Height: 6’0″   Weight: 187   Run: 18 miles   Bike: 0 miles    Swim: 1 miles  Total Hours: 6

I let me body rest a little this week because of the triathlon I did last Saturday. I concentrated on strengthening and lots of rest as I am heading into some heavy training for the 2 next weeks. My goal is to do a Half-Ironman distance triathlon by the end of this week or next week.

Sunday: Rest

Monday: 12 Mile Run. I did this with my roommate Ben. He rode alongside me on his bike while I ran. It always helps to have someone help motivate you to that extra mile. Without him, I could have easily turned around at mile 3 and been fine with a six mile run, especially after doing a triathlon on Saturday. After I got over the initial exhaustion and committed to a 12 mile run, I got a second wind and kept a steady pace. My goal was to finish, and I finished just short of 2 hours. The pace was pathetic by my own standards, but it was a great moral boost to have done nearly a half marathon with little training at all.

Tuesday: 1 Mile Swim.

Wednesday: Weight Training  – Back and Biceps

Thursday: 6 Mile run at a 7:30 mile pace. This was a little quicker than usual. I think I could have done this run a little quicker, but again, I don’t want to push myself too hard and create any premature injuries this early in the training.

Friday: Weight Training – Chest and triceps

Saturday: Rest

Height: 6’0″   Weight: 189   Run: 29 miles   Bike: 30 miles    Swim: 2.25 miles  Total Hours: 10.5

My goals for this last week were to challenge myself physically and mentally to get back in to a serious workout routine.

Sunday: 11 mile run with a total of 1,200 feet of climbing.

I went for a heavy 11 mile run with one of my running partners. It is generally a good idea to run with someone who’s stronger and faster. Not only do they set a higher pace, but you usually end up pushing each other to run farther. We did this run in Palos Verdes along some rolling hills with a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean with a brutal 850 ft. climb at mile 5.

Monday: Weight Training – Back, shoulders and biceps

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: 1 Mile Swim and 9 Mile Run – Medium Pace

Thursday: Weight Training – Chest and Triceps

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Triathlon – 1.25 mile swim – 30 Mile Bike – 9 Mile Run – This day rocked. I swam at the pool in the 24 Hour Fitness near my home, ran home and changed into my bike attire, went for a bike ride in Palos Verdes which included about 1800 of total climbing, came back home and changed into my running clothes and finished off with a fairly flat and painful 9 mile run. Mentally this was one of the best things I’ve done in a long time. I started out with the idea of doing a Sprint or an Olympic distance triathlon, but ended up accomplishing much more.

I figure I’m going to do a traithlon about every other week. I feel this will help me speed up my transition times, along with acclimating to the sport again.  I’m also going to add a combo of a swim-run, bike-run at least twice a week.

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.

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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.

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