100 mile training ride to maricopa

This was another great Bike ride. I always want to ride to Maricopa.
Memorial day was a great day to do this. I rode with a fellow cyclist/Friend/Ironman and Marine named Claudia. What a honor. Although the ride was long and hot, I was in great company.

Sunday 5/23/2010 100 mile ride

The goal was to complete the route above, The ride started out well. I have never climb the b-line so fast, we had a good tail wind that made that happen. the continued climb to bush hwy was almost as fast, but once I turned onto bush hwy heading to usuery pass the winds picked up and decided to blow in my face. those beautiful down hills became work followed by the up hills more work.. it did not matter which way I turned south or west the wind was welcoming. I ended up with 70+ miles for the day because I did not do the loop around usuery pass.
This is a great ride and I will be doing it again..

Training Week 5/2 - 5/8

5-2 Sunday I survived the 75 miles in a wind tunnel with hills :),

5-3 Monday turned into a rest day. I woke up at 3 am and was still tired so I listen to my body and slept in til 6:30 am and choose to not train today, just take it easy.

5-4 Tuesday it was back at it. my day started with a 5:45 am swim. Tuesday is always a test set day this week it was 6 x 100 in 3 min. I did pretty good the first 4 was 1:57 but the hast two were 2:04. I have to look at this good after a tough ride on Sunday. Tuesday night I went on the Tribe run, I ran 4.47
miles in 1:09 which brings my ave down a bit

5-5 Wednesday was a volume swim at 5:45 am I swam 5 x 400 with a 20 second rest between each set. my focus on these sets were to count my strokes and keep them under a 23 count. I was able to do this for the first 3 set, the 4Th set I was 1 stroke over and the last set was uncontrollable. the counts were 24s and 25s. I have to work on that.

5-6 Thursday this is supose to be a rest day but seeing that I took Monday off I went for a afterwork run, I was able to run 4:04 miles in 1:09 but this time i did not stop as much. I need to go to bed but im not tired but tomorrow holds another day of work and training for me" must sleep"

5-7 Friday to day was a easy bike ride with the Julie B and Big John. we rode 23 miles through awhatukee. I did not want to do a lot of climbing because Im doing the South Mountain Time Trial tomorrow morning... Julie has gotten strong on her bike, she kept up at 16 mph on the flats and was able to climb 17 ave and 5th ave at 7 mph. not bad for being 5 month on her bike.

5-8 Saturday I signed uo for the South Mt Time Trial all thought I wasnt ready mentaly, and I did finish it but not as good as I should of. It was a great training ride.. well thats how Im looking at it

I did not weight train this week trying no to burn my legs out.

Lesson learned this week, If the mind and body isnt in it dont do It.

Building Charter 5/2/2010

Sunday's bike ride was suppose to be a long, easy ride. It started out from the Tribe and meandered through PV, then out on to Shea for some climbing up and over Eagle mt ridge. The view of the city is beautiful from here. Then it continued and dropped down to Fountain blvd. It then headed up some pretty steep climb--they were 6 to 8% climbs. This road leads you out to the fire station as you head out to Rio Verde.
This is where the Charter building started, The winds picked up, It wasn't all that bad at the start of the climb up 9 mile hill but man did it pick up. the gusts were at 35 mph. When they hit you it was like a brick wall, I almost came to a stop, and the side winds were just as bad. It was very hard to keep the bike on the road.
The phrase in my head was "MUST REACH TOP" and "Wind Builds Charter". The link below is the ride out:

http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/702960

Wind builds charter but it also makes you very hungry, A couple slices of Pizza and back on the road feeling happy.

On the way home the same winds were playing with me, I felt like a rag doll being tossed around. If my helmet was clipped on it would of blown off. all I could do was put my head down and push on. but the ride home was a bit faster but not as far as it could of been. nothing but side and head winds all the way. This link is the ride back. each dip in speed is a wind gust.

http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/702870


Here a trivia questions: what is the % of the climb up 9 mill hill.
Answer: over 80 % of the climb is only 2% there are some 3% every now and then

All in All I fell great, my legs are a bit tired but not total spent, I learned that I need real food on long hard rides. And if I keep a positive out look I can climb in the wind for 75 miles.

May 2 - May 8, 2010 Training

My Training Schadule for this week

May 2 Sunday 70 mile bike ride
May 3 monday morning swim (drills), weight training
May 4 Tuesday morning swim (test set), weight training, night run 5k( 3.1 miles)
May 5 Wednesday morning swim (volum), weight training, Towers/brick 5k
May 6 Thursday Morning run, weight training, Hill rpts 10k (6.2 miles)
May 7 Friday Morning Ladies bike, weight training
May 8 Saturday Tower TT,

The goal for this week is to run a total of 12 miles.

Wish me luck

Journeys

Tonight I sit. A few of my friends have set out to do the St George Ironman this weekend, They have set their goals and have put in the time to achieve them. Andy C. got hurt a few months before the ironman and had a pretty hard time walking or moving. but he had set a goal to do the St George ironman in 14 hrs. he achieved this goal with a time of 13:54. very inspirational.. Cheryl Miller have trained for this event also but had a freak accident and broke her foot, no race for her this week, but she is there to cheer on her team mates.

Another Cyclist set a goal to cross America on a bike for her 50Th birthday. Linda B achieve this goal. she rode over 3000 miles in 58 days. what a achievement what a journey.

Again I sit, And I wonder why do I set these quest,what motivates one to take that step.
in thought I still ask why not, I am more motivated every day when I see my friends moving forward in their journeys.

when I started this journey, I was afraid and not sure that I could do this but as time moves forward and I can see the transformation of the people around me and with in myself, the fear has started to dissipate... well at least for this moment.

April update 2010

Well I have 7 months to go to Ironman 2010, and I am feeling pretty good about my training and my progress... There were times this month that I did not feel as confident about anything. My swim wasn't going great and running well that's a subject in its own... This month I have ridden 254.76 miles in 20 hr and 36 min. The turn around on the bike was my doing the Sedona Madness bike ride on April 25Th, It was a very hard ride,, well that's what everyone told me, I'm not a climber so to be honest I was a bit scared of this ride. I started this ride a hr before the start time so I would have time to finish it.. But you know it wasn't that bad of a ride. yes there was hills upon hills but they were all doable, at my own pace. I made it through Jerome and started going up Mingus mt. all in all my legs felt good and they kept feeling good. Climbing isn't that bad :)
I have swam 18,000.00 yd in the pool and 2 miles in open water, The open water swim gave me the boost of confidence that I needed in the water. I had struggled for 2 weeks with the speed drills. The swim coach stated that i had hit a wall and had to push my way through it... He was right and it feels good to be pass it.

I know that I stated that I would focus on the run. This is my eye sore and I must have more or equal miles in May