Week One is Done!

So the first week of a scheduled 13 week Ironman training program is complete. This week covered 122 miles in 12.25 hours of training.

Monday - RDO's (regular days off/recovery days).

Tuesday- Late afternoon run. 1 hour run = 6.58 miles. Relaxed, easy pace. Scheduled lap swim moved to Wednesday due to other obligations.

Wednesday - Morning lap swim of 2000 meters - 1.2 miles Not a bad workout although I had to share a lane and was pressed for time due to some work issues. Early evening bike ride into the canyon. Fourteen miles into the ride I have a pretty good blow out - not just a flat - a blow out on my rear tire. Initally I thought I might have thrown a spoke, but they were all intact. Changed the spare out and the spare had an issue with the presta valve stem. Each time I would inflate it with my C02 cartridge, it would lose air. It took me three attempts and 2 C02 cartridges before I could get just enough air in the tire to get home. It's a good thing I made it as I was still 9 miles from the house and nobody was answering their phones! Still made pretty good time getting home. 22 miles covered at an average of 19mph even with a half flat tire.
Further inspection at home revealed the tire was shredded in places. Had to replace both tires on my bike that weekend.

Thursday - Morning lap swim 2250 meters - 1.4 miles. Good workout nobody else really in the pool. Late afternoon run for 30 minutes, 3.58 miles.

Friday - Hectic day at work; great after work ride. Took the triathlon bike out and rode for 22 miles in 70 weather after the rain had cleared. Very nice country ride. No rednecks to bother me.

Saturday morning - 11.1 mile run in 1:45. Chaffing!! Hate that nonsense! Inner thighs destroyed by nasty friction. Applied body glide before the run but apparently not enough. Note to self - apply generously next long run. Off to lap swim at noon for an hour. Knocked out straight 2000 meters and followed up with another 500 of mixed sets. 2500 meters - 1.55 miles total. Felt good except I was starving and walking funny the remainder of the day. Kept applying the A&D ointment to my chaffing to prepare me for Sunday's 3 hour ride.

Sunday morning - 55 mile / 3 hour ride out in the country in the mid 60 degree weather. You can definitely tell fall is in the air. Great ride though out in Oregon wine country. Grapes abound on this route. Beautiful morning to get a good ride in. 55 miles / 18.9 mph avg.

Sunday afternoon - My very supportive and always loving wife and I had a nice lunch together after we left the boys with grandma. I have to tell you all again that I couldn't and wouldn't be doing Ironman without the love and support of my wife and boys. I am so very blessed to have them as my life. I love them immensely.

All in all a great week of training. Never felt exhausted. This program seems to be the perfect balance between training, work and family. We'll see how the coming weeks develop but I am feeling more prepared with each passing day.

Week One Nearly Done

The first week of my 13 week Ironman training program is nearly over. I have a 3 hour ride scheduled tomorrow that I am hoping to get out of the way early in the morning so I can close the chapter on week one. Once I finish the ride I will post a reflection on the week's training.

Just think, 12 weeks from tonight I will be laying in a hotel room in Arizona gripped with the uncertainty of what the following day will bring. I will calmly remind myself that I trained for this event for the last 12 months and the day is finally here to show myself what I am made of and more than capable of accomplishing.

The goose bumps are forming on my skin and the hair on the back of my neck is standing up....eager anticipation of an enormous undertaking.

13 Weeks to a 13 hour Ironman - Training Program

Today marked the official start of my 13 week Ironman training program. The program is designed for the intermediate triathlete who already has an established base and has set a goal of finishing an Ironman in 13 hours or less. After reading through the training schedule I believe this is the best training program for me.

Today's training calls for an hour of swimming and a hour run. The swimming workout will be moved to tomorrow morning as I had other committments today that prevented me from getting to lap swim. The run was relatively easy at a relaxed pace around 9:05/mile. I covered 6.58 miles in the 1 hour. I probably need to slow it down a bit in training as this is the pace I am hoping to maintain on the marathon portion of the Ironman. My best pace for a full marathon was 9:05/mile at the Newport Marathon but that was on fresh legs without having to swim 2.4 miles and bike 112 miles before setting off on the marathon run. So I may need to slow it down.

Since registering for Ironman 9 months ago I have logged over 2300 miles of base training. Hopefully, I am in a position now to knock out this 13 week training program and be ready to roll through the event with 2000 other athletes in Tempe, AZ this November.

I'll try to keep updating everyone as the training continues.

Cover Bridge Ride Training ride.

God is great, beer is good and people are crazy! Those are the lyrics to a song that was playing this morning when I was preparing for my ride. I had to smile listening to the song as I got my bike ready to hit the road. Little did I know how much relevancy those lyrics would hold towards my 50 mile ride. Today's ride was the first ride of any real distance that I would be attempting since dealing with severe back pain for the about the last week and a half.

I woke up around 6:15 and spent some time with the family before bidding them farewell and hitting the road. I decided I would ride the covered bridge route today which would cover 50 miles. Living in the Santiam Canyon provides ample opportunities to ride your bike on country roads that are realtively free of traffic with drivers willing to share the road. The challenges of riding in the canyon are the incessant head winds and the rolling hills. But I try to keep that in perspective as it should make me a stronger rider training out here.

The temperature was around 65 degrees with the winds coming in from the north. As I cycled out for the first 15 miles or so I found myself averaging 22mph and I got caught up in my cadence. When this happens I have a tendency to miss the beautiful scenery so I have to constantly remind myself to take in the country side. This is where I thank God for giving me the ability to experience his creations on two wheels. Today's ride in the country was no exception. The scenery is incredible as I roll along.

Today I reminded myself to keep hydrating and eating even though I wasn't hungry or thirsty. Regulating my nurtition is going to be essential to finshing Ironman Arizona so I try to train in that manner with each ride. Today was successful as I downed 2 16oz bottles of fluids and ate Cliffbars and Accelerade gel.

At mile 27, I nearly lost my wedding ring as it slid out from under my riding gloves to the end of my finger. I reacted quicly to this and clenched my fist preventing the ring from slipping off into oblivion. I can only imagine the scorn of my wife had that happended. I pulled over, slipped off my ring and put it into my spare tire pouch so I wouldn't have to worry about it any longer and could concentrate on the 3 mile hill climb in front of me.

The hill wasn't bad and the descent was fun even though the headwinds slowed my speed. As I rode on and looked around me, I can tell the summer is quickly coming to a close and fall is beckoning. All the farmers have started their fall harvest and the remaining crops in the field are trying their hardest to take advantage of the waining hours of sunlight. Autumn is my favorite season and knowing that it will be here quickly signals the reality that Ironman Arizona is 13 weeks out from this weekend. Lots more training to do before the big day.

There are 3 covered bridges along this route and they are something to be experienced. The last bridge of the 3 is at mile 40 and pictured above. This is where the encouter with Mr. Redneck asshole occurred. I am heading north on Richardson Gap road and Mr. Jackass is headed south on the opposite side of the road. I guess someone must have pissed in his Wheaties this morning as he wasn't having a good day. He decided to stick his fat ass head out of the window of his horse trailer hauling Ford F150 and berate me for riding on his road. I quickly exchanged pleasentries with him and kept riding. I was just laughing at this belligerent jackass and wished him a day of being thrown of his horse for acting like a horses ass.

Remember the song lyrics? God is great, beer is good and people are crazy? Well this is where the crazy part of the song has significance for today's ride. The remaining 10 miles of the ride were a mix of hills with one really brutal climb which I knock out thanks to the encouragement of Mr. Jackass.

I pulled into the garage after the ride and heard this song on the radio. The lyrics were God is great, beer is good and people are crazy. I smiled and agreed as I headed into the house ready to eat and enjoy a beer.

Shellburg Falls

Shellburg Falls. Photo taken during one of my trail runs in the area. Solitude abounds when access to the area is limited to foot traffic only.

Shellburg Falls Trail

This is a hidden little gem of a recreation area in the Santiam State Forest. Great trails for running and some unique opportunities to see a couple of cool waterfalls. Definitely off the beaten path but only 9 miles from my house.

I find solitude in paddling whitewater.

Ironman Arizona Training - Back Issues.

Last November I took the first step towards achieving one of my "bucket list" goals by registering for Ironman Arizona. Since that time I have put in over 2000 miles of training towards accomplishing that goal. I have been swimming, biking and running to build my base before I started my 13 week training program. The real training program is to begin this week.

As I sit here at the computer my back pain is still very evident and has been for the last 5 days. I have experienced this issue before but it always seems to subside after about 3 days. This time it's different. I have taken Advil and tried stretching and taking it easy, but the pain remains.

I am going to take it easy and see what happens but I am worried that it might be more of an issue for me than I leading myself to believe. Wednesday was an incredibly painful day for me as I could hardly stand and had trouble walking due to the pain.

I really want to ignore the pain and push on with my training. Doing so however could really jeopardize my entire Ironman so I have to be patient and let my back tell me when it's ready to take the pounding from running again. Running is the activity that starts the on-set of the back pain. Perhaps I will head out to the trails in the woods and see if the soft tread helps....See there I go again trying to push it. I just need to chill out. I'll keep you posted.

First posting.

It happened again today. I woke up to an incredible opportunity. An opportunity that has occurred every day for the last 42 years. This opportunity only comes around once for us and presents itself to us each and every day. It's up to us to recognize this opportunity and take full advantage of it. We can choose to embrace it and celebrate it by sharing it with our friends and family or lazily stumble through it only to regret missing the opportunity at the end.

I have had my ups and downs with this opportunity. Some years have been great; others not so much. As I have gotten older I have learned to cherish this opportunity more and more with each passing of the rising and setting sun. I have shed the attitude that restricted me from truly taking full advantage of this opportunity as I may not be blessed to have another one tomorrow.

In reflecting upon the opportunity that have I been given I can only sum it up by telling you that I have been extremely blessed. The opportunity I am speaking of is LIFE!

My attempt with this blog is to share with everyone the passion I have for life's experiences and share with you some of the ways in which I celebrate LIFE.

I hope you'll find some enjoyment in the reflections of my experiences. I know I truly cherish the activities that have been afforded to me with this opportunity called LIFE.

The celebration of winter run off.