Must rest

As mentioned in the prior post, I'm fighting a head cold. I thought I was going to be able to push through it, but facing a scheduled four hour bike ride today – I've decided to rest. It's the best decision but not one I'm happy with.

Last Friday, after a bike workout, my neck stiffened and I had a restless nights sleep. When I woke Saturday morning my neck was worse and my head was no better. I had a 2 mile swim scheduled and I somehow managed to work though that.

But facing the longest ride I've ever done – and on the Louisville Ironman course – I can't imagine struggling through the workout without doing myself long term damage to my immune system or neck muscles. So I sit today and rest – and whine to my wife about losing valuable time.

There is only 3 months left to Ironman. I have a week scheduled for vacation and there is always the ease up of workouts toward race day. In other words, little more than two months of decent training I can get in.

Workouts update

After more than a few weeks of procrastination, I've updated my "workouts" page. I've organized them by month so they are easier to understand. Disclaimer – don't follow this schedule – it was designed for me and worked around my family, work, races and bonking. However, it should give someone an idea of what to expect if they ever want to train for an Ironman. Click here to go to the workouts page.

Need fuel

I've about two more weeks of extreme training till I start to taper. Today I've got to do about an 18 mile run. Of course I couldn't get up early enough to get that many miles in (I'd have had to wake up before 4 am) – so I'm doing it after work. These are the dog days when you are more anxious about enduring the monotony and pain of the long workouts than the upcoming event. I experienced this a little when training for a marathon – but doing an 18 miler followed by a brick of 7 hours, 5 days later is a whole different level.

Lately I've been able to bounce back from these workouts. I was having some difficulty handling them but after trying out numerous ways to get the proper food and drink fuel – I'm getting better. I'm generally using nutrients found at www.hammernutrition.com. I'm using salt tablets, a drink I take during long work outs called perpeteum and a daily pill supplement. It seems to put some energy back into me and I'm no longer dragging through each day. I'm optimistic going into these last 30 days.

Ironman Louisville Bike Course Part II

Below is the Ironman Louisville Bike Course minus one loop – according to my gps. You'll notice a few things:

1. A big hill going up on the way up and the same one going down. You've got to take the good with the bad I guess.
   
2. A sudden drop and rise at around miles 20 and 25 – those signify a large hill that you come across twice at the short turn around in the middle of the course.
   
3. The course minus the loop is around 82 miles – beyond that my gps was picking up my 30 minute run.