Swim

• 45m
• 1750.00 yards
• -----

W/U:
100 easy swim
3 x 100 Kick w/ fins RI :20
---100 kick on side w/ arm extended, eyes opened
---100 kick on side w/ arm extended, eyes closed
---100 6-kick & switch (shark fin)

Main set:
3 x 50 FTIP w/ fins RI :20
(drag fingertips and slip hand into water in front of shoulder)
100 easy swim (no fins) RI :30
3 x 50 25 FTIP, 25 swim w/ fins RI :20
(on 25 swim, keep high elbow and hand close to water)
100 easy swim (no fins) RI :30
3 x 50 (25 R/ 25 L single arm, w/fins) RI :20
(keep resting arm extended forward)
100 easy swim (no fins) RI :30
3 x 50 Catch-up w/ kickboard & fins RI :20
100 easy swim (no fins)
3 x 50 Catch-up w/fins (no kickboard) RI :20

C/D: 50 SW, 50 back, 50 breast, 50 TORPEDO!

Focus on keeping high elbow and hand close to water. Extend arm in front of shoulder, not towards head or across body.

Bike

• 31m 48s
• 8.50 miles
• 16.04 Mi/hr

Preacher Road - Out and back.

I didn't have the energy to ride my 15 mile route, so I only went to the end of Preacher. I LOVE riding alone out here. There are NO cars at all; I have the ENTIRE road to myself. Going out on Preacher is a chore because it is a low steady incline. But in my mind I am thinking about the fun ride back. Because I know what goes up, must come down. And once I get to the end of Preacher and turn around, I get to lay low in the aero bars and FLY LIKE A MISSILE all the way back. So my average is like 10 going out and 22 coming back.. lol. And I'm ALL alone; just me and my bike. Perfect place for an alien abduction...

I did notice a HUGE chunk of road was blasted out like a meteor struck it. Maybe when the soldiers were practicing their bombs out there, one got away. Ha! I should have taken a pic.

Run

• 28m 01s
• 3.00 miles
• 09m 20s /Mi

Preacher Road - Brick off the bike.

I saw a little cemetary out there that I hadn't noticed before.

Swim

• 30m
• 1000.00 yards
• -----

OWS - Mott Lake easy recovery swim

Swim

• 45m
• 2000.00 yards
• 02m 15s /100 yards

White Lake OWS/Wetsuit - Dory fish from Finding Nemo still stuck in my head..... "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim!!!

Bike

• 3h 43m
• 70.00 miles
• 18.83 Mi/hr

Group ride - White Lake Sprint course followed by White Lake Half course. After we dropped off the sprint folk, there were 8 of us left, most of whom are Ironmen who would be biking at 19 to 20 mph. I've never gone more than 58 miles, nor do I have the speed these people do. I've never ridden with a group before either. My training partner, Pete, and I are still technically newbies, so what are we doing here?

Off we go in a pace line. The first 35 miles came fairly easy, then we stopped at a little store for a restroom break. But after that, we were facing a headwind and things got tougher. I planned on skipping my turn to lead since I'm the weakest biker in the group, but as each leader dropped back, I eventually found myself at the front of the paceline. I was still maintaining the 18 to 19 we had been doing so I decided to hang up front for a few minutes just to see what it's like to lead a paceline. Then I realized I'm leading all the Ironfolk! But that was quite brief as I decided to fall back into draft zone. I worked my way back to the front again and decided to the lead a bit longer this time, but by now the headwind was fairly strong so after a few minutes, I fell back again.

When I fell to the back, I realized Pete had been dropped, and I could not get a good look back to see how far back he fell. We had gone about 55 miles by now. Since we were down to the last 15 miles, I figured he'd be alright so I stayed with the group. Then another guy got dropped. Then the lady in front of me started to slow, which dropped the two of us from the lead pack. Now I was depending on her because I knew she was an Ironman and she had been pulling me most of the way as it was. I admit I was hanging on to her back wheel for dear life at this point because I was DONE at about the 60 mile mark. I considered dropping, but determination kept me hanging on. But bless her heart, she could not take the headwind any longer, so she dropped back leaving me to pull her. I didn't think I could do it, but I somehow continued to maintain 18+. She caught her breath then took the lead again. I apologized and told her that I'm sorry I'm not much help, but she said I was doing fine. She finally tired again and dropped back, so we took turns pulling until we caught up with one other person from our group and the three of us pulled into where we started not far behind the lead pack.

But Pete was nowhere to be seen, nor was the other guy who got dropped. I went ahead and racked my bike and got my running shoes when finally the other guy showed up but said he never even saw Pete. I wasn't sure if I should try to go check on him, or let him just soldier in on his own; but he did not know which way we were going to run. I decided to start the run and only go a half mile or so, then turn back to see if he had returned; and if not I'd go out to check for him. But as I headed back, I finally saw him coming on the run, so I got him pointed in the right direction and off we went.

Run

• 41m
• 4.00 miles
• 10m 15s /Mi

By now we had swum 2000 yards, biked 70 miles, and the sun was nice and HOT! I was unable to keep a <10 pace in the heat so I just shuffled along as best I could. All I could think about was... I have to run 13.1 miles in this heat on race day! I only managed 4 miles when I decided that enough is enough. The coach only told me to run 45 min and I was close enough and I was simply DONE.

I will definitely use a fuel belt on race day and I'm putting electrolytes in every water bottle. I was hoping to keep a 10 pace on race day, but I don't think that is going to happen. My legs actaully felt good off the bike, but I just had no energy left to run with the added burden of the heat.

Looking back at my heart rate, I was obviously not over-exerting myself. Perhaps it will take more mental effort than physical. If I can just stay hydrated, surely I can do it.

The best part was after ALL that training we jumped back in the lake!  NO wetsuits this time... Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!  But it sure felt good to cool off.  This was an awesome training day and I felt pretty good the whole way... well up until the run was so hot.  I guess I'm about as ready as I'm going to get at this point and race day is 3 weeks away!!!

OWS again tomorrow!  But this will be a short recovery swim.

Swim

• 30m
• 1300.00 yards
• -----

W/U:
100 easy swim
2 x 100 Kick w/ fins RI :20
---100 kick on side w/ arm extended, eyes opened
---100 kick on side w/ arm extended, eyes closed

Main set:
2 x 50 FTIP w/ fins RI :20
(drag fingertips and slip hand into water in front of shoulder)
100 easy swim (no fins) RI :30
2 x 50 25 FTIP, 25 swim w/ fins RI :20
(on 25 swim, keep high elbow and hand close to water)
100 easy swim (no fins) RI :30
2 x 50 (25 R/ 25 L single arm, w/fins) RI :20
(keep resting arm extended forward)
100 easy swim (no fins) RI :30
2 x 50 Catch-up w/fins RI :20
100 easy swim (no fins)
2 x 50 Catch-up w/fins (no kickboard) RI :20

C/D: 50 breast, 50 back

Focus on keeping high elbow and hand close to water. Extend arm in front of shoulder, not towards head or across body.

Run

• 2h 17m 34s
• 14.12 miles
• 09m 44s /Mi

Finally ventured into new territory beyond the half mary distance.

Bike

• 56m 43s
• 15.24 miles
• 16.09 Mi/hr

Chicken Road - This is out in the desolate land of the Ft. Bragg military reservation. There I was, riding along, when I heard M16 machine gun fire. As I rode, it got louder. Then all of a sudden I head the music from Snoopy and the Red Baron! ...and of course, I became Snoopy flying on top of his doghouse. The shots got even louder as I approached the enemy crouched down low in aero position. I increased engine power and flew by the gunfire SO FAST the NOT ONE bullet hit me! Ok, so it wasn't really the Red Baron, it was soldiers out practicing at a firing range. But it was fun to be Snoopy...

Run

• 28m 15s
• 3.00 miles
• 09m 25s /Mi

Brick off the bike. I was one of those soldiers running in formation... you're left, your left, your left, right, left!!!

Strength

• 30m