Sunday, June 27, 2010

Sunday Morning Weekly Recap ...

I hope everyone out there in bloggerville had a wonderful week.  This was the first week of my 20-Week HIM Training and it went extremely well.  Here are my weekly totals:

Swim      4 Workouts     9750 yds        4hrs 25 mins
Bike       4 Workouts     112.5 miles     6hrs 15 mins
Run        4 Workouts     17.51 miles     2hrs 45 mins
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                                   Total Time      13hrs 25mins


  • This was also my first week of Master's swim.  It is two sessions a week at 5am on Tues and Thurs.  The coach made a few adjustments to my stroke and within 5 minutes I felt like a swimmer.  Amazing.  I went from struggling to swim a 2:00/100 to easily doing 1:40/100.  If I can keep dragging my butt out of bed at 4:15am for these classes then my swim is going to be so much stronger for my next 70.3 on November 7th.
  • Yesterday I went on a group ride out in Coldsprings Texas.  It is about an hour north and I never even knew it existed.  HOLY HILLS BATMAN!  This was my first real attempt at doing hills.  According to my friends Garmin we did over 2000ft of climbing - which is a ton for this flatlander.  We did 56 miles and I got dropped around mile 42 - it was awesome.  I have found a group that are stronger riders than me and they are so going to help me get stronger on the bike. Thanks Mike, Patrick, Tina, Jennifer and Jama for the great ride!  The hills along with the stifling Texas heat and humidity were extremely humbling and I cannot wait to go back to Coldsprings.  Oh, since we have all been talking about snakes lately - I ran over a rattlesnake that was like a foot wide and 5 ft long.  It was ginormous!  I have never seen a rattler that big.  Actually it is the first rattler I have seen in Texas in the 6 years I have lived here - used to see them all the time when I lived in MD and PA.  We have more of a water moccassin and copperhead population in SE TX.
  • My current weight is 160lbs.  That means I lost 2 lbs during this weeks training.  When I gain weight it always shows in my stomach.  I had a slight Muffin Top belly going on for the last 6 weeks and it is already gone - just amazing how this sport leans up your body.
  • Some rather big news!  I officially registered for Ironman Texas on May 21st, 2011.  It is still open (as of right now) so if you want in you better sign up soon.  The RD left a message on BT.com that is was filling up even quicker than expected.  Even cooler is that some friends (Mike, Patrick, Bobby, Diane, Suzy, and Todd) have also enter.  This is cool because we will have a nice group to do the long boring training with.  My plan is to train my butt off for the IronStar in Novemeber and then begin a 24-Week Full Ironman training program the first week of December.  Unfortunately with the timing of the Ironman I will not be able to do the 50K Texas Trail Run in December or the January Houston Marathon with my wife (will do the half instead).  The reason is that these long runs take multiple days to recover and I cannot afford to lose those training days.
  • BUT we will still be doing the Tough Mudder in Austin on the weekend of February 5th, 2011.  Big Daddy Diesel Scott from TriDiesel is coming down to the Lone Star State for the race and we are cordially inviting all our other blogger buddies to join us!  We are thinking this could be a big old blogger meet up. We would all be one team and compete together.  So if you guys are interested check out the Tough Mudder link and let us know!  Over the next few months Scott and I will post more details.
  • MOTIVATION - I am watching Any Given Sunday right now and the overall movie is average but in one of the scenes Al Pacino gives a pregame pep talk to his team that always seems to get me fired up.  So if you are looking for a kick in pants to get your workout started watch this clip and then go tear it up:
Now get out there and fight for that inch!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

21 comments:

  1. Nice volume this week, Jeff, and AWESOME that you signed up for IM Texas! I am jealous @ how close it is to you.

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  2. As I sit here procrastinating about getting to the pool for another 2,000, I read your totals--feeling guilty! You had a great week of training. Glad you will have a group to train for IM with--makes all the difference!

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  3. It is great finding groups to swim and ride with and even better that you are seeing results already! Could IronCarrot be the new blog id? Looking forward to the journey.

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  4. What an awesome week, Jeff. I love that with a little tweaking, you were feeling like a swimmer. I think you are well on your way to becoming an Ironman. ::smiles::

    Just reading about your group ride to Coldsprings made me tired.

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  5. Wow, great volume! You just reminded me to post mine tomorrow.

    I am so jealous you have an IM out your back door, I mean, you just have to do it! If there were one that close to me...well...I don't think they are going to do IM Caratunk anytime soon...

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  6. Hi Jeff,
    Cheers to your 20 week training kick off! I can't believe how much you are working out already...amazing!

    I graduated from a high school in Cold Spring, Minnesota:) Holy Hills Batman! Nice work:)

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  7. You had a stellar training week even with a little muffin top, which i'm sure has all but disappeared in a matter of days! We are some tough mo-fo's training in this crazy heat & humidity. But, we have to, especially with the races being in the hotter months. We'll be glad we did.

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  8. Glad your new training plan is going well. This is my last week on mine and I am still looking for a new one.

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  9. Wow, great training volume!

    140 laps... nice time. I need to find a Masters Swim.

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  10. That's one heck of a first week! Good luck with the master's swims. I hope they continue to help!

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  11. Congrats on starting your training program! You sure had one hellava start!

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  12. Holy crap 12 workout sessions on week1 for a total of 13.5 hrs! You are going to smoke your race! Congrats on the official entry into your Ironman.

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  13. Hills, gotta love them (snicker)

    We need to talk about tough mudder, probably easiest on the phone

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  14. Great week! The hard work will pay off for sure. Keep it up!

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  15. Dude the rattler probably just ate a rabbit and was digesting it... have you no manners to let him finish his dinner before you run him over?!?! HAHA that is a cool story!

    Serious training volume man... your first week is probably the same as our peak week... last week HAHA! Great job.

    Amazing on swimming, one little tweak makes the world of difference. Now hammer that into your head and don't forget what he taught you!

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  16. Crap, with those miles you are ready now. Smart giving up the road races.... you know my motto "You wouldn't want to ruin a completely good training day with a race"
    I'm hoping IMTX isn't too hilly, shouldn't be..

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  17. Incredible training week! Nice work, that is a super impressive week 1. Congrats on pulling the trigger on the IM...huge!
    -D

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  18. Couple of things.

    1. Congrats on signing up for the Texas Ironman! That's incredible! The Ironman is still only a pipe dream for me right now. Maybe in a few years when I get a handle on this multi-discipline training thing =P

    2. You make me want to sign up for swim lessons. I don't think I will for the upcoming triathlon, but over the winter it might be a good idea.

    3. YOU'RE DOING TOUGH MUDDER?! You have no idea how jealous I am! I first heard of Tough Mudder a couple of months back and thought it was hilarious/awesome/a good time. DO keep us posted. I can't wait to hear more about it from someone who is actually doing it!

    Have a great week!

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  19. Killer training week, man. Good stuff.

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  20. That's great that you have friends to do the big show with you...a friend of mine just decided to run the same marathon as me so I'm thrilled.

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