Professional Triathlete Training Log - Weekly Swim, Bike and Run Miles For April 23rd - April 29th

Finishing St. George in 2011

They often say that getting to the start line of Ironman is half the battle.  Although it is not exactly race day, I am feeling great about things for this weekend's race at Ironman St. George.  The start list includes Ironman winners Maik Twelsiek, Chris McDonald, and Ben Hoffman.  Although on paper I can't beat these guys, I know the race can't actually be won on paper and that anything could happen on race day.  Realistically, I am looking for my first Ironman podium and I think it is a reasonable goal that can be attained.  For those interested, there should be a live feed for the race through Universal Sports or Ironmanlive.com, or if you are lucky enough to get Universal Sports then you may be able to watch it on TV.

As for training, well this week was another full week of training similar to my week leading up to Leadman back in March.  Because I didn't have any monster weeks in training for this race, I felt that my body didn't build up enough accumulated fatigue to warrant a full taper going into Ironman St George.  However, this week I do plan to reduce my volume significantly while keeping some of my taper staples handy including: 2x(8x100 descending on the 1:30 or 1:45) in the pool; either 1x20 sub-threshold, 2x20 tempo-approaching sub-threshold, or 2x30 @ race pace on the bike; and 1x3 mile tempo at the track for the run.   These workouts should keep me fresh while allowing my body to recover for the race.

Here are my weekly swim, bike, and run totals:

Total: 211 Miles / 23 hours 05 minutes

Swim: 24,500 yards / ~14 miles / 6 hours 25 minutes
Bike:  171 miles / 9 hours 34 minutes
Run:  26 miles /  2 hours 36 minutes
Core:  3 sessions / 4 hours 30 minutes

Weight: 157.0 lbs (average over the 7 days)
Body Fat: 6.8%

Calories Consumed: 33,696 / ~4,814 (as of 7:36 Sunday night)
Calories Burned: 31,730, / ~4,533 per day

Professional Triathlete Training Log - Weekly Swim, Bike and Run Miles For April 16th- April 22nd

The Heat is on in the Dirty-T

A long time ago I made a commitment to myself that I could continue to self-coach as long as I continued to see improvement.  I never like change just for the sake of change and why change something that is not broken.  Year-after-year I have gotten stronger in the sport and lately it seems like my pace of growth is actually accelerating despite reaching the very pointy end of the triathlon field.  2012 will be a new year of racing and I'm excited to chase my next near-term of goal of finishing on an Ironman Pro podium.  I know that one of my strengths in this sport is patience and I have been patient in putting forth the effort and not expecting too much from it too soon.

Lately I have embarked on a new project I call Swim 3.0.  Although I knew "how to swim", I never actually swam until I was 25 years old.  In the winter of 2008-2009 I went back to the drawing board and revamped my swim.  I was patient at the time and was willing to see a decrease in speed before making a breakthrough.  It was tough but I knew that's what it took. With Swim 3.0 I know that I am in for a similar road but I know it something that has to be done.

The key to swimming faster for me is to swim more efficiently by working on maximizing the amount of water I can catch/pull while minimizing drag.  It has been a tough road the past few weeks but I am starting to see some huge gains.  I remain skeptical partly because of the fact that despite how awful I am as a pool swimmer, I seem to hold my own in open-water, and tend to do even better relative to my peers as the conditions get tougher.  As a result it remains to be seen how I will fare in open water with Swim 3.0, but I'm certainly excited to test it out at Ironman St George.

As for this week, all I can say is that I felt invincible.  My weight has been creeping up ever so slowly but I'm feeling so fast and strong running that I'm hesitant to implement my typical Ironman weight reduction plan.  Part of the increase I know is simply increased hydration.  It has gotten Hot Hot Hot in the Dirty-T and you simply can't get enough water.  That combined with the copious amount of all-you-can-eat sushi and sodium has caused a lot of water retention.  This week was my biggest and most challenging block of training but I felt great throughout the entire week.
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Here are my weekly swim, bike, and run totals:

Total: 330 Miles / 31 hours 30 minutes

Swim: 21,800 yards / ~12 miles / 6 hours 51 minutes
Bike:  278 miles / 15 hours 15 minutes
Run:  40 miles /  4 hours 53 minutes
Core:  3 sessions / 4 hours 30 minutes

Weight: 157.5 lbs (average over the 7 days)
Body Fat: 7.0%

Calories Consumed: 36,946 / ~5,278 (as of 9:42 Sunday night)
Calories Burned: 36,862, / ~5,266 per day

Professional Triathlete Training Log - Weekly Swim, Bike and Run Miles For April 9th- April 15th

Random Tucson Palm Tree Motherload

This week was supposed to be a bike focused week, but unfortunately I took a pretty good spill running on Wednesday.  The spill left me with a very swollen and bruised hip along with some pretty good road rash on my arm, shoulder, and hip.  Thankfully this time around my knee survived with some minor road rash on the back of the calf but no swelling. As a result, I took Thursday, Friday, and Saturday as active recovery days. Today the hip is still quite painful but I'm hoping that it is only a badly bruised bone and that it won't derail my plans for a podium finish at Ironman St George.

As for workouts, well this week I ended up doing the exact same swim and run workouts all week long.  This might be insanely boring to some, but it is what I need right now to become a more efficient swimmer and runner.

As I reach the top of the sport I know seeking out some of those inefficiencies is the key to going faster with the same chassis and engine.  Some people believe that changing form is a waste of time, but I'm determined to become as efficient as I can.  I know for a fact that I am running much more efficiently than in the past and I'm confident with my swim but unfortunately open-water Ironman swimming involves a lot more strategy and I really won't know where I am at until after St George.

On the bike I found that I was a lot more fatigued thAn expected from last Saturday's ride.  As a result I did a lot of unstructured biking early on in the the week but got in a solid interval ride in today.


Here are my weekly swim, bike, and run totals:

Total: 220 Miles / 25 hours 14 minutes

Swim: 21,700 yards / ~12 miles / 7 hours 10 minutes
Bike:  188 miles / 11 hours 12 minutes
Run:  20 miles /  2 hours 22 minutes
Core:  3 sessions / 4 hours 30 minutes

Weight: 157.4 lbs (average over the 7 days)
Body Fat: 7.0%

Calories Consumed: 32,080 / ~4,686 (as of 8:18 Sunday night)
Calories Burned: 29,050, / ~4,150 per day