Ironman training has survived Thanksgiving

Well, it's been quite a while since I posted on what was supposed to be a weekly blog.  In any case, it has certainly been an eventful two months.  I kept up pretty well with my off-season training but admittedly let it die off a bit towards the end of October, when we took our first trip to Disney with the kids and I had a software conference to attend to which always ended up with me drinking more than I care to admit each night (hey... open bar... can you blame me?)  One of those days, I did wake up early to join a small group of hungover people for a morning "fun run" which was a 5K around the hotel complex (3 laps).

In any case, my "formal' Triathlon Dominator training plan started on 11/15 and I have been pretty religious about it, though not as much as I would like to on the nutrition side.  I have tried to keep eating fairly healthy though.

At this time, I am already in better shape than I have been in since I graduated college.  I've read some posts that seem to bash the plan, but they are from people who never tried it.  All I can say is that it is kicking my ass, but I feel great (though very tired at night...).  It seems like almost every day I am doing the equivalent of a full sprint triathlon.  A solid 90 minutes plus of full training.  I'm trying to work it in during the day but we have been crazy busy at the office and it is sneaking into an after-work thing.  I really need to get into a split morning/lunch type of routine.

My "typical" workouts generally involve two regimens.  It could be a "brick" workout (two of the triathlon disciplines) or just one followed by high-intensity weight training.

Bike workouts are never less than one  hour and vary from sprint-type spins to hills and interval training.  Run workouts are 3-5 miles with the same variance.  Swim workouts are starting at 2000-2500m (about 1.5 miles) and are also composed of drills and endurance training.  All the weight training is circuit-based where you go from one exercise to the next with little rest, then do a cycle of 5-6 exercises 3-4x through.  Pretty intense.

I'm still not sure I calculated my Lactate Threshold adequately.  This is the heart rate at which your body starts to build up lactic acid and is kind of a "peak" rate you don't want to to over.  In fact, aerobically I am supposed to be racing at least 20 beats below this.

So... I survived my first Thanksgiving two weeks into the training (made that my "off" day) and improvised a 5 mile run the day after, which actually felt pretty good (well, as good as a 5 mile run can feel).

I do feel my fitness is improving drastically each day and am really looking forward to seeing progress each week.

Swim fast, take chances!