IronMan™ in April 2008
Swim 2.4 miles,
bike 112 miles,
run 26.2 miles,
brag for the rest of your life.
John Collins - Founder of the Ironman triathlon
The background story is here on Kevin's blog
So, I thought I'd put together a quick page to track my thoughts and training progress. This is it.
Training Notes:
20040830 Wed - FINISHED! Aww yeah, it took me almost 2 hours of riding around after work to get the mileage I needed (I underestimated my planned route home), but I did it. Thanks again to Kevin for organizing this, and thanks to Pak for swimming for me.
20080430 Wed - Last day for IMIA. I rode in this morning, adding another 4.6miles. I'm at 84%, with 17.8 miles remaining for my ride this afternoon.
20080429 Tue - Took a different bus with a friend from work so I could walk the last mile home. 100% on the running now. I was going to go for a ride when I got home too, but it wasn't just the tube I blew out in the bike, it was the tire too. I put on a replacement, and realized it's wire had gotten bent during shipping and it wouldn't sit on the rim. There was nothing I could do to fix it so I had to chunk it :( I used my last remaining tire (I have odd sized rims) and that one stayed mounted, but I didn't go out. I watched the Spurs beat Phoenix.
20080428 Mon - Originally I was going to ride to work today, but I overslept (again, although just slightly) and realized I had a flat tire. So, I took the bus to work knowing I'd have to go on a jog when I got home.
Using Gmap Pedometer I plotted out some of my easier (flat) runs that were about 3 miles long. I thought about extending it a bit thinking, well, if I could get as close to 6 miles as possible it'd be great. But, I also knew that running close to 10k would blow my knees out.
I wound up deciding on a route to and through part of Golden Gate Park and back home. But during that jog, when I reached the point where I should have turned back I thought- "hrm . . . I should run all the way to the beach (or try at least) and then back up Fulton until my knees blow out, then I can take the bus home to 8th and walk from Fulton to Cali."
And for some reason, I actually did it. I was just glad I had my jacket on, because it was cold, windy and wet-foggy for at least half the run, but clearer towards the water. Sure enough, my knees were killing me by the time I got there and as I started to come up Fulton, I knew I could only go a few more blocks (to the next bus stop).
So, I hopped on the bus, got off at 8th, and then ran the additional .89 miles back to the apartment.
Here's the route I took. It's 4.89 miles, giving me a total of 5.78 miles for the day. That means I'm at 25.7 total.
Uggh, I'm short half a mile. I wish I had known that, I would've tried to go another half mile. I'll do it tomorrow or Wednesday depending on how my knees are.
20080427 Sun - Wow, what great weather we're finally having in SF! Went on a great ride today, 22.5 miles through Golden Gate Park, down to the beach and down to the Lake. I did some extra rolling around once I got back up to the Panhandle, and then back down towards the De Young to check out some dancers:
You know what though? My ride was aweseome (in the Eddie Izzard sense of the word)- only slight wind, I went early enough to avoid any "heat" (heh, SF heat) and I'm in better riding shape so I was able to haul ass a bit more than I'm used to.
But here's the thing- when I was checking my bike pre-ride (tires, chain, etc), I realized the plastic guard thing that sits between the freewheel and the spokes was broken and was kind of stuck between them. I broke the rest of the plastic out of there and realized that suddenly my wheel spun much more easily.
Now I'm wondering when the hell it broke and got stuck down there. Could earlier rides have been easier, or was today just a great all-around ride due to me getting in slightly better shape and having no wind?
btw- I'm not saying I'm in shape, I originally wanted to go 35 miles, but my legs were getting tired. At least I didn't have to "granny-gear" it as much as I do when I go in the Presidio. Wheeeee.
I'm at 80% for my riding. . . . I have 22.4 miles left for IMIA.
20080424 Thr- My legs were still a bit sore from Tuesday's jog, but I managed to do a 3 mile jog from Lake St to Arguello, to the Park and then back down 8th . . . I still had to break it up with some walks, but like the riding, I feel like I'm making progress.
20080422 Tue - Although I didn't feel like it, I put on my running shoes and headed for my "flat route" on Lake St. Although I still had to do some walking, I pushed myself to go a bit further than my lazy ass really wanted to go. Due to that I somehow managed to do a 4 mile jog that I didn't think I was capable of. I thought I'd beat the rain too, but as I was coming out of the golf course steps at 33rd Ave & Cali, I knew I'd get drenched. But hey, I made it. . .
This isn't exact, but gmap-pedometer.com isn't working for me right now. my route
20080421 Mon - Rode to work and home. Took the normal route to work, took the "long" way home. The long way is like what I wrote below- embarcadero to presidio, over the hills and down to home. It was about 15 miles today, which takes me to 60% on the riding with 9 days left in the month. It was freaking windy today too.
20080420 Sun - Whoops, I slipped up this week. That's okay, I can still do it- adding 2.8 miles to my running. Running notes: it took too long for my legs to feel warmed up, left shin was tightening up. I think just changing the course slightly to run slightly uphill towards the park was enough to affect my legs :( 20080415 Tues - I rode to work (4.58) and then to get extra mileage, rode the long way home-- from work all along the Embarcadero, Bay(?) to Ft Mason, Crissy Field, to Lincoln and up through the Presidio to Kobbe to the Golf Course to the Arguello Gate. 13.79m for the day. 20080413 Sun - I went for a nice 40 min interval jog. Intervals is a nice way of saying that I jogged, but walked as well. Added just over 3mi to my running section. 20080412 SAT - Well, I'm not sure if this was a good idea or not, but I went out for a ride today in the ... wait for it . . . . SUN! I don't care if I've been recovering from a sore throat/cold, I had to get out. I rode down to the bank, did some other errands and almost thought about giving up after 2 miles because I felt horrible. But I rolled on through to the panhandle and park, then made it to the beach to meet Julie near Java Beach(?). After a well-earned Stella and some conversation, I took a nice ride back through the bark and came back home. 11.8m 20080408 Tues - I definitely have a cold and I feel like ass. I'm not training today. I will be cleaning up the apartment and doing laundry- hopefully I'll be able to go to bed at 9, I just feel beat. 20080407 Mon - I walked home from work - 4.5x miles took a while too. I think I caught a cold from someone at work, not feeling too hot. 20080406 Sun - Rest 20080405 Sat - A nice sunny, but blustery windy day in SF. I needed a long ride today, and got one- 18.81 miles
I thought I was being clever by doing my "ob-lake merced" route as I'd have the wind at my back on the way home in the park. No o o o o that wasn't the case. The wind was in my face (sandy wind too) for half of the ride. At times it was all I could do to ride just over 8 mph. But, once I got in the park on the way back, it was nice and I made it up the hills to get home. It is nice out too. Lake Merced is always nice to roll a bike around too.
20080404 Fri - Day of rest. I have some work tasks (and a happy hour) today that prevent me from riding. My knees are okay and my left shin isn't tight today (I was worried about that post-jog). I rested
20080403 Thur - I didn't ride to work, we had an early morning "all hands". But I jog/walked 2.6 miles this evening on my "flat n easy" course on Lake St.
20080402 Wed - I'm sore today. And a bit chafed :( but more importantly, Pak, my swimming partner, swam 4000m this morning. So I can update that little bar graph to 100% now. I rested
20080401 Tue - holy crap the ride home was hard and took forever. seemed to be straight into the wind and all uphill . . . hopefully over time I'll get faster on the way home
20080401 Tue - weighed in, actually woke up at the desired time- rode in 4.57 miles - took forever, but then again, I'm out of shape and hills are my kryptonite. but I made it without stopping - hopefully going home won't be bad. But going home is all uphill into the wind, but there's a shower at home. goals when riding:
1) stay on the hoods
2) scrape the mud 20080331 Mon - tires held pressure overnight, seem okay. lubed chain. checked the batteries in the lights
20080330 Sun - I did a quick visual inspection of my bike. Things look okay. I'll probably need new brake pads at the end of the month.
20080330 Sun - I need to check in with Pak for swimming plans for the week. For those that don't know, Pak's doing the swimming part for me so I can just do the biking and running.
fyi - I took the css stylesheet for this page from oswd.org
