A Big Week and Some Random Thoughts ...

I had quite a few very strong trainings this week and am very excited about how my body has rebounded from a brutal state last week.

Here are the raw numbers:

Swim - 4 Workouts - 5h 45m -  11,800 Yds
Bike  - 5 Workouts - 8h 22m -  159.10 Mi
Run  -  4 Workouts - 4h 34m -  32.28 Mi
---------------------------------------------------
Totals - 13 Workouts - 18h 41m 

Long Bike - 61 Mi
Long Run - 15 Mi

Ok, as you can see I was very active this week.  Lots of Intervals, Lots of Tempo.  Just an overall very solid week.  My only disappointment is that I knocked an hour off of my long ride on Sunday in order to make it home in time for football.  Not a big deal because I hit all the volume goals but I still wanted to be closer to 20 total hours.

On to the Randomness:

- Great idea by Kevin and Jon:  They have created a site for anyone participating in an Ironman in 2011.  This site is called 201Ironman.com.  The goal of the site is to allow triathletes to share their experiences, network with others, and even arrange training meetups.  They have it setup so you can go follow and then post YOUR STORY.  The reason I think this is such a great idea is that it will create a community of triathletes that are banging the same proverbial Ironman training drum and give us a support group to rely upon.  When one decides to do an Ironman it is so much more than just training and with a group of fellow crazies this site could be a valuable resource for us 2011 Ironpeeps.  So I suggest you CLICK HERE and go check out the new site!

- My legs felt wonderful all week.  That little extra "bounce" had returned and didn't leave until after last nights run.  This means that my body is now absorbing the added intensity of my training from the Build Phase and is getting ready to peak. I just hope I can stay at this level until the Taper week begins - this is still 5 weeks away!

- This training program (Matt Fitzgerald's Level 10 HIM) is about the same level of volume of the full Ironman training that I will be doing for IMTX.  The only difference is that this plan is 20 weeks long and the Full IM plan is 24 weeks long.  My confidence level is going to be very high when I finish this plan and start the Full IM Plan.

- On Sunday, my buddy Dave and I did a group ride with Houston Racing Triathlon Club (HRTC) at the IronStar bike course site.  HRTC has over 800 members and they had their shit together!  Sag Wagon, rest stop at the mid-point, over 100 riders!  Made up my mind right there to change Tri Clubs.  Despite the high heat and humidity (what else is new?) the ride went very well.  It is different to ride in a group when it is actually cool to use your aero bars.  The ride took a little longer than expected - I had a mechanical issue with my cassette which was easily fixed but we still had to stop. Then we came across a guy who needed an allen wrench and Dave had one so we stopped for a few minutes and helped him out.  Then to top things off we got stopped on the wrong side of a passing train - luckily it was right next to a gas station so we got some gatorade and chatted with the locals.  Overall a very fun ride and I was impressed with the HRTC people.

-  I won both of my Fantasy Football league games.  Even though in one of them I left Javid Best on the bench (78 ru yds, 9 catches for 154 rec yds and 3 TD's).  Luckily the rest of my team was on fire!

- How devastating did the Steelers Defense look yesterday?  They absolutely annihilated Vince Young and the Titans.  IMO, they are the best team in the NFL right now - who else could go into an away game against a good team with their 3rd String QB and win convincingly?  

- I haven't been as active in the blogosphere over the last week because my computer had to be shipped to my corporate office for some maintenance. Was very relieved to see it on my front porch this evening. I visited a few blogs using my iPhone or the little netbook we have but found it hard to look at the little screens for more than a couple of minutes.  In other news, pretty sure I need glasses!

- Going to make a decision this week on whether to go with a new TT bike or not.  So far I am leaning heavily towards the Felt B14.  The real question is if I sale my Quintana Roo what should I do with the proceeds?  Roadie?  Race Wheels?  hmmmm....

I hope everyone has a wonderful week of training!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff