Week 5

Started out being a great training week…I made it to the pool on Wed and Thurs…My legs felt great on the bike and on the runs…and then the weekend rolled around which produced a sore throat, no energy, and house cleaning/organizing.

Monday
Workout 1: Recover Swim-skipped
Workout 2: Strength Training (I upped the wts by about 5-10%) 50mins

Tuesday
Workout 1: Run-S1 Interval run on treadmill 30mins 1.98miles
Workout 2: Bike-E1 Easy endurance ride on trainer 70mins 13.7miles

Wednesday
Workout 1: Masters Swim (HOORAY!) cut it short. No coach makes it hard to know what to do. 700meters 35mins
Worktout 2: Strength Training w/ core at home 55mins

Thursday
Workout 1: Bike-S1 Spin-ups on trainer 20mins
Workout 2: Run-E1 Easy endurance run at industrial park 45mins 3.26miles

Friday
Workout 1: Masters Swim. Still no coach. 950meters 45mins
Workout 2: Strength Training 30mins Cut this one short. I’m going to stop lifting on Fridays so that I can recover a little bit before my long runs and rides over the weekends.

Saturday
Sore throat and overall blahness kept me in bed. Had to work on straightening up the house for Lucas’ post-baptism party.

Sunday
Still a few last things to do for the party so no ride today. The whole day was great. The baptism was wonderful…Lucas was a happy baby…enjoyed visiting with all the family.

So, out of a planned 13.5hr training week, I managed to get in 6.33hrs. A lot of quality training, but I need to get those long rides and runs in to get my body use to that volume.

In other news…So has anyone else noticed that ticking clock to the right? It sure is getting close to my first off-season event. As of now, my race strategy will be to run 5 and walk 1 (maybe 2). I need to work on my nutrition while running the next couple of weeks. I finalized my IM Florida registration. I’ll share news as it becomes available to me. Weight Update…I’m starting to get close to where I was before Lucas was born. Sunday morning the numbers flashed at 246. Just a few more to go before 242. Hopefully by the marathon I can be close to 238.

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “let us strip off every weight that slows us down…and let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.” ~Hebrews 12:1

Week 4 Training, IM watching, WWYDT

Training was ok this week. I’m still falling short of my weekly training time goals. This week was going to only be 11.5 hrs rather than the 13.5hrs because of traveling to PCB. I guess it was lack of motivation/determination. That has definitely changed as you will read next…

Monday
Workout 1-Masters Swim (skipped)
Workout 2-Strength Training Phase AA (60mins)

Tuesday
Workout 1-Run Intervals S1 (25mins)
Workout 2-Walked the jobsite. About 2 miles. Very hilly terrain. (45mins)

Wednesday
Workout 1-Masters Swim (Skipped)
Workout 2-Strength Training Phase AA (50mins)

Thursday
Workout 1-Run Intervals S1 (26mins)
Workout 2-skipped (Dad went to Emergency Room for his kidney stones. He’s been battling them for over a month now. They will be “going up to get them” (oowww) on Thursday so keep him in your prayers)

Total training time 296 mins-that’s right, only 4.93 hrs out of a planned 11.5. Sunday was supposed to have a long run or ride mixed in, but I was just too tired from the trip.

Friday
Travel Day

Saturday
So today we went over to Panama City Beach to watch the IM race. Wow is all I can say. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. So many people on the beach. Some looked scared, some looked excited, everyone look determined. All the spectators had signs, cameras, and t-shirts. You’d think we were on the campaign trail. You can read all you want about the swimming, but until you see just how far out that buoy is, you have no idea. The pros started about 10 mins ahead of the age groupers. There were about 40 of them. Then the remainig 2400 racers entered the water. All you could see were arms splashing and water. It looked like a brawl in a cartoon when it is just a big cloud of dust with hands and feet sticking out.

After watching the swim start we headed over to the bike mount area. These pro’s are crazy fast at getting on a bike. If I tried to do what they do what they do, Lucas will not have a younger sibling.


We headed back to Grayton for the afternoon. We got back to PCB about 800pm. We went straight to the finish line. It was awesome seeing all these people crossing the finish line. The smiles took over their faces. I can’t even imagine the feeling that they had.



On the way back to the shuttle drop-off, we walked up the run course a little so we could cheer everyone on. Seeing the lights and hearing the announcer has to give you so much motivation to dig deep and try to finish strong. If by some chance, any finisher reads this…Congratulation Ironman!!! You rock!

Sunday
MH, Lucas, and I got to the registration site around 645am. There were probably around 60 people ahead of me. We all sat and chatted. People from Atlanta and Chicago were right around me. Around 800 they started registering all the volunteers from the day before. Apparently every single person that volunteered registered. People were worried that we would get a spot. Then, around 1000, our line started to move.


Then I was at the threshold of the tent. The point of no return.


10 minutes later….it’s official. I’m going to be racing in IM Florida 2010!!!


I decided that I wanted to have a reminder about IM. A little bit of motivation everywhere I go. So I made up these little cards…

The WWYDT means “What Will You Do Today.” What will I do today to get ready for IM…It is going to serve as a reminder that I have training to do; that so many things are going to go into me finishing this race that I need to be sure to do what I need to do each and every day. I put one on our fridge, on my mirror at home, on my computer monitor at work, and on the dash of my car. I’d get a “livestrong” bracelet made if I could. I know it’s cheesy, but I don’t care. This is something that I want to accomplish. I’m determined to do it and give it my all. It’s not going to go ahead of God, family, & work, but it is up there. MH, you are the best for being so supportive over this past year. You are always there to push me and yelling “keep runnin!” I love you.


Eric’s Quote of the day: “WWYDT"~Me

Week 3 = Worst Training Week Ever

This week was not good. Work was extremely busy. It cut into just about all of my training time. Then by the time the weekend got here, I was so worn out, I didn’t feel like I could get in a run or ride. Poor motivation and mindset on my part. Oh well. As long as you learn from your experiences & mistakes right?

Monday
Workout #1 – Masters Swim (skipped)
Workout #2 – Strength Training (46mins)

Tuesday
Workout #1 – Intervals on Treadmill. Went ok. 26mins, 1.97 miles.
Workout #2 – Endurance Ride (Skipped)

Wednesday
Workout #1 – Masters Swim (skipped)
Workout #2 – Strength Training (50 mins)

Thursday
Workout #1 – Bike speed work (skipped)
Worktou #2 – Endurance Run. Crappiest run ever. My legs felt like poop. Cut it way short. 30mins 2.7 miles

Friday
Workout #1 – Masters Swim (skipped)
Workout #2 – Strength Training (skipped)

Saturday
A whole lot of nothing

Sunday
Even more nothing

So, out of a planned 13.5hr training week I sqeaked in 156mins...that is 2hrs 36mins. I'm going to have to adjust my overall training plan. I'll push starting my base period to 12/7. The month of November is going to all be Prep. I need to get in the habit of getting my butt out of bed early each day. This week should be pretty good. I've mapped out some good training to work around going back down to the beach this weekend. I won't be doing any training on Saturday so I dropped my hours down to 12.5. "Why are you going back down the beach, Eric" you may ask....Well, IM Florida is this weekend. I'm heading down to make it official and register for next years race. I'm a little nervous about it already and its 53 weeks out. I'll take some good pics and vids to post.

Til next week...

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “Believe you can and you are halfway there”~Theodore Roosevelt