6 weeks to go...

With just 6 weeks to go until Beach 2 Battleship full Ironman distance I am getting pretty excited.  I'm actually ahead of where I would have expected to be.  For the week I ran 70 miles, biked 246, and swam only 1,000 yards.  I also attended Barre563 twice.  I had a great interval workout on the bike Wednesday, good tempo run Monday, ran intervals Wednesday, and then used the weekend to get the long stuff in.  Saturday morning I rode 116 miles and pushed the hills after mile 90.  I was very surprised with how high my power numbers were on the hills after riding so far.  The cool temperatures certainly helped.  What has me most excited however is how quickly I'm recovering from workouts.  That's always a sign to me of the shape I'm in.  My legs felt great after riding 116.  Later in the evening after the kids were asleep I ran 4.5 miles and then biked another hour on the trainer.  Sunday morning I woke up wondering how my legs would feel.  I wanted to get at least 14 miles in for my long run.  I ran 12 and that took me to the starting line of "Run 3 for 30", a 5k for the Brett Greenwood Foundation.  Brett was a tremendously hard working individual I had the privilege of coaching in high school.  He maximized his talents and walked on to the football team at the University of Iowa.  He exceeded all expectations there while starting 3 years and being named to the All-Big 10 team twice.  He had just finished an NFL preseason with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2011 and was back home working out when he suffered somewhat of a heart attack at our high school field.  He stopped breathing for a few minutes which left him with an anoxic brain injury.  After 2 years he has once again surpassed all expectations on his road to recovery.  I ran the 5k for miles 13-15.  I was surprised on the slippery and  hilly cross country course to be able to drop down to 6:15 mile pace after doing the first 12 miles at 6:54 pace.  Following the run I went right into 3 more miles bringing my long run to 18.  My legs never felt fatigued.  The only thing that had me worried was in my last 1/2 mile I had that Ironman calorie deprived feeling of nausea and light headedness.  That is why I like cola on the run.  My blood-sugar was really low and I'm not diabetic. 

This afternoon after dropping Payton at dance camp I took Owen to Healthy Habits to try out a new bike.  He had been riding Payton's bigger bike and wants to ride all the time so we wanted to get him a boys bike.  He rode the Specialized kids bike and loved it.  I told him we would not be able to ride the bike path since it was raining but he didn't care about the rain.  He was begging to ride so we went down to the bike path and he rode 2 miles while I ran with him.  He fell asleep on the car ride home and I moved him to his bed.  When he woke up the first thing he wanted to do was run more...Although I already had 20 miles for the day and did not really feel like running more I couldn't tell him no so I ran another 4 miles.  This new bike was great for him.  It is made of aluminum and he made every Le Claire hill on his own.  I would ask him if he wanted a push up the big hills and he refused to let me help.  We averaged about 7:30/mile for the 4 miles brining my total for the day to 24 miles.  Owen later went out while Jen ran and rode for the 3rd time today and requested to sleep next to his bike.  He is definitely obsessed with riding his bike these days.  I like that much better than being obsessed with playing video games or watching television.  We are really proud of him.  It's also nice for Jen and I that we can go for a run and he rides alongside us.  I never expected he'd be able to do that at 3 years of age. 

I cannot believe how good my legs feel after running 24 miles today coming off 136 miles of riding yesterday.  I don't feel like I even ran today.  I know I've stated this a lot but the only thing I can point to that is different now from in the past is that I've been doing my strength training at Barre563.  I'm so glad Barre came to the QC and I added this to my training regiment.  I think the amount of strength I've gotten through my hips, glutes, IT Band area...is what allows me to be able to do all this training without getting fatigued.  I used to feel weakness through my hips when I ran this far.  I have not run 18 miles for a training run since 2011.  I should have been tired but I wasn't. 

The Bettendorf News ran a really nice story on iHope this week.  The support of the foundation has blown away every expectation I have.  I cannot thank those of you who have contributed enough.  I hope all of you realize this would not be possible without your support!  The story can be found by clicking here.  A HUGE thanks goes out to local business General Constructors, Inc. for becoming the 10th local business to support the iHope Foundation.  Company president, Dan Ward was extremely generous with his support of iHope and GCI becomes the first Silver level sponsor of iHope.  If you would like to contribute to iHope you can click here to make a credit card or Paypal contribution or you can mail contributions to the PV Schools Administration Center.  That address is on the iHope page.  The support for these students in our community inspires me.  I'm hoping to bring some more money to the foundation through my last 2 races this year. 

I'd like to keep the volume high for the next 4 weeks.  I want to have finished a good 6 week block of high volume by the time I begin cutting back 2 weeks before Beach to Battleship.  I need to make sure I get more consistent with my swimming although I realize that is less important for these final 2 races than my biking and running.  1,000 yards won't cut it.  With the cooler temps the lake is probably ready to swim in again.  Thanks for reading.  (See Below)