Height: 6’0″   Weight: 191.5   Run: 40 miles   Bike: 75 miles    Swim: 2 miles

Wow, what a holiday season. I can’t really say too much about the training, but I sure had fun.

Mammoth Mountain, December 30th 2008

My initial goal was to keep up my training schedule during the Holidays, but in between the 10 Holiday Parties and the 2 days of snowboarding over New Year’s, I ended up just maintaining what I had gained in my first two weeks.  I did however manage to do a couple of swims.

To my surprise, I was able to knock out a 1 mile swim on my first time back in the pool. I also managed to complete a 12 mile run on Christmas Eve.

Pathetically, in three weeks, I did two 1 mile swims, a couple of bike rides, a hand full of runs and lifted some weights.

Not so pathetically, I did manage to stop smoking on January 1st (except for one cigarette this weekend). I wouldn’t exactly call it a new year’s resolution, but my goal is to NOT smoke until I’ve completed the Ironman. I only gained a couple of pounds over the last three weeks, which isn’t a big deal.

I’ve definitely stepped up my game this week by going into full force training mode.

My friend Ken and I are starting a Adrenaline Sports Blog, ManIsMachine.com, for tracking our progress during the training. We’ve almost decided on a race to enter into. To my extreme surprise, almost every Ironman race is sold out for 2009, which doesn’t leave Ken and I with many options.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Height: 6’0″   Weight: 189.5   Run: 22 miles   Bike: 50 miles    Swim: 0 miles  Total Hours: 6 h 30 min

Looking southward at the pier in Manhattan Beach, California

I really felt that my motivation improved this week. My mind is definitely set to doing it this year and one of my friends Ken Tanaka said that he would join me in doing his first Ironman as well. We’ve started off the last two years saying the same thing, but this year I think we will prevail. I do hold a slight advantage over him in that he lives in Virginia, where the winter training season is much colder than it is in Southern California. But I say WHATEVER DUDE, this is the Ironman and if your going to be b!tchin about a little cold weather when your training for one of The 10 Toughest Tests of Endurance, then maybe you should stay home and drink some tea lad;-) But, just to show some support for my friend back East, I’m going to wake up at 7am tomorrow and go for a run.  It’s supposed to be 44 degrees outside and I’m due for a long one. It’ll either toughen me up a little or send me next to my friend drinking some tea.

At this point of my training, I’m stretching everyday and usually twice a day. I’ll include some stretching guides that might help you add some stretching exercises if you’re a little lazy to stretch like I am.

Here’s this week’s training break down:

Sunday – Rest

Monday – 7.5 mile run,  100 sit ups, 60 push ups

Tuesday – 20 mile bike – Quick Pace

Wednesday – Rest

Thursday – 9 mile run – I ran this at a moderately slow pace (9 min miles), just enough that I can complete the distance without injury.  I’m still a little stiff on the run despite all the stretching and the last thing I want to do is push myself to the point of injury this early in the training. 120 sit ups, 70 push ups

Friday – 30 mile bike, I’m still getting used to the saddle of my bike, and it’s starting to feel better, but one thing I really need to do is to get my bike adjusted for my arrow bar position. I haven’t done that yet, and I know that my position on the bike is going to be different once all the adjustments are made.

Saturday – 5.5 mile run – very quick pace. I really wanted to get my heart pumping.  My legs are getting used to the distance, and now I want to add some days where I give it 110%.  I try running as fast as I can for the distance I set out to do.  This will not only get my legs stronger for the longer runs, but will also improve my over all pace and conditioning for the bike and swim. 150 sit ups, 75 push ups

I’m still smoking those cigarettes, but it’s coming to an end. Honestly, I am not craving smoking as much now that my body is getting healthier, but sometimes those cravings still make their way in.

I also lost 5.5 pounds this week. It goes fast when you do all the right things. I would like to stay at around 180, so I’m going to start lifting weights in week three. When I did the Half Ironman, I weighed in at 165 lbs and I wasn’t even trying to loose weight. I was eating everything (including red meat) and I ate an avarage of about 5000 calories a day. But my weight stayed flat. I thought that lifting weights this time around would help facilitate keeping on the extra pounds.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Height: 6’0″   Weight: 195   Run: 17 miles   Bike: 40 miles    Swim: 0 miles

Picture of Hermosa Beach at Sunset.

Warm-up week: This week is usually considered the hardest and although I’m not using a training schedule yet, I am just trying to get a feel for where I stand in my strength and endurance.

I’ve decided that I wanted to try and make the Ironam Brazil on May 31, 2009 or the Ironman Japan on June 21, 2009.  This gives me about 6 months to really get ready for an Ironman race.  This isn’t much time, but I already competed in a half Ironman in 2007 so I’m pretty confident that this experience will help me prepare for a full Ironman in 6 months. Although, I am a little worried about my past six months of doing absolutely nothing will hurt my training and motivation.

Not only that but I also have a few other things riding against me: I picked up smoking cigarettes again which will be hard to quit AGAIN (I smoke about a pack every 3-4 days); I gained 30 pounds in the last year (and it’s not muscle); I’m extremely busy with trying to run my company and trying to make a living at the same time (because my company can’t pay me yet); my diet has changed (I used to be pescitarian but lately I’ve been eating everything);  and I think that doing an Ironman is absolutely nuts

This week wasn’t too bad: I started off Sunday with a slow, flat and moderately easy 5 mile run on the boardwalk in Hermosa Beach, which I kept a pace of about a 9 minute mile.   Did some stretching, 50 sit ups, 30 push ups.

Monday: 70 sit ups

Tuesday: I added a 10 mile bike ride and increase to a 7 mile run. I kept the bike ride short because I just wanted to warm-up for the run and to start acclimating my legs for transitions. Plus, it’s been about 8 months since I’ve done a really good bike ride so I need to get my groin eased into the saddle again. I kept the run to a moderate speed of 9 min/mi again. I don’t want to cause any premature injuries and I just want to test my distance. 80 sit ups, 40 Push ups

Wednesday:  Stretching, 100 sit ups, 50 push ups

Thursday: I did a quicker 5 mile run. I kept an average pace of 8min/mi with some instances where I picked up my pace for 5 min up to 7min/mi.

Friday: 30 Mile bike ride, stretching

Saturday: Stretching, 150 Sit ups 75 Push ups.

By the end of the week I started looking forward to my next workout. I’ve cut down on the smoking a little, which is the worst part. I’m trying to keep it to nights when I drink alcohol, which is something else that will eventually (in the next two months) be cut out of my diet. Working out makes it easier to stop smoking as your lungs begin to burn a little when you’re active. This makes taking your next hit harder to appreciate knowing that you are only going to cause yourself more pain the next time you workout.

My diet is also getting better. I’ve always cooked most of my meals at home with plenty of legumes, but now I’m also starting to cut out the red meat again. I don’t eat chicken either, but this Thanksgiving Holiday has been gluttonous on many levels. I like keeping fish in my diet, but I also try to keep this to once or twice a week.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite