So what exactly IS an Ironman race?

I have had a couple of people ask me this question so I decided I should address it. My race will be in Lake Placid New York on July 22nd.

We will all begin at 7am - over 2,000 people at once. We will swim 2.4 miles (3.86km) in Mirror Lake (2 loops) and then transition to the bike.

We will then ride 112 miles (180 km) on the bike with over 8,000 ft of elevation climb (Yikes!!). The bike course is also 2 loops.

We will then transition to the run which will be a full marathon - 26.2 miles (42.1 km) on hilly roads.

I expect to take about 15 hours to complete this event. Anyone finishing after midnight (17 hours) does not receive a medal. My biggest concern is making the bike cut-off which is 5:30pm.

That's all there is to it!

June was a tough month!

Well, I apologize for going such a long time without writing a new entry but June was a tough month. I was sick most of it, starting with a stomach thing (during the BIG Lake Berryessa training weekend) and ending with a cough. It was pretty normal stuff except that it is not normal for me to be sick more than a couple of days. I just figure that my resistance was low and the training was not really allowing me to fully recover. Anyway, I'm nearly 100% now, so life is good again.

A couple of weeks ago I completed an 8 1/2 hour workout, another first (longest). It was a triple brick with a 2 hour ride followed by a 50 minute run, three times through. So that 8 1/2 hours does not count any transition or prep time, it is truly workout time. Needless to say I was tired when I finished but felt good about it.

I am now 5 days into my taper phase and the workouts are MUCH shorter. For example, this weekend I have a 2000 yard open water swim followed by a 10 mile run and Sunday I will do a 1 1/2 hour ride followed by a 30 minute run. It is nice to have more time in the weekends with the shorter workouts. Now I should probably pay attention to just how much I am eating too!