WOOHOO!  NEW SHOES!!!  Ok I know that isn't as exciting for most people but knowing that I will have more comfort again in my ankles is happiness to me.  I started breaking them yesterday after a two hour long ride in the heat.  Surprisingly, the heat wasn't as detrimental to me as it has been in past workouts.  The ride was solid over all but my butt has developed all kinds of sores from the saddle and bike shorts.  It feels like I'm sitting on needles and sucks!  I know probably too much info but meh, I have no shame.  After the ride, I through on my new shoes and went for a short 1 mile run.  It felt a lil rough at first, as my ankles had stiffened up, but once loose the run felt nice and smooth and enjoyed the extra cushion the shoes were giving me.  Today will be a bigger test for them with a fartlek workout coming for me this afternoon.

One thing that did happen to me on the bike yesterday did make me extremely upset.  While riding and making my turn on the loop I created for myself, I came across and injured rabbit.  He/she had no function of it's rear legs and was crawling and stopping in the middle of the side street where it was.  It made me so incredibly sick to my stomach I ended up heading back to my car and ended the workout.  I didn't know what I could have done for it, I really don't.  I'm an animal lover by nature and hate to see an animal suffering.  With that said, I do understand how nature works and that death and suffering is a common theme but hate it when it comes at the hands of humans who can control, to some degree, their influence on death and suffering.  As you can tell this has really torn me up since yesterday.  Unfortunately, with logging as many bike miles as I have, you see this so much out on the roads.

Switching to more positive things though, my plan in the next few weeks is to head up to the bike course to take part in a supported ride.  My goal is to do the loop twice (+/- 88miles) and really see where I am just under a month out from race day.  I'm excited to get a real taste of the loop and can't wait to beam with confidence after riding it.  I'm also upping my running this week and the next few weeks to gain just a little more strength and confidence in it to compliment my bike.  So there you have it, just gotta keep on training.  53 days......

As of today, we have T minus 2 months until IMWI.  This week's plan is to try and squeeze about 13 hours of training into the week.  Emphasizing the 3 disciplines now but also still working on core strength and leg strength.  The highlight of this week though will be heading up to the course to ride it for the first time, and possibly the only time, this season.  I'm looking forward to it to get a feel for what it will be like but am also concerned about going.  My fear is that, once I get up there, I will struggle with the course and have serious doubts creep into my head about my training up to this point and if there is any time left to prepare more for the race.  So many mind games are being played on me right now.  All of which are my own doing.  Keep you posted on how the workouts this week go and how the ride up in Madison goes....it's going to be a hot week! 

61 Days

Back to the grind this week.  After a fun, relaxing, and yes lazy, 4th of July weekend it's time for me to get refocussed on the task at hand.  The plan this week is to hit all the disciplines harder then I have so far.  120+ miles of cycling, 6000m of swimming, and 18+ miles of running.  My body feels rested and I'm excited to go after it.  I've also been upping my core workouts to help compliment my running and help with protecting my low back during the cycling.  One big issue that I'm running into though is fueling during the bike.  Right around the 2:15 mark on the bike I begin to lose a significant amount of energy and power.  My hope is that Infinit will help cure that issue for me.  We will see come this weekend when I put in my first 4 hour ride.  I'm curious to see where that puts me distance wise but I have to be careful with getting overly excited about the mileage I'll clock.

The one big issue with training around the Northwest suburbs is its all FLAT!  I've been doing some modifying during my training rides to compensate such as riding in tougher gears, riding into headwinds more, etc.  But I know that won't make up for what I will face in Madison.  On the other hand,  With my constant grinding of the pedals on the pavement,  I am not getting the recovery downhills that I will get in Madison.  At least that is what I keep telling myself.  In just over 2 in a half months I will be getting my answer!  66 Days IMWI