Off to a great start

 Ironman Texas training is in full swing! May 19th in The Woodlands of Houston Texas I make my Ironman debut. Since December 1st I've been gradually increasing my training time and distance for swim, bike and run. At this point I've been pre-loading my training with 4 days in the pool a week. Doing mostly indoor training rides in my garage watching NetFlix on my computer and doing some pretty easy outdoor running. I've been doing double workouts at least 3 days a week. Usually swimming and running on the same day. After building a good base for swimming I'll back off on the number of days in the pool and increase my time on the bike and running. Last week I logged 710 minutes (that's almost 12 hours) over the course of 90 miles for the week. From here the training only getting longer and more intense. So far keeping a balance of home, work and training has been going pretty smooth. Of course it helps I get up most mornings between 4:30-4:45 to begin my workouts.

     My next race is a Duathlon in San Antonio. It's called Calaveras Duathlon. I did the race last year. It is a 5K run, 20 mile bike and finishes with another 5K run. It's going to be fun to see how this year compares to last year. Last year my times were: 24:11, 1:04, 26:57. I'm hoping to do at least the same on the runs and take at least 4 minutes off the bike time.

     April Fool's! It's down to Galveston Texas for the Ironman Lonestar 70.3 race. I'll be using this race as a training marker. It'll be a good practice day to work on swimming in a pack, transition from swim to bike and bike to run. It'll be good to work on my bike pacing to understand how hard I can go out on the bike and still have a good run afterwards. After racing in Austin last October in another 70.3 race even though I was sick for the race I learned some important lessons for future races. I have a better understanding of hydration and nutrition for such a long race. Here is the race description: "The day starts off with a 1.2-mile saltwater swim in the protected Offats Bayou followed by a 56-mile scenic one and a half loop bike course along the Gulf Coast of Texas. The 13.1-mile run takes athletes through Moody Gardens, along Offats Bayou and Palm Beach, before finishing near the Discovery Pyramid." Sounds like a great course. I'm really looking forward to the ride along the course. 

     Last weekend I participated in the annual Speedo One Hour Postal Swim. The challenge is to swim in a pool for one hour to see how far you can go. During the last month in my Master's swim practices we have been increasing our constant swim times to prepare for swimming non-stop for an hour. We gradually increased from 15 minutes to 35 minutes. I mostly think was more for mental preparation as to how to stare at the bottom of the pool for so long. We used the buddy system, one person swims for an hour while the other records the split time for each 50 yards and the cumulative time. My partner went first, I wish I had gone first. Sitting there watching him swim non-stop makes you start to wonder "holy crap, swimming for one hour is going to be hard, I hope I can do that". My partner did 3650 yards. Then it was my turn...about half way through me swim I thought I caught a glimpse of Reid on the pool deck, I dismissed it.  Then a few minutes later I thought I saw Carrie. Now mind you I couldn't just stop and look around. So every couple of breathes I would take another look. Yup! There they were. It inspired me to swim faster and my time sheet proves it, my time per 50 dropped by 4 seconds. I was so happy they were there. I was the only person who's family came down on an early morning to watch me swim. I felt pretty special!!! My goal was to swim between 3600-4000 yards. I'm happy to report I swam 3600 yards, that is an average of 1:39 per 100 yards. That's about as fast as I could go for a solid hour. I'll look to improve on that for next year.

     Lastly, right before the end of the year I got confirmation from Honey Stinger and Fluid my sponsorship's would be renewed. I was totally thrilled! I religiously use both products daily. Before any given workout I use Honey Stinger as fuel source to get me through the workout. On long bikes I also use Honey Stinger, namely their Waffles . If you haven't had a Waffle get up right now and go get one! The Waffles are Lance Armstrong's favorite too.

     Fluid is a high quality recovery drink I use after every workout! Without question it restores my body so I can go out the next day and have another great workout. Fluid has changed my training and recovery cycles. Not sure what I would be using if it wasn't for Fluid. During some long runs and rides I crave the taste for their Berry and Tropical favors and can't wait to get home and have some. Recently they introduced a "during exercise" product called Fluid Performance. I was lucky enough to get a first shipment of the product to test it out. It is full of the "right stuff" to keep me going during the hardest of workouts. Now I never leave the house without at least one bottle of Fluid Performance.

     Well from here it's upward and onward to Ironman Texas. At this point my goal is to remain healthy enough to continue with my training.

     As always Carrie and the kids continue to love and support me! Reid keeps asking when he gets to swim-bike-run. I'm looking for a kid friend triathlon for him. I'm so happy my life style is a positive influence on my kids and they want to do what I'm doing....it's better then Reid asking me where the keg is...