IM Date: 5/27/10 - Week 5

Whoa! The week is getting away from me and I realized I haven't posted yet! Last week, while crazy was good despite the bad news from the doctor. We had a good ride Sunday, pushing for more than 4 hours and I think the rest days did me a lot of good. I know I don't take enough rest days and it just finally caught up with me.

This week and next will be a little different as we taper down before running the Minneapolis Marathon on Sunday June 6th. Training sessions won't be too long or too terribly hard leading up to the race. Thankfully there really isn't anything we need to miss in these early weeks.

It is definitely nice to be riding outside again and the weather has been nice the past couple of weeks. I need to find some new shoes to train with so I can leave my good tri-shoes just for races. As our rides get longer we will start to travel a bit to find longer trails. Elm Creek is great, but for anything more than a 4-hour ride...it's just not long enough. We can always go back up to the trails in North Branch or Hinckley like we did last year. Plus we found some other trails in Fairbault and up in St. Cloud. They both have more than 60+ miles of trails so we could do any of our rides...even the 7-8 hour (112 mile) ride.

It might be nice to see some new scenery on those long rides!

Here's to a nice Memorial Day weekend...

IM Date: 5/20/2010 - Depleted??? Who knew?

OKay so I admit it...lately I've been feeling kind of crappy in the mornings, a little slow to get going. But I always do. I mean, I kind of chalked it up to the fact that it's May and I've logged over 900 miles running this year alone. Not to mention swimming, biking, jiu jitsu, etc.

But yesterday I mentioned this feeling to the wonderful Dr. Paul Nash...my favorite Chiropractor/nutritionist/"voodoo doctor." I only joke about that last one because sometimes I am amazed at how he tests for things and how testing something in one part of the body will show an issue with something in a completely different part, etc.

I figured I needed to detox again, but after some tests, etc. I was told: "wow...you're 'depleted', your immune system is very weak right now." He told me I was at risk to develop Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

I guess this situation is common with endurance athletes; which makes sense. So I got a nice new bag of supplements to bring home and hopefully this will help. So I took my "handful" of pills along with my new and improved shake this morning and we'll see how it goes...

Back soon,

Brian

IM Date: 5/18/10 - week 4

Wow...week 4 already. The time is flying by. Last week's 22 mile "run in the hills" was tough...good, but tough. Our ride Sunday was beautiful! Finally some warm weather, the spring has been kind of crappy the last month or so. But this week's long ride looks to be even warmer; probably in the mid 80's. We'll do another 50 - 60 miles on Sunday. Nothing too crazy this week...the longest run is 14 - 16 miles, which after last week seems nice!

This week I'll stretch my swim out to 2 hours and combine it with my ride on Sunday. I need to replace my waterproof mp3 player. It's down to just one functioning ear bud, which is better than nothing, don't get me wrong. But having two again would be very nice : )

Take care and I'll be back soon to post more!

Bri

IM Date: 5/12/10 - Week 3

Welcome to week 3! Training is going well...nothing too crazy yet. We didn't get out for our long ride last Sunday...the cold and rain kept us inside on the trainers. The weather for this Sunday's 3-4 hour ride looks promising and should be our first outdoor ride of the year. Let's hope the weather-man is right! The weather so far this May has basically sucked.

I do have my last long run in my training program for the Minneapolis Marathon this week, so Friday I'm going to take most of the day off to go do 22 miles in the hills of Elm Creek and then make it over to Lincoln for what will be Andrew's last "Track & Field Day" of elementary school.

So it's back to the pool tomorrow and out to the hills Friday...

More to come!

Brian

IM Date: 5/4/2010 - Week 2

Wow...week #1 is "in the books" and here we are at week #2 already. August will be here before I know it. It was good to get back into the pool again and with a little help from Andrew's swim instructor and hopefully at some point from my friend Adam, my swim time can improve from Madison last year.

This week is a lot like last, no big distances...we do go up to 3-4 hours on the bike this weekend. If the weather holds out we'll get out on our first outdoor ride of the year – on Mother's Day. The almost 3 hours I spent on the trainer this past Sunday was long enough. But it kind of paled in comparison to our 22+ mile run last weekend in the hills of Elm Creek Park. It was a very good run...but very long and hilly. Which will be good prep; especially before the Minneapolis Marathon on June 6th.

That's about all I got today...stay tunes, more to come!

Bri