Every Day...

Counts. When you are starting a training plan with an Ironman 8 weeks away every day counts. I have chosen to break it down into 7 weeks of hard training and then 1 week of easy training and lots of rest. Every day will still be very important during that 1 easy week...especially things like sleep, outside stressors, nutrition...etc. Right now every day in training my goal is to finish the day knowing what I did made me better than I was the day before. So far, so good. For week 2 of IMAZ prep my workout time increased to 25 hours. I ran the same mileage as last week...50, but went up quite a bit in the swim and bike. My bike total was 212 miles, and my swim total was 17,100 yards. I also lifted weights and did plyometrics twice, did speed drills, strides, lunges, push-ups, and jump rope all three times, and core work 10 times. I had 3 high intensity bike interval workouts and a 14 mile long run. I can't believe I was able to get 2 open water swims in this weekend!! 2 years ago I was training for Longhorn 70.3 during the month of October and I distinctly remember being out for a long ride on October 3rd only to have it start SNOWING on me. I never used to have all the high-tech bike clothing that I've now invested in through Healthy Habits and I remember my hands were so cold in standard running gloves that I couldn't move my fingers to shift. I was having to shift with my forearms. Eventually on the brink of what I thought was frost bite I pulled into a gas station and called Jen to pick me up. Now here it is 1 week later and I'm doing open water swims in 62 degree water which is my favorite wetsuit temperature. It's cold enough that I can swim for a long time without getting warm in the wetsuit yet not so cold that my feet go numb.
With only 35 days left to train hard I've been more disciplined with my nutrition than ever before over a 2 week stretch. I'm pretty much in a routine with what I'm eating on a daily basis so I hope I've got all the major necessities covered. I do supplement a multi-vitamin, fish oil, and Vitamin D each day. I'm restricting calories a bit right now which I won't do as the race gets closer. I know if I took in more calories I could probably feel a bit better in the workouts but at this point I'm trying to get lean for this race so it's a trade-off. I'm trying not to eat any wasted calories and I'm up to 14 straight days with a "+" in my workout book signifying a "junk free" day. I know tomorrow's official Monday morning Weigh Day will be a good number. I'll do a post edit tomorrow letting you know what it is. I'm actually quite amazed how fast the weight has come off with this disciplined nutritional approach.
Post Edit: On Monday morning for my weekly "Weigh Day" I was 159 lbs...so -7 for the week which may be my most lost in a week ever. -9 in my 2 weeks training for IMAZ.
Every morning I have 2 bowls of cereal...this week it was Wheaties Fuel. I also have a protein shake and 2 pieces of wheat toast with honey, and coffee. During the school day I don't eat a standard lunch. Instead I pack a bag of food and try to eat consistently throughout the day to keep my metabolism high. Metabolism is shown to slow down when the body goes long periods of time without food (like between meals for most people). To keep mine high I begin eating something during about every class period I teach starting with 3rd period at 9:30. I typically pack 1 apple, 2 bananas, 1.5 servings of Wheat Thins, 1.5 servings of carrots, and 1 granola bar. Jen has been amazing at making dinners. Lately we have bought a HUGE variety of fresh vegetables that she cuts up and puts in a pan with a few pieces of chicken breast. She throws it all in the oven for about 1 hour and it is amazing. A typical dinner will be chicken breast, zuchini, tomatoes, onions, green and red bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and "B" size potatoes. Before every breakfast and dinner I drink a 20 ounce glass of water to help fill my stomach before I begin eating. I also drink a minimum of 48 ounces of water throughout the day at school. I have begun to prepare my mind for the suffering I will go through on November 20th. I watched the live coverage of the Ironman World Championships and all the top finishers they interviewed talked about how much physical suffering they went through. I know an Ironman involves tearing the body down to the core. I have to be willing to get to that point of suffering.
I spent much of Saturday afternoon and evening following my good friend and training partner Adam Bohach online as he made his way through the Kona heat. Adam was awesome. He finished in 9 hrs. 17 minutes and was 101st overall including all the pro finishers. He was somewhere around the 60th amateur finisher and was one of the top American amateurs. He ran a 3 hr. 6 minute marathon on the end on pavement that was 135 degrees! I was really proud of Adam. He called me afterwards and told me how bad he suffered during the race. He was vomiting macadamia nuts on the bike ride, and his feet were hot the entire run. He missed the sunscreen before he bike portion and told me he got roasted. His performance was very inspiring to me. The other inspiring performance of the weekend for me was from a college teammate and friend named Randy Bill. Randy has been training like crazy for the Chicago Marathon and was hoping to hit an Olympic Trials qualifying time of under 2 hrs. 20 minutes. He placed 37th overall in a time of 2 hrs. 24 minutes. I am sure Randy was disappointed with the finish time but what inspired me the most was that he went after his lofty goal. Randy went through the 1/2 Marathon in 1 hr. 9 minutes...on pace to qualify for the trials. He is certainly Dreaming Big and the work he has put in has him in the best shape of his life. He has taken a risk to be great with his incredible training schedule all while holding a full-time job and being married to a wonderfully supportive wife. He is a great example of what Live Uncommon is all about. Time to get some rest...tomorrow means only 35 days left to get back into incredible shape. I'll be ready for Nov. 20th. Thanks for reading. DREAM BIG!!