Training For An Ironman Without Running Over 3 Miles

This post has been updated here

That’s right, I’m going to attempt an Ironman event without running more than 3 miles in training!

OK, OK. It’s a Half Ironman (1.2 mi swim, 56 mi bike, 13.1 mi run), because people that do full Ironman events are crazy. And I’m only half crazy. ;) The event in question is the Ironman 70.3 in Galveston, Texas on April 26th.

An-exhausted-runner--001How is this possible?

Running hard. Really, really hard. While traditional endurance training is lots of miles at a moderate pace (ignoring “speed work”), I’ll be doing intense, interval style running.  I mean if I can sprint up hill for 3 miles that would have to translate into the ability to run (jog?) a lot farther, right? …right???

Why are you doing this?

I initially got into trisport because I needed a reason to workout and I enjoy both swimming and biking. First I set my sights on a sprint tri and later an Olympic tri. But after that I slowly fell out of training because it was too much of a time commitment. I enjoy bike riding but, I can’t often find half a day to drive somewhere nice and then bike 24-32 miles. When I went back to grad school, my free time all but vanished.

I got the idea from Tim Ferris’ book The 4 Hour Body that covers how intense interval training can substitute for moderately paced longer mileage training for marathons or even ultra marathons. His book includes a full training schedule with different intervals for different days (runners do seem to love complicated schedules – just pick up any running magazine), but I needed something uber simple.

I distilled Tim’s two chapters into this: run intervals on the treadmill (run/walk/repeat) increasing the running speed, incline or ratio (more running or less walking) as I can, and don’t run more than 3 miles.

So far I’ve increased from 2 min of 10 min/mi pace runs with 2 min walks when I started in December to 3 min of 8:30 min/mi pace on a 1% incline and 1 min walks. My distance has increased from less than a mile to about two miles (including warm up). With warm up and cool down this takes me less than 30 min to complete. I have been taking 1-2 days off between runs.  If it’s a nice weekend, I’ve taken a bike ride around my house for about 10 miles (~50 min) instead of running.  The pedaling on such rides has gotten noticeably easier as my running has progressed (It’s working! *maniacal laughter*).

Tune in soon for my write up on test #1: The Aggieland Sprint Triathlon.

Pirate iPad

Apparently my iPad 2 thinks it is a Nigerian Pirate.  No, I didn’t photoshop this image.  This is where iCloud just told me the iPad sitting on my desk is located.  And no, I’m not blogging from my yacht in the Atlantic…

Meltdown At MSNBC

A Meltdown at MSNBC occurred when Joan Walsh asked who would be comparable to Rush on the Left.  It is really best viewed but a partial transcript is below courtesy News Busters.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: …I think it helps us all to say there are extreme voices on the left, there are extreme voices on the right, and it’s our responsibility to call out people, I believe, on our side.

JOAN WALSH: Who would you have me call out? I mean who would you say on the left is comparable to Rush and…

SCARBOROUGH: Don’t do it.

MIKA BREZEZINSKI: Mmm-mmm! No thanks, Joan. We’re good. We’re good.

SCARBOROUGH: Can we talk about the Chinese now?

MIKA: I think it’s all very obvious.

WALSH: Is it obvious? Who on the left is comparable to Rush and Glenn on the right?

MIKA: Okay, Joan, if it’s not obvious to you I’ll talk to you off-set. I mean, my God! Alright so let’s read from the Washington Post…

SCARBOROUGH: We’ll talk off-set.

WALSH: Okay…

MIKA: Seriously, it’s like BLIP… BLIP… BLIP… right in front of you and you’re like [imitates willfully clueless Walsh] “I’m sorry, I don’t see it!”

A shocked Walsh was left with her mouth hanging open but my favorite part is when Chris in the control rooms says “Just please read an op ed” as he puts his head in his hands in disbelief.

UT To Honor Gore With Docorate – In Marketing?

An open letter to the  UT Board of Trustees:

I was wondering if the honorary degree for Al Gore was in marketing. For only slick marketing could present Mr Gore as anything but a failure.

In politics he not only lost his presidential bid, but failed to carry his own state.  And yet that state’s school now seeks to honor him.

His environmental endeavors -that have made him both famous and wealthy- have turned out to be based on a series of lies.  Perhaps the board missed the continuous string of scandals involving Gore and his fellow Nobel laureates over the past six months.

An honorary degree following his Nobel prizing victory for his video power point presentation -that is now know to be flawed- would have been regrettable but understandable.  Now that his charade has been exposed as not merely self-serving but also completely inaccurate, the board’s decision casts a negative light on the school.

For if lack of respect and integrity can be overlooked in the light of fame and fortune – what does that say about the goals of the University?  How does that impact UT’s respect and integrity?

And perhaps more to the only point which board appears to care – how will this decision effect future donations from the vast majority of Tennesseans that see the man behind Mr Gore’s marketing.

Scott
UT Graduate and Donor

Reality Snows On Global Warming Parade

Historic snowfall frequency and amounts this winter have Global Warming fanatics scrabbling.  We even had new record of simultaneous snow in 49 of the 50 states (poor Hawaii).  Here are some of the better bits:

MSNBC’s Ratigan tries to make the argument that the global warmed air holds more moisture then the winter (not global warmed yet?) air makes it snow… Seriously? (Video)

MSNBC journalist schools meterologist what she was “taught” on global warming. Classic. (Video)

Lastly with all the politicians trying to now claim that more snow proves global warming – here’s a look back at just a few of the time’s they claimed it was less snow that “proved” global warming. (Video)  Oh and I also liked Sen Byrd’s comment that he doesn’t need to talk to a scientist about it – because he knows what’s going on…