April 7

     After a long delay my ironman training blog is back.  Now that i've settled in at my new job i'll hopefully have time to keep up. It might not be updated everyday but i'll do my best.  I will keep it short after today with the same format you see below.  The main reasons i do this is so 1) so coach Karen in California can monitor my training and 2) so you all can send me words of encouragement that i will desperately need between now and July 25.  I will post all of your comments so please feel free to chime in when you can.
     As you know I just completed a half Ironman in California and I learned a lot about where I'm at and what i still need to do.  The main lesson was that it's ALL ABOUT TRAINING.  I never got tired during Oceanside although I didn't push myself very hard either.  For me it's all about finishing Ironman, getting better times in each distance will be the next chapter in my triathlon carreer.
    So I hope you enjoy reading this from time to time and perhaps find motivation yourself if you are not yet involved in this awesome sport.  And PLEASE, post some encouragement from time to time.

Thanks,
Pete

Distance - 2500 yard swim.   Once a week I do drills and once a week a long swim.  Today was my drill day and consisted of:

•  500 yard warmup focusing on breathing on each side. 
• 400 yards swimming with paddles focusing on pulling through the water
•  200 yards kicking with fins
•  800 yard drill. 4 sets of 50 finger drag, 50 catch up, 50 pull, 50 sprint.
• 200 kick on side
• 400 cool down with bouy

Nutrition - 16 oz of Spark energy drink.    Key Ingredients:

B-vitamin complex (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12 and pantothenic acid), taurine, L-tyrosine, choline, caffeine, GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)

Song of the Day - Hey Jude.  It was the last song performed by a guy on American idol last night so i woke up with it in my head.  Kind of fun to swim to:)

Motivational words of the day -  this is a new feature to my blog.  I learned that the mental part of ironman is also very tough so i need to think positive.  Today's was DON'T DROWN.  Before i got in the water in Oceanside I told myself i did all the training and new i could swim 1.2 miles so if I continue to increase my distance for ironman I won't "drown" doing 2.5.