July Training Update with Final Monthly and Weekly totals

Now that the race has passed, I wanted to share the training volume that I had utilized to prepare for the Lake Placid Ironman. 

The final month of training consisted of my last hard week of training followed by three taper weeks. Each taper week was designed to reduce my volume by 25%. My training program was supposed to be a 24 week program but I built in an extra week in case of injury or a vacation got planned while I was training. Since I didn't need it, the extra week just ended up adding a little more volume to my total training. Here are my final monthly totals for my entire Ironman training and a week by week training volume:

Monthly Volume

	January	February	March	April	May	June	July
Running (Miles)
2013	115.25	103.89	100.01	99.41	89.81	112.71	122.14
2014	112.52	117.22	138.07	102.58	135.44	100.88	131.04
Biking (Miles)
2013	201.40	190.26	104.19	217.89	216.29	298.91	162.91
2014	309.80	281.37	355.29	410.49	524.37	601.93	369.52
Swimming (Km)
2013	13.20	14.20	10.00	14.90	16.10	15.50	6.00
2014	22.20	19.70	25.30	27.00	30.40	34.42	29.44

Weekly Training schedule

Triathlon Week	Time	Swim Yards	Bike Miles	Run Miles	Weights	Comment
1	10:45:11	8,421	90.3	21.9	2 x 30 min
2	9:16:19	2,734	70.4	31.3	2 x 30 min
3	10:57:28	3,500	80.7	37.1	2 x 30 min
4	12:36:52	10,389	80.0	27.9	2 x 60 min
5	11:39:41	3,500	100.0	34.9	1 x 60 min
6	11:59:08	3,500	99.7	27.0	2 x 60 min
7	10:24:09	7,000	72.8	23.2	2 x 60 min
8	9:31:41	7,437	42.8	29.8	2 x 60 min
9	13:06:06	6,890	95.1	29.3	1.5 x 60 min
10	10:25:23	7,000	67.3	19.0	2 x 60 min
11	11:50:17	7,437	97.7	11.7	2 x 60 min
12	15:28:24	7,437	128.0	36.6	-	Injured Wrist
13	12:45:08	7,000	99.2	31.1	1 x 60 min
14	16:17:43	11,389	157.0	23.9	1 x 60 min
15	13:39:53	7,437	88.5	31.4	2 x 60 min
16	11:44:47	4,374	55.7	38.9	2 x 60 min
17	18:23:29	8,564	171.0	35.8	1 x 60 min
18	10:20:04	7,000	50.2	32.1	1 x 60 min
19	17:48:58	12,686	152.0	23.6	2 x 60 min
20	14:17:22	7,983	167.0	9.1	1 x 60 min	Injured Achilles
21	16:44:56	7,874	173.0	19.2	2 x 60 min
22	18:03:47	12,686	107.0	41.0	2 x 60 min
23	10:20:38	7,000	64.9	35.0	-	Taper (75%)
24	7:02:43	6,124	28.2	28.8	-	Taper (50%)
25	16:37:07	6,411	170.0	33.3	-	Taper (25%)
Average		7,271	100	29

Week 22 (Last hard week)

I wanted to make sure that I got as much volume in this week since it would be the last hard week of training. I squeezed in three swim workouts (2 pool, 1 open-water) and completed the final week of strength training workouts. I did my normal speed workout on Monday and Wednesday WPR run.I got really lucky with the weather on the Fourth of July as there was no humidity and it was cloudy most of the day. I was going to do a 16 mile run and work on the 8 minute run/1 minute walk intervals. As I was going along, I felt really good and decided to go a little further because the weather was awesome. Eventually when I started running low on Gatorade at mile 11, I turned around and started heading back home and picked up more Gatorade at a store along the way. I felt good for the entire run and the intervals worked really well.

My final century ride didn't go as planned as I had an issue on a hill in Valley Forge where my crank just stopped and I proceeded to fall into a ditch on the side of the road. After I got back up, the derailleur wasn't quite shifting right on the way home. I was hoping to get the bike tuned up a week later after one more long ride, but felt that it needed immediate attention from the bike shop in case anything needed to be replaced. 

Taper Week 1 (75% volume)

The taper week was probably one of the greatest feelings that I had during the course of my training. I really felt that my body responded very well to the lower volume. Rather than trying to figure out how much volume I could cram in for a week, I was trying to reduce my weekly volume within an approximate ten hour time frame. With my Achilles injury a few weeks prior, I felt it was necessary to get a good long run this week while maintaining my swimming endurance. I only did one bike ride as I felt my conditioning was great and had my tri bike in the shop for a tune up after the accident from the previous week. I made sure to get a 16 mile run in during this week and a 65 mile bike/7.5 mile run brick workout at the end of the week.

Taper Week 2 (50%)

My time goal for this week was 7 hours of training. I did one last long swim in the pool, a ten mile run and  finished the week off with a mini triathlon brick workout in Medford Lakes since it was my last open water swim before I left. The brick consisted of a 1.5 mile swim, 28 mile bike ride and a 7.25 mile run. I knew that I was taking Sunday off to start my trip and wasn't concerned about doing this last brick.

Taper Week 3 (25% before Race)

I started making my way up to Lake Placid on Sunday morning and stopped in the Catskills at my friend’s campground for the first few days of my final taper week. I wanted to keep my training volume between 4-5 hours before the race. I was able to do two 25 mile ride rides which had elevation similar to the hill in Lake Placid. The out and back course had an elevation gain of 1,900 feet during my 25 mile ride. It was a great ride to get the legs ready for the climbs in Lake Placid.

I also did two short 3-4 mile runs to keep my running legs fresh while in the Catskills. My second run was probably not advisable as we were doing a preview of the Warrior Dash NY course at the campground and it was mostly on trails. Luckily, I took it very easy and had no issues so close to the Ironman. Once I got up to Lake Placid, I did a swim loop in Mirror Lake on Friday morning and a ride down the Keane Descent on Saturday to get a feel for the new paved areas of the road surface before the race. 

With all of my training in the books, I was ready to go for the Lake Placid Ironman. The one thing I couldn't train for was the monsoon during the swim and bike portion of the Ironman. The volume and intensity during my 25 weeks of training was enough to achieve my goal time to complete the Ironman in 12 hours despite the monsoon, flat tire, and a trip to the penalty tent for a drafting penalty.

Race Day Recap

The alarm went off at 4AM on Sunday morning to get ready for the race. I didn’t get the best night of sleep but I think it was more because I tried to go to bed at 8PM rather than thinking about the race. I had been getting to bed a little earlier each night prior and getting up earlier each morning but maybe that was too early to try and get to sleep. I immediately began taking in calories. My prerace meal consisted of a banana, bagel with peanut butter, breakfast bar and a cup of coffee. I left the hotel around 5AM to head over to transition to get body marked and drop my special needs bags off. It had rained overnight and there was rain in Sunday’s forecast so I packed some extra towels and dry running clothes. I dried off my bike, which I had to leave in transition overnight, and got the tires pumped up and ready to go. I headed to the lake where the bike special needs location was easy to find but the run special needs location seemed like a pretty far walk down Mirror Lake Drive. After dropping my stuff off, I headed back to the lake to get ready for the swim. I ate another breakfast bar, Gu gel and been sipping down some Gatorade along the way.

Swim

I got to the lake and started to make my way into the swim wave where I wanted to start which was between 1:10 – 1:20. As I waded around the lake to get wet, I ran into fellow ETA Lake Placid camper Brian Primost. Brian and I went into the same corral and lined up together. I had told Brian that he could draft off me since I figured if he didn’t, then someone else would. The swim start was a streaming wave start and they released swimmers in groups of about 30-40 swimmers at a time. Right when we got to the timing mat, we were told to stop and let the other swimmers go, which wasn’t a bad thing since we would have a little room to start once they did release us. Once I got into the water I caught up to some of the swimmers that were released before me pretty quickly. The first loop of the swim felt more like a wrestling battle royal as there was a lot of bumping and kicking. Nothing too bad, but it was just difficult to maneuver at times. I tried to stay to the outside but kept getting pulled into the middle. The back half of the swim loop cleared out a little but I did find myself swimming way too far to the outside. I finished my first loop with a solid time of 34:11 and ran through the timing mats on the beach and started my second loop. 

The second loop wasn’t as crowded as the first loop and I was able to utilize the underwater line at times to guide me through the swim. As I started the turn to head back to the swim finish, I noticed that it had started raining very hard. The storm would intensify and I started hearing thunder and saw some lightening. I wasn’t sure what they would do so I just kept going and hoped that the swim wouldn’t be cancelled. Luckily, I was able to complete my second loop in 37:04 and was ahead of my projected swim time of 1:15. That was certainly a good feeling to complete the swim a little faster than expected but I was also being mindful to not waste energy on the swim. Upon exiting the water, I had my wetsuit stripped off, draped it over my shoulders and wolfed down a GU gel as I ran to T1 in the pouring rain. I would find out that swimmers were pulled from the lake a few minutes after I finished because of the lightening and the final times would need to be adjusted. 

Bike

I got through T1 in 10 minutes and was off on my bike in the pouring rain. I was totally soaked and cold very quickly. My fingers lost all circulation and were bone white and my uncovered arms were red. I began the climb out of town with lightening still shooting across the sky. I got to the Keane descent and tried to be slightly aggressive but not stupid. No reason to end my race by wrecking on a slick road on the steep hill. I made it down the descent quickly and started onto the flats towards Jay. 

The rain continued for another half hour and didn’t stop until I was on my way back from Ausable Forks. The remainder of the first loop was uneventful until I got back into town and decided to pop a wheelie for some guys holding a sign. They were excited; I however got a flat tire from it.  If there was ever a place to get a flat, it was right there. I ran about 100 yards with my bike to the special needs area. As the volunteers were getting my special needs bag, I found some bike mechanics to help me fix the flat. They told me there weren’t supposed to physically help me fix it, but would coach me through it. I was moving quickly but they eventually took over and I reloaded my nutrition from special needs while the mechanics put the tire back on my bike. I think the whole tire change took three minutes. I consider myself lucky as I've heard about others that had much worse bike mechanical issues. My time for the first bike loop was 3:07:17 and almost 18 mph which was again, ahead of pace.

As I left town for the second bike loop the crowd was pretty rowdy. I found it interesting to see what people had put in the special needs bag. I saw one guy chowing down a slice of pizza – brilliant! The sun had come out and the roads were pretty dry by the time I started the climb out of town and down the Keane descent. I was certainly more aggressive on it the second time. I did feel the need for a bathroom break so I stopped at the first aid station after the Keane descent. I cruised along on the second loop much like my first. I finally caught up to my friend Brian McEntree from the PTC on the Haselton out and back. We both remarked how we were so ready to be off our bikes. I started the hill back up to Lake Placid. At one point, I came up to a pack of riders and I went to the outside of this group because I didn’t want to get stuck behind them going up a hill. As we started up a hill, I didn’t want waste energy by trying to pass them, but unfortunately I was called for a blocking penalty by a referee on a motorcycle. My first triathlon penalty, although I think it was kind of bogus because they should have penalized everyone for drafting. Anyway, I had to stop at the next penalty tent and report my bad behavior or I would have been disqualified. There wasn’t a time penalty, but the stopping and reporting the violation cost me at least a minute. After leaving the penalty tent, I trekked up the Bears for the final time and back into town. I think the crowd had shifted from the Bears as there weren’t quite as many people there the second time around. My second bike loop was almost the same time as my first loop, 3:08:08, and my total bike time was 6:15:25, almost another 15 minutes ahead of schedule. 

At this point I’m thinking that I’ve done two-thirds of an Ironman and all I had left to do was get through the run to become an Ironman. Just a few more hours to go…

Run

As I was getting ready in T2, I heard it starting to rain again. I did another quick stop in the porta potty and started off for the final marathon run. As I started down Main St, I felt my hamstring tighten almost immediately. Not a good way to start the run and I forgot my salt tablets in my bento box on my bike. Someone on the side of the road yelled for me to get sodium. I gutted it out to the first aid station and asked them for some salt. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any but a volunteer gave me some chicken broth which does have sodium in it. It seemed to ease the cramp and I was able to get going into my 8 min run/1 min walk intervals. The strategy was working well for me and I got out of town and the out and back on River Road without any further problems. As I started the hills back into town, my hamstrings were twisting and locking up again. The next three miles were pretty tough as I had to walk quite a lot whenever my hamstrings tightened. My first loop of the run took a little over 2 hours which was slightly slower than I wanted, but I had to concentrate on finishing and my health more than time at that point. I was definitely in survival mode.

I started to get some momentum on the descent out of town for the second loop but was tiring fast. I figured that I would try switching my intervals from 8/1 down to 4/1. It was definitely challenging at times trying to balance the cramping with moving forward. I took chicken broth and cola when I could at the aid stations. At one point I was walking with another athlete and told him about my cramping issue and he gave me two salt tablets. The salt tablets helped but I was still cramping and flat out exhausted as I finished the out and back on River Road running alongside Nicole Kropp Strand. As we crossed the bridge and began to head back to town, the hills started again. Nicole took off and I was simply too tired to even attempt to run the hills and decided that I would walk all of the remaining hills. I had three miles left to become an Ironman, I was so close. I struggled to get over the last few hills and knew the back part of the Mirror Lake out and back was mostly downhill. Once I hit the final downhill towards the Oval everything became surreal. I tried to take everything in for the last half mile. The downhill propelled me into the Oval at a nice running pace. Once I was in the Oval the crowds were cheering and I didn’t want the moment to end. I gave some high fives to the crowd along the way as I finally spotted the Finish line. 

About 10 yards before I got to the Finish Line, I heard the sweet sound of Mike Reilly’s voice:

“Paul Amos from Philadelphia – You are an IRONMAN!”

I crossed the Finish line and I had thought that my final time was under 12 hours, but would later find out the final time was 12:00:38 (Damn penalty!). The official shortened time was 11:13:20. I ran into Nicole again and Bill Kline after finishing as we meandered around the Finish area for a few minutes. A trip over to the massage tent was my first stop and then I was off to collect my stuff and head to the hotel for a shower and dinner. 

Congratulations to everyone that completed the Ironman that I had met and trained with during my journey to completing my first Ironman at Lake Placid. Also, a big shout-out to the volunteers and spectators that did so much to help all the athletes to complete the race. The course is no-joke but is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever raced. Mirror Lake is an absolute open-water swimmers dream and the Finish Line in the Olympic Speedskating Oval is one of the best Finishes anywhere (I've heard better than Kona). As I reflect on everything that's happened since I signed up, I'm proud that I created my own training plan, trained hard, and executed on race day to achieve my goal time. There's certainly room for improvement and I will start to explore those options in the future. For my first Ironman, I was completely satisfied with my result and how I raced.

I hope that people have found my blog helpful. I'll still post my final month of training and various tips and tricks that I've learned. I did learn a wetsuit trick two nights before the Ironman that was very helpful going from the lake to T1.

June Update and Final Month countdown

The countdown to Lake Placid has started with the final four weeks of training. One more really hard training week and then I taper for the last three weeks leading up to the Lake Placid Ironman.

June was another productive month for me, although I encountered a minor setback as I injured my Achilles tendon on a WPR run in Mt. Moriah cemetery. I'm not exactly sure how it happened but all of a sudden I got very gimpy and simply couldn't continue running and could barely walk. I don't think it was an over-use injury, just kind of a freakish event. That's why I don't do trail running. The worst part was that it happened the day before I went to Lake Placid for my Ironman training camp. The beauty of triathlon training is when you can't do one activity, you can focus harder on the other two until you recover. I was able to have my largest training volume months in biking and swimming and was able to squeeze in 100 miles of running despite taking a week off to rest the injury and starting back slowly to avoid re-injuring it. I like that my training volume has been steadily increasing each month with swimming and biking and I've already biked and swam more in six months this year than I did last year.

Here are my training volume numbers since the beginning of the year and compared to last year:
 

	January	February	March	April	May	June
Running (Miles)
2013	115.25	103.89	100.01	99.41	89.81	112.71
2014	112.52	117.22	138.07	102.58	135.44	100.88
Biking (Miles)
2013	201.40	190.26	104.19	217.89	216.29	298.91
2014	309.80	281.37	355.29	410.49	524.37	601.93
Swimming (Km)
2013	13.20	14.20	10.00	14.90	16.10	15.50
2014	22.20	19.70	25.30	27.00	30.40	34.40

I did two races in June, the Black Bear Half Iron Distance (which I posted about last month), the ODDyssey half marathon and also went to a training camp in Lake Placid.  Here is a summary of those events.

ODDyssey Half Marathon (June 8)
This was the third straight year that I have ran the ODDyssey half marathon. The race is held late May/early June where the weather is hard to predict. The last two years the race had very hot and  humid conditions. Luckily this year, we had a very sunny day, but with low humidity and the temperature was favorable this time. The course has a lot of shade which also helps keep the sun off. I started out pretty fast this year (as usual) and was averaging sub-7 minute miles for the first four miles, mostly because the first part of the course is downhill. As I started up the ramp to the Strawberry Mansion bridge and the hill after crossing the bridge, my pace definitely slowed up but was still pretty solid on the uphills (7:28). After coming back down to Kelly Drive and over the Falls Bridge to West River Drive, which were fairly level, I maintained a pace of 7:12 from miles 8 - 12. The last mile of the course features the trek back up the Lansdowne hill to the Finish line. I have definitely struggled on this hill in the past and was trying to save something for it. I was able to keep a good pace up the hill, although it was my slowest paced mile of the race (7:42), which was expected. I finished the half-marathon in my second fastest half-marathon time at 1:34:30 (7:10 pace). A solid finish to the great Spring race season and a nice medal that can be mounted to my wall as a bottle opener.

Lake Placid Training Camp (June 19-22) 
The Lake Placid training camp was run by ETA Coach, Jason Kilderry and something that I signed up for when the registration first opened up. There were 18 people that attended the camp and we stayed in two houses right near one another. The camp and training are so great that you don't even have to be participating in the Ironman Lake Placid to go. Lake Placid is a great location and provides a good challenge to train regardless of whatever triathlon you are planning to do. We had some athletes that were training for Half-Ironmans and some that were doing full Ironmans in other locations. We were definitely treated extremely well at the camp as the houses were well stocked with food and beverages and if something was missing, all you had to do was tell someone and they would go get it for you. There were two bike mechanics on hand that tuned up everyone's bikes, a massage therapist that gave everyone a 10-15 minute massages, and a physical therapist that helped me with my Achilles injury. The staff provided SAG support while we were on the bike course and carried water and Gatorade during the other workouts. There were also clinics about bike maintenance, open water swimming tips, and nutrition strategies during the Ironman.

As I mentioned, I got to Lake Placid with an injured Achilles tendon which put me on the sidelines for all running activities during the camp. I did get 3 swims in Mirror Lake and I rode the full Ironman bike course (2 loops) and got another loop in on Sunday morning while the other athletes were out on their long run. I'm excited for the swim portion of the Ironman as the lake was very clear and features an underwater tow rope for the buoys. I don't think that I will use the underwater tow line to guide me during the swim as I've heard it gets pretty crowded near the rope since it eliminates the need to site the buoys. The water temperature was in the high 60's while we were there and it felt great in a wetsuit. The bike course preview was one of my main goals for the camp to get a feel on the elevation changes, especially the Keane descent and the climbs from Jay back to Lake Placid. My first time on the course, I was able to complete 109 miles in 6:20 in some windy conditions. I noted my 100 mile time which was 5:45 which was the fastest time that I've ever done a century ride. I left the training camp feeling a lot more confident about a good biking time in the Ironman now that I have ridden the course a couple of times.

Based on what I did at the training camp and my training plan, I think that I should finish the Lake Placid Ironman in 12 to 12:30 hours. I figure a 1:15 minute swim, 15 minutes of total transition time, and a 6:30 bike. I feel like if I have a good day my marathon time should be between 4 and 4:30 hours, hopefully closer to 4 hours if everything goes right.

I'm hoping that my next blog entry will be about how I had a great race and achieved all of my goals at the Lake Placid Ironman. Good luck with training and have a great race to everyone that is doing the Ironman Lake Placid. I hope to see the many people that I've met during this adventure and wish everyone the best race possible. It's been a great journey. 

Less than Two Months to go!

May continued to be a busy training month for me. I increased my training volume in all three sports. I was able to get five open water swims in before the Black Bear triathlon and three of them were longer than the full Ironman distance. I also did my first century ride and a few long bike-run brick workouts. Here are my monthly distance numbers for the current year compared to last year:

January February March April May Running (Miles) 2013        115.25        103.89        100.01        99.41        89.81 2014        112.52        117.22        138.07        102.58        135.44 Biking (Miles) 2013        201.40        190.26        104.19        217.89        216.29 2014        309.80        281.37        355.29        410.49        524.37 Swimming (Km) 2013          13.20          14.20          10.00          14.90          16.10 2014          22.20          19.70          25.30          27.00          30.40 Million Dollar Bike ride I signed up for the Million Dollar ride as a supported training ride and to take a different route than I have been used to riding with some elevation (3,700 ft gain). I felt they did a good job with directions marking the course and the rest stops were located at great places along the course. We had some elevation to tackle to get out of Philadelphia. The ride headed up to the Plymouth Meeting area and around Evanburg State Park in Montgomery County. I was able to complete the 76.4 mile course in 4:49:34. The ride had some great swag as I got a new bike jersey, t-shirt and the post-ride refreshments included pizza, hoagies, noodles and free Dock Street beer. I stuck with carbs since I was doing Broad Street the following morning but had a couple of beers to get me nice and sleepy for an early bed time that night.  Broad Street Run A lot of people told me that I was crazy to run Broad Street after doing the Million Dollar bike ride the day before. I tend to agree with the sentiment, but my rational was treat Broad Street as a hard training run and if I PR'ed fine, but I wasn't going to worry about it if I didn't because I was sure that I would still run a solid race. Plus it seemed to relax me more not having to worry too much about actually racing. I got up to the Start very early this year, maybe a little too early. With the crowds and everything, I felt it was better to be able to get into my corral this year than to be stuck in the track like I had been the year before. The race was cool and cloudy with a cross-wind from the west, which would have been ideal without the wind. I got off to a good start, sub 6:30 for the first two miles. I knew that if I wanted to break 70 minutes that I would need to bank as much time in the first five miles with the biggest elevation loss. Mile three I started to feel like I had ridden a 75 mile bike ride the day before and my legs were getting heavy. I worked through it and kept my form up to get a second wind about a mile later when I took my gel. That lasted until Mile 8 when I felt really rough again. The race had been going so fast for me that I knew I just had to gut it out. I was tempted a couple times to walk through the aid stations but decided against it as I found those precious seconds had always worked against me in other races. Luckily, I did skip walking because as I crossed the Finish line, I looked at my watch and it was 1:08:02 but the official time was exactly 1:08:00. My original goal was to break 70 and I thought that I might have 68 in me on a good day so it was great to set a new PR and beat my goal time. Afterwards, I met up with some of the other West Philly Runners to share stories of our Broad Street successes and the West Philly Runners Broad Street after-party was at my house.  Black Bear Half Ironman The triathlon gods smiled upon us as we were blessed with perfect weather for the Black Bear Half Ironman. I got up to Jim Thorpe on Friday night and we stayed in the cabins where the Philly Triathlon Club had the training weekend in April. Saturday afternoon, Chris and I went over to the Beltzville State Park to get our stuff and do some pre-race workouts. Chris did 20 minutes each of a swim, bike and run. I took advantage of having open water to practice and swam for just under an hour. The lake was very choppy from the wind and boats. Going in the one direction, it felt like an ocean swim as it was rough but going the other direction was really fast. The water temperature was absolutely perfect for open water swimming in my wetsuit and was quite refreshing. The weather held up for race day and at the Start the lake was calm, there was no noticeable wind, and it was sunny. I was put into the first of two swim waves for the half iron distance which went off after the Sprint and Olympic distances. I just wanted to have a smooth swim with no issues or cramps. I positioned myself on the far side of the buoys and in the back of the pack. That really enabled me to get up to speed quickly with little bumping and splashing. My heart raced a little at the beginning but I quickly settled down and got into a nice groove. The swim was pretty much uneventful outside of some guy drafting me and hitting my foot every 3-4 strokes. I completed the swim in 35:48 which was solid, but I thought I could have done it a little quicker based on my previous half swim when I did 37:30. Overall, the goal was to make the swim irrelevant and conserve energy for biking and running which was accomplished. I had a slow T1 which I need to work on a little bit. Granted the timing mats were pretty far apart and I basically ran through the whole bike area with my bike because our bikes were close to the swim exit. The bike course is a two-loop course with quite a few of hills, some are pretty steep. The elevation gain on the Black Bear is almost the same as the total elevation gain on the full Lake Placid course so it's a great workout for the full Ironman. I also used the bike course to work on my nutrition plan which consisted on a bologna sandwich on white bread, Gatorade and two Clif bars. I was able to take in about 250+ calories per hour and I ate every half hour on the bike course. I felt fine without being hungry or feeling bloated during the ride. I completed the bike course in 3:16:32 (17.1 mph) but again had a slow T2. The run course was more of a trail run as we ran on trails in the woods and rock filled roads in the park. It was definitely challenging to find flat spots to run on. My legs basically felt numb for the entire run but I was never in any trouble and I only walked on two of the hills and through some of the water stations. I just took it one mile at a time. The course goes through some woods and behind the Beltsville Dam into a steep decent and then an equally steep incline to get back out and it felt like we were climbing through a lava field. We got to run on top of the dam and then back through the trails to the turnaround point and Finish. This was probably the point were some clouds and a breeze would have been nice as it was getting pretty warm and when we weren't in the woods, we had the sun beating on us. The only issue that I slacked on was not taking any calories in during the run. I had two Gu's with me but just didn't feel like eating them. Luckily, I had eaten enough on the bike that I didn't bonk during the run, but I do need to be aware of this as my volume continues to increase. My final run time was 1:51:44. That was also an improvement over my previous half but I had hoped to be under 1:50.  My final time was 5:55:31 which was under my goal time of 6 hours. It was slightly slower than the previous Pocono Half-Ironman which was expected because this was a tougher course. I placed 40th overall out of 194 finishers and 7th in my Age group. I consider this race to be a good gauge of my Lake Placid Ironman training and I accomplished everything that I wanted to during this race.  June Goals The next five weeks will be the biggest volume of training for me. My goals are to continue increasing my long runs and bike rides while continue to progress with my bike-run brick workouts. I think my swimming is where it needs to be and I'm just in maintenance mode at this point. I don't want to chance cramping during a swim by trying to push my pace faster since it won't lower my time much. My training program calls for me to cycle down the strength training over the next few weeks to completely stopping all together for the final three taper weeks. All things said, I'm right where I want to be and am getting excited as my training program winds down and the actual race takes place soon.  Race schedule Phillies 5K - 3/22 Finished 24th place out of over 4,700 runners. Time 19:32, Pace 6:18 min/mile Bucks County Half-Marathon - 4/12 Finished 21st Overall, 2nd Age Group, Time: 1:36:34, Pace 7:24 The Fleche Buffoon 75 Miles Bike Ride - 4/19 Completed in 5:10:37 Million Dollar 73 Miles Bike Ride - 5/3 Finished in 4:49:34 Broad Street Run - 5/4 Finished in 1:08:00, Pace 6:47 min/mile WPR 26x1 Relay - 5/17 Black Bear Half-Ironman - 6/1 Finished 40th  Overall, 7th Age Group, Time: 5:55:31 ODDyssey Half-Marathon - 6/8 Lake Placid Training Camp - 6/19 - 6/22 Lake Placid Ironman - 7/27