Ironman Training Update

Long time, no training update.  My last update was back on June 19 for Week 11.

Since then I have done:

Swim: 20.4 miles / 12 hours, 12 minutes (it's more impressive to put miles than yards, right?)
Bike: 587 Miles / 34 hours
Run: 138 Miles / 20 hours, 30 minutes
Strength: 11 sessions

Total: 745 miles / 77 hours

Overall Training
Training has gone fairly well. Since I started week 11, my swim workouts went from two per week to three per week.  I've only been able to keep those three sessions per week a few times but I justify that with the swim for Beach2Battleship being "downhill" (ie, fast with a current).  If I miss one session per week, no big deal.. right?

I've had a concern with my left foot for a while now.  It doesn't appear to be anything structural (stress fracture, ligament issues) but maybe a pinched nerve causing some annoying discomfort in the ball of my foot.  I should probably see a doctor about it.  I actually took last week off to give it some time to heal and returned to using my more cushiony and roomy Mizuno Inspire's.  This week it is definitely doing better.

Two Months of Events
As I have posted, I participated in the Shawnee Mission Triathlon and the Lawrence Triathlon.  I also participated in a couple other events that I didn't put together any race reports.  Here is a quick synopsis:

Air It Up Run
Basically a 2.5 mile course with 8 bounce houses.  It's about as close to an obstacle course I'm willing to do since I'm a big wuss and don't want to get injured.  TKB, Lauren, and I did the course once while VI was watching VII and then my Sis-in-Law Amanda brought the niece and nephew out and I took Ella and Sam around the course as well.

TKB and Lauren geting read for our wave

First Obstacle

Still learning her technique

This is just plain awkward

Jumping over the scary pit of nothing.

I wore compression shirt with long sleeves and wore tri shorts under my running shorts.  #brilliant!

Ell and Sam starting their wave.  Sam has quite the leg kick.

Sam and Ella learning aid station etiquette.  Make sure you thank your volunteers!

Sam climbing the mountain!

Ella exits first!

Love the happiness!

Ella swinging over the pit.

Finish!

Tour de Lakes
Dane invited me to do this with him and a couple other triathlete friends.  It's a supported bike ride with 10, 32, 55, and 65 mile courses.  We signed up for the 65 mile course (which turned out to be about 63 miles).   When Dane told me about it, I asked how fast they were planning to ride knowing that he and the other guys were much stronger riders.  He said around 22-23 mph.  Ouch.  Whatever, I'm game.

The question was what bike to bring.  Dane's training buddy, Jason, had planned to bring his tri bike.  It took me right up to the day before to leave the road bike at home and bring mine.  Dane brought his.  I'm not real knowledgeable with group rides but I do know there is a certain level of taboo to ride with something other than a road bike.  We had numbers supporting us, so I joined in.

The start was a bit of a cluster and I immediately lost all the guys.  I just assumed they were ahead of me so I pushed it a little hard at the beginning.  After about 10 miles, Dane caught up to me (I thought he was way in front).

I mostly stuck with Dane.  This was both our first group ride, although Dane knows a lot more about the "rules of the road".  Around mile 25 we rode with about 5 other cyclists.  I had my first real opportunity to ride in a draft line.  Dane stuck to the wheel of a guy who was leading our pack but never gave up the lead, so I just stuck to the middle.  I tried the best I could to keep my line and just follow the guy in front.  Coming up to the aid station, the guy I was stuck to slowed up, so did I.  The guys behind me slipped around not realizing the slow down and one guy quipped about wanting notice.  Maybe there was notice, I just didn't know what it was.

Dane and I only stopped at one aid station for a bathroom break and I grabbed a PB&J and refilled the bottles.  Once we left, that aid station it was pretty much just Dane and me.  The strength of Dane shone through as I was having trouble keeping up with him.  We hit some real nasty hills and I couldn't keep up.  I last saw Dane around mile 55 but we were headed "home", so I did my best to just push it.  I could tell that my legs lacked any power on any sort of hill by this time.

I the last guy of our four that car pooled down to finish (which I was expecting).  Jason and a couple other guys had led the ride pretty much the whole time.  It sounded like the lead pack wasn't too appreciative of having them there (maybe because of the tri bikes?) but they had Jason and folks lead the pack the entire time doing all the work.

By the time I had gotten back I saw someone with a Cervelo P5.  So I felt better bringing my Felt B12 TT bike if someone brought their $10,000 bike.

All said and done I logged 62.5 miles in 3 hours, 23 minutes for an average of 18.4 miles.  My longest ride to date!

Dane checking to make sure I'm still there!

Our aid station stop.

Upcoming
My next race isn't until Labor Day weekend where we head to LA with Joe VI, Lauren, and Sister-in-law Rebecca to run the Dumbo Double Dare and earning our Coast-to-Coast Run Disney medals. I have also been eyeing the Pigman Tri 70.3 on August 18.  I need to make a decision on it asap.  I think the biggest concern is giving up too many weekends to races but I really need a practice triathlon since I don't have any other opportunity for a 70.3 race before Beach2Battleship.