Iron News Man - November 6, 2009

By CHRIS SCHAUBLE

Updated 7:48 AM PST, Fri, Nov 6, 2009

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The typical taper feelings are creeping into my head! As my training gets more intense, but shorter in duration, my brain and body want to know what’s going on? Today’s training (a swim with some weight training) will feel light. Crazy as this sounds, tomorrow’s 60-mile ride and 60-minute run will also feel light as compared to the monster workout of last Saturday.

Beating the taper turmoil should not be hard as long as I eat right and keep myself busy. I leave for Ironman Arizona exactly two weeks from today. I’ll be training right up to departure. So at least I’ll still be active. I plan to find household chores that have eluded me in recent weeks to also take-up my time. Pretty much anything that gets my mind off the race will be a plus. Movies are good for that too :)

Here’s my TrainingPeaks.com schedule for both today AND tomorrow from Triathlon Coach Jason Healey:

Your Workouts for Nov 06, 2009

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Countdown to Ironman

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Ironman Journey

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Triathlon Training

Swim Drills - Chris S.
Type: Swim
Planned distance: 1500.4 yards
Swim 1500 yards.

Warm up: 200 yards easy.

Swim Drills: Include plenty of rest between each length.

8 x 25 of (Reach and Roll).

8 x 25 of (Enter Wide, Extend Wide) – concentrate on correcting left arm cross over.

8 x 25 focusing on Timing. Ian left you with the term “4 Cylinder Engine”. Concentrate on timing your pull, arm entry and hip rotation.

8 x 25 on the Catch.

Main Set: 8 x 50 of Swim Golf. Swim each 50 at an easy pace. Count the total strokes and note the Clock Time to complete each 50. Your Golf score is = Number of strokes + Clock Time. Try to maintain a consistent score for all 8 sets.

Cool Down: 4 x 25 easy

Your Workouts for Nov 07, 2009

Type: Brick
Break Through Workout (4 hrs total).

Ride 3 hrs then run 60 minutes off the bike.

On the bike you should:

1) Ride the 1st hour at an easy warm up pace.

2) For the 2nd Hour:

Ride the first 40 minutes at a steady Ironman Race Pace (Moderate).

Then ride the last 20 minutes performing Threshold Intervals:

5 x 3 minutes intervals at a Hard Pace. Include a 1-minute easy recovery spin between each 3-minute interval.

3) For the 3rd Hour:

Ride 40 minutes at a steady Ironman Race Pace (Moderate.)

Then ride the last 20 minutes at a sub threshold (Moderately Hard - 1/2 ironman) pace.

Follow the bike with a quick transition to a 60-minute run.

Run first 20 minutes easy and relaxed, the 2nd 20 minutes at your Ironman (moderate) pace and the last 20 minutes at 1/2 Ironman (moderately hard) pace.

Coach Healey and I plan to meet over the weekend. The biggest topic is going to be race-day fueling (how I eat). We’ll also plan out my transitions in every detail. His experience will be invaluable. In fact, his knowledge has me feeling that I’ve done almost everything I can to ready myself for Ironman Arizona and the most grueling physical challenge of my life!

Days until Ironman Arizona: 16!

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-Chris

Why blog? To inspire others.

Simply put, two years ago I was overweight! At 6’1” I weighed 252, and wore size 40 pants. Few people really noticed, but I did. In pictures, on TV, I was not happy with my appearance. Covering the 2007 LA Marathon for NBC4 was the last straw. Every picture I was in highlighted just how out of shape I had become.

No more! Since that time, the guy who could barely run around the block has slowly built-up his endurance and completed the 2008 Long Beach International Marathon , 2009 Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, 2009 LA Marathon, and the 2009 Vineman Ironman 70.3.

However, something happened along the way. After my first marathon, I fell into a funk. I asked myself, “Why do you feel such a let-down after a marvelous achievement?” The answer I have since learned from my coaches, I failed to set the “goal beyond the goal”. Thus, my quest for Iron was born!

I’m registered to compete in the Ford Ironman Arizona on November 22nd, 2009. Along the way, I will compete in various road races and triathlons to fuel my passion and push my training along. The intense and at times brutal training will happen after my duties as 4 a.m. to 7a.m. anchor for NBC4 have finished. The sacrifices I will make will be substantial, and for that I thank my beautiful family and friends in advance.

I invite you to share this journey with me.