The bride is training for a half marathon in August, and I am training for that exact same half marathon... in addition to my regular training schedule.  This is bringing on an additional 12-15 miles of running per week (at bride's pace) and I can feel it in the legs.  Also... the Texas heat is picking up, and running at 8am is an energy drain in the sun.

One week away from first triathlon of the year.  Olympic distance at the Playtri festival.  My aspirations for the podium are gone.  I haven't been enough all around training to finish at the pace.  A top 10 age group spot should be doable, with top 5 being a solid day with my current conditioning.

Also, I am not registered for the Iron Star Half Iron in November, that takes place in Montgomery, Texas.  Team Seabiscuit went down there in 2007, but this will be a solo trip.  We are spread out across the country that weekend, since Ironman Florida also takes place that weekend.

Had a good weekend of training.  Didn't get as much swimming done this week as desired, skipping all but one Masters class.... attending the easier Monday workout.  But had some good runs throughout the week.  I'm adding on miles at an easier pace, running with the bride as she trains for her half marathon in August.

Friday and Saturday were solid days on the bike.  Made it down to White Rock for 30 miles on Friday morning and felt really good.  Saturday was an 80 milers with Coco, and I held up for the first 60.  The last 20 were into a steady headwind, and my lack of bike shape kicked in.  But I am very happy with how I did for the first three quarter's of the ride.

Yesterday, I put up a good enough time to win the team 5k at Stonebridge Ranch with D-Rod.  He pulled third overall, and I think I got 7th, on a hilly and hot course.  I wanted to break 20 minutes, but in the conditions, I was very happy with my execution for 20:59.  When Daniel adds 30 seconds to his time, I know the conditions were tough.

This week...

Monday - Off
Tuesday - Track workout
Wednesday - Masters swim & weights
Thursday - Bike at White Rock Lake (~30 miles)
Friday - Masters swim @ weights
Saturday - Bike (50-60 miles)
Sunday - Run (8-10 miles)

Mad shout outs to Kevin and Raul for tearning it up and Ironman CDA yesterday.  Those guys are motivational.

Got a little too fired up yesterday.  I am in the process of helping out my younger brother-in-law prepare for his upcoming fall cross country season.  He is a beast, and at 16 can run a sub 17 minute 5k.  I fully expect him to break 16 minutes this year.  In preparation for his coming summer running camp, I took him to the hills of Stonebridge Ranch last night for a 6 mile scamper... that covered about 1200 feet it total elevation gain.... in the 94 degree sun.

We broke it down into two loops of 3 miles, to cover Sunday's race course in the team 5K we are going to run.  I made the mistake of trying to pace with him.  He took it easy on me, but I still went out way too fast, covering the first 3 in a hair over 19 minutes.  If we added another tenth of a mile that would have been a PR for me at ~19:45.  Throw in the hills, wind and heat and it pretty impressive for me.

Though.... I paid for it on the second loop.  I managed to keep a pretty steady pace overall, right at marathon training pace... but it felt labored and uneven, and I was drained when we got done.  Then I went to meet Yvette at the track for a 3 mile run, as we prepare to the Hottest Half together in August.  It was still hot at 8:30pm when she and I ran, and I could tell that the next day was going to be rough.  Suffice to say, I skipped the team tempo run this morning to recover.

Overall, a nice 9 mile night.... though the middle 3 were very painful and probably not the most beneficial.  The 5K race on Sunday will let me know.

I think every workout since my registration for Ironman St George has been a quality one.  Which is especially good since I am picking up the workload on the bike and swim.  For the run, been concentrating on the speed aspect of things, and haven't been piling on the miles.

It's looking like four days of spinning this week.  Two on the stationary bike at the gym (following a run workout and swim workout on respective days) and two days on the real bike, Friday at White Rock, and Saturday with Coco.  I'm hoping to clock over 100 miles on the real bike, and an hour and half on the stationary.... which will be mentally painful right now... but necessary as the cold weather comes in early next year, during the final preparations for St George.

One good thing that is going to workout, is that I will be doing a half ironman race right around the time my Team Seabiscuit captain will be throwing down on Ironman Florida.  And then next year, he will be doing a half ironman (New Orleans) in the timeframe leading up to St George.  I think we will both be relying on each other leading up to our respective Ironman's, for some sanity and drive on the peddle machines.  I know I will.  With that being that, it should be a good year of training.

I'm getting amped, and looking forward to taking on the climbs of St George.

For at least 11 months.  As I am now registered for Iroman St George on May 1, 2010.  I got the yearning of crap food out of my system at lunch today, as I am going to train like a madman, to take two hours off of my 14:05:14 time at Ironman Arizona last year.  Junk food will be eliminated from my system until I cross the finish line.

My focus is on reaching that finish line in a time of 11:59:59 or below.  AND IT WILL HAPPEN!!!!!!

Other news.... went to Ardmore, OK on Saturday for a Team Seabiscuit ride of 70 miles (which I had no business doing, since I had been on the bike a total of 5 times in 2009 prior to then) and had an excellent ride considering my bike shape.  Going to try to get two rides in this week, before taking the weekend off from training to celebrate 10  years with my wife.

Next trip to Ardmore in early July.  More to follow on my selection of an Ironman training plan.

Sometime in the coming days.  I have been looking at a few, putting notes together about pieces I like and dislike, and working the 7 days of the week for those plans, with my group workout schedule.  After this past weekend, I've noticed that I need to the put the most work in on the bike.  Swimming is progressing quite nicely, due to the Masters Group in Frisco (on the days that I go), and running is maintaining well since the April marathon.

Cycling is going to get kicked into high gear this week.  With an intense group workout on Wednesday, some spinning on Thursday and a 70 miler in the Ardmore, OK hills on Saturday.

This past weekend was a bachelor weekend, with the bride and kids out of town. Saturday I put in an easy 40 mile bike stroll with Coco and Raul.  Then Sunday, I had my first brick of the season, a lovingly painful 22 mile ride, followed by an unplanned blistering 3 mile run at 7:26/mile. 

This week:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Negative Split Track workout
Wednesday: Masters Swim in the AM, Negative Split Bike in the PM
Thursday: Off (maybe Negative Split run)
Friday: Masters Swim
Saturday: Bike 70 in Ardmore
Sunday: Run 10-12 in Frisco