Taking advantage of a couple days off in my work schedule to punish myself. Went to the Y and did a 3600 yds (little more than two miles). Total swim time 1 hr 17 min. Felt good when done. Y had one lap lane open. Seems they have acted on my suggestion to have at least one lap lane open in the morning when the seniors are doing their water aerobics. Those old ladies keep staring at my speedos though. Took my bike to the Y so I could do bike after the swim. Planning on doing a quick 20 miler. Parked at Foster corner store and biked to a little past Fullshear. Roads were good, not too many cars. Only saw two bikers on the road the whole time. Lots of car honkers though - must be bikers. Had a perfect tailwind all the way out so decided to go for 30 miles, knowing that I would be dying on the way back with a head wind. Top it all off, I forgot my water bottle in the car. Noticed around mile 4 that I didn't have it with me. I survived. total time 1:30. avg'd 20 mph on the bike. Total training time today. 2 hr 47 min.

It felt great to finally get two days off in a week for the first time in a month and it also felt good to get more than 6 hours of sleep 2 days in a row in a month. I'm not sure how much longer I could have survived with 5 1/2 to 6 hours of sleep per night. My long work hours are over and now it's crunch time.

Started off kind of late today. Got to Seabourne park around 9:10 am and started my long run. It was a perfect day for a run. Had lots of my friends come see me run today. Mr field mouse came out and said hello. General skunk saluted me with his tail, but as soon as I ran by he went back to his "at ease" position. Ms cardinal flew by and said hello. I almost stepped on Mr corral snake as he crossed the trail - he didn't seem to happy.

I averaged 7:49 pace. total time 2:05. Used my Asics 2120s. Right lower calf muscle started hurting around mile 2. Pain was bearable and almost barely noticeable after a couple more miles. This maybe left over from the Austin marathon. Will keep an eye on it.

Started off kind of late today. Left the house at 8 am. Rode through Foster, Fullshear, Simonton to Brookshire at I-10. Turned around and came back. Good ride. Avg 20.8 mph. No back pain.

Had a BIG juicy steak from the grill and baked potato with all the extras at home. Nothing better that good home cooked grilled steak.

Got home from work. Started playing with the dog. I had already made up my mind that I was not going anywhere because I felt really tired and unmotivated. Started talking to my wife and she told me to go for a run even thoug I didn't feel like it. We quarreled about this for a minute. So weird, I said "no run", and she said "yes run". Took me awhile to realize she was right and went out the door unmotivated, but with my MP3 player in hand.

Went to Terry HS track to run a couple of miles. The music got me going. Warmed up with 3 miles, then did 2 miles of running 200s in about 10K pace with a 200 recovery run (8x200s). Cooldown 1 mile. Again, I felt like I wanted to go longer, but not enough time. Used my Asics DS trainers. Total time = 45:50. Good pace.

Also, did about 15 minutes of Abs/core muscles conditioning at work.

Tomorrow is officially my last day of my long working hours. Sunday starts "Crunch time" for the Ironman.

I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it seems like right around Thursday I lose motivation. Maybe it's the fact that the weekend is just around the corner and everyone hits it hard, and I have to work and try to survive with 5 hours of sleep per night and have really nothing to look forward to. Can't stay up late to watch a movie, drink a beer, or party it up cuz I fall asleep everywhere I go. This waking up at 3:30 every morning crap is exhausting.

Anyways, got home and hung around the house debating whether to go run a few miles or not. I was really leaning towards staying home. But I put on my mp3 player and started listening to some Incubus. This really got me going. my only regret is that I should have put my headphones on earlier so I could have run more miles. Finished my run at 9 pm. Used my 2120 shoes. didn't time my miles, but it felt like a really fast pace with good form. A little worried about a slight pain on my lower right calf muscle.

Good workout today. Did a 13 mile bike - could have gone longer but it was getting dark fast. Transitioned in about 3 minutes then ran 4 miles. Surprised at my first mile pace - 6:47, just didn't feel like I was going that fast. Rest of the 3 miles were about a 7:05 pace. Total time was 1 hr 6 min. Used my 2120 shoes.

Also, did some strength training at work. Worked my bis, tris and core (abs/back). 1 hour of strengt training. Try not to do very heavy weights. Light weights with hi reps. Abs - do 100 situps with a little variety by working my side core muscles. Do about 10 crunches, 4 x 1 minutes bridge stance. 2 x reach crunches and hold for about 30 seconds, 2 sets of 15 lateral pulldowns for the back, and 2 sets of 15 rep reverse sit ups for the back. If this don't strengthen my core muscles, I don't know what will. lots of burning on the core mucles exercises - No pain no gain. Not quite yet to a six pack - but a "4 pack" of the 16 ouncers comes to mind. Speaking of Beer, haven't had a beer since Easter. That's two weeks. And, I only have three more days of my long work hours and I'm back to normal hours and it's time to CRAM for the IRONMAN EXAM! I will celebrate by buying a 6 pack of some ice cold St Arnolds Beer. I can almost taste it.

Had to go to a meeting after work so no workout on Monday.
Tuesday - Swim after work at Y. Did 2700 yards. Did my 300 yard increments again. Seems like it's easier to count laps this way. Kind of sluggish today on the swim. Had trouble getting warmed up and the momentum going. Total time was 1 hour 2 min. Asked the life guards to look at my stroke to give me some tips. My front body is moving too much from side to side. Need to roll my body from side to side more. Will work on this.

Biked 72 miles with Joe. Met at Foster HS intersection and rode up to Brookshire and turned around. 5 min break at turnaround point. Also stopped for a flat on Joe's bike. I pulled most of the way back. Felt really great on the ride. Back didn't hurt. Adjustments on bike position really helped. Coming back almost home Joe fell when his front tire hit my rear tire. Took a pretty good fall with some scrapes. He'll survive - he's tough. Kind of funny thought that he blames me for both his flat and his fall. I don't understand???? How can his flat be my fault?? How can him following too close be my fault???? He was in a pissy mood most of the ride anyway. Usually I come home with no stress, good mood, feeling good about my work out. This time I came home and my wife noticed the stress inside me. WTF??

Nothing today. Just rested for the long bike tomorrow.

Run 6.5 miles after work. Used my Asics 2120s. Felt good. Avg pace ~ 7:45. Total time 52 min. 30 minutes of strength training at work - mostly tris, back and abs. Noticed a good improvement in my ab muscles. Using bride stance to determine strength in core muscles. Able to stay in the bridge position for a much longer period than when I first started doing thist test.