How Far Behind I Am - A Comparison

Image from iamtri.com

Last week was the 2nd week of my Ironman 70.3 training plan. I didn't exactly do a great job following it. To see just how far behind I am in training, I decided to do a comparison of what was on the plan to what I actually did that day.

Below is the comparison of the actual training plan and what I actually did...

                          The 70.3 Plan                                        What I actually did that day

Monday           1000 yd swim                                          8 miles on spin bike = 30 minutes
                         20 mile bike                                             Treadmill brick run .5 miles = 5 min.

Tuesday           1250 yd swim                                          Nothing
                          45 min run

Wednesday       25 mile bike                                             2 mile run aprox 20 minutes
                                                                                       

Thursday          1000 yd swim                                          6 miles on spin bike aprox 20 min                            
                           35 min run                                               4 mile = 40 min run

Friday                                                                              .5 mile run on treadmill = 5 min

Saturday           55 min run                                               Run 1 hr

Sunday             30 mile bike                                             Bike on spin bike 1 hour = aprox. 17 miles

I did core and weights on Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday which is not included on the plan.

Total workout hours on plan = Swim aprox  1 hr 15 min to 1hr 30 min
                                                   Bike aprox    4 /12 to 5 hrs
                                                   Run  aprox   2hrs 10 min

                                                     Total aprox 7:30 to  8 hrs

Total I actually did last week = Swim aprox   0 hrs
                                                   Bike aprox    1 hr 50 min (all on spin bike)
                                                   Run aprox     2hr 10 min
                 
                                                     Total aprox 4 hrs

With weights, core workouts and elliptical added in I did aprox 7 1/2 hours last week so I got the number of training hours in, but not in the areas I was suppose to be working on. (which is very important when you are in the middle of a half ironman.)

It's clear I've got a lot of work to do especially swimming and biking. Not surprising that I have the run hours down plus some (since I ran 13 miles a couple of weeks ago already), but 0 swim hours.

That's so me!

Actually I don't feel so bad now that I've done the above comparison because I'm not as behind as I thought I was. The training plan doesn't include weights, which I do four times a week and core too. The plan also doesn't include brick (bike then run) workouts which I do every Thursday and sometimes after I do a long bike on Saturday or Sunday as well.

The 70.3 Ironman isn't until the end of October so I still have plenty of time. It was tough for me to focus last week because I was so worried about my cat, Phantom. He is doing great this week and seems to be handling the chemo drugs well. I've actually gotten some sleep the past three days. And when I sleep, everybody around here sleeps, husband and cats. (well maybe not the cats at 5 am).

Image from quotesvalley.com

Sleep helps me train better too. Maybe I should add it to the training plan!

Image from zazzle.com

The Boy's Visit

This morning I got up early to drive the three hour round trip to get the Boy from college and bring him back to stay with us for the weekend. These visits seem to keep getting more and more rare as he would rather stay at school most of the time. I figured he must be running out of food and/or money and he knows we will feed him when he's with us. He did make sure we were taking him out to eat before he decided to visit us and I got him breakfast this morning on the way back. It really wasn't that difficult getting on the road early since the last few weeks I've been up with the cats watching the sun rise.

On the way back I asked the Boy if he was out of any toiletries are anything and he said no. We stopped at Walmart Marketplace anyway because he wanted something to drink, meaning soft drinks because he knows we don't buy them and keep them in the house. He wanted Dr. Pepper and ended up getting Walmart's version, Dr. Thunder.

 Just kind of scary if you ask me. Why Dr. Thunder? How does Dr. Pepper translate into the Walmart Dr. Thunder version.

While I was there I thought of the Murph and got him another 12 pack of his drink of choice. At least that is one of them. 

Since the Boy is always complaining about being hungry, the Murph planned ahead of time and put a plate of pasta and chicken parm in the fridge with the Boy's name on it, complete with heating instructions.

On the hour and 1/2 drive back to the beach, the Boy and I got to catch up on things. We talked about several things like....

1. The possibility that Phantom might have cancer and what to do next

2.  How the Boy liked his student assistance job (He likes it)

3. If his room mate was still eating the Boy's food (Not anymore)

4. Phantom

5. The importance of the Boy keeping a clean and sanitary apartment, especially bathroom

   (He thinks it's clean, but when I saw his bath room it was pretty gross)

6. What we were going to do about Phantom

7. There's no way Phantom has cancer (says the Boy)

8. The fact that Phantom's bedroom is where the Boy sleeps and there's cat hair all over the bed, but I didn't think the Boy would mind since it's still a cleaner room than what he's been living in for the past several months because he refuses to do what I say and CLEAN his apartment! (He thought I was joking about that part (because he knows I usually clean everything for him) until he saw the cat hair)

9. The possibility that Phantom might have cancer and what to do next

As you can tell, we talked about Phantom ALOT. I did hear from the vet yesterday and had another call today and we are still unsure what is causing the high calcium levels in Phantom's blood. His thyroid is good. We've ruled out pretty much everything but cancer. The vet called some specialists at Auburn University and Michigan State to try to find out if they had blood test to detect cancer in cats. Michigan State has one and so now I just have to arrange for Phantom to get blood taken and shipped to them to be tested. He's also going to get another physical to check his mouth and glands in his neck since he keeps licking his lips and his breath smells really bad. 

Now I just have to decide if I should wait 2 weeks until we get back to Birmingham for the tests or take him to a new vet in Gulf Breeze next week. I'm thinking I should go ahead and take him next week and try to coordinate all the tests with my Birmingham vet and the new Gulf Breeze vet that a friend recommended.

Today Phantom's doing much better. He seems to love having the Boy back. Sometimes I wonder if he's just depressed when he seems to be feeling really bad. It's hard to tell with a cat! We know he's sick though because he does have heart disease and something causing this high calcium in his blood.

 It was a good day. I love having the Boy visit and we now have more options on what to do with Phantom instead of  "just wait and see." Phantom has been such a great pet for the Boy. I plan to do everything I can to help him get better if that is possible.

Another awesome sunset this evening!