6/24 - 6/30 - Professional Triathlete Training Log - Weekly Swim, Bike, and Run Miles

Kayaking on Lake Wingra

Last week I wrote my weekly status update mid-trip in the airport at Las Vegas. I thought it was mid-trip, but after a flight delay, some thunderstorms mid-flight, and then a torrential storm on my way back from the Milwaukee airport to Madison via vehicle, I realized that air travel is no piece of cake. In this particular instance I rolled into Madison from a midday Spokane flight at the time the sun was starting to come up. My only saving grace was that I only had 4 bags, instead of the 7 bags I would have had if I hadn't used Tri Bike Transport to take care of my bike, gear bag, and wheel bag.

The week post Ironman is always a guessing game to some extent. The key to the game is usually following the mantra "less is more", and even if you are feeling good it usually catches up with you later on and you kick yourself for not following your mantra. With that being said, I spent a lot of time in the pool. It wasn't fast but it might have been my highest time/volume ever. Besides swimming, I did a little biking and running as well, but it was all super easy. Otherwise it was about letting the body rest and that included sitting in a kayak on Lake Wingra and floating around as people twice my age were blowing by me.

My weekly swim, bike, and run totals:

Total: 124 Miles / 17 hours 41 minutes
Swim: 32,808 yards / ~19 miles / 10 hours 58 minutes

Bike: 99 miles / 5 hours 44 minutes

Run: 7 miles / 0 hours 57 minutes

Core:  0 sessions / 0 hours 0 minutes

6/17 - 6/23 - Professional Triathlete Training Log - Weekly Swim, Bike, and Run Miles

My Guest House for the Week

Yesterday I was able to compete in Ironman Coeur d'Alene, and although no race ever goes to plan, I was able to come away with a 7th (9:00:02) place finish that I am completely happy with. Looking at the race and analyzing it, I definitely under-performed, and that is how I expected my body to respond to my latest racing/training block. Although it was my 4th race in 4 weeks, mentally I had no difficulty all day. In the end it would take me 58:04 to swim the 2.4 miles, 4:47:31 to bike the challenging 2-loop 112 mile course, and 3:10:35 to run the 26.2 mile marathon.

My prep last week leading up to the race was one of the most relaxing experiences that I have ever had. I was in rare form, flying for once instead of driving, and although I do like driving, it was probably the right decision for this particular trip. As soon as I got to Coeur d'Alene, I knew the tranquility that was lost by driving across The Great Plains, would quickly be made up in spades by having a guest house right on Lake Hayden with the Wallace family. It was nestled right in there and gave me the feeling of being remote and that is exactly what I needed to accelerate my own recovery and recharge my mental batteries. In addition, it made morning swims painless and the water was absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much Nancy Sue for everything!!!  I also wanted to thank Tyler Blackwelder of Physio One, a PT practice in Hayden, Idaho, for setting me up with my last minute homestay.

Lake Hayden

Overall the weather was pretty wet leading up the race so it was pretty easy to keep the training level down but I still got in a solid 7.5 hours before race day.

My weekly swim, bike, and run totals:

Total: 207 Miles / 16 hours 15 minutes
Swim: 15,494 yards / ~9 miles / 4 hours 04 minutes

Bike: 161 miles / 7 hours 36 minutes

Run: 37 miles / 4 hours 34 minutes

Core:  0 sessions / 0 hours 0 minutes

6/10 - 6/16 - Professional Triathlete Training Log - Weekly Swim, Bike, and Run Miles

Monstrous Double Chocolate Chip Pancake

It was a busy week for me this week. Between a Father's day outing, training, racing, packing, and making monstrous 1600 calorie pancakes, it feels a little like I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off but here is a summary of my week.

This week was the last week of preparation for Ironman Coeur D'Alene and I didn't step off the accelerator until around 7pm tonight. Actually, volume-wise this was my biggest week since my Ironman Cabo build and although this super short taper is not ideal, I remain optimistic about Ironman Coeur D'Alene next week. On the plus side I decided not to drive across country and opted to fly instead and that should help recovery a bit.

A big part of my decision to race IMCDA was to gain course experience in order to come back and really make it a feature race in the coming years. Looking at the start list and expected finishing order on Trirating I know that I have my work cut out for me. Trirating has me at #8 and there are 8 Ironman winners on the list including: Ben "The Hoff" Hoffman, TJ Tollakson, Viktor Zyemstev (Previous IMCDA Winner), Jozef Major, Chris "Big Sexy" McDonald, Matthew Russell, Bryan Rhodes (Previous IMCDA Winner) and Chris Legh. Despite those guys racing, Paul Matthews is actually the clear race favorite but he has never raced a hilly Ironman. Speedster Joe Umphenour is also on the list but he has never done a hilly Ironman either. We shall see next Sunday but by the looks of it I should have a clear group of individuals that I can swim with and that should certainly help me get to the bike and be a little fresher.

As for racing this week, I made it down to the Rockford Triathlon this week. The weather map did not look good at 4:00am in the morning and I was just hoping this race wouldn't turn into a duathlon. By a stroke of luck the lightening in the area stayed away during the swim, and despite a downpour on the bike, I was able to hold off for the win by swimming steady, hammering the bike, and cruising the run. As it stands I continued my streak of never losing a race while coming off the bike in first place.

My weekly swim, bike, and run totals:

Total: 280 Miles / 23 hours 21 minutes
Swim: 21,434 yards / ~12 miles / 5 hours 50 minutes

Bike: 225 miles / 12 hours 09 minutes

Run: 44 miles / 5 hours 21 minutes

Core:  0 sessions / 0 hours 0 minutes