Well, summertime is almost over, and there are only three months left until my race.  My training is really a story of good news and bad news.  The good news is that I spent most of the summer doing nothing but running.  Right after Memorial Day, I volunteered to help out as a volunteer assistant coach for my daughter's cross country team.  That meant that I was running at least five mornings a week at 5:00 a.m. The team is really good.  They won state last year, and are favored to win again this year. Some pundits have listed them in the top five teams in the country this year. I had to stop once the school season officially started.  In the summer, I was just coaching for a club.  To coach for the actual school, there is a huge background check and lots of paperwork, and it usually takes a few months to get cleared. At first I was not even going to apply, so that I could force myself to stop coaching and get back to my Ironman training, but the head coach invited me to stay on, and just help out at some of the meets when different parts of the team will be running two different races, in two different states, on some weekends.

Because practices generally started at 5:00, and normally lasted 2+ hours, I did not really have time left in my mornings to swim or bike. I did some biking on the weekends, but to be honest, it is tough to stay motivated to bike in Phoenix in the summer.  It is just too hot. I also did not do too much swimming in either June or July.

I had a great time coaching.  I had spent years helping coach baseball, and I had forgotten how much fun it is to work with kids.  Although I am sure I will struggle some in my Ironman race because I didn't train properly for a couple months, I would not trade the opportunity I had for anything. Ironman will still be there a few years from now.  I only have a few years left until my kids are grown and gone.

The good news is that with all the running I did this summer, I am in the best running shape I have ever been in at this time of year. In late July I did a really tough 10 mile run on a very hot, very humid day, where we ran lots of big hills. It was surprisingly easy, and I felt much better than I ever would have anticipated.  Because the cross country team only races 5Ks, the long runs were not as long as I would have ideally wanted, but the overall volume of running was great.

To complicate things further, I started a new job in early July with a family law firm. It is a great position, but adjusting to a new office, and a new practice area, kept me very busy during July and early August.

Starting last week, however, I am back to full Ironman training. Because I lost quite a bit of swim fitness, and bike fitness, I have thrown all my training plans to the side, and am somewhat improvising now to try and quickly ramp up the volume. I am smart enough, however, to know better than to try to do too much too fast.  I got a little too fired up last weekend, and did a long swim that was a little longer than I was really in shape to complete. Since my cardio-fitness was good, I did not get too tired during the swim itself.  However, what little upper body strength I had developed in swimming during the Spring was gone.  As a result, my shoulder was very sore the next day.

The other good news is that because of 11+ weeks of cross country practice, I am definitely used to getting up by 4:30 in the morning.  This gives me a couple hours of training time every morning.  This morning I was able to bike for almost an hour, swim a mile afterwards, and still be home before my wife left for work.

My new office is less than 100 yards from one of the urban canals. I am hoping that as I get settled into my new job a little better, and it cools off a little, I am going to be able to squeeze in some running during the lunch hour.

The next 12 weeks should be interesting.  I need to do some much longer rides during the next few weekends.  I have not ridden over 50 miles in one workout since June. I also have not been doing the brick workouts that I need to be practicing.

I am still pretty confident that I will be able to finish before midnight, but some of my more aggressive goals are out the window now.  That is OK.  This one is for accomplishment, and to finish.  I will worry about speed if I decide I want to try this again.

Wish me luck.