Blog

‘tween times

It’s been a long time since I last wrote. I’m in a strange phase of training right now. Nothing remarkable; a little bit of everything – I’m not in recovery, I’m not really in base building, I’m in this in between period, keeping up my strength and endurance and being careful about early burn-out or injury. Each week is a couple swims, a couple runs, a couple times on the trainer and some strength training. Also, a lot a lot of stretching. My back is still bothering me a little bit, but it’s doing much better and most of the time isn’t an issue. If I don’t stretch two or three times a day it acts up. I guess it’s good that it’s getting better and that the stretching keeps it under control, but I wish it would just be done (duh). Even though I know it’s key to stay focused right now and put the right “building blocks” in place to prepare myself for the base building, this period is a little boring and I’m struggling a little to stay interested. The swims have been encouraging, but the 30 minute runs are blah, my rides on the trainer are fine, but certainly nothing to write home about. After we get home from our trip to California and we get into 2008, the intensity will start to ramp up and so will my drive… I hope!

While riding on the trainer over the last week, I’ve made my way through the coverage of Kona. NBC put together a 90 minute recap of Kona and shows it a month-or-so after the race. Neither the men’s or women’s pro race was a very close finish, but both finishes were really inspiring. Chris McCormack finally won at Kona, after multiple wins at other Ironmans, six attempts at Kona, including coming in second place by less than two minutes in 2006. More inspiring than his performance though was the women’s champ, Chrissy Wellington. In her first appearance at Kona and only her second Ironman race, she really kicked ass. A relative unknown, she ran the second fastest marathon split ever at Kona and (from the NBC coverage at least) had a nice lead for at least the second half of the race. My favorite thing about watching her though, was watching her finish. From a few hundred yards out (or really, much longer), she knew she was going to win. Her face lit up and she had the biggest smile imaginable. She threw her arms in the air and danced down the finisher’s chute. It was really amazing – shocking that she looked so fresh, of course, but even through the TV and the delayed NBC coverage, I could feel her joy. I’ll leave you with a picture that captures it fairly well – if only I could feel or look anywhere close to that when I finish one of these things…

Swim – December 4
Distance: 2,700 yards
Time: 58 minutes

Bike – December 5
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 118
Indoor ride

Run – December 5
Distance: 3.5 miles
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 138
Course: Village
Conditions: evening run, cold, 30 degrees, clear, some wind, a little snow

Bike – December 6
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate:
Indoor ride

Strength – December 6

Swim – December 8
Distance: 2,000 yards
Time: 45 minutes

Bike – December 8
Time: 1:00
Average heart rate: 126
Indoor ride

Run – December 9
Distance: 4.5 miles
Time: 35 minutes
Average heart rate: 148
Course: Lower Manhattan
Conditions: Crisp, mid-30s, overcast

Strength – December 10

Bike – December 10
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 112
Indoor ride

Swim – December 12
Distance: 2,700 yards
Time: 1:00

Run – December 12
Distance: 3 miles
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 137
Course: West Side Highway, Strides
Conditions: Evening, chilly (low 30s), some wind

Run – December 13
Distance: 3.8 miles
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 141
Course: West Side Highway
Conditions: Chilly (low 30s)

Strength – December 13