Blogs

This is it. The last long run before Ironman was this morning at White Rock Lake before the crack of dawn. I was actually about an hour into it before I even saw the sun peek out. Moments such as these remind me that "this is Ironman". Training for this event has forced me to make some sacrifices. Spending time with my family or committing to volunteer work has been put on the back burner. I've had to make adjustments. When volunteering on Sundays, I've had to get up at 3 or 4am in order to finish my long runs before church.

Only 3 weeks to go until Ironman. Tapering has begun with a reduction in training miles. I only have to ride 90 miles this weekend...with a 6 mile brick of course. I've been swimming longer though. I get in the pool and swim for an hour. I stop around the 30 minute mark just long enough to look at the clock...and keep going. Before I was going to swim practice, doing drills and stopping here and there between sets, but not anymore. I'm building confidence, really.

Training has been going well this year. Just 7 weeks out from IM Louisville so I can't miss any [more] workouts. I've missed too many Monday and Wednesday night rides so I decided to get a mountain bike and commute to work on those days. Today was my second time riding in to work. I'm fortunate because we have a gym here with a locker room and shower. The ride is 19 miles each way with some good, challenging hills. My first ride in was without cycling shoes because the sales guy that was helping me at the bike shop forgot to put my cleats in the bag.

This evening I met Coach Jason and a couple of other athletes on the team, OJ and Drew, for a field test to determine our heart-rate training zones. We started with a warm-up run on the SMU track and were told to keep our HR at an easy pace. Since I've been base training for the past 7 weeks, my pace wasn't bad at such a low HR.

My new coach Jason Soria with Team Imagine Sports is a freakin' crazy man. I got my first week's schedule which is an easy week, however I do not get ANY days off. I'm diggin' it. I want to be better, stronger and faster and this is the way to do it. I trust him. I can be hardcore. Bring it!

I almost missed the first day which was an easy 7 mile run as it was getting later, darker and colder. I figured I'd run 30 minutes on the treadmill and run 45 minutes on the indoor track at Baylor. Good to go.

Today marks the first day of an 8 month training program for Ironman Louisville. The gym was packed with all the "New Years Resolutioners" as I like to call them. I heard several times that, "they'll only be around for a month." I could possibly be one of them if I didn't commit myself to this race at the end of August. Also as part of training I signed up for the Buffalo Springs 70.3 in June too.