24 September 2018

Ironman Chattanooga in 3 weeks

10 September 2018 Update

I am truly grateful to all of you who donated to my fundraising efforts. Thank you! I am still in first place amongst the Ironman Chattanooga athletes with $8150! I think it will take $10K to stay there.

This weekend was why Linda and I coach the San Diego Team Challenge Tri team. We had 24 athletes finish either a sprint or Olympic distance triathlon while raising funds for cures and for sending kids with Crohn’s or colitis to camp. We had 10 first timers who all overcame various hurdles to cross the finish line. Linda made a “non-swimmer” at the began of the season an open water swimmer by race day. The transformations we see and experience can be amazing and rewarding and emotional. We also managed to get the word out through Grace, our 11 year old honored hero, when she was interviewed on live TV about the colitis. She has had it since she was diagnosed at THREE YEARS OLD. Here’s a link to the clip: https://www.kusi.com/9th-annual-san-diego-triathlon-classic-at-liberty-station/. Scroll down to the 2ndvideo on the page.

My health is still pretty good but I’ve added a 2ndantibiotic back into the mix. I’m trying to avoid having my symptoms decline as they did a year and a half ago. My back is still about the same as I neglected it the past few days. I weighed in at 154 this morning. That’s down 2 lbs since the last time I weighted. This is unintentional as I am eating pretty constantly and eating everything in sight. I chalk this up to the calorie burn of training, the lean muscle I’m carrying, and the revved up metabolism. Once I’m through with Ironman training for the year the weight starts to come back on and it’s hard for me to stop it!

Last week’s priority was our tri team so training, etc. was affected some. Mostly I had to miss a long ride on the weekend and only managed to make it up with a 2 hour indoor ride on Monday morning. The day after coaching at the race I did a 16 mile run that went okay. The other workouts during the week were a mix of above and below expectations. 

Looking ahead I will be gradually cutting back on volume as I taper, lose fatigue, and come into form for race day. It’s always a time I look forward to while simultaneously worrying. After committing so much time to following a routine and doing so much training, the emotions and physical feelings as training is dialed back, can be upsetting or confusing. I have plenty of experience with this so hopefully I will handle it well. 

There is much to do in preparation for the race in 3 weeks besides training, including taking the bike in for a tune up and getting some borrowed race wheels installed. I’ll use my old bike to train for the next few days. Sunday I’ll be doing an open ocean race in Oceanside. It’s a 2.4 mile swim, the same distance as an Ironman swim. I won’t skip other workouts to be rested because Chattanooga is my priority. I’ll be riding about 90 miles on Sat. and will do my long run (about 13 miles) after the swim race on Sun.

Here are the numbers for last week:

Weekly totals: 18hr 09min (not counting 1hr 01min sauna time); 102 miles
Swim 3hr 56min – 13,529 yds (3 swims), longest: 5,050 yd
Bike 5hr 51min – 99 miles (3 rides), longest: 37 miles
Run 5hr 38min – 31.6 miles (3 runs), longest: 16 miles
Strength Training 2hr 43min
Weight – 154 lbs

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