10 days...

Well I made it to my 10 day taper to Ironman Oceanside 70.3. I've really been hammering these past few weeks and put in some serious focus to get the work done and get it done right. I kind of started falling apart towards the end by getting sick, IT Band soreness and even a foot issue I just started dealing with, but the good news is -it's time to back down the intensity and start recovering and resting for Oceanside. I cannot tell you how excited I am by my fitness gains these past few weeks. The workouts have been relentless, but I was able to produce the best workouts that I have ever done in all three sports with tired legs. I'm starting to see that there's a fine line of over-doing it and not doing enough. A few nights I couldn't sleep which is a sign of over training so we'd back off a bit -hit it again and adjust accordingly. That's what I like about working with James because it's not just a cookie-cutter online training program. It's real-time coaching and all of the work over the winter is starting to show. In other words. It's game time!

It's also been game time at work. It's been real busy this past month so juggling workouts with a career, family and a commute can sometimes be difficult. But like I always say -if you really want something, you can ALWAYS find the time to do it...It just often requires you to go to bed at 8:30 and wake up at 4:30! This past week also presented its challenges with the weather. We are very lucky to live in SoCal but this last weekend, it was not a good place to train. Check out one of my team mates -Justin who drove all the way down for SuperSeal only to have it cancelled. Hail, wind, rain and even some snow up by us. That meant, come Saturday morning I was swimming in the rain and then hitting up the trainer and treadmill for some important key sessions.  Here's how they went down:

Swim: Wetsuit swim (in pool, scy): 10 min wup, then 40 min continuous swim with a 10 min cool down. After a long tough week, getting in the pool when it was pouring out was kind of hard to do, but I did the work. After warming up, I was finding out that I felt great in the water that day. So I kind of let it rip for the continuous swim, just to see where I was at. Needless to say I was very pleased to peak at the clock after 2000yds and see sub 28 (1:24/100 pace). I love my Xterra Vortex. Swimming seems so effortless in it and I can't wait to redeem myself at Oceanside with all the hard work I've put in the pool. If any of you are in need of a wetsuit or speedsuit, I'm gonna hook you up for reading this blog. Go to http://www.xterrawetsuits.com/ pick out the wetsuit you want and use the code: SA-JADAMS and you will get 60% off! Plus you'll get free shipping. For those of you that are bad at math, I'll break down the suits with their discounts:

Vortex Sleeveless Wetsuit - $120 (regularly $300)

Vortex Fullsuit Wetsuit - $160 (regularly $400)

Vector Pro Sleeveless Wetsuit - $160 (regularly $400)

Vector Pro Fullsuit Wetsuit - $240 (regularly $600)

Velocity M Speedsuit - $150 (regularly $350)

While you are there, check out the Xterra Sponsored Athlete page where they have a little write up on me and the other athletes.

Not much need for this on the trainer, but
I got my Speedfil delivery.

So after the swim I headed back and got on the trainer and punched out some tough intervals while watching the movie Hurt Locker - which I thought was fitting for what I was doing. It's pretty funny, I have all of this gear, take this sport pretty seriously but I don't even have a cadence sensor on my trainer. I used to have it, can't find it...There is one benefit to it though, it's really allowed me to assess my perceived level of effort. Something I think is really important in long course triathlon. I feel I'm very in tune with it and it's only going to benefit me on the bike course at Oceanside. After suffering on the bike, I immediately headed back over the the YMCA to get in an hour long treadmill session which included 10 min wup, 40 mins at 6:00 pace and then a 10 min cool down. Now I haven't been on the treadmill in 10 years...seriously. 10 years! I remember why now. I hate it! That run was brutal. Plus I looked like a maniac with the treadmill setting at 10.0. Lots of weird looks but I got through it. Tough day. But it wasn't over. The next morning I set out in the cold rain and wind and threw down this workout:

I came through half marathon at 1:34 on a course with about 1000ft of climbing and some interval efforts thrown in. With the tired legs, I was pleased and the whole weekend ended up being a great confidence booster. Top that off with a hard masters session Monday, some bike intervals Tues morning and a 5k simulation workout last night at the track where 5:20 pace never seemed so easy. I am ready! I have one more long day this Saturday and then its all about recovering next week. Instead of focusing in on the workouts, it's time to focus on sleep, diet, massage and mentally prepping my mind to punish myself come 3/31. I'll blog again next week during my final prep for the race. Here's a few shots of the course:

Some GF homemade pizza Amy and I made

Our St. Patty's day brews.
BP Sculpin IPA 5 out of 5 (my top 3 fav ipa's)
Victory Storm King 2 out of 5. I normally enjoy Victory's
beers, but this one was a little too thick and packed too
big of a punch for me (9.1%).