"The Push"...week #1

The weeks to Ironman Arizona are dwindling, and now there are only eight. This last week was the first of a long-hard 3 week block. Danny "Double D/Aquaman" Domingo reminded me that The Grip (Mark Allen) used to call this block of training "The Push". The principle is to try to overload your body with three progressively longer training weeks, almost to the point of overtraining...then back it down for a week. After that I think there are two weeks of "Peak", and two weeks of "Taper"...but now it's about "The Push". Well...this week was #1...and I "pushed"...ouch...

Saturday
I met up with my training buddies Greg "Gills" Carr, Kevin "5 Ironman's in one year" Neil, Casey "Exterra Champ" Fannin, and Lyndon "Doctor Pain" Box. The ride was our infamous "Lacey's Place" Georgia ride. The entire ride was non-drafting and we threw in a 3 hour block at race intensity for good measure. Of course it was a head wind the whole way home. The ride was 110-115 miles depending on who you ask. Lyndon's computer is set to only record time when we are moving, so you exclude stop lights, bathroom breaks, etc. He ended up in the range of 5:30-5:45...my computer includes stops in the timing and was close to 6 hours. Once back to Lyndon's condo, He, Kevin and I did a quick change for a T-Run of 58 minutes using a loop over 2 of the bridges in downtown Jacksonville. All in all it was a 7 hour day of training...needless to say, my legs were cooked.

Sunday
Lyndon and I had a long day planned to create an Epic weekend. First up we did the Breast Cancer 1/2 marathon leaving from where I work, Mayo Clinic. I thought seriously about doing the full marathon to try and obtain a Boston Marathon qualifying time, but it is way too close to IM Arizona...and would wreck my training for the next few weeks. I awoke to some tired and slightly sore legs...but, it would be good to see how I responded to running on fatigued legs.

We parked a short distance away from the start so that we could add a few miles to get in around 16-17 miles total. We timed it pretty well, and met up with Kevin and Lyndon's wife, Lesleigh, and had about 5 minutes before the gun went off. I started out with the pace group doing a 3:10 marathon...and figured that would give me a 1:35 half marathon (7:15/mile). I wasn't sure if this was doable, especially with 2 bridges to cross and part of the course on the beach...oh, and the trashed legs :-) Anyhow, I felt ok and I met up with Greg, James Cordoza (doing the whole marathon), and Shawn Burke. After about mile 2, Greg and James decided to pick it up a bit...and we started to leave the 3:10 pace group behind...this was NOT my idea (Greg is very persuading), but decided to run with them for a while. Needless to say it hurt, and I ended up with 1:30:43 (6:56/mile). Lesleigh ran a 1:36:37 and qualified for the New York City Marathon and James Cardoza finished the full marathon in 3:10:34 securing a start at the Boston Marathon for him...awesome! We then ran back to the car to get ready for the rest of the day...which next included stopping for some lunch at Tijuana Flats..."Smack My Ass and Call Me Sally."

Next, Lyndon and I drove out to Kingsley lake and spaced out some buoy markers. We then changed into wetsuits and swam some laps. Doctor Pain (Lyndon) lived up to his name and punished me with impunity in the open water swim. There was some chop that got annoying after a while, but wasn't super bad. As Lyndon swam circles around me, I tried to get used to swimming in a straight line towards each turn around point. After an hour of swimming we ran out and made a quick transition to the bike and went out for a about a 1 1/2 hour ride at an easy pace. Even "easy" hurt after this weekend.

We ended another long day to make it an Epic weekend...and hopefully gain some valuable fitness. Lyndon's going to do Ironman Brazil at the end of May, so he's ahead of the game on his training...and should do really well. The volume continues to ramp up this next week...so we'll see how the old body reacts.

Sween