How did I do at Tyranena? Unfortunately I had to drop out because of a death in the family which put the funeral on the same date and virtually the same time as the race (11:00am). The run was not meant to happen for me. I have to admit that I was sad to miss the race, but obviously family time in this situation came first. My only complaint was that I put in a lot of specific hill training and was really looking forward to having a great race. But ultimately, this multi-year journey has had many such setbacks and the only date and race that is important to me is IRONMAN WISCONSIN on 9/9/12.
So what have I been doing since dropping out of Tyranena? From November 5th until the New Year, I wanted to take a little time off to rest some nagging injuries and celebrated the holidays. I did lose some of my run fitness in that time, but I was still able to participate in the "Run into the New Year" on December 31st at State Fair Park. A fun little 5K race to kick the winter blues. I also found that this little race helped me jump-start my training again towards Ironman. Although not my best 5K, overall I was happy finishing in 23:43. Here's a race sponsored picture....
Now we are officially into 2012 and I start turning things up a notch. The first couple of weeks in January were primarily run-focused with just a touch of swim and bike work. In mid-January I put together my workout schedule for 16 weeks of endurance base building. This 16 week phase has little intensity or speed-work and will only focus on building endurance in all 3 sports. This work will allow me to actually begin the 20 week Ironman plan which will continue the endurance building as well as integrating both volume and intensity. Although my swim and run fitness are close to where they need to be to begin the 20 week plan, my cycling fitness is not. That is good because I miss my bike and am looking forward to reacquainting myself with my bike!
As a side note, I also keep a detailed training log in the online world of Beginner Triathlete (BT). It has been a tremendous tool for all things related to triathlon. I log every swim, bike and run I do in this log and it helps me keep tabs on my fitness & preparation for Ironman. Here is a glimpse into the world of my BLOG page in BT.....
