13 Weeks to Go till IMTX

Well week 13 started off well this morning with a good technique oriented swim.  I felt good in the water and I think swimming is coming around.  I need to start making my workouts longer but at least my fitness is to the point that it is possible.

To be honest my Interval from H20 Audio is what really gets me through the pool workouts.

Marathon Finish and Knee Progress

Well first off I want to congratulate my wife on her first Marathon finish and going sub 4:30 at that.  She did amazing and I am super proud of her.

Well this weekend also marked some improvement on my knee healing.  I was able to run the first 8miles with my wife and her group and I ran the final 3 miles with her all with little to zero knee pain yesterday.  Today I have zero residual knee pain so that is definitely a step in the right direction.

With that being said and hoping things continue to progress I signed up for the Telfair Triathlon which benefits C-Different that is occuring on March 18th.  It is a sprint and should be super fast.  I am looking forward to racing again for sure.  I will not be tapering for that event and will not have done a ton of speedwork leading up to that day but oh well.  It will be fun to see where I am at.

IMTX Training Update

Things are progressing.  I got another 3hrs on the trainer last night thanks again goes out to Coach Troy and his Spinervals DVDs I couldn't put that time in on the trainer without them.  Then I decided to go for a super quick 2mile brick to test out the tendonitis and legs.  The run was fine and the knee was fine for the two miles.  I ran on as much grass as possible and I kept it slow.

I also was running with my new "Footbeds" which are custom made insoles from my friends at Tad Hughes Custom who also did my bike fit.  I am now wearing those insoles 90% of the time and I think it will help my tracking of my knee stay inline and also help take some stress off the foot in general.

I am signed up for a half marathon in Austin this weekend and I am still undecided on whether I run or not.  I am probably going to run knowing that I have already paid for it but I plan on biking long the day before and giving my self excuses to pull out if need be for the knee.  I plan on running it slow and steady and not racing it as I do not need another setback before IMTX for any reason.

Looking forward I have 4hr bike rides starting next weekend and then start to rebuild my volume slowly.  It will not be an ideal build to an ideal level but oh well.  It is what it is.  Trying to make some lemonade.

Besides that my swim fitness is coming back.  I am still terrible in the water but I am feeling better than I have in two seasons which is due to the fact I am getting to the pool and swimming consistently.

All for now lets see what happens with the Half Marathon this weekend.

Good Ride & Good Nutrition

I had a very good long ride last night on my trainer.

I had a long week with getting prepared for my sons first birthday party so most of the week was hit or miss with training.

Last night though I was determined to get my long ride in no matter what.

So, I got on my bike at 9pm and got off at midnight.  Not ideal but man it felt good on so many different levels.

Best part was that thanks to Third Coast Training's testing services my zones are dialed in.  My average power and HR were right where they were predicted and my nutrition was on point.

Right now I am trying out Infinit Nutrition (a custom formula I made) and it has done me well.  I mix thress servings of 220 calories in one bottle and sip from that for 3 hours.  I have additional water bottles to drink from as well.

For 3hr ride I took in a total of 4 bottles of water (1 containing nutrition).

Nutrition Breakdown per hour

Infinit
Calories 220
Sodium 555mg
Potassium 161mg
Carbs 52g
Protein 3g

GU Electrolyte Tabs
Calories 10
Sodium 320mg
Potassium 55mg

Total Per Hour
Calories 230
Sodium 875mg
Potassium 216mg
Carbs 52g
Protein 3g

Initial IMTX Goals

Thanks to QT2's Triathlon Calculator and confirming some caluclations using http://kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm below is my initial goal for IMTX.  I did add some time to the bike and the run from what the calculator said due to how extreme the conditions are on this course during the month of May.

I have been told multiple times by others and myself to not put a time goal out there but here it is anyway.

IMTX Goal Splits and Finish Time
Leg	Time
Swim	1:27:00

Bike	5:45:00

Run	4:40:00

Finish

11:52:00

Swim Day

It was swim day today and I made it to the pool.

I am super excited I did not let being tired or anything else talk be out of going to the pool this morning at 5am when my alarm sounded.

I made it to the pool did some nice sets of 200's and then found a new speed. This new speed is super slow or at least feels that way but it is controlled and seemed almost effortless.

When I looked at my clock to see my split it was under 2min/100 which if you know how bad a swimmer I am you would know that this is not a terrible time if this is the slowest I can swim.

This small tidbit along with getting to the pool to gain back some swim fitness gave me some more confidence on my road to Ironman Texas.

Knee Diagnosis

Well I posted  earlier about some pain I was dealing with on the inner portion of my left knee.  I decided to bite the bullet and see an orthopedist.

I saw the great Dr. Jensen at Athletic Orthopedics & Knee Center here in Houston. I have been seeing him since probably middle school and he has taken great care of me and my brother with all our various injuries from broken bones to ligament tears.  To make a long story short this time it is just some tendinitis at the insertion point and I was given some anti-inflammatory and told to lay off running for a week and build up slowly.

The other recommendation was to get some orthotics for my running shoes, which I will be seeing Tad Hughes of Tad Hughes Custom Studio for those.  He is also the guy who got me fit right on my Trek Speed Concept.