Iron Week Done

It is finished. 140.6 miles over 6 days. It was grueling, it was awesome. I am certainly going to do it again.

Friday I finished off the swim leg with 50 laps in the pool. I hit it endurance style, just got in and cranked out laps. Finished in 26 minutes, which is considerably shorter than I've ever covered that distance before. It was a fantastic workout.

Friday Night we had dinner at my boss's house. It was fantastic, there was a good crowd and we all had a good time. I did have a few beers, but got control of myself when I remembered what I was doing on saturday. Then Kelley and I went to the late show at Goodnight's Comedy club to see Tom Arnold. He was hilarious! Nobody else can talk about how Roseanne stabbed him in the chest with a meat cleaver when he took her Jennie Craig cookies away. I was rolling around laughing so hard. Such a fun night.

Then Saturday I carbed up and went out for a 20 mile run to finish off Iron Week. This was the only 20 mile run on my training schedule before the Tobacco Road Marathon. The first 10 miles were a breeze. I ran through the NC State campus, came out at the Central Prison, found a greenway trail to run on, and headed up St Mary's to my boss's house where we had dinner the night before. From there I ended up combing my way through downtown Raleigh. The streetlights got annoying after a while so I headed back into the residential area. I ended up hitting Churchill Rd right at mile 15. I had no idea that Churchill was the effing hilliest road in Raleigh. but wow. That ended up being the toughest mile by far. Lots of walking there. Then I ended up getting back onto the same side of Wade Ave that I live on and tooled around my neighborhood until the garmin said 20.00 miles. Actually it said 19.98 miles when I hit my house, so I had to run past the neighbor's house and come back to make it an even 20. Finished in 3:37:48.


I'm worn out. Tired. Need more sleep and food. But Iron Week is complete!

So how did Iron week turn out by the numbers? The swims were monday: 1250 yrds in 30 mins, Wednesday 1900 yrds in 47 minutes and Friday was 1250 yds in 26 minutes. That's a 2.4 mile swim leg of 1:43. The bike looked like: Monday 52 miles in 2:33, Tuesday 15 miles in 45 mins, Wednesday 30 miles in 1:26, and Thursday 15 miles in 42 mins. That's a total of 112 miles in 5:26. For the run, I had a 10k on tuesday in 57:58 and the 20 miler on Saturday in 3:37:48 for a marathon time of 4:34:46. If you add those up and don't count the 6 days of transition time, that makes for an Ironman time of 11:43 if my math is correct.

Now my actual expecation for Ironman Florida next year is 14 hours. But I do think it's possible to come close to a 4:30 marathon time at the Tobacco Road in a few weeks.

And what did I think about the IronWeek as a concept? It is awesome. I didn't miss a beat at work, even took an extra night off to take the wife out for a nice dinner. Still covered 140.6 miles in 6 days. I think if I wanted to make it even more challenging I could do it in 4 days. But even my natural reaction that is "if you want to make it more challenging, do it in 1 day at an Ironman race you freak" but that's for next year. If you swim before work, and run/bike over lunch and after work I think it could be done in 4 days. Split the runs up into 6.2, 5, 5, and 10 mile distances and everything but the 10 miler could be done over a lunch break. 4 swims at 1075 (43 laps) each would cover the swim. And the night workouts would be the longest bike rides. Could be 4 @28 miles each, but a 15 mile ride is all I can squeeze in over lunch. So the last day's ride would have to be over lunch. Still, it's possible.

This should not be my last Iron Week. It was so much fun and so cool just knowing the target was raised. I know there are plenty of tri guys out there that bike 300 miles a week anyway, and plenty of runners that hit 50 miles a week all the time. But this method proved several things to me.

The first thing is that the more you do something the faster you will get. The last 15 mile bike ride was the fastest I've covered that distance ever. I've never gotten below 29 minutes swimming 50 laps, the last swim was only 26 minutes. It's amazing how raising your volume really does create speed.

Raising your weekly training volume to that level also reiterates the need to watch fuel and rest times. Eating enough to cover that kind of distance is a must. Getting enough sleep at night is a must. We tend to gloss over those problems and focus on doing the work. What you do to your body when it's not working for you is just as important.

So does this seem like a challenge that you are up for? I can't wait to do it again.

Iron Thursday

Iron Week is starting to see daylight. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all double days. Today is more like:



That bike leg is wrapped! 15 miles today over lunch went fast. 42:xx fast. That puts me at 112 miles on the bike since monday. Boo freaking YA!

That picture is post house hunting. The dinner was fantastic, then we rode all over Cary looking at houses. We found 2. Now it's 10:30 pm and I'm blogging today. Time for bed.

Tomorrow is 50 laps in the pool to finish the swim distance, then dinner at the boss's house. Kelley will be looking at houses. We have 3 for the realtor to show us. One she likes (that is a block from a Trader Joe's and Gold's Gym), and one that I like (backs up to a greenway and fantastic location). And one on the other side of Cary that we both like. We'll see what happens. Time to eat. Is it too early to start carb loading for saturday's 20 mile run?

Iron Wednesday

Iron Week is rocking on! Monday was long, Tuesday I was tired and hungry. Today I feel like this:


Strong and happy. Today I put a mile in the pool over lunch. 76 laps in the 25 yd pool went by ok in about 47 minutes. I felt horrible when I got started, the first 10 laps or so was just labored. Thought I was too tired to finish. But by lap 30 I was really going strong and feeling good. I finished strong and went back to work focused.

After work I went back to the gym and put 30 miles on the stationary bike. Did the first 15 mile block in 43:38 and the second 15 mile block in 43:16. That's too close to call it a negative split. But it felt effortless. The miles just blew by. I love it when that happens. I did have to take it kind of slow going down the stairs after the ride; legs kind of felt like jello. But hey, that's expected.

I also realized while I was in the pool today that I've just gone past Oly distance. Oly's are a .92 mile swim, 24 miles bike, and 10k run. In the last 24 hours I swam a mile, biked 30, and ran a 10k last night. Bazinga!

Iron Week totals so far: Swim 3100 yds (out of 4224), bike 97 miles (out of 112), and run 6.2 miles (out of 26.2). I'm gettting there.

Tomorrow I finish off the last 15 miles of the bike leg over lunch, and then take Kelley out for a nice dinner. Friday it's time to finish off the last 1250 yrds swimming, then dinner with one of the owners of the company I work for. Saturday it's look at and hopefully buy a house with the realtor, then a 20 mile run in Umstead State Park on the trails. Time to start wrapping it up. Biking 4 days in a row is going to take it's toll on mine arse. But I'm feeling great today and ready to watch some olympics and get some rest.

Iron Tuesday

I'm doing an ironman distance spread across the whole week (link for monday). Here's what I feel like after tuesday:



about to explode. Or is that face just trying to push out a fart? Who knows. Iron week day 2 is in the books.

Got it all in as planed, 15 more miles on the bike in 45:xx. Took it a little slower today, and finished with a scream: Chamois Butt'r take me away! Chafing is not fun. I want to think I know how Ryan feels now, he put 100 miles on his bike today and claimed he had the ass of a Mandrill afterward. I'm not that bad. But 67 miles in 2 days is a fair amount of time in the saddle. What? 30 more bike miles tomorrow? wow.

After work I went back for a 10k run. Covered the 6.2 miles in 57:58 and felt great. Actually, when I was done I was really hungry. But this run was supposed to be a predictor of a potential finish time in the SafeRun 10k in a couple of weeks. I knew that my legs were pretty shredded from all the bike time, so I wanted to see how consistent I could be for that distance at a decent pace. I think the goal of breaking an hour and PR'ing the distance is well in hand. My current 10k pr is 1:06:10 as the run leg of an oly tri. I am really looking forward to this race now. The run burned 1003 calories it said. Afterward I started to notice some nipple chafing. I never think about putting band-aids on if I'm not running at least 7 miles. But with all the bike time too my tech shirts are putting the hurting on. And I have to keep that bare chest sexy for all the swimming still to come.

I did not sleep enough last night. Damn you The Bachelor Women Tell All! And I'm loving the winter olympics. Can't seem to get enough of them. I also have not been eating enough. Nutrition during the workouts has been good, everything feels clean while I'm exercising. But I have got to work on the recovery tonight. Tomorrow is a 1 mile swim and 30 miles on the bike. Then Kelley comes up here on thursday and I told her I would take her out for a nice dinner. And I'm looking forward to that.

Iron Week totals so far: 1250 yds swimming (out of 4224), 67 bike miles (out of 112) and 6.2 miles running (26.2 total). I'm getting there. Exhausted, but I'm getting there.

Iron Monday

Iron Monday is done!! 50 laps in the pool (1250 yards) over lunch. Felt great, easy, nice pace. Took about 30 minutes.

After work it was 52 miles on the stationary bike at the gym. Did the first 20 mile block in 59:xx, the second 20 mile block in 58:xx, and the final 12 miles in 35:xx. That's a pretty consistent pace. It's also the longest single ride I've done in a long time, I think since the 56 mile bike leg at the B2B.


Here's the half dead/half asleep Iron Week Day 1 pic from 10:20 pm on monday. Can I really keep this up for the rest of the week? wow, tough day 1. But I got the longest bike ride out of the way.

It has been decided that thursday kelley is coming to Raleigh to buy us a house. That means I am adjusting my schedule to be able to take thursday and friday nights off to rest up for the 20 mile run saturday. we're going to meet with the realtor, submit the offer, then head to Umstead State park. She's going to do part of the run with me, but she's not trained up to do 20. It will be fun. So thursday's 15 mile lunch ride will finish the bike leg now, and friday's 50 lap lunch swim will finish the swim leg. and saturday's 20 mile run will finish the run leg. I love seeing a plan come together.

Now it's time to go nom nom nom fuel up and rest up for tomorrow's workouts. A 15 mile bike over lunch and 6.2 mile run after work. Maybe i'll squeeze in some yoga before work too.

Iron UP

Everything is looking ok to get our house in greenville sold. Closing is still lined up on schedule. We are still fighting some mortgage stuff and still trying to find the right house to buy. And still haven't figured out how to not be homeless for a few months. Nothing like living in a van down by the river!

Training is going pretty well. I'm still on the fence about the march 21st marathon. Kelley wants me to do it, but I"m pretty sure she just doesn't want me to pester her about another marathon later in the year. I hit the triple today: yoga before work, a 10 mile hilly bike ride over lunch, and 4 miles of speedwork on the treadmill after work. It really felt good to get some treadmill intervals done today. Running hasn't been agreeing with me very well since the tybee race. But tonight I felt fast and fluid.

Yesterday had just one workout, a 1250 yd swim. Supposed to be a mile, but I had to get back to the office for a meeting so I cut it down to only 50 laps in the pool. Tuesday we had a company meeting, followed by a drunken company barhopping. So all I got done was some yoga before work and a 4 mile tempo run over lunch.

Fear not, I hit the trifecta again on monday though. Tripower before work, 1000 yd swim (fast 100 yd intervals) over lunch and a 21 mile bike ride after work that was tempo. very good day (for a monday). Tomorrow's lunch swim should finish off the week nicely.

So why am I finally posting an actual training log up here? What's missing in that messy log? Well for starters I'm missing a long run. I might try and run some while I'm in Greenville this weekend. But monday it begins.

Iron Week. My target is to complete the Ironman distances - 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run - all in one week. Yes I know next year I'm going to do it all in one day. But I won't have to work that day either. This is going to be a fun challenge.

Why next week? It's the only time I have left in the schedule for a 20 mile long run. The marathon is almost here. So I can attack the run game with a 6.2 mile tempo run and a 20 mile long run. Actually, here's the plan:

Monday - 1250 yds (50 laps) swim, 45 mile bike
Tuesday - 15 mile bike, 6.2 mile run
Wednesday - 1 mile swim (76 laps 1760 yrds), 20 mile bike
Thursday - 15 mile bike, 17 mile bike
Friday - 1250 yds (50 laps) swim
Saturday - 20 mile run

The first workout is over lunch each day. Friday night one of my company's owners has invited us to his house for dinner (I hope there's carbs!) - and he did Ironman CdA a few years ago. So he knows. Since Kelley is coming to raleigh for the weekend I will be doing the long run here on saturday, not thursday night like I normally do.

So that gives me 4400 yards in the pool, and ironman distance is 4224 yards. covered. Normally I only do 1000 yards monday and friday, so what's an extra 10 laps right? 112 miles is exactly 112 freaking miles on the bike. I might extend the monday night and tues/thur lunch rides by a few miles each so I won't have to go back thursday night for the last 17 miles. And the 10k run on tuesday and 20 mile run on saturday will finish off the marathon distance. That's a full week people. A very full week. It's going to take a lot of good food and good fuel to get it all done. I bet there won't be much sleep trouble though.

So I'm going to take what I just called a full busy week's worth of workouts and try to do that all in one day next year??? I think taking 2010 as an Ironman Prep Year was the right call.


I'm not sure what's more surprising.... that someone actually listened to my drivel advice or that it actually worked. Tyly is actually blaming me for trying her first 5 mile run yesterday. She did it - setting a personal distance record and beat her time goal. She's also getting married in a month and building a house, and I'm enjoying stalking her (if you haven't seen her blog yet it's pretty neat). She deserves a thumbs up pic! I's proud of ya girl!

Now after Ironman week..... I'm going to try and post every day next week to track the progress. Anybody else feel like taking an Iron Week this year? I'm really getting excited about the concept. Have a great weekend!