Fourteen Down - Six Weeks to Go!

Week fourteen of my 20 week Ironman training plan started on Sunday, September 18th.  I had worked 2 mid-shifts and I was beat so I didn't do any training on Sunday.  In fact, I went to bed at 8pm and slept 12 hours.  Gotta include good rest in the plan.  Susan and I took the opportunity to take Max to the dog park.  He was not very rambunctious as you can see in the picture below.

Max taking a break

On Monday Susan and I worked in the yard during the day.  I was released from my chores at around 3pm and I was on my bike by 4pm.  I rode 37 miles solo before riding 23 miles with the Southern Crescent Cycling club folks and 8 more miles solo again on the ride home.  My total numbers for the day were 68 miles ridden in 3 hours and 30 minutes averaging 19.4 miles per hour.  I was trying to get my longer rides in early on in the week so I would be fresh for the Tugaloo olympic distance triathlon on Saturday.  During my ride I took a few pictures.

The well manicured streets of Clayton County

I know every county has it's problems but it seems as though Clayton County has more than it's fair share.

Horses on New Morn Drive in Henry County

A rare image of the black helicopter that surveils the homes of the not so paranoid after all

The address of the aircraft registration number is the same as Cisco Systems in Wilmington, Delaware.

On Tuesday I ran 10 miles in 1 hour, 20 minutes and 34 seconds.  My average heart rate was 150.  I planned to run more but Chip and Richard wanted to run on Wednesday so I had to save my energy.  Susan was home cooking for our friends Jim and Mary Ann.  Jim is an avid runner which he and I have in common.  He and Mary Ann are also foodies which they and Susan have in common.  Susan prepared a dinner of collard greens, maple glazed sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, corn bread, and a maple glazed pork chop.  Jim and Mary Ann brought the wine.

Jim with two bottles of wine

Jim and Mary Ann have a nice wine collection.  Pictured here with Jim are a bottle of 2001 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru and 2004 Margaret Rivers Chenin Blanc.

On Wednesday I swam 1.8 miles in the lake in the early afternoon.  The water is noticeably cooler than it was only 2 weeks ago.  I wore my full wetsuit but my head was still cold for the first 20 minutes of the swim.  Later in the afternoon I rode 26 miles with the SCC folks.  We had a group of about 10 riders that averaged just over 21 mph.

On Thursday Susan and I rode our bikes in the neighborhood.  We logged a whopping 3.1 miles.  Neither of us felt like doing much more.  I spent the rest of the morning getting my bike ready for the Tugaloo triathlon on Saturday.  I washed my bike, swapped out my training wheels for race wheels, and oiled and cleaned my chain.

On Friday Susan and I rode the hood again.  This time we logged 10 miles.  After we got back home I continued my pre-race preparations.  I cleaned my bike again before loading it into the car with all of my other race stuff.  I printed the address to Tugaloo State Park so I could enter it into my GPS, set out my clothes for the morning and set 2 alarm clocks for 3:30am.

On Saturday I did the Tugaloo Olympic distance triathlon in Lavonia, Georgia.  See my race report here.

In summary I swam 2.7 miles, rode 144 miles, and ran 16.2 miles in about 12 hours.  It was a recovery week and I had to taper for Tugaloo so I'm not disappointed.  Week fifteen will be much worse.

Thanks for reading.