Day 7 - One week in ...

Yesterday was a good day - I met my new coach for the year (Brendan Mims) and we had an interesting meeting in a coffee shop.  We went over my schedule - weighed the pro's and con's of each event and made some tweaks - so I will be updating my calendar shortly.

Got an hour and a half in on the bike - pushing on the big ring and the number 2 small chain (sorry I still don't know the proper terms for any cycling stuff) - pushed at 70 cadence hard for most of the movie of the day (Edge of Darkness - decent movie BTW).  My debate with myself prior to choosing a coach was this - what made the most sense for me this TRI season - getting a coach, buying a CompuTrainer, or getting a Power Meter.  A power meter runs between $1500-$2500 ... a CompuTrainer is about $1800 ... both would have been awesome for the winter sessions on the bike - and I would honestly do most of all bike sessions on the CompuTrainer if I had one.  But in regards to all around improvement and focus on my who season the coach was the way to go.  For 7 months I would spend the same as I would have for one of these products but I would have that wisdom and advice for life - I am hoping it will be money well spent.

My coach was not overly enthusiastic about my planned Marathon but he understood why I want to do it.  To me this is the scary obstacle part of the Full Ironman - how can I run a Marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 miles when I have never run close to 26.2 miles before - and in fact suffered in my half marathon after my Half Ironman.  So it's a mental thing - I need the notch in my belt but as today showed me again - I can run but I am a stupid stupid runner.

Today I was slated to run 17 miles - this would be my new "record" distance.  I know I need to run slowly in fact 1:20-1:40 slower than I plan to on race day but I can't bring myself to slow down and once again it smashed me hard.  It was at least 8 degrees warmer today then it has been in 2 weeks.  I thought I dressed lightly but by mile 8 I was getting hot.  I brought 10 ounces of water with me and three eGels and I knew by mile 5 I would need contingency water or I would fail to complete my run.

My splits were solid - I stopped my watch twice in the first 6 miles - once waiting for a train (about 2 1/2 minutes) and once to cross Sunrise Highway (another 2 minute wait).  This saved me from over heating and I was able to conserve my water.  I took in 3 ounces with an eGel at mile 7 and was down to an ounce until the 9 mile mark when I deviated off my run path to hit my Mom's house for a bathroom/water refill.  Unfortunately I was suffering some gastro intestinal distress and had my watched stopped almost 11 minutes at Mom's.  I drank 12 ounces of water and refilled my 10 ounce bottle and was back out on the road.

I was immediately FREEZING - the stop was too long and I was drenched - running into a headwind I was immediately chilled to the bone.  I over compensated by running faster - this got my HR and body temp back up but helped make the last 5 miles a complete sufferfest.  My pace was ridiculous and I knew my body was going to revolt.  I need to run properly next week or my marathon will have a poor result.  At mile 14 I was watching a bunch of FEMA trucks rolling out and ran into a yield sign - I felt like a total tool but kept running.  I then realized my bottle was really light - damn it was empty!!!  So instead of going my regular route I again deviated - this time to a park where I hoped the water fountains still worked.  Thankfully one had a tiny trickle and I filled my bottle once - drank about 4 ounces, took another eGel - drank 2 more ounces and then topped off the bottle again.  From this point to home I was shuffling then running - shuffling then running - going from 12:00m/mile average to 8:20m/mile ... seriously what the hell is my problem.

Need to fix my pacing for training because this can't be doing myself any favors (especially after looking at my Coaches plan for next week - he is calling for 17 miles at a 10:40 pace --- that will be difficult).   Looks like I am back in the pool tomorrow and will start some weight work as well this week.

Todays splits (this is purely run time - not accounting the stoppages)
Mile 1 - 8:48
Mile 2 - 8:43
Mile 3 - 8:51
Mile 4 - 8:50
Mile 5 - 8:59
Mile 6 - 8:53
Mile 7 - 8:59
Mile 8 - 8:45
Mile 9 - 8:46
Mile 10 - 8:35
Mile 11 - 8:30
Mile 12 - 8:38
Mile 13 - 8:52
Mile 14 - 9:11
Mile 15 - 9:12
Mile 16 - 9:20
Mile 17 - 9:30
Garbage time 1:51