half of the powerbar Ruben gave me. BD wanted to know where to go next, and i offered to lead him back to the waterfront but he wanted to go another way and so we split.

By this time my legs are thoroughly spent, and i know we've got a few huge hills to go. But i trudged on, through grassy lake, down to washington street, up Hospital hill and home free from there.

I was very burned by then, and the thought of doing the olympic course, or even doing ANY running just made me wanna pass out, so instead i went home with most everyone else, ate some pasta, and by 8 pm i was in bed, totally unconscious. Did i mention how fun everyone is when we're together? I think i can count about 4 serious moments the whole weekend.

Sunday I started out the group for the olympic route. Most people had a very vague idea of what the course entailed, and after getting to the top of Hospital hill i gave simple directions and the speedsters went at it. I didn't want to lose BD or the slower people on this ride (plus it was a good excuse to go ez) so i stayed behind and traveled back and forth. When i got to the half way point (corner store) i waited for BD, assured he knew where he needed to go, and took off. I caught up with Beverly a little after that on Grassy lake road where she was trying to help a man with a flat.

Now, here's my second feel good moment of the weekend. I saved the day, not only did i have a 650 tube, but i had Co2 and the know how to change it. The fellow didn't even know how to put his wheel back on, so i took care of the whole thing and within 15 minutes we were off (i have do redo the tire when i found a slight pinch in the tube) again. The rest of the ride was faster because i had gained quite a bit of energy from the down time with the flat tire dude.

Got back to the house and started to run, got about 7 minutes out and just fell apart. So i jogged, walked back and called it quits for the day. We all had some lunch, i replenished my flat tire supplies, and everyone left smiling. It was truly a great weekend and i can't wait for the many more we'll have!

Today was the olympic course riding, which i dilly dallied around. I made trips back and forth to wait for people, and what not. not a hard ride at all. At the top of Grassy Lake hill a fellow had a flat. His buddy had 700s and he had 650's. Being the nice guy i am, not only did i give him a tube, but i took off his wheel, put the tube in, pumped it up with my last CO2 cartridge, put the wheel back on and sent him on his way. My good deed of the day.

Afterwards i ran for 20 minutes, then ate, and headed into town to hang with jeff. We bowled a few strings, ate at Friday's then vegged for awhile. Right now i'm pretty tight and sore, my head hurts and i'm ready for bed. Tomorrow is an hour in the drink. 13 hours this week. A good return.

Holy crap, i'm beat! What a great ride! This morning we got up early, only to wait around for everyone to get ready. Some of us wanted to do the Olympic, and others wanted to do the Half Ironman (bike loops). I started with the Half IM group and at turn 3 the front of the group broke off and missed the turn, Iron Steve, Ruben, and I ended up going the same way. That course is HARD! Man, hill after hill after hill. It was the toughest 56 miles i've ever ridden. But i also pushed the pace a bit. I ended up 16.5 avg over the 16 avg i did on the 50 mile, less hillier course. I was dissapoitned with my nutrition strategy, i ended up running out of solid fuel about 2 hours into the bike and had to bum a bar off Ruben. He gave me a Peanutbutter Power bar, and i liked it! I FINALLY FOUND A BAR I LIKE! I woofed the bar, and started feeling better...later i had to get ANOTHER bar off from Iron Steve. So 2 bars and 4 cliffshots, and it was overcast and not hot...i need to put some serious thought into my nutrition strategy.

After the ride we put on our wetsuits and took a dip. I need to get the arms cut off my suit, they really restrict my movement. I'll ask a tailor about it soon. Also, my shoulder seems to be getting better now. i have more range of movement then i had before.

I'm so trashed, and tomorrow we're biking and running. These guys are the best though, i have so much fun with them, we're always laughing. This is what triathlon is all about. The comradare between athletes...it's great.

Today was a good day. I was supposed to do a 1:30 'whatever ride' and i ended up doing a 2 hour tempo ride. What fun! I went around the lake 4 times, and the wind was kicking something fierce! On one half of the lake i'd go 22-23 no problem, on the OTHER side, i'd be reduced to 12-13 mph into the wind, going slightly uphill. Tough day but i felt so strong. About an hour into it my legs got numb and i just cranked. Great ride, and looking forward to doing the tri syndicate rides this weekend too. My shoulder still hurts but not when i run, bike or swim, so i guess thats ok.

time for bed.

Getting up at 5 am to do the masters swim, my first one. We'll see how that goes!

Man am i sore from yesterdays swim! Thats a good thing, but the bad thing is, my shoulder is still messed up. I can actually push my finger into my shoulder and find the nerve, and push it and it shoots pain over my shoulder and into my bicep. This isn't good, but it's good that it doesn't effect my swimming. Not sure how the hell my nerve got messed up, but i'm very much hoping it fixes itself on it's own. Once in awhile i grab a bunch of shoulder muscle and shake it violently in an effort to free it up, but it's being stubborn.

Not sure what to do about it. I don't have insurance so doctors visit is out of the question.

Anyway today is a 1.5-2 hour 'whatever' ride. The route i plan to take is 25 miles with some good hills. I'll push it a bit today, rest tomorrow, and have a huge weekend. THe tri syndicate guys and girls are coming up, so the weekend will be back to back pain.

Jay seems to think i've got a pinched nerve in my shoulder. Either way, i went swimming at the NTC and didn't have any problems. I felt very powerful in the water today, my rolling has been coming along well. I did a 10x100 on 2:00 and came out of the water at 1:40 practically each time. Good to know. I swam for :45 minutes but didn't keep track of total meters, sorta winged it each time.

Oh yeah, and i mailed in my IM app!

My shoulder is still killing me, but i'm going to swim anyway to see if it matters. I ran 4 miles today, and had to stop and stretch my ITB a few times, but it's getting better. My foot placement is better so i'm sure i'm on the way to fix this thing.

Nothing much to report today so far...

Tomorrow I mail in my Ironman App! There are still just under 30 slots left so i'm pretty much guaranteed a slot. Thanks again Tri Angel and EVERYONE who donated to my cause!
Today i did 1:20 hills, all the hills are rated 8-10% grade...steep. Most of them are probably close to 1/2 mile long. It was a hard ride, i didn't even feel like doing anything today, my quads felt 'empty' and i was just down. I took a vitamin and that pretty much changed everything. Afte the first two hills i wanted to quit, but i got lucky and got lost! That added about another 30 minutes of hills, before i found my way and ended the ride with a tempo ride around the lake 7 miles.

I was supposed to swim today to make up for yesterday but the day just wore on for one, and for two i slept with my arm over my head...ALL NIGHT! my shoulder is KILILNG me! Everytime i lift my arm it shoots with pain. heheh, stupid me.

Tomorrow is Run and Swim. I'm debating whether or not to sign up at the NTC. it sure would be easier to get to the pool...

Good weekend, though it started off kinda rocky.

Friday night Michelle and I started driving up to Gainseville to hang with Carl and Beth, half way there we got a flat. It was pitch dark on the turnpike and we had no flashlight, so Michelle called AAA to get the tire all fixed. We drove back home so she could get a tire at Wal Mart the next day. Time on road: 4 hours. Distance traveled : 90 miles total. Distance from house: 0 miles.

Saturday morning we went to Wal Mart, got everythign taken care of and went up. When we got to Gainseville i ran 6 miles while Carl was at work. When he got home we had a lot to talk about now that i'm actually going to IMFL for sure! Beth made the best Chicken i've ever had, and was the greatest hostess i've ever encountered. She gave us salad, chicken, choice of pasta....Carl and I talked and talked and watched a movie until 3 am. At 10 the next morning he knocked on my bedroom door and we were off on our ride. We did 40 miles in 2 hours and Carl was beat. The ride was wet from the rain the night before, but otherwise uneventful. In my normal sprint on each ride i managed to get to 29 mph into the wind. After our ride we went and ate pasta at Hungry Howies and headed for the pool.

Once in the pool i swam a few hundred meters to warm up and then brought Carl through a progression of drills to increase his stroke rate. By the end of the 45 minutes we had, his stroke rate was improved significantly without losing stroke integrety. I think he'll be up there swimming well pretty soon.

Went home and went to bed after that.

Today i was supposed to run 3 miles, but took a wrong turn and ended up backtracking for more like 4 miles. I'm really starting to dial into this pain in my hip and i think i know how to fix it, it's just going to take time. After my run i didn't plan anything else, but a girl who's stayed here all weekend and until tomorrow; Hannah, wanted to go for a short ride, so i obliged to take her around the lake. It was a leisurley ride, but ended up being relatively fast (18 mph avg).

I was supposed to swim today, but i moved it to tomorrow so i could go into town and drop off some freelance at the same time. I got my check from the Tri Angel today and i'm mailing my app in tomorrow! The Race Directors of IMFL told me that there are 'less then 30" slots left. I have faith that in 10 days when my app gets in they won't be sold out!

Tomorrow is a 1.5 hour hill ride, then swim 1 hour. I've been craving pizza all day, so tomorrow for lunch i'm having Papa Johns!

Looking forward to getting my hours back up. 5.5 hours last week which is perfectly where i wanted to be. Now it's back to 10, 12, 14.