IM - 3 weeks

Totals for week: Swim 4200 yards, Bike 70m, Run 24m.

Took off Mon, Tues, and Wed due to fatigue and needing some rest.

Thurs, had a good easy 6m run. Temps were great. Not too fast or slow. Fri, had a good swim. Did some long intervals (500 and 1000 yds.) Sat, biked 70m. Legs just didn't seem to have any push to them. I tried to stay slow, in the 15's, but seemed to fade after 3 hours or so. Am thinking I need to take in more calories before and during workouts and maybe something solid somewhere along the way. Will check with the coach this week about that. Sun, ran 18m. Ran well through 9m, then IT bands began to play in stereo. Stopped to drink water and stretch. Resumed running through 12m ok, then IT bands started to hurt again. Kept running and did not stop. Stopped at 15m for water and stretching. Resumed running ok. Last couple of miles were tough, mainly some hills.

I was pretty beat up Sunday night. My feet, knees, and back were hurting badly. Could barely walk. Took two bottles of recovery drink after run. Feeling better Mon am, but canceled the polar bear swim on Mon night. Too tired and too cold for that.

Will take off Mon and maybe Tues before resuming workouts. Have one more long ride this Sat. Supposed to do 100m. Will see how it goes. Run will be 10-12m on Sunday.

Wish I could do the Ironman over a 3 day period. Swim Fri. Bike Sat. Run Sun. I could handle that ok, but doing them all in one day is going to be tough! Plan to swim slow, bike slower, and run easy. Will try to swim in 1:30 and run marathon in 5:00. The bike is a big question mark. Depends on heat and headwinds. Temps now in Tempe are in 80's, so it will be toasty, more than my body is used to at this time of year. It could be a meltdown like Gulf Coast. Only, I will swim and bike MUCH slower than at Gulf Coast trying to conserve energy. Will fuel better too.

Nothing I can do about it now except get it done and get it over with! Then rest and start training for IMAZ Nov. At this point, breaking 14 hours seems like a longshot. I would take a sub 15:00 right now, learn from it, and try to better that in Nov. Although I am in much better shape now than 6 months ago, I should be in even much better shape by this Nov. I'll be able to bike outside all summer in the heat, build up my miles, endurance, stamina, etc... Same for the run too.