Will take complete stats later. Of note, I'm really going to have to schedule evening time a bit differently. Can't keep depriving myself of sleep and hope for the body to recover. Now, first up a morning swim at Ft D outdoor pool. I decided to go to Ft D for a few reasons but the major one was time. It was just easier to go to Ft D and work out the rest of my day's time accordingly. But, I only had about 30 min. So, decided on a continuous swim. Did okay but usually feel like I'm struggling a bit later. Time was decent without a wetsuit and may actually be better if this is really meters instead of yards. Timed the distance pretty well and caught my train in enough time. Will do a bike session after work. Later... Stats taken after ride, %water 60.2. So would mystery pain #2 please sign in? Actually not so much of a mystery as why? Think my dorsi flexor, left foot, went into spasms unexpectedly while I was standing in an elevator of all things. A small wave of pain and weakness, then gone. This continued in a subdued way and mostly off on the way home and on the ride. Didn't really bother me per se, but it's worrisome. This is the same area I've had problems off and on with since I injured it training for the JFK (sigh). I guess the better news is that my big toe area is better but still a bit sore. So tomorrow calls for a bit of intervals and due to both of these issue, think I'll do those on the treadmill at the gym so I can have a better landing surface and gauge how things feel. I'm also going to tape the area to supply support and compression. Icing the area as I type this entry. The ride went okay and I did 15 min warm up with 7 x 1 min hard (mostly standing/climbing) but pushing, then 1 min recovery. Finished out the rest of the ride riding normal. Tomorrow: weights and then will first attempt intervals on the treadmill, then a shorter perimeter run at Ft D. If I find the intervals too difficult, I'll finish the workout on the Elliptical. Sat: morning OWS and then hopefully a brick on the WMRT. Will have to evaluate my left foot. Sun: weights and then recovery run on the C&O, evaluating left foot. Mon: rest If I need to, I will switch to doing the Elliptical instead of runs until I'm confident I can run again. I'm also strongly considering get a pair of the K Swiss Tubes 100 that I had previously last year that may have helped propel me on a few races, including Eagleman.

Just a note that I really dislike mystery pains ("would you please sign in?" ;) ). Felt okay after intervals, but woke up with left big toe joint area hurting a bit with some pressure. Well, hopefully couple down days will help that but I'll try to take Friday's intervals a bit "easier", i.e. no z5 work. For today, I decided should be an easy recovery day and will spin on my trainer while watching a movie. Think getting RPM up 90-100 might be in order but again, real easy today...let things heal. On another note, my planned training for today will happen to work out better than I thought as I gave blood today and they said no strenuous exercise for the rest of the day. So, watching a movie while spinning on the bike it is :)! Oh, and the REAL reason I gave blood ;) More later... Nothing really exciting..as planned, easy spin on my trainer while watching a movie. Try for a morning swim and afternoon bike with intervals on Thursday Attempt repeat of Tues on Friday Sat: morning OWS and brick on WMRT Sun: weights and easy recovery run 1:15+ z1/z2

Woke up early and rain is moving in. Debated if I should go to the gym, perhaps run, and then attempt to swim. But, more than likely, pool would be closed due to the rain. Don't know for sure and I'll have to ask what their policy is next time. Gosh, how I dislike the outdoor pool! So bagging the swim today unless it clears up later. Traded this for a bit more sleep and will go to the gym after work later today for weights and run. Swim if I can, but may just wait now until Thurs and attempt to swim at Navy Bethesda. More later... Stats taken before dinner, %water 59.6. Turns out the pool might've been open. Well, that's okay as things worked out better time-wise overall. So, after work, headed over to the gym. Rain FINALLY ended just as I was getting ready to go. But, it was HUMID! So, first did my strength work and then headed out on the 7.1 mile loop at Ft D because that would take me around an hour for the entire run. BIF2 plan called for 10 min w/u in Z2 and then 5 x 1 min Z4 with 1 min recovery in between. Finish the run in Z2. Well, this was similar to the interval work I did last week and 5 seemed too little as I'm now prepping for Muncie. So added 5 more...fun, huh? Took it a bit too fast and hit Z5a. It's okay..didn't last. Now remember that it's humid? Well, I was definitely leaving a trail of puddles as I moved along! With the humidity and a bit of heat, it was tough to stay in Z2 after the intervals for the rest of the way. But, got back okay. Shirt was drenched! Two notes - lower right side is still bothering me and I guess it's because I'm not really taking any time off to really let it heal. Only really bothers me when I run. I've gotten through worse. Also left Achilles acting up and I'll ice it this evening. Wed - easy bike ride or spin on the trainer Thur - will attempt a morning swim at Navy Bethesda and then at least a 1 hour bike. After 0:15 into the ride, 5 x 1 min pickups w/1 min recovery easy spin. Fri - repeat of today Sat - OWS morning swim and then brick on the WMRT Sun - possibly weights at the gym and then 1:15 or so recovery run at Z1-Z2. Mon - rest

Rest day today and I do need it although I'm feeling decent enough this morning. Not a restful sleep as my legs kept cramping. Stats taken after work and before dinner, %water 60.5. Now, this is how my weight, %BF, and %water stats should be going. Going to try hard to continue to get that %BF down along with weight. Just checking my BIF2 book plan for the IM distance and it seems I should be in week 11, the first week of the Build Phase. I've already started to introduce some interval work to prep for Muncie and this phase is where that happens. So, I'll continue with having interval work on the bike and run, perhaps following more of the plan than I've been. In prep for Muncie, though, I still need to do the long bricks on the weekends I feel, until I at least get past that race. So plan for rest of week: Tomorrow: Early morning weights and swim. I need to increase my overall swim distance up in the 2000+ yard range if I can. Now tomorrow is highly dependent on the weather as it's supposed to rain/storm. If I can't swim, I will do weights and run later in the day. Run will be an interval session of 1 hour overall with first 10 min in Z2, then 5 x 1 min in Z4 followed by 1 min jog to recover. Finish rest of run in Z2. Wed: Plan calls for brick but think I'll just do an easy ride in the valley Thurs: I may attempt to do a swim at Navy Bethesda because of Fri and Sat plans...then if weather holds, 1 hour interval ride. Will do inside on the trainer if necessary. Fri: weights and run, repeating Tuesday run plan Sat: OWS practice at Ft Ritchie, followed by brick workout on WMRT OR Route 67 for some hills. Sun: weights followed by early morning recovery run Z1-Z2 1:15 or perhaps a bit more...see about the C&O.

Quick note...while more than likely I'm going out for my long brick and other training today, my headache from yesterday blossomed into a full migraine in the late evening. First migraine med didn't help and I suspect it was because it was old. Second shot did and I was finally able to get some sleep. But sleep overall was pretty bad. I'm much better relatively speaking as I write this but I'm not going to be 100%. Still, this type of stuff can happen come race day. I am going to take it real easy on the brick and not worry about speed unless I feel up to things later. Heat will be on too. Good thing I'm not racing in Eagleman today. Stats before today's training - wgt 160, %BF 18.6, %water 59.4. And BTW, it is 90 at 11 AM in Frederick. I don't think I'll have a problem on the bike but I will be real careful on the run. Taking appropriate precautions with all sorts of cooling aids. Will stop at that convenient store in Walkersville as well I think. Gosh, wish me luck. More later... Stats taken after I got home from all the workouts, %water 59.2. Looks like I probably lost nearly 8 lbs in water...ya think I'm a bit dehydrated? WELLLLL! The heat is ON TODAY! WHEW!! As planned, did a brick today of 52+ miles on the tri bike and 9+ miles on the run, all on 194. This is good training and acclimation for Muncie as there are rollers on the bike and run with little shade on 194. Now as there's no support here and it's hot, I do stop at the halfway point on the bike at Littlestown, PA. There's a Sheetz there and I take a quick break to rehydrate and use the facilities if needed. Then head back for the return trip. Now as I didn't sleep very well, had a bad migraine, did hill work on the bike yesterday, and it was hot, I wasn't going to push the bike today. While I had tailwind going out, I couldn't seem to take advantage of it. And of course, it was a headwind going back. But, can't complain and it's good training. Got back in just under 3 hours. Then transition to the run. For cooling aids, I have my cooling jersey, my wetted towel, and a pad used in construction workers helmets which I wet to keep me cool there. Still, it's probably the hottest part of the day, there're very few clouds, there's little shade on 194, and I'm on asphalt that's been taking the full sun all day. Plus there's no support here like in a real race. So, I'm taking things pretty easy here for the 9 miles I have planned. In order to cool down a bit on the way back, I'll stop at this convenient mart/gas station I stopped at last year doing this brick. I was actually doing okay up until around 3.5 miles. Then the heat started to get to me on this last mile til the turn around. I was still moving okay but I had to maintain concentration here. I was so glad to turn around because that headwind hit me and helped cool me the entire way back. Heart rate is definitely up there though due to the heat and the riding I did earlier. Wipe my face and arms every now and then and take in full strength Powerade. Finally, time to stop a bit at the mart....but...it's CLOSED! Well, I decided to stop a bit in the shade nearby and let my HR come down, attempt to cool off a bit. Now there's a McDonalds nearby and I decided just to run up to it, use the facilities, cool down a bit, and take in some water/electrolytes. I refill my bottle too just in case, though I'm less than 2 miles from finishing the run. And there's a bit more shade on this part through Walkersville. Finally see the last hill and the Sheetz that's across the street from where I parked and finish the run shortly thereafter....WHEW! Now, my HR monitor doesn't store the info and I forgot to write it down. I thought perhaps I saw 1:27:44, but I can't remember and the info's gone. So, I estimated it at 1:30. It's in the ballpark. Now I'm not done yet...drove to Ft D to use the outside pool for a quick swim session. OH MAN - did the water feel GOOD! Just a short ~1000 yards as the main session since I'm pretty tired. And actually swimming after such effort feels good but tends to cramp my legs because of the cold and I'm also dehydrated/low on electrolytes. That happened after I was done with the main session and I had to stop my cool down to ease the cramp out of my quads. Headed home to refuel, rehydrate, and relax. Tomorrow - REST! Think I earned it. Have to check BIF book to see where I should be at and perhaps pick that back up during the week as much as possible. More on the week's plan tomorrow.

Stats taken after ride, %water 59.4. Got morning chores done and as I have a long brick tomorrow scheduled plus a family obligation later this afternoon, decided that a 30 mile route would just about be right timing-wise for today. I was going to do the Washington Co figure 8 but then decided that perhaps more hills were in order today. So, I did the Wolfsville figure 8 instead. A good number of climbs here with some screaming downhills. And what a day for the ride!! It was in the 80s when I started but there was a nice breeze and humidity didn't really seem like it was up there as much as it could be. Bright sunshine too! And the first part of the ride turned out to be interesting too. First, I met up with a couple on a recumbent tandem. They were from Bethesda and I admired their perseverance at doing these hills in a recumbent tandem. Talked for just a bit and then said goodbye as they were moving a might slower than me. Then, I saw up ahead two kids waving signs and yelling at the cars going by...yup..lemonade stand: Well though it was still early in the ride and I really could've used this later, I couldn't resist and fetched the $1 in change out of my bento box. They were raising money for some sort of Hunger charity. Mom came out and said thanks for stopping.. no problem. Then headed on my way. Not too long after, I saw a cyclist walking out from a service station towards the road and then I recognized him - Kip Jawish from our club! Said "Hey Kip!" and he was a might shocked to see me there. Turns out he and a couple of other triathletes were training for Coeur d'Alene and out doing hillwork today too. Chatted for a bit about racing and then on my way again. So the real hillwork starts after Wolfsville and I decided to try all the hills/climbs I could in my middle chainring, biggest back cog. This worked okay until I got to Garfield. I still did it but gosh it was tough here and reached max HR indicated. Then got to the big rolling mostly downhills on the way back. On Pleasant Walk, there's a big screaming downhill and I reached 43.6 mph on that one! Yee HAW!! Then just taking the rolling terrain after that. Good ride on a great day... the only fly in the ointment was I had a nagging headache during all of this. Still do as I write the entry. Hopefully, that will go away a bit later, but may have to take a migraine med. Tomorrow - long brick 52/9 on 194. Going to have to take it easy in the heat. Also may end up at the pool for a cool down swim Monday - rest Will plan rest of week on Monday.

Stats taken after workout, %water 58.5 (hence why %BF is up today). I have too many things to do this afternoon and needed to get back to work a bit earlier than I normally would today. So, I decided to hit the gym very early for my strength training routine and then go out for my run. My right side ab area is still complaining, so I had to take abs a bit easy today. But cable routine went okay. Then out for my run. Sun is just coming up as I start and decided to reverse loop the 7.1 mile route at Ft D. As I'm out early on the loop, the troops are out running in formation calling out cadence...neat! This was a easy recovery run from the 2 interval days (run and bike). Feeling pretty good but know I shouldn't be pushing it today. Done with run and move onto the swim. Water is 72 today. I considered wearing my wetsuit but put on a swim cap as I thought that would help keep me a bit warmer. Decided today to do a continuous swim to see how I was doing. Lost count a bit in the beginning but think I got the distance. Was going to go 24 laps but then decided on one more so I could ensure I was somewhere close to a mile. Some folks have said its 33 m per length and others have said yards. Well no matter, still around a mile. Not a bad time for me without a wetsuit. Tomorrow, I'm hoping I can get a ride in sometime in the late morning as I have a late afternoon family obligation Sunday: I think I may do my brick first and then head to the gym/pool after that. The pool stays open until 8 but doesn't open until 11. It would be better to do the brick first in this case and "cool" down with a swim session. Monday: rest!