IMAZ II - 27 weeks

Totals for week: Swim 2000, Bike 36m, run 18m, about 6 hours.

After moving to Colorado Springs, CO (COS), taking off a few weeks after IMAZ April, getting over a nasty sinus infection, I have finally started training. I did ok for my first week back. My strength and stamina are not fully back yet. I joined the YMCA so I would have a place to swim. There is a nice run path near where I am staying, which makes it easy to run after work. But I still don't know my way around very well as it pertains to bike routes. There are several good routes posted on some website links. I'll just have to "go explore" as one guy put it until I get comfortable with the area. I don't mind just heading out there somewhere. But I am more concerned about finding water holes for long rides. And traffic in town is an issue. This will take some planning and experience. May have to buy a camel back.

Mon: swam for first time in just over 4 weeks from IMAZ April. Swam well and easy. The pool is pretty busy here. Lots of kids splashing around. Two people eventually got in my lane. No big deal. But one of them was a large, slow man that swam down the middle of the lane. So I had to zig zag my way around him a few times until he finally left. Stopped at 2000 yards. Swam 2:10/100 pace. Not bad for my first time back. Will build from here.

Wed: Rode my bike through the Air Force Academy. It's awe inspiring to know that I am riding through the area where we train our men/women for military duty. The ride is beautiful and quite hilly. I started out going about 32 mph with little effort. Avg'd 29 mph for the first 4m. When I turned, I realized that I had been carried by a big tailwind that was now a big cross wind. Struggled up the long, long hill to the top. Then coasted fast down the backside. It was getting cold, so I stopped at one loop, 12m, and went home.

Thurs: Good tempo run. Ran 6m at 9:28/m pace, which is good for me. Found a good rhythym and stayed with it. Didn't do any intervals. Finished strong and felt good after.

Sat: Did a tough 24m bike with 3 people. 3 is really generous because two of them dropped me in a few minutes. We started east up hill with a strong cross wind. Then turned north into the teeth of a headwind up another long, long hill. Are there any flats out here? Not many. After one hour, I had gone all of 11m and was beat. At least we turned west and went down hill some. Finally, we turned south toward home with a nice tail wind. Was in mid 30's with little effort. So I pushed it some and maxed at 40 mph! Whooo Yooo! Was toast afterward. Went home and slept. Averaged 14.4 mph for the ride. Not good.

Sun: Ran 8m. Thought that after running so well Thurs night that this would be a piece of cake. In fact, I was only going to run 6m, but changed it to 8m. Was ok through 5m, then started to struggle. Stayed with it until 6m, then slowed down the final 2m just to finish. Finished at 10:15/m pace. Not great, but a start.

Did one round of strength work this week. Will try to get in habit of doing 2 rounds per week. Everything is coming together pretty well. I just don't have a good weekday route for 2 rides of 25m or so. Really need to get outside the city to ride. Lots of traffic in the city. But it takes a while to get outside. Will have to work on that. There are several posted rides throughout the week and weekend. But after doing so poorly Sat, I will pass on the group rides and go it alone for awhile until I can keep up better.