70 miles on the bike. That is a long way but only 42 more miles to go. Today I did a 4 Hr ride at Terry Hershey and kept my pace at 18 mph. All in all it went by really fast. I made 3-1/2 laps out and back. The wind was coming out of the south at 15 mph which I thought would be a good time to try out the new aero helmet. I was impressed with how well the helmet works. It takes all of the wind off your chest and you can feel it roll down your back. The long rides take a lot out of you. I had three bottles of drink and two cliff bars. It is getting more and more important to keep eating during and after the ride to keep energy for the rest of the week.   

Took the day off--not really on purpose. I want to the MAC to swim but the pool closed at 8:00 and we were a little late. This is the first day that I missed since I started MAO. I think it will be OK. My shoulder needs the rest. And after all it is just working out.

Got home later from work and did my 50 min run. I felt like pushing the pace and was able to hold my HR down below 155 for about 25 min while keeping a 8:20. After 25 min I had to start to slow a bit to stop my HR from rising. All in all it was a good run and finished with 5.5 miles run and 8:58 avg pace. I was pleased with the run but my calves did start to hurt halfway into the run. It is fun to start to see the improvement that happens each week. I can really tell if I take some time off to recover fully I will come back so strong. The endurance is really starting to build on itself and in 3 weeks I will start the speed workouts, which will be cool to see my pace start to drop even more. Training really takes a lot of time but it is starting to pay off. I just hope it will when it comes time to race.

Had a 1:15 ride on the trainer this morning. For running 12 miles yesterday legs were working pretty good. Took some time to get them warmed up but held 17.5 MPH even with a 15 min cool down at the end. I was riding at 18 with a cad of 85 for most of the ride.

For being so cold outside the water was just warm enough. My right shoulder has started to hurt and has been the last couple of swims. Just stretching it helps, but if it gets worse my back of swimming for a week.

2500 meters

Warm up 200 easy. Main set (300 pull on 20 sec rest, 3x150 swim on 30 sec rest)x3. Warm down 50 easy.

Brought in the New Year with a 12 mile run. It was fun had my own personal aid station (Lisa). She rode alongside me on her bike for most of the 2 hrs only every now and then speeding up to practice getting the cadence up. The pace was not bad at all, and I was happy to be able to keep my starting pace the same all the way through 10:02. I ran over at Terry Hershey which was good to get some change. Everything felt great it was noy  till mile 9 that there was even slight discomfort my knees, just start to get stiff.

So I finished my long swim workout this afternoon instead of the 2 hr bike. It was well worth it. That is the farthest I have ever swum and man was I getting drained. I don't think that I have recovered from the long bike and run on Sat. Got to go take a nap cause we are going over to the Larkins for a New Years party. Hope staying up later doesn't throw the rest of the week out of whack.

3000 Meters

Warm up 300 easy. 8x50, 2 each stroke on 20 sec rest. 4x125 on 30 sec rest. Main Set 6x300 on 45 sec rest. 2 straight, 2 broken at 150 for 20 sec, 2 broken at the 100 for 10 sec.

Yesterday's workout hit me hard today. I was able to finish my 1 hr run with no problem and even went to the gym to swim but was not feeling it. I had to stop early but felt that it was better to stop than to not make it fun and overdo it. This is the first time that I have decided not to finish a workout and I think I'm just going to do it on Monday and not do my moderate bike ride. It is better to get in the long endurance than the bike. Now I just feel like sleeping for two days straight. I'm getting tired.

Wow found another great place to ride. It is only 20 miles a lap but it is fun. It is the part of Terry Hershey Park that runs from Highway 6 to Cinco Ranch. Today I did three laps taking me 1:10 to finsh one. It worked out perfect because I needed to ride for 3:30 and the three laps got good time and distance. I kept my cad. at 90 RPM and speed at 17.5 which was good pacing because I rode at that speed the whole time. After riding I laced up my shoes for the second brick workout so far. Man those hurt. For some reason my muscles in my legs are just killing me. This time my right foot was frozen so I could not even feel it touch the ground. It was hard but I still ran at a 9:22 pace giving me 3.2 miles. Tomorrow wraps up week five. It is going by so fast.

Got off work real late 6:00 and was tired but was able to finish. I had doubts going into it if I would stop early but I didnt want to cheat myself. It was an easy workout and the sets went by fast.

2500 meters

Warm up 100,200,300,200,100 on rest of 15 sec/100. Main Set (3x50 fast on 5 sec rest, 1x100 easy on 1 min rest)x4. 10x25 fast on evens on 20 sec rest. Warm down 350 easy

1 Hr Trainer ride this morning on the new bike. Was able to use the garmin to give speed and distance read out (17 MPH), I like it because the screen is large and easy to see. While riding I also watched a show that has a clip on the Western States 100. For the second workout of the day I came home and put on my running shoes and put in 5.3 miles in 50 mins.Got my avg. HR up to 151 BPM and pace to 9:30 it didn't feel too good because I was pushing really hard and thought it could be faster.