Half way home
I'm just wrapping up week 13 of my training. That means I'm exactly half way there! I've come a long way from last October when I started my weight training. I think I'm doing pretty well. I have 6 rides of over 60 miles to this point, including an 93 miler, an 80 miler, and several 70 milers. My running is up to 12 mile long runs. I want to hold this back as much as possible because I'm already up to 2 hours of running (don't want to go over 3 hr) and running really fatigues the legs from the impact. Plus, bike miles can easily be substituted for run miles. My swimming is coming along well also. I have a long swim in of 3,000 yds and several swims over 2500 yds. I want to get up to 4500 yds, which shouldn't be too hard.

So where do I go next? Good question. Here my goals for the second half of training:

1) Add frequency. I already have a good base down, now I need to add to weekly hours and miles by simply working out more often. Even if I'm tired after a long day of work, I will make the effort to get a few miles on my bike.

2) Get in at least three centuries. This also should not be hard. I intended to do one last weekend, but got rained out.

3) Get in some speed swim workouts. I really have to work on arm turn over to get some speed in the pool. I'm comfortable with my form at this point and don't want to mess with that.

4) Eat better. This includes staying away from fried foods. I'm in shape, but every pound counts. You can't slim down by dropping calories during IM training either, so eating better is the only way to go.

5) Give it all I got. This is my one shot at Ironman. I have thirteen weeks to make my 2 yr goal and my dream come true. I need to approach it like I approached the bar exam. Give it everything you have, even if it hurts, and do it right once.

So here's to my final thirteen weeks of training!