Just Under 42 Weeks to Go

Posted on 12 January 2010 by tomh

It’s a little less than forty-two weeks until Ironman 70.3 Miami.  From what I understand, the race is full with a capacity of 2500 athletes!  My training suffered a bit this last week as I was returning from vacation and had a lot of catch up to do.  Not to mention the fact that the weather has been freezing here in Orlando.

On Sunday, I completed the Walt Disney World Marathon in 5 hours 32 minutes.  My initial projected time was 5:19, but I ended up walking the last 3 miles.  It was bitterly cold all morning with ice at aid stations and winds that cut to the core.  My new space bag (a space blanket taped up into a bag) really helped until I tore a hole in it!

Training this past week:

Swimming:  0 miles

Bicycling:  0 miles

Running:  13 miles

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Posted in Marathon, Training, Triathlon

Freezing in Orlando

Posted on 7 January 2010 by tomh

It’s just a few days away from the Disney World Marathon (10 Jan) and the temps here in Orlando are close to freezing.  The overnight low Sat/Sun is expected to be about 29!  I am used to running in temps averaging 75 with humidity levels even higher. 

The last two weeks I was in Las Vegas and ran nearly every day.  The temps averaged 45 during my runs.  I was wearing:  Running shorts, Under Armour ColdGear longsleeve mock compression shirt, a longsleeve tech t-shirt, Asics running tights, and a pair of lightweight gloves.  It was quite comfortable once I got warmed up.  Yesterday I ran here in Orlando wearing the same gear plus a balaclava around my ears.  The temp was in the high thirties.  I was quite cold running into the wind.

My quest now is to pick up some chemical hand warmers like the ones made by Grabber.  They last way longer than I would need (7+ hours) and will be less than useful in my shoes or on my body.  At the very least I can use some hand warmers while waiting for the race to start.  Another thought I had was to pick up some ThermaCare HeatWraps.  I have used these for back pain and if they don’t melt the compression shirt, I can use one in between my layers!

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Posted in Marathon, Training

Forty-Three Weeks to go

Posted on 4 January 2010 by tomh

It’s now just less than forty-three weeks before the Ironman 70.3 Miami triathlon.  I was on vacation in Las Vegas for the last two weeks, so no swimming or biking.  I did manage to run almost every day.  Total mileage approximately 66 miles for the two weeks.

Swimming:  None

Biking:  None

Running: Approx. 66 miles

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Posted in Training, Triathlon

45 Weeks and Counting

Posted on 19 December 2009 by tomh

Forty-five weeks and counting until the Ironman 70.3 Miami race.

This week turned out to be not that great training-wise.  On Monday I crashed my bike half way through my workout.  My shoulder still hurts.  It seems that a shard of glass was the cause as my tire was flat.  I fixed the flat and decided to take Tuesday off from the bike.  On Wednesday, I went ro ride and found that my tire was flat.  Perhaps I forgot to pump it up on Monday?  I removed the tube, put some air into it, and checked it in a bucket of water.  No bubbles anywhere.  Not even near the patch.  Okay, I replaced it and put 90psi into it and all seemed fine.  By mile 2, it was flat.  This time I just replaced the tube, put some air into it and rode home to pump it all the way up.  By now it was so windy and there were so many automobiles with people picking up kids from school that I decided to end the ride.

My running went okay this week, though I wanted to take some time off to ensure that I wasn’t going to screw up my knee again.  I took Monday and Thursday off and then Friday it was pouring rain, so that was nixed too.  Today it’s about 48 degrees F (sudden change overnight), but I’m going for it anwyway.  I am also trying to eat Clif Bar Minis for pre-run fueling.  I had tried bagels with almond butter and they didn’t make me sick, but I didn’t seem to have any extra energy either.  The Clif Bar Minis were being sold at Target for $10.99 for a box of 18.  I bought two boxes and each one contains a different variety of three bars.  Chocolate Brownie this a.m.

Swimming:  none.

Total training mileage:  Bike: 23, Run: 10+whatever I do today, Swim:  0.  Pathetic.

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Posted in Training, Triathlon

I met the road today

Posted on 15 December 2009 by tomh

Just another day training on my bicycle, but this day would be different.  I managed to crash during lap four of eight during my lunch time ride- http://twitpic.com/tiqru.  It’s a simple U-turn, I do it five to six days a week.  Mostly I broke the fall with my shoulder and head.  Thank God for helmets.  Luckily I was only going 8-12 mph.  I was in the market for a new helmet anyway 🙂

After I managed to get upright, straighten by brake lever, and ensure that I had all of my pieces, I started riding back home.  It turns out my front tire was going flat.  Once home I found that there was a small shard of glass in the tire.  That may have been my downfall.  Tire replaced (with kevlar) and tube repaired.  I shall try again tomorrow.

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Posted in Training, Triathlon

46 Weeks and Counting

Posted on 12 December 2009 by tomh

Forty-six weeks from now, I will be participating in the Ironman 70.3 Miami. 

One week ago, I exacerbated an old knee injury which prevented me from running the Marathon of the Palm Beaches Half Marathon.  Since that time, I have done one five mile run, which was frought with anxiety as my knee kept feeling like it was going to go out on me.  I have also done two twenty-five mile bike rides, which were just fine.

I wonder then, how many workouts should I do in the next 46 weeks?  The minimum seems to be three of each type (swimming, running, biking, strength training).  That gives me a total of 184 workouts.  Total time depends on the length of each workout I guess.  Let’s say I do an average of 1.5 hours per workout.  The total comes to 276 hours of training.  It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s probably enough.

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Posted in Training, Triathlon

Just another DNS

Posted on 6 December 2009 by tomh

I was all ready to run in today’s half marathon in West Palm Beach, Florida as part of the Palm Beaches Marathon Festival.  I drove down there last night, picked up my bib, re-usable goodie bags, re-usable, but not disclosed as such, D-Tag, and headed to my hotel room.  After watching television (Wake Forest vs. Gonzaga) for a while, I went to bed.  It was when I got up to take a pit stop that I noticed an issue with my right knee.  Many years back, I had been diagnosed with a torn miniscus, but never had surgery.  Through rehab, I was able to build up the muscles and haven’t really had a problem since, but now my knee was sore and stiff.  Recently I have had some “pinching” sensations during training runs and one instance where I needed to actually stop and walk.  So, it was around midnight or so that I decided to sit this race out and not risk injuring it further.  I have to look ahead to the Disney World Marathon and the Rock ‘n Roll Mardi Gras Marathon in February.  Walking on the knee isn’t all that bad, but any twisting motion really hurts.

At least I got to head down to the finish line and see the winner and second place finisher of the marathon as well as many half marathon finishers.  I am bummed though for not being able to finish myself and get the cool finisher’s medal!

I think now is a good time to get back into swimming for a few days or more and give my knee a rest from the pavement and pedals.

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Posted in Training

Tri Training

Posted on 4 December 2009 by tomh

It’s just shy of 11 months before the Ironman 70.3 Miami.  I have been running and biking nearly 5 days a week each since the end of July.  No swimming.  Matt Lieto’s half ironman training plan is 20 weeks long and consists of one day off followed by six days of doing at least two (or was it three) workouts per day.  I feel like I need to do more base building on the bike and then keep at it once I purchase a new TT bike.  My current bike is a Trek hybrid road bike that I have modified.  I have also lost 30 pounds since the end of July.  This seems to have helped my speed on the bike.  I don’t have a power meter, but I can definitely go faster and have higher RPMs in the same gear.

My primary goal is to finish this race in the 8 hours alotted.  I think it’s very doable, unlike Boise.  My secondary goal is to get a top ten finish on the bike in my age group.  After doing some research, it appears that I’ll have to maintain around a 24 mph average speed.  That’s only about 6 mph faster than now.

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Posted in Training, Triathlon

More races using ChronoTrack D-Tag

Posted on 3 December 2009 by tomh

This Sunday, 6 December, I will be participating in the Marathon of the Palm Beaches half marathon.  I recently found out that they will be using the dreaded ChronoTrack D-Tag for race timing.  It’s great for race directors because they don’t have to collect the tag after the race.  It’s also supposedly green because there is no paper envelope or plastic zip tie associated with it.  Unfortunately, it’s made of plastic and aluminum.  Both are recyclable, but nobody is really making a concerted effort to recycle them.  ChronoTrack had a page on its website with the address to which athletes and race directors could send used D-Tags for recycling, but they’ve since removed it.  I urge anyone to send their used D-Tags back to ChronoTrack at 111 East Diamond Avenue, Evansville, IN 47711, United States.

Now it seems that ChronoTrack has a new B-Tag coming out.  It’s like the D-Tag but stays attached to the runner’s bib.  Wow, that’s great for everyone.  Less hassle, blah blah blah.  What about the recycling of it?

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Posted in Uncategorized

Ironman 70.3 Miami

Posted on 22 November 2009 by tomh

It’s official.  I have signed up for Ironman 70.3 Miami (www.ironmanmiami.com).  The event takes place on 30 October 2010, so I have about 48 weeks to train.  This will be the third ironman 70.3 event that I have signed up for and hopefully it will be the first one that I finish!

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Posted in Triathlon