Back to work

Well I’m officially done recovering from Ironman Arizona – at least according to the training plan. Looking back at Arizona I’m still amazed at how well I did. It was by no means a perfect race, but wow – 9:46 with a flat tire. Not only that I wasn’t even phased when I got the flat. A year or two ago I would have been freaking out about it – but I can honestly say that after I was back on the road I spent less then 5 minutes on it the rest of the race. It was like it never happened! What a change from my how I got about things when I swam. I’m more proud of that then anything really.

So what’s new – I’m starting to feel a bit of a gnaw to train. I’ve been swim a lot – and I’ve been swimming very well. This past weekend I did a 10 minute swim and ended up putting down 800 meters! It felt great! I’ve done 1 run and 1 ride since arizona. Both of them were OK. The ride was just a nice easy aerobic ride with my wife and our brother-in-law. I had no real problems with it, but at the end I started to feel a little bonkish.

My next four weeks of training are going to be pretty easy weeks. Very aerobic workouts, any intensity that I do will mostly be a couple fitness tests to give me a baseline for later this summer. I plan to cap my training at no more then 20 hours per week.

Main focus this week is developing a good pattern of consistancy after the two week break, along with a Run and Bike Test on Thursday and Sunday, respectively. I’ll use these tests to guesstimate at my training paces for the near future and I’ll test them again in about 8 weeks.

In other fronts my decision about Ironman Wisconsin has changed again. I’ve now decided that I don’t want to carry around a DNF. I can handle a DNF when I’m forced to because of a mechanical or an injury. After thinking about it, the what if’s of choosing to DNF will haunt me. What if I’m having a great day and perfect weather? What if? What if? What if? In the end it will just be easier to withdraw, watch Mary race, and do a 2 hour run while she is doing the Verona loop. I can provide more support for her this way then if I’m worried about a race/training race. Since it’s her first Ironman, I want her to enjoy it as much as possible!