Tar Heel 10 miler was a huge success, even if I am late in posting about it. I made the 10 miles in 1:17:45 which is a 7:45 pace, well beyond my expectations.

Have had a few 100 mile bike rides... am up to running 50 miles+ per week, and am helping out with my schools Cross Country team, which is great speed work. It is interesting work with athletes coming from a track background, where for the last year I've just gone for distance and duration with speed a non-priority. What I find is I get outpaced on the hills and I'm sure my students could outrun me, but my recovery time is excellent. A 2 minute break and I am good as new. Should be important for the Iron Man.

Well, I broke the 10% rule this week, which is generally that you should only increase your milage by 10% -- say from 10 miles to 11 miles, or 30 miles to 33 miles. I jumped from 9 miles to 33 miles. Knees are doing ok, to which I give credit to cheap patella support bands, but I've been a bit worn out so I think my body is protesting on a deeper metabolic level. I shall heed its warning.

Nice photo of my local trail.

From Drop Box

Bolin Creek Trail in chapel hill, NC. Neat blur effect on the shot. Taken while running.

The hardest run...

...is the one that hurt your ego. Running a marathon slower than intended can be a downer for some, but for me it was still a joy to finish. However, there is a training day in my regiment that I simply could not do --- run for one hour in heart zone 1 (i.e... VERY VERY SLOWLY). Not just slowly like I am out of shape, but jog more slowly than some people are walking. Maybe if I am in better shape I can move at some reasonable speed with my heart rate under 110 or so, but for now, that workout is impossible.

Why was it hard? I am somewhat embarrassed to be running that slowly, but as long as I can out-move people walking their strollers I don't feel too silly. Perhaps it is the paradox of some training routines that I need to get better used to. I still did a similar workout... just in heart rate zone 2. That was still much slower than I like, but it was very easy to maintain for 60+ minutes and I felt great afterward. I will do my utmost to follow this plan for at least 1 month.

April 10th -- Tarheel 10 Miler. Confirmed.
Goal: 8:00 pace
Realistic Goal: 8:30 pace
What will happen: 9:15 pace.

Two great days. Offroad running and on road biking.

Not a terribly fast run, but I ran in my crazy Vibram shoes and ran on mountain bike trails... This was extremely satisfying. I really enjoy dodging rocks, roots, and jumping over streams. The Vibrams made it a lot more personal... especially when stepping on sharp rocks. Finished the day by wading in bolin creek to cool off my feet and knees and clean the mud of my shoes. Good day!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/27627746


Sunday I had my first decent bike ride on my new Triathlon bike. After about 15 minutes I finally had the aero position down fairly comfortably. I'm still not in the best shape, but the 2nd half I was over 20mph most of the time and enjoyed passing many road bikes. Another good day!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/27627730

*Actually* In the training now

The running and the biking regiments have officially commenced. I'm getting out a few times a week with the running and spending at least 20 minutes a day on the bike trainer getting used to Aero position; I think I have been too far forward on the bike and that has been making things more difficult than I would like. I'm looking forward to the time when I can spend over an hour in the position without too much discomfort.

Certainly the biggest, and most welcomed, upset to the training has been the teaching. After all, I picked the Ironman goal due to all the energy I was unable to spend on teaching. Finding a balance was not something I thought I would have to do, but now I am giving it my best shot. Whether or not I will *still* be teaching in one month is unclear right now.

Back in the training

I ran 5 miles yesterday, which felt great.... no pain in the knee at all. I started a new job that had an absurd backlog of work to do which left me little time for fun. Now that is behind me the true training begins!

Just need to to last more than 30 minutes on those aerobars.