4th Week of Training
Last week and half have been fairly successful, at least from a volume perspective.
My long runs were up to around 5.5 miles and quite a bit more bike riding. Today I did some lap swimming for the first time in many years and the last time I did any consistent lap swimming was in 2011.
I am running and riding slow, as one does when one has not done anything substantial in years.
However, my impatience got the better of me on Friday. I wanted to run 4 miles. But I also had limited time, a little more than an hour including changing and showing. So I ran faster than I should have just so I could have 4 miles records. This was stupid and so now my left foot and the interior of my left knee have occasional pain. So I laid off the running for the past few days and will until Wednesday. Luckily the ride on Friday of a little more than 20 miles was totally fine, with no foot or knee pain.
This morning I got up early and did my first lap swim. I thought, this is slow but seems like it is going well. Until my 20th lap and I feel a little burn in one of my shoulders. And currently as I am typing this I have some pretty good pain in both my shoulders because, like my legs, my arms were not ready for the load I put on them. Despite my experience in doing one of these Ironman competitions in the past, I still don't know what I am doing. Or at least I don't know how to get back into shape as smoothly as I hoped.
All the bumps aside, I feel pretty good. I will back the speed down a bit, but frankly it is hard to go much slower without it turning into a leisurely walk.
If I were to do a 70.3 Ironman today, at the pace I am swimming, biking and running, it would take me about 8hrs 15 min. Which is under the time limit by 15 minutes. HOWEVER, I do not have the endurance to go that far currently and so I would not finish within the time limit right now most likely. But, I have about 11 months to get ready. I am sure I will be ready to finish by that time.
Ironman 70.3 Oregon "A" Goal is to finish in under 7 hours. "B" Goal is to finish between 7 hrs and 7hrs and 30 minutes. The "C" goal is to finish under the cut off of 8 hrs 30 mins without injury.
I realize I need to drop some weight though. It is just more difficult than it should be right now. I will have to figure out an eating plan, but I do not have that figured out right now. When I started working out I dropped about 8-10 lbs. But that has stalled out over the last week. I am still about 40 lbs heavier than when I did the Ironman Arizona in 2011. Not that I have to be that same weight necessarily but I certainly need to drop at least 20 more pounds.
This week I am off to take Jack to the University of Utah. I will likely bring a bike, but I will also get in a run or two if the foot and knee do not get worse.
