Week 15

Week of May 1st - May 7th
So this was the final week of training. The most intense, most demanding. Well, not really. I am beginning to believe that I am learning to listen to my body and my body was basically telling me to leave it the hell alone.

Monday, May 1st - day off after the Tinman on Sunday. Feeling pretty good, eating like there is no tomorrow
Tuesday - swim 42 laps, no wetsuit, 43:37.17
run 4.356 miles in 43:37.17 @ 6.1 mph (9'44" mile) @ 153 bpm
Wednesday - day off, lunch at Indian buffet, loaded up on chicken and spinach
Thursday - run, $1M loop, forgot HR and GPS at home, however, I know it's 6.515 miles, did it in 56:33. Got our passports back with Brazil visa - cool. Now we need to find out where to stay in Florianopolis.
Friday - run, $1M loop, 6.515 miles in 55:57.21 @ 6.9 mph (8'35" mile) @ 163 bpm
Saturday - day off, gave blood.
Sunday - day off, just went for about 1.5 hours 16 mile bike ride with Nancy. Easy going, no rush, my heartbeat got over a hundred just once in a while. Not really a workout, just a long warmup. Felt pretty good.

Things I learned this week:
Swimming: comparing Tuesday swim (43:37.17, no wetsuit) to Sunday Tinman (39:37.19 in wetsuit) means that the wetsuit buys me about 4 minutes on half swim, should total about 8 minutes savings in Florianopolis. Also probably less effort, that is likely even more important.

My body is telling me to lay off a bit so I didn't push for the final week. I think it's a good thing. It's probably more important to be in tune with my mind, muscles and skeletal structure than to push it beyond the exhaustion point. I still did some good long runs at high bpm. Didn't do any biking at all, the weather kind of sucked - cold and rainy, screw it, I am not going out in that, not worth hypothermia.

My left hip is still bothering me a bit. Not during running which is a Good Thing (TM) but after the run or when I get out of bed. I'll see if I can nurse it to perfect health before the race.

Gave blood on Saturday (another good reason to lay off over the weekend). Vital stats: Temperature: 97.7F (36.5 degrees C), resting heart beat: 60 bpm (I like this, I clock myself frequently now in about 57 bpm range), 50% red blood cell count and blood presure 110/54 - compared to about a year ago, my cell count is up from 47%, my systolic is up from 98 to 110, my diastolic is down from 70 to 54. Hmm, don't really know what that means, I'll start keeping track of it from now on. The good thing is that 110/54 seems to be in an 'optimal' range, so I do feel pretty good about it.

I was experimenting with hydration on my runs. I have a couple of 4 oz cute bottles that just fit in my hands and are pretty comfortable to run with. It does make a difference when I drink before the run and then periodically just sip during running.

On Friday I ventured into 7'10" mile teritory once in a while, got the heart going (never crossed 170 bpm), then stopped running and walked fast (convenient time to take a drink) until my heart beat dropped below 150. This seems to work pretty well since I still averaged 8'35" mile. I kind of like it, this looks like a reasonable backup plan for the marathon.

Put a new battery into the HR belt. Radio Shack batteries suck. We'll see whether it was the battery or the belt just going south. My bets are on crappy battery. Got Duracell this time.

Got Brazilian visa - wow, that was quick. I used a place in Texas called Visa Express, obviously with great results. It costs $29 extra (per visa issued), I'd say well worth it.

Started thinking about the life after the Ironman. Well, first I do need to finish it. What am I going to do next? I am thinking about buying Timex' latest and greatest toy HR with GPS and data collector and reverse engineer their data download protocol and write a workout application that works on Linux and Mac. Everybody is writing their stuff for the freaking Windblows only. Morons. Maybe I'll just write it for Linux and Mac only, screw the freaking Windblows. I have been a Linux fan for over 10 years now and this kind of attitude still pisses me off. I have been known to return products because they didn't work with Linux. I am fed up with them creeps.

Other ideas are writing a web book about this last year. I would give it a catchy title, something like: "From FatBoy to IronMan - an impractical guide to handling midlife crisis while stroking male ego and severely punishing the body".

Hmmm, maybe I should really start paying attention to my pet project I wanted to do for a few years now. I could probably make a living out of it too.

I am curious to learn what my reaction will be if I finish the race (I hope I will). Am I going to be totally turned off or will I want to do another one?

Started reading "The Maffetone Method" - so far he makes sense, this is one book that seems to be very reasonable and kind of in tune of where I'd like to go. I think if I'll train for another one of these, I'll start all over with Phil Maffetone's guidance.