Weekly Training Log: Week of October 19th, 2015 - Week #40: The 2015 Home Stretch

In Life:  Halloween has been something that my son has been looking forward to for months.  No kidding, months.  I don't know how he became so into creepy stuff, but he is.  He loves tv shows and movies that are scary and likes to talk about ghosts and haunted houses and such.  Exact opposite as me.  I do not do scary stuff.
My wife went up to Estes Park and did a murder mystery dinner with my sister on Friday evening, so I took Aiden to his second movie of the week.  We saw Hotel Transelvania 2.  We had a "Trunk or Treat" on Saturday to kick off the Halloween week.  Broncos had a bye week, but my Sunday was still filled with NFL games.

All in all, it was a good week.



In Training: I continue to tough out all of my training indoors and am enjoying it.  It's been safe and predictable - and completely controlled.  The best purchase that I made this season was my Nordic Track C1750 Treadmill that I am using all the time.  I am able to get up at four and do bricks no problem.  I have everything I need right at home (minus the pool) to get stuff done.
I have had three solid hard weeks on the bike and hope that I am okay on the bike in Arizona - I don't think that I'll ride outside before then.



Weekly Totals
Swim: 7,000yds 
Bike: 212.4 miles
Run: 31.9 miles

Aiden made this purchase in Chattanooga.  It's rare to ever need an umbrella in Colorado

"trunk or treat" - Aiden with his cousins

Mom, Dad, Erin after the kids got some candy

Weekly Training Log: Week of October 12th, 2015 - Week #39: Final few weeks of the season have arrived

In Life:  I had a few days last week where constant exhaustion hit me pretty hard.  It seems like I do start to feel more tired throughout the work day as fall has progressed.  This has been a pretty constant theme throughout the last few years though, and I feel as though I am getting through a little better this time around.  I am very happy with being at LPMS this year and again so thankful to be working in the same school as my wife.  It's been pretty awesome to be able to walk over to her office to see her whenever I want throughout the day.

Saturday, we had planned on seeing my sister to hang out in the afternoon, and then get dinner together at Sherpa's - a great Nepalese/Indian restaurant in Boulder.  Erin, Kyle, and the kids walked in towards the end of the Michigan v Michigan St. game that afternoon and we caught the end all together.  Beth played four years of D1 soccer at Michigan St, thus I am a Michigan State fan.  The game looked like it was going to be the first loss in a while until the most amazing finish I have ever seen.  If you didn't catch that game, or hear about it, go check it out.

I had some good training sessions Sunday, then I took Aiden to see "Goosebumps."  I think it was the first time I have take him to see a movie alone.  I loved it and I look forward to many more movie dates with my kid.



In Training: Swimming is still lacking, but I don't really feel as though I have lost much fitness in the pool.  My stroke feels fine and I am able to hit 10 x 100's on 1:15 pretty comfortably.  I am not making gains, but not losing much either.  I need to get to some 5am RallySport swim workouts throughout this winter as I plan on tackling the swim and making gains in the water for next season.
Bike and run remained as a lot of time spent indoors on my trainer and treadmill.

Four weeks until IM Arizona, then "off season." I have already switched to off-season mode, and am looking VERY forward to my first full pro season next year.




Weekly Totals
Swim: 6,450yds 
Bike: 215.5 miles - Trainer work, lots of TSS
Run: 29.4 miles

Michigan vs Michigan St. game 2015 - I'll remember this

Autumn (niece) came with us on Saturday down to dinner - She is a fun little girl

A Zoltar machine re-done.  I have seen so many of these recently

Sunrise Sunday

Movie with Aiden - Sunday afternoon

Weekly Training Log: Week of October 5th, 2015 - Week #38: Putting IM Chattanooga behind and switching focus to 2016

In Life:  I was able to take Aiden to a Nuggets pre-season Basketball game on Thursday evening.  They were playing the Chicago Bulls in Boulder, and I saw that as a good opportunity to see them.  It was fun.
The weekend was good as usual.  We had a little fall festival for Aiden's school on Saturday afternoon, then we did some family portraits and a dinner on Pearl St after.  Sunday was football and a bike trainer.


In Training:  It was a full week since Ironman Chattanooga (race recap up soon) and I was feeling good. I took three full days off after Chattanooga - that run course tore up my legs - and then I was good to go.  I felt 90% recovered by Tuesday (9 days after), then 100% recovered by this past weekend.  I made the decision to go ahead and race Ironman Arizona in a few weeks to gain a little more pro experience at the distance and have one more race/goal this season.  I am ramping up the training pretty hard over the next few weeks.  My recovery from the Ironman distance has been getting really quick over the last few that I have done.  I would like to try racing them two weeks apart over the next few years.



Weekly Totals
Swim: 3,050 yds 
Bike: 223 miles - Trainer work, lots of TSS
Run: 20.2 miles

Two different slippers, wrong foot for the right one.

Fall fest pumpkin painting

Pearl St.

I pet this guy.  I still want to get chickens - no rooster though

Weekly Training Log: Week of September 7th, 2015 - Week #34: A Half Ironman, NFL Kickoff, Two Weeks to IM Chattanooga

In Life:  The week went, then the weekend came.  I am struggling more with constant exhaustion during the work day from getting up for early workouts.  It's not as bad as the last few years, but it's definitely there.  I have found that making sure that I do get in a second session/workout every day has been helping me feel better.
I was lucky to see my sister for a very short while on Saturday before she and my wife (along with four kids) went to hang out and do stuff while I took some time and prepped for a 70.3 distance race I was doing on Sunday.  I got done with the race on Sunday then headed home to watch the Broncos regular NFL kickoff against Baltimore and was happy to have my sister and three kids over to hang out for most of the game.  It's really awesome having her around Colorado again.  I have said that on here, and I am sure I will say it again.


In Training:  I did not let up much this past week even though I was planning on racing the Harvest Moon Half Ironman Tri on Sunday.  I used this week to kind of launch into that last "hard workout/race" on Sunday.  I did take Saturday before the race totally off.
The race went pretty well.  I ended up 2nd overall out of 500 plus athletes.

The swim was mediocre at best - Every time I put on a wetsuit, I am slower.  I will look to change into a looser fitting wetsuit soon and hope that this can help.
The bike was extremely technical - Four loops with a total of 12 U turns.  This made for lots of slowing/speeding up.  It was also very hilly.  ZERO flat sections.  It was a good bike workout.  The weird thing is that I started to feel tired by the end of the 56 mile ride.  This is rare.  I am thinking and hoping it was because I tried to take in minimal calories.  Average and Normalized power was also lower than I would have liked.  I think this is from leftover training fatigue.
The run was awesome.  Even though the turn-around was messed up and I ran close to 14 miles, I held VERY consistent and ran sub 6:30's fairly easily.  I was sub 40 minutes for the first 10k, then at the 13.1 mile mark on my watch, I had 1:24:25.  This would be a half IM run split PR for a race at altitude.

Last thing - When I got home to watch the game, my right forearm started hurting pretty bad.  I have no idea when I injured it, but I think it was during the race.  As I write last weeks re-cap almost a week later, it's still pretty banged up.  It is limiting swimming, but nothing else.  It does get a bit sore on runs, so I think I'll pack an arm brace for T2 in Chattanooga.




Weekly Totals
Swim: 7,450 yds 
Bike: 171.5ish miles (mostly on Trainer)
Run: 34.6 miles

My niece Meadow started walking pretty well.  This is my sister with her when I saw them on Saturday.

One of my favorite hobbies and things I'm in to officially returned.  The regular NFL season.

Most of the mile splits from the race this past Sunday

Watermarked.  Sorry.  I may purchase and replace.