07/19/07: Now I know I've Lost It

How do I know I've truly lost my mind? I just signed up for the Hammerhead Ocean Marathon on Aug 4, a 2.5 mile ocean swim.

The good news: I'll get a preview of what it'll be like to swim 2.4 miles in the ironman. This should give me a lot of confidence if I'm able to swim it in a reasonable time without too many issues, especially since I know I'll have the benefit of a wetsuit in November. Based on my swimming at this point, I'd consider 1:45ish a reasonable time. If I'm able to do that, I'm in GREAT shape for the ironman.

The bad news? It's a 2.5 mile ocean swim....Lori wants me to wear a rubber ducky.....

To Carrie and "anonomous": What's a poor swimming triathlete to do? At least we know we're all suffering through the wonderful world of masters swimming together. Even with all of the drama, I've made TREMENDOUS swimming progress over the last couple of months, and there's no way I'd have taken 30 seconds per hundred off, while using significnantly less effort, swimming on my own. All in all, I think it's very positive.

Last night I made another deposit into my cycling account: 1:10 on the trainer, usual workout. 21 minute gearing pyramid as a warmup (19-13); 3x3 ilt; cadence drill (100x3; 110x2, 120x1); 21 min reverse gearing pyramid as a cooldown. I've noticed a massive improvement in the ilt drills - I guess it's working.

Woke up this morning to perfect running weather: 75 with 90% humidity. Who am I kidding? It's Florida in July - there is no perfect running weather. All of this training in the heat and humudity, even in the early morning, should set me up for a nice race in November, when hopefully it'll be a bit cooler and a lot less humid.

On the other hand, it was in the 80's and extremely humid for the Disney marathon in January, so you just never know. The ironman is going to be enough of a sufferfest on it's own, so hopefully the weather cooperates....

Anyway, this morning was an hour zone 2 form run. 10 minute warmup, 2 x 6x30 sec pickups with 10 minutes in-between. The rest of the run was all zone 2. Overall, I did just over 7 miles, which turned out to be a ~8:30 pace....a fantastic pace for a zone 2 run for me :)

Tonight's a group swim, followed by tomorrow's easy 1/2 hour recovery ride, setting me up for a weekend of training fun....

Live with purpose....Enjoy the adventure.....