Boston Update 2

It's Monday evening and training today consisted of an early swim that was one of the hardest I have ever done. Whew! But quite an accomplishment to get through it. Also, this evening I did a 20 mile spin on the trainer. Feel pretty good and felt today's training goals were met. Hip feels better.

An interesting thing happened during the swim this morning. One of the drills that we did called for us to swim a series of 25's, I think around 25 of them, using fins. I was really moving as we had four people in our lane spaced out by about 5 seconds. Towards the end of one of the 25's I literally swam right over the top of one of the people in my lane. Oops! Not a good thing to do in the pool kingdom. I was not a real popular person after that. So apologies were made and we continued on. I think I have more to learn about Ironman training than just swimming.

Today prior to the swim I had 1/2 of a banana and some natural peanut butter on whole wheat crackers plus my Hammer Nutrition supplements. During the swim I had Hammer Heed mixed with water. I also run and cycle with Heed too. After the training swim I had a bottle of Hammer Whey Protein and the rest of the peanut butter crackers. Morning snack consisted of a banana and a bottle of Hammer Soy Protein mixed with Tart Chery juice and water. For lunch today I had a flatbread sandwich with hard boiled eggs and pickle relish with two oranges. Afternoon snack was a protein bar that I make. After my spin tonight I had Hammer Recoverite and then about 45min later I had another shake that was made from Gold Standard Natural Casein mixed with water and a banana. This evenings snack will be pumpkin seeds, almonds, and an apple. That's the foods for today plus the Hammer supplements that I take.

Today's Boston packing prep was getting the travel packs of all of the powdered products organized. All of the ones I mentioned above come in single serving packets that travel much better. I also take mixing bottles and we always request a refrigerator for the hotel room. I have estimated all of what I need for the days we are in Boston plus race day needs. During the race I wear a belt that I can carry little plastic bottles filled with Heed and Perpetuem plus a pouch for my GU Chomps and in race supplements. One of the suitcases we take is all food and supplements. Go figure.

This was a little better day for the Boston Butterflies. I seemed to be more confident since I worked on race strategies and looked at the course elevations last night. I am looking at this point at trying for a 4:10 to 4 :20 race. I also want to enjoy the race too. Tonight I will work on things I need to get at the Expo and questions I need to ask when I am there.

Tomorrow will start out with a breakfast of 7 egg whites with a veggie mix, folowed by the same foods as today. I only vary my breakfasts at this point. All else is the same including quantities. The afternoon training run will consist of an easy 15 minute warm-up, followed by 8 half mile segments with a 3-4 minute jog in between. The odd number 1/2's will be done at my 3 mile Time Trial pace and the even number 1/2's will be done at the 3 mile Time Trial pace + 30 seconds. After the run I'll do a 15 mile spin and then repeat the evening nutrition.

So that's it for today. I'll leave you with this question. Do runners really carbo load by eating rolls off of the room service trays left in the halls at hotels? Hummmm.

Forward we go! May your roads, trails, and pools be happy and safe and bring you peace of mind.