Good day for training today. Got off from working night shift, came home and slept 4 hours. Went to the pool and did 1600 yds. Did some kick drills. And 300 yd intervals. Went over to Joe's and biked 25 miles. I could tell I was worn out from the swim. The bike was tough.

Found 2 training programs that seem to work for me in preparing for CDA Ironman.
Found one at the trifuel website:
36 Week Ironman Training Program

The other one is at the Beginner Triathlete website:
Beginner Full Ironman Training Program

The second one is designed to help you finish an ironman and the Trifuel program is for getting a decent time.

I will be following the first one as much as possible.

Did a 20 mile bike today. Raised my bike seat about half an inch. Feels better now. Included 5 x 90 sec intervals at hard pace (approx 85% of MHR). It has occurred to me that I am concentrating too much on the over all avg pace of bike ride, when I should be more focussed on the quality of the ride and incorporating more variety workouts in my biking as well as my swimming.

As I read through some of the Ironman training programs that I have found on the internet, I continue to learn that incorporating different variety workouts into my biking and swimming is more important than just going out for a swim or a bike. I already know this when it comes to running, since I include, intervals, tempo, LSD runs. I have never really applied this to my biking and swimming training days.

With Ironman training, I have also learned that training based on your Heart Rate seems to be the key to successful training programs and better times. Therefore, I will start using my HR monitor in my biking and running. Swimming is more difficult since I have used my HR monitor in the past and it kept slipping passed my chest area down to my belly.

Got home after working nights too tired to do anything. Went straight to bed. Slept for 6 hours and got up with a few hours free before I need to get ready to go to work again. Noticed my new bike shoes came in, DMT R3 Triathlon shoes. Shoes look great so I had to try them out. I quicly swapped over my look cleats to my new shoes, put on some bike clothes and was out the door. Upper body kind of sore from the strength training last night. Shoes felt great and made me go faster.

1800 yards at the Y. Did it in 300 yard increments. Swim was very difficult - took alot out of me. Was short of breath and had very low energy level. But the water felt great. Had a lane all to myself at around 11 am. I could tell my swim muscles are out of shape. Need to pick up my swimming yardage.

Started night shift. Got about 1 hour of sleep before going into work. Used the weight machine at work. Did upper body strength. core muscles and back.

Still have alot of soreness on calf muscles. Right calf still has signs of being swolen and some pain in some areas. Not wanting to chance it and really injure myself. So no running for several more days. Doing more biking and swimming in next couple of days. Off from work on Wednesday and had to work Thursday.

It felt really great to actually ride my bike outside for the first time since the fall season. I was going for a very easy 10. But when I got on the bike, it felt grrreat. So I hid it hard. Avgd 20.3 including all the stops and red lights. Killer head wind on the way out and some on the way in. Legs felt much better after the bike. I can actually walk with very little soreness.

So I'm start off with a well deserved rest day. My body is in complete pain. My legs below the knees are swelled up. Right calf feels very warm and slightly reddish. Stretching and moving as much as possible. Taking ibuprofen as necessary.

On the plus side, I am enjoying eating anything that is put in front of me. Made a big juicy T-bone steak on the grill. MMMM-mmm good.

Not a PR but I'll take it. Got plenty of rest last night. Ate a snickers marathon bar, a big cup of coffee. Felt good at the start. First couple of miles were too fast. At mile 4 cramped up really bad on my right calf. Had to stop, stretch and massage the calf 3 times over the next 2 miles. Limped along for the next couple of miles and then it finally loosened up and was able to maintain a decent pace. Hills weren't too bad in the middle of the race. It's the ones that come at the end (mile 22 - 25) that really take their toll out of any idea of trying to finish strong. Bottom of my feat were burning around mile 23 and on.

Satisfied with my time considering I was thinking about dropping out of the race at mile 4-5 due to a cramping right calf. I knew at this time that there was now way I could get a PR this day.

Read my full marathon report at LocoRunner

Took another rest day. Picked up race packet. Feeling good. Was supposed to do some light running but didn't have the time or motivation. Ate plenty of pasta in the evening.