Lots of news and a big training month

It's been a big couple of weeks with lots of interesting news. I've had some great workouts, I picked up a team sponsorship and there is a very good chance that I'll be getting some coverage on Ironman.com Live on race day.

I'm going to be competing for Team Zoot GU. Zoot is a major triathlon apparel company and GU makes the gooey stuff that keeps you moving during training and racing.

My coach Shawn Skene who does web development for several triathletes websites also does race day coverage on the web for Ironman.com at some events. He's confirmed that he'll be doing the coverage for Ironman Coeur d'Alene and that I should expect to get coverage on race day (win, lose or melt down), no pressure right. I'm also stoked that he'll be at the race.

I just finished off a great week of training. It was a lower volume week this week, but that is all relative however. It was a little over 9 hours of training this week. My leg has been feeling much better, it's still a little stiff after my hard run days but in general I'm remembering how it feels to train without pain and it's nice.

I'm already starting to understand how this year is going to differ (or already differs from last year) and all I need to do is look at the numbers. Here's the breakdown. This past month I completed 38 workouts totaling 40 hours. In comparison the same month last year I did 25 workouts totaling 26 hours. Actually I did more workouts and hours of training last month than I did in any month leading up the the Ironman last year. Did I mention it's only the beginning of February!!!

In particular I logged 311 miles on the bike and/or trainer which is less than last year but unlike last year my long rides have been outdoors which are so much tougher (not too mention colder and wet, especially this winter). I ran 117 miles last month compared to 86 miles last year and I'm running faster and doing much more focused running than last year. The big one is the swim last year 2.9 miles of swimming, this year 16.4 miles. I don't even want to know the difference in speed, but for reference today I did a short swim workout with 2 x 800 yds. With a moderate effort I was swimming a pace that would put me in around one hour for the swim (last year 1:15), and yes we still have 4 1/2 months till the big race, I'm so excited about the potential in the water.

I'm putting my final plans on fund raising for Charley's Fund for this year, looking forward to a few more cold and wet weeks of training before my trip to Tucson for training camp.

I'll post again soon.