A reeeeeeeeaaaaaallllllyyyyyy long fitness test

First, April's totals:

Swim: 8 swims, 22,620 meters, average swim 2,827.5 meters

Bike: 13 rides, 313.5 miles, 24.1 miles average

Run: 17 runs, 100.55 miles !!! My first 100 mile month!

Yoga: Once, 30 minutes

Strength: nothing

This was one helluva month for Ironman training. 17 runs? I am proud to finally put up a 100 mile month. It's been several years in the making. In April I really felt like I found my groove and settled into the rhythm of Ironman training. The workout patterns are starting to emerge. It's really cool.

New Car

I got a new (to me) car this week too! It's a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder. Very slick little convertible. Here's a pic I stole from the interwebs:

It's been quite some time since I've had a convertible. Before we had kids I drove a miata and loved it! Got 32 miles per gallon when everybody else was driving huge SUV's. I told those assholes they would choke on the gas prices soon enough. In 2004 I could fill up the Miata for $11 and drive for a week and a half. It was awesome. This car doesn't get as good MPG as the Miata, but it will fit the kids in the back seats, and Evil Genius is completely hooked. She asks to go for rides every day with the top down.

Before & After

I recently found a picture of the whole family at my cousin Ben's wedding. I thought it made a good before picture, since it was about 5 weeks after Bigun was born.

Ben's sister is Emily, who just got married April 2nd. Here's the whole family again at Emily's wedding.

I was around 235 lbs at Ben's wedding, and only 175 lbs at Emily's. And we had two kids instead of one. Kelley lost quite a bit of weight too. So it's a bit of a family before and after that I thought I would share between sibling's weddings.

Half Iron Fitness Test

According to my original race calendar, April 30th was supposed to be the TryCharleston Half Ironman. I was really looking forward to this race. Bring on Charleston, I could stay and visit with my brother for the weekend, paint the town red with Kelley, it was going to be epic.

Well, turns out I never bothered to register for the race. And Michael is out on this epic tour anyway, so we decided to stay in Raleigh. I still wanted to cover the distances for the half iron just to check my fitness. So away we go!

Had a masters swim practice this morning. I got to just pick an open lane and hit laps rather than follow the prescribed workout. I think I ate too much for breakfast and the night before to calorie load for the mock 70.3. I felt really sluggish in the water, and kind of fat. Finished 80 laps in the pool in about 45 minutes. That's slower than I expected, but I may have lost my lap count and done more than I expected.

Since a fitness test isn't really supposed to completely emulate race conditions, I figured that would be ok. So after the swim, I drove 20 minutes home, had a cup of coffee and doughnut, and played with the girls a bit before packing a gym bag and heading out for the rest.

Call that the longest T1 ever.

At the gym, I hit the stationary bike. Same routine as always, I used the "Random Hill" program at level 11. So it's a pretty tough routine.

20 miles, 54:36, 542 calories burned

20 miles, 54:09, 545 calories

16 miles, 43:42, 451 calories

Total: 56 miles, 2:32:27, 1538 calories

This program seems to be quite a bit faster distance-wise than the open road. I think it might be time to start raising the difficulty level. Still, this gives me the confidence to try breaking three hours in the bike split at my next half.

I took a few gels between sets, and ate a protein bar after the bike too. I was quite hungry at that point anyway. Then headed out to the treadmill to run a half marathon.

5 miles, 43:14, 704 calories

5 miles, 42:40, 708 calories

3.1 miles, 24:40, 450 calories

Total 13.1 miles, 1:50:34, 1866 calories burned

I did the first 2 splits at a 7.0 speed, and the 5k at a 7.5 speed. I feel good about that. It felt nice to spend some time in the pain cave. I did get that familiar uncomfortable feeling in my legs when you know you're really pushing it hard. Breaking 2 hours in the half marathon after a bike ride like that gives me real confidence.

So the other half iron distance I am doing this year is the OBX Half in the outer banks in September. I'm really looking forward to that one now. Main goal is to break 3 hours on the bike and break 6 hours overall.