Last day of work before a day off. Ran 5 miles at Terry HS track. Used my heart rate monitor to do the Mafetone test again. Warmup w/ 3 miles. Ran 1 mile in 8:20 at avg heart rate of 134. This is worse from the last test. Supposed to be getting faster for same heart rate. C/d 1 mile.

Went swimming at the Y. Got off early from work. Started my swim around 6:30. 2700 yds pretty much non stop with the exception of a 1 min break after my first 900 yds. Seems like 900 yds is what it takes for me to relax, get warmed up and settle in on a good breathing pattern. It's the point where I don't feel like I'm struggling to get air. Concentrated on keeping my head down and getting good side to side rolls. My leg kicking also seems get better after 900. It's the magic number of yards. Like to stop my lap counter on my watch every 300. So I averaged 6:24 per 300 yds for the full 2700. Don't know how to do flip turns. Practiced on the flip turns after the 2700 yds. Lifeguard called me after and gave me a tip to tuck my head in when doing flip turns. That was nice of her to do this. 1 hour 1 min total time.

Ran a little over 8 miles around the hood. Avg'd about 7:30 miles. Felt good to run. Started having some tightness in my right calf. Same calf as the one that cramped up at Austin marathon. Used my DS trainers. Run time 1:03. Think I'm going to start running more. Feel like I am losing my running legs after focussing on my swim and bike for awhile. Running has always seemed to have kept my aerobic and endurance up. I was able to jump on the bike after the Austin marathon and go long with no problems. With the long hours I've been working seems a whole lot quicker to switch into running shorts and shoes than it is to drive to the Y for a swim or bike shorts, shoes, helmet, bike tires airing up, etc... for the bike.

Had to go out of town on an emergency to Laredo/San Antonio (DIF). Left sunday and got back Tuesday night. Always pack running shorts & shoes or swim gear in case I have time to swim or run. I had some time to run on Tuesday morning but decided to spent time with the folks and eat good tex mex food in San Antonio. Can't ever pass up the opportunity to eat some good breakfast tacos in San Antonio. Drank lots of coffee last couple of days, kind of dehydrated. Need to drink more water. Even then, still had time to drink a beer with my dad.

Did some adjustments on the bike. Raised the seat a little moved my aero bars back a little. Adjustment are an attempt to get a better aero position so my lower back won't hurt as much. Went out from Rosenberg out to brookshire and back home. Stopped for a couple of minutes just past Simonton to fine adjust my aero bars a little (too much on previous adjustment). Felt much more comfortable in the aero position. Back didn't hurt at all. The wind was a killer again on the way back. I enjoy this route more since there a tons more bikers on these roads than on Hwy 36 to Seally. Total time on bike 3:08. Avg 19.8 mph for 61 miles.

Got home after work with still some daylight left. Upon passing by my weed infested, grass overgrown front yard, I decided to do my yard work workout today. Quickly broke out the lawn mower and cut my front yard and back yard in about 1 hour. Worked up a good sweat. Worked on my breathing as I pushed the mower, tried to concentrate on using my hamstrings in conjuction with my calf muscles to push the mower throught the dandelions, dollar weed, some crab grass, and the thick St Augustine grass. Better than any other damn bike workout I could have got today. To bad I can't put this down on my real training log as a true workout! Tomorrow the saga continues with the edging after my long bike ride. Finally a day off to enjoy a 60 mile bike???

Got off work friday and headed straight to the Y for a quick swim knowing that the Y closed at 7:45 pm. I was able to get in 1200 yds before they closed the pool - about 25 minutes. Did 4 x 300s in about 6:15 min avg. Felt good. Kind of sore from doing some strength training on my arms (bis, tris and shoulders). Called it quits after my swim to spent time with the family and watch a movie and scarf on Pizza Hut pan pizza.

I was determined to get 10 miles in today. Got off work ready for my run. Got to my local park at ~7:10 pm. Wore my heart rate monitor with intentions of taking it slow. I also wore my new runnng shoes - Asics 2120. Shoes felt great. First 5 miles ran with a HR of ~144. Then it startd getting dark with no lights in the park or trail so I started picking it up to try to finish with some light. Mile 8, it was dusk. Mile 9 and 10 was running in complete darkness with only moon light lighting the dark trail. I didn't remember which button was the light on my HR monitor so I didn't check my HR anymore but I averaged 7:20's for the last 5 miles. Total time 1:20.

Didn't do anything yesterday, had to deal with a flat tire after work.

Might as well not have done anything. Went out planning on doing 6-7 miles. Felt good from my legs and body. My stomach is still messed up. Had to turn around and go back home because I was having stomach problems. Hopefully I will have better luck tomorrow after work.

This is the longest bike I have ever done. I have done the MS150 once but that was stopping for water breakds and lunch, etc... I went non stop except for a few minutes at the turnaround point to eat a small cliff bar. Going out was great. I had a nice tailwind and was dreading the headwind I would be facing on the way back in. It was definitely exhausting coming back in and averaging about 15 mph against a strong headwind. Weather channel said it was about a 15-20 mph wind. My back started hurting at mile 55ish. The pain was bad and kept stretching while staying on the bike. Right now it's incomprehensible that an ironman bike is still 42 more miles than what I did today.