Training Log: Week of September 16th 2013

The total milage is nowhere near what I have been wanting this close to Kona.  I took this past week a bit easier than I anticipated but was able to start feeling much stronger in the pool and had a solid long ride on Saturday.  I had some workouts planned for Sunday, but cut those out in favor of ripping a few thousand pounds of wet carpet out of our basement.  It needed to be done.

All in all, it was a great week with less overall volume than I wanted but I'll mark what training I did get down as a success.

Can't believe that Kona time is just a few short weeks away.  Im pretty excited to get back there!



Bike: 160 miles
Run: 27 miles
Swim: 8,000 yds

This was Sunday - froyo with my little buddy

Lynn - my mother in law helping with the basement cleanup Sunday

I was able to throw the carpet/baseboards out of the window well instead of taking that crap through the house.  This made my back very sore on Monday.

Went to dinner with JD and Mary on Saturday evening.  Awesome people.

Thanks Beth!

As I said on my fb page.  This is quite possibly the greatest picture in the history of pictures.  Aiden and his cousin Lyla.

Weekly Training Log: Week of September 9th: Who Needs a Pool?

This will be a week that I will absolutely NEVER forget.  My hometown was absolutely slammed with the wildest rain storms that I have ever seen.  We got something like 18+ inches of rain from Monday through Thursday night and experienced some horrible flooding along the way.

Our basement was our only casualty and I will be dealing with it after Hawaii.  We had about 3 inches of water in there at the worst point and had a drain and pump working non stop to keep it at 3 inches.  Without that drain and pump I would guess that the water would have gotten up to 4-5 feet deep.

It was really, really, really bad.

The roads around Boulder have also been closed/destroyed from erosion and I foresee it taking quite a few months to get back to where we were.

The light of the week came in that my run continues to come back and my foot keeps feeling better.  Thank you Hoka's!


Bike: 120 miles
Run: 45.63 miles
Swim: 4100 yds

This was Thursday morning.  I woke up to hear some of Aiden's toys "talking" in the basement.  They were shorting out   - making random noises so I went to see a few of his toy boats doing a good job.

All of the schools were closed for the few days after.  I took buddy down to see some of the flooding at Boulder High School on Friday.  I am glad we got out to see it.  I just hope to never see it again.

This lawn is the greenest that I have ever seen it.  I guess that's another small plus.

Training Log: Week of September 2nd 2013: Still Going

So there are just a few weeks until Kona, and I have been pleasantly suprised by the amount of running that I have been able to do since starting to run again.  The foot is still a bit sore after running, but gets better day to day.  I also had three consecutive days in a row of running that went well - longest run being over ten miles.  I was only on the bike twice this week due to the travel and obgilations with a few classes down in Denver.

We went back to Virginia for Beths cousins wedding and had an absolute blast last weekend.  I was able to meet tons of family that I have been hearing about for six plus years.  We are still having the tough times with our toddler and I am just hoping that those things turn around sooner rather than later.

All in all, it was a truly amazing week - and on top of it all, football is back!

Bike: 80 miles
Run: 44.5 miles
Swim: 3200 yds

Took my little wiener dog Sky to the vet to get checked up and some shots to make him a "legal ankle biter"

And - NFL FOOTBALL IS BACK!  Opened the way I wanted.  This is my Brother in law John Pientka - Amazingly awesome man!  It's always great to see him.

This is my wifes cousin George News - Had a great 8 mile run with him Saturday.  A fellow Ironman/triathlete.

Aiden and Lyla on the way from airport to Hillsville VA

I drank lots of beer on Saturday - This is what happened.  Samurai sword, running shorts, and cowboy boots.

These guys chose to fall asleep like this - As much trouble as we are having with our son, he is the light of our world.

Ice cream with Aiden and a beer for me.

Training Log: Week of August 26th 2013 - Unexpectedly at Full Milage

The week in training wasn't really how I had planned it.  I was going to run a massive 7 miles on Monday and Tuesday and see how I felt.  I was planning on a total of maybe 30 miles this week but I felt great and I ran every day except for Saturday after my long ride.

Those 6 runs put me at the normal 40 or so miles that I usually do during Ironman training.  I don't know if that was the absolute smartest thing that I could have done but I don't feel like I have done anything bad to that left foot.  I am still sitting at cautiously optimistic though - I am not by any means out of the woods and need to be smart about how I run from here until Kona.

At home, we have been having a tougher week with our (almost 3 year old) son...  He is an absolutely amazing and wonderful little boy but we have been struggling with sleep and any other basic transitions in activities we do.  My wife said a few simple things after getting Aiden to nap yesterday, and told me how crazy a thing like unconditional love is.  She is right - the kid could do anything to us and that wouldn't change a thing about our love for that child.

When my Dad told me that "I would never know that I could love something so much" before Aiden was born, he was right.  So a toddler will be a toddler, and we are just going to have to do the best we can.  I have a feeling that this is going to be a good week!

Bike: 196.5 miles
Run: 40.1 miles
Swim: 3500 yds

The week in pictures as usual...

Aiden has been getting up by 5am or so.  This has given us some surprisingly good times together.  Being a morning person is in no doubt genetic.

I threw some new Conti 4000 tires on my training wheels.  The tires that were on there before were about to kill me.  Wish they mad the 4000s in colors.

This is me a few years back.  Look how far I have come.  Small victories indeed.

Along the Boulder Ironman course.  I promise to stop here for a mid ride beer with some fellow  bikers before that race next August

Smoothie before the Rockies game.

Went to game #5 or so this year with my family on Sunday.  

This is right after Todd Heltons 2,500th hit.  It was a questionable double - He is under 100 people to ever hit that mark.  Seeing great sporting events is one of my favorite things to do - this was nothing short of amazing.