Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Long Time...

I know. I have been slacking on blog updates. Big. Time.  I am sure I have disappointed you greatly (*sarcasm).

Quite simply, after racing Honu, the quick-bang travel home and then hours later to St. George, and the immediate jump into camp put me behind the 8 ball. Before I knew it, I was too far behind.

So here is a quick recap:

I raced Honu 70.3 and while it wasn't a great race for me, quite similar to Florida 70.3 in fact, poor swim, lackluster bike, and a run to redeem myself.  I finished in 4th, making up 2 spots late in the run, but unable to work up to the brothers Lieto. It was a good trip though, and spent some great time with some great people on the Big Island.

The camp in St. George went well. Again, a good amount of hard and consistent work. I was on my own a good bit as my long course prep called for a different workout schedule than most. St. George is a great place, although we got hit with some heat that made running outside after about 10am nearly impossible.  So unfortunately this meant a fair bit of treadmill running, which I hate and really isn't the best preparation for IM Lake Placid. The treadmill was especially difficult to stomach in light of the great trail running St. George has to offer.  Still, I did manage to get in the work and the heat forced me up into the mountains on all my rides so hopefully I benefited from all the climbing. If you are looking for a good place to train, St. George is awesome, but I would say you need to do it in late May to early June. Mid June through August / early September it is just way too hot.

I have been in Lake Placid since the end of the Squad camp on July 3rd. I have an incredible homestay here in Placid and things have been going well. The weather has really been awesome, with rain only coming once during training and it was while I was swimming. I am a huge fan of this area for both what it offers for training, and for pure aesthetic enjoyment.

So it is now Wednesday, 4 days to Go Time! I am excited to get a crack out at the Ironman Distance again. Workouts have been going pretty good, but I have been brutally reminded of just how challenging this course is. With the depth of the field lined up here and the challenge the course will present, its gonna be a tough day. But I am excited to cut my teeth at the distance. Lets go!

4 comments:

  1. Go Ian!!!!! Wishing you the very best of races. I have no doubt you will reap big rewards on race day from all your hard work!! Thinking of you and cheering from Pittsburgh!! :-)

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  2. Good to hear from you Ian, Charisa and I were just thinking about you last weekend. Looking forward to following ya this weekend, rip it up!

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  3. Nice to see you back online. Give 'em hell this weekend!

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  4. Cheering from NorCal! Bring it!

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