One Down - Nineteen More Weeks To Go!

The first week of my twenty week Ironman training plan is done and I feel stronger than ever albeit a little sore.  The first four weeks of my plan are base building.  Sunday is a rest day with the other six days of the week for swimming, biking, and running. 

Fortunately, my family, my work schedule, and the weather allowed for a full week of training.  Having six weeks after the Gulf Coast Triathlon on May 7th without any structured training seems to have really helped me recover mentally and physically.

Swim: Susan and I went to the local recreation center to swim in their huge indoor pool.  Little did we know that it was summer and the pool would be full of rugrats.  Realizing our error, we turned around in the parking lot and went back home.  My swimming location predicament was solved when I decided to opt for an open water swim in the lake by myself, in lieu of a pool with Susan.  The recent reports of alligators in area lakes were definitely on my mind.  My plan for a gator encounter was to poke him in the eye.  I know, that's not much of a plan.  Anyway, my two OWS’s for the week went flawlessly.  The water temperature was perfect for a non-wetsuit swim.  The lake water level is still 8 feet below normal full pool level due to it being lowered to facilitate dredging during the winter.  The dredging is done but there has been almost no rain to refill the lake.

Lake Spivey with the water level lowered for dredging 

My OWS swim course took me from the dock area in the image above.  I swam to the west around a small island and back but not the whole distance in the map below.  Longer distance swims won't come until August during week 9.

Bike:  I rode with Southern Crescent Cycling club members on Monday from Epic Bikes in McDonough. Wednesday’s SCC group ride ended up being a solo ride for me.  The threat of bad weather must have scared everybody away.  My ride ended up being the coolest temperatures I’d ridden in for several weeks.  I even rescued a wayward turtle from the road. I can use all the good karma I can get!  My long ride on Friday was another solo affair.  For safety I stayed close to home.  Friday afternoon is probably the worst time of the week for distracted drivers.  There were also some pretty bad thunderstorms that were expected to hit the area in a few hours.  I rode several long loops through the neighborhoods near my home.  This allowed me to get in the mileage I needed while straying only a maximum of 15 minutes from home.

Southern Crescent Cycling club riders

Monday and Wednesday evening club rides follow similar route to that indicated in the map below.

My Friday ride close to home is indicated in the map below.  I rode the route clockwise to take advantage of as many right turns as possible.

Run:  My three runs during the week got progressively better.  I hadn’t run in a few weeks so it was good to finally hit the road again.  I ran the same 5K route on Emerald Drive near my home on Tuesday and Thursday out and back from home.  My long run on Saturday followed the same 11 mile route I rode on Friday.

My plan called for 10 hours and 45 minutes during this first week of training and my weekly training total was right at 10 hours and 55 minutes.  The breakdown is swim 2:01:25 (Approx. 2.7 miles), bike 5:41:41 (109.25 miles, and run 3:11:38 (23.4 miles).  My bike pace was 19 mph or better on all 3 rides.  My run pace average was just over 8 minutes per miles for all 3 runs.  So, I think I’m starting out pretty good!  I hope the trend continues.

On the mental or motivational side of things, I recorded and watched both the 2011 Ironman St. George and 2011 Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas on TV.  They were both broadcast on Universal Sports this week.  I installed an over-the-air antenna last year specifically for events like these.

My next week of training is exactly the same except for an 80 mile Silver Comet Trail ride scheduled for Wednesday with Chip and Richard, weather permitting.  The following week brings a trip to the Peachtree Road Race Expo on Sunday and the race on Monday, July 4th.  This will be my first trip to the PRR Expo.  I'm looking forward to that.  Look for bib #1181 during the race.

Thanks for reading!