Teaching ... myself

I found a relatively flat course to ride - I mean its a loop and its got plenty of elevation change - but for around here it is really flat and nice. I was able to ride the 55 mi at an avg of 16.2mph - that is nice and gives me some wiggle room on the run if I can keep it up. Right now I am a bit out of commission due to my IT band problem in my knee. I tried to run a 7 mile trail the other day and really had some more issues. So no running for awhile. That is a hard thing to do because I really start to freak out about not being able to do the run. I emailed John to talk me down a bit and he did so like it was nothing. It will be good to see that guy in a little over a month. So anyway I've been biking more and coming up with excuses not to swim...which is getting to be a problem. Well, yesterday morning I was going to do the 55 mile route again early - I woke up at 3 to eat breakfast so I could take a full bolus - but then Zoe woke up right away with me (cosleeping). I though...

I am continually amazed at how much work it is taking to barely finish this Ironman . I have 2:20 for the swim (I can do that), 8 hours for the bike (its going to be tight), and then 6.5 hours for the marathon (also tight). However, any time I save on any part goes to the next part - the times I gave are for the cutoffs. Yesterday I went and rode 100 miles - I did 2 loops of the Blood, Sweat, and Gears 50 (and had to add on a couple of miles because the BSG is more like 48 miles) - its a pretty mountainous route from the center of the universe (Valle Crucis School - Dave's school, my old school) up to the gate to Grandfather Mountain and back around. I did it in 7:00 (minus a 15 min stop half way in to call Ash and redo water, etc) - which makes for 14.3 mph average. To make the cutoff, I have to keep 14mph. On the plus side - I kept my average heartrate to 128 (69%max) - Rick said to shoot for 70% - and I felt absolutely great. I kept the water/salt intake good and I was...

The term "Brick" has had a lot of influence on my life. Billy used to call me that. My car was named the brick-mobile (thanks again Bill). My dad (and I in the summers) worked for a Brick plant. Now it means "a way to be uncomfortable for long periods of time". I took a day off after the marathon and then did a 50 mile ride with Dave. My knee still bothered me some, so I took 2 days off and then did the long brick with dave . Supposedly in the athletic world lingo, "brick" means "bike-run"? We did the 5 hour bike followed by the 2 hour run. I got up at 3am and ate breakfast then went back to sleep. Got up at 5:00 and was out at Moses Cone Park (on the Blue Ridge parkway) by 6 and we were off. We did loops up to Grandfather mountain and back, stopping each time to weigh ourselves (yes, we brought a scale) to try to figure out sweat rates. It was cool that day so it was easy to stay hydrated... but it still took more than I would hav...

Here's the lowdown on my Grandfather Mountain Marathon. I cut my lantus down to 8 units the night before and didn't take anything in the morning. I woke up and ate breakfast at 3am so I could take a full bolus. My blood sugars that day were between 140 and 100 the whole day until the night when they rose a bit. So success on the glucose front. I then woke up at 5:30 and headed over to the marathon. It was a bit unnerving as everyone I talked to seemed to be pretty experienced and when I mentioned that this was my first one, the comment was always a variation of "well, you sure picked a hard one to start with" or "well, this is the hardest road marathon in North America"... I mean, come on - that is a little discouraging. So we go down through town and pass the mall - and there is Dave. I didn't know whether he would be there but suddenly there was company. So we went along and headed uphill. Somewhere in the first 5 miles, Dave says (in typical Dave fas...

First off, Rick Crawford ( DTC super coach...seriously) has sent us a training plan that really seems to be painful... but necessary, I guess. It carries us through the last 2 months. I am currently getting nervous about the Grandfather Mountain marathon in 2 days. I guess its because I have never done one and this one is uphill and has a time limit... oh and a few people have said its the hardest road marathon in the US. But on my side, I did have a big steak tonight and finally might have given my body something it needed (protein and fat in huge amounts) - I have been hungry for a good solid month now (I haven't been able to have the butter out and not continually snack on it) but I haven't had a steak in a good long time. I cleaned everyone's plates in bliss and I am sure I ate chunks of meat that my wife and daughter had already spit out... it didn't phase me a bit. Aside from the salt issue and cramping - I have never noticed my body needing some kind of food.....

OK, so I was freaked out after saturday's cramp fest. I learned from Rick Crawford that I should get in 1g salts (electrolytes)/L of water every hour. OK, so I was not near that on saturday . Today Dave and I went and ran part of the Grandfather marathon course - we planted water and food - I woke up early (3am) to eat breakfast and take a normal bolus (as Anne suggested) - then I went back to sleep until the run - I carried Endurolytes - and all went perfectly. Every 5 miles I drank around 500-700 ml and took 3 endurolytes (it was cool) - my blood sugar was between 100 and 160 the whole time - I maintained a comfortable pace and HR - I felt great (aside from pounding the road) and I went 20 miles. That is my longest ever and I felt like it would be no real problem (aside from the pounding) to run the other 6 and just do a marathon today - but I have the Grandfather marathon in 11 days - so I'll just hold off :) I am just ecstatic that my legs feel good... in fact th...