I think I have frostbite...but it was only 48 degrees...

Ok...yeah...it's official! I am a bit of a wuss... I think it might have been about 48 degrees this morning on my bike ride...but add the wind chill factor (self-generated of course!)...and it felt like 20-I SWEAR! My fingers are still feeling kinda funny and I have been back 3 hours now... Guess it is a good thing I don't live in a cold climate any more! Final conclusion-bike ride was a little bit of a bust...but I AM 13 miles closer to being an Ironman, so, maybe not such a bust after all.

Oh yes! I am sure you are all anxiously awaiting news of my fancy schmancy blood lactate test last weekend! Well, to quote Coach G...I have "minimal anaerobic capacity"...WOW. Actually, it's not such a bad thing when considering an Ironman distance race, but it also explains why hills are the bain of my existence... Overall, I am in pretty good condition for where I am at in my training though-woo hoo! Final conclusion-More low heart rate training, and then maybe attempt to become friends with the hills...can't wait...

Rest week?

So...this week is a rest week...translated as, "last week may have been a big week, but it's also Thanksgiving, so you can forget about being sedentary!" Rest and test, baby, rest and test. Workouts are a bit lighter following our first big weekend last week (2.5 hour bike, 1:10 minute run and a swim). I have to admit, my legs were kinda tired Monday morning... Anyway...so this week we did a run marker set (40 minutes, so we can compare later on), have a swim marker set on sunday (1k swim), and I am getting my Blood Lactate Test for the bike done on Saturday (very fancy, I know!). The test will tell me (and my coach) where my current fitness level is, what my heart rate zones are, and how and when my body starts producing Lactate which in turn affects muscle productivity, fatigue, etc. It's all actually really cool and quite interesting. You can learn more about it at the following link, http://www.coachgareth.com/Lactate.html
I guess that's all for now...I'll let you all know how the test goes next week!!

First Team Ride

Woo hoo! Yeah!

So we had our first IronTeam "brick" this past weekend...a brick is a bike ride followed immediately by a run...get the legs ready for that whole transition from the 112 mile bike ride to the 26.2 mile run....and that after the 2.4 mile swim...y..e..a..h.... Like I said before, if you weren't sure just how crazy I was, now you have confirmation. So as I was saying, we had our first team brick workout. Got up to Zuma Beach, in Malibu, at around 7 am. Gorgeous day! Headed out North on the Pacific Coast Highway towards Ventura County. Happy to say, I hung towards the front with the boys....like you would expect anything less, right? Bit of a head wind on the way out, so it took us nearly 15 minutes less to get back. Drop the bike, change the shoes, and off on the run. Pretty short, just 15 minutes...enough time to make the body yell, "what the hell are you doing to me??" Then it was off to lunch. I mean really, what other reason is there to work out for more than 2 hours at a time? Til next time...

Week 1

So...we are into week one of training...

The weather here has been ridiculous! 80 degrees, sunny, light breeze....feels like August! Who could ask for more in November!!??

Got back on my bike yesterday, following a 2 week hiatus due to a minor incident...me..my bike...the pavement...I digress. The body is still functioning, though it seemed a little harder than it should have...probably a good thing I have over 7 months to keep at this.

Swims are going pretty well...my coach, Paul, has us doing LOTS of drills... I can already feel the difference! All the bad habits I formed over the summer swimming in the ocean are starting to melt away...thank goodness.

As for the running...my weakest discipline...who knew that keeping your heartrate under 140 beats a minute could be so uncomfortable?! I am getting passed on the run path by walkers and their chihuahua's....ouch! I realize it is a means to an end, working the aerobic capacity of the heart, etc, etc, etc...

That's it for this week! I am SURE I will have tales to tell after our practice on Saturday...