Yesterday I left my super secret training spot in
Melissa, Tx and headed to my old hometown of Houston,
Tx. I completed my second-to-last race simulation
workout on Tuesday and I wanted to get here long
before my final race sim workout on Friday. I always
try to avoid key training sessions on a day following
travel. The reason I’m doing my final workout here in
Htown has to do with Blake flying into town on
Saturday to drive over to PCB with me early next week.
Blake has been training hard in Madison, WI in the
all-too-early-to-arrive winter; the exact opposite of
my entirely-too-long summer last year in Texas.

Once again I was blessed with a long drive as the
heavens decided to open up and promptly drop every
ounce of extra water they had reserved in the clouds.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On Tuesday this week I did a workout as such:

3500 swim with tempo 2k main set;
Start ride within one hour of swim; ride 90 minutes
with 50-60 min at IM-IM+20 power; transition to ten
mile run on the track running steadily.

I didn’t have to do the run on the track and many of
you might classify 40 laps of the track at a steady
pace to be just about the worse idea EVER. However, I
had asked my aunt to come out and hand off coke and
water every 4th lap so that I could continuously run
at a certain pace to see how my body responded to that
particular pace (and with race day fueling).

Couple things I have noticed over the past few weeks
that might apply to everyone:

1. It takes about 12 minutes (or two miles) for HR,
PE, and Pace to line up (in training) when running off
the bike. Until then HR is low, PE is low and pace is
high. I was running nearly 20-25 sec too fast to start
this workout and I still felt like I was only running
at a crawl. This sensation could last up to 30-45
minutes on race day depending on conditions, how hard
you/I ride, nutrtion on the bike, etc. Just imagine
how much an a rested, fit athlete could run the first
10K when you throw in a competitive spirit and
spectators. RELAX. Look at Sergio Marques’ first 10K
split in Kona. Nearly the same as his final split. The
result? 2:43 and the fastest split of the day. He did
NOT take it out hard and he obviously had the run
fitness to absolutely blast the trek down Ali’i Dr.

2. I tend to pick up the pace once I have nutrition
handed off to me. I need to stay relaxed, get the
nutrition in, and continue. I kept spiking my pace and
HR during the workout when after my aunt handed off
the drinks. I also think its important to take your
time to get those calories in. If you try to rush the
coke/gatorade/water/whatever through the aid stations
you’ll likely find that you didn’t take it all that
much. Treat that coke like gold and take in small
amounts until that cup is empty.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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Blah.

That’s all wrote in the ‘comments’ section in my log
after Tuesday’s training. Such is life during a taper.
I seem to be coming around though so life is good.
Life was over on Tuesday, but its back on Thursday.

I didn’t get on here to comment on the Aggies’ victory
over Mizzou because I was too busy helping Miss
Melissa become Mrs. Melissa over the weekend (cousin
Melissa for those in the know).

My weekend consisted of traveling Thursday, big day
of training Friday, rehearsal dinner Friday night,
Saturday morning workouts, go to church around 1:00n
to be the best damn Usher in the world, watch cousin
get married, take pictures outside church while
constantly checking Aggie game on cell phone, listen
to finish of game in car, announce wedding party at
reception, enjoy reception, go home at midnight, go to
bed, wake up, watch the 12,000,000 inches of raining
falling outside, put on running shoes, run 21 miles in
that dumb weather, watch the Texans ‘play football’,
hang out with friends, go home, go to bed, drive a
four-hour-drive in six hours because of another
12,000,000 inches of rain, go to swim practice, go
home, look at my watch at 8:15 and decide its time for
bed. Sleep 11 hours.

And for some reason I can’t seem to understand why I
feel completely wiped out on Tuesday. HMMMMMMMMM.

But seriously… ….The wedding was great and I’m
psyched she found such a great guy.

The run was miserable though. I have the patience for
about one of those sessions/year. Since the year is
almost finished I figured I had better cash in on it.

Let’s see; what else?

I heard on the radio that Brandon Flowers of The
Killers claimed that their latest album was the best
album in the last twenty years. Well I listened to it
three times through on my way back home. Its not the
best album to come out in the last twenty years, but
it did get me to start thinking about what album might
fit that title.

I couldn’t come up with an answer. In fact, I wasn’t
even bold enought to narrow it down to the top 5
(Weezer’s first album would be in there).

I did decide what the worst album in the last twenty
years is: Master P’s “Last Don.” Awful. You might find
something that is_just_as_bad, but nothing is worse
than that.

Time for the NLCS.

-jd

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Actually those Jayhawks are alright. I didn’t think I
would live to see the day when I would be glad to beat
Kansas (in football, of course), but such is life. I
actually flipped when the deep snapper screwed up and
caused a safety. I turned the TV off and headed out
for a ride. Seemed like it was too nice of day to
watch the Ags crumble. They ended up pulling it
together while I was away so maybe I’m on to
something.

Not sure why I write these football reports since
they’re about as boring as they come, but Saturdays
are my easy days and just about the only time I seem
to sit behind a computer with no real intentions.

++++++++++++++++++++++

I was riding my bike on FM 121 just outside of Gunter,
Texas on Tuesday when a truck grazed me so closely
that I actually freaked out. I yelled out of
fear/surprise and not simply in retaliation or
anything like that. AND the nice gentleman then took
it upon himself to flcik me off. I was so pissed off
that I found myself absolutely DRILLING IT (to quote
my amigo Macca) to catch him.

I didn’t catch him. Apparently cars travel a bit more
quickly than bikes.

Suddenly all those jokes BB and I have made this year
about short life expectancies didn’t seem so funny
anymore. Its one thing to deal with close calls. Its
another to deal with people who intentionally do it. I
wonder if he would have stopped if he had actually hit
me…

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Tomorrow ends the major bulk of my build towards
Ironman Florida. Almost everything has gone according
to plan and tomorrow’s BIG day of training will
finalize that.

My fitness is coming together nicely and hopefully the
next few weeks’ rest will bring out more improvements.

-jd

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Man, that hurt. But I knew it would happen. You don’t
give Leach and his offense two minutes to finish you
off. You_just_don’t_do_it.

I was reading an article in the Dallas Morning News
yesterday morning about the Ags’ loss to Tech. The
author mentioned that Franchione and his staff had
downplayed Tech as a rival. The author responded with:
“You are right, they’re not a rival. They just beat
the Aggies.” Touche. And I hang my head a little lower
every year.

You guys can hop onto www.texags.com to get a game
summary if you have no idea what I’m talking about.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Training went quite well this week and I got a little
redemption for the previsouly washed out weekend.
Everything pretty much went according to plan this
week and the weather cooperated nicely for some of my
harder sessions.

This upcoming week looks to be a bit challenging with
higher volume and warm weather throughout. I could
look at this in a positive light. The weather in PCB
at Ironman Florida will probably not be any warmer (if
it is, it will be a rough day) than what I will face
this week. Nevertheless, training in 90+ degrees day
after day gets a bit old once October rolls around.
Time for temperate temps.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What else?

Astros lost. I give them credit for making the season
count until the last game, but its a shame they
couldn’t have made things happen throughout the
season.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Other than that, there isn’t much going on. Its kind
of that time of year where life is simple. You train,
you rest, and you race. Five weeks left.

jd

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