Another Update!! Well, forces beyond my control continue to frustrate my training attempts. Although I did okay with the week I mentioned in my last blog entry, now I'm stuck in trial all week. Not only does that hamper my day-time training efforts, but I've been working until 8:00 or 9:00 each night preparing for the following day. So . . . no swimming, no biking, and I'm too darn tired from each day of trial to get myself out to run late at night. I'm just going to have to live with the fact that this week is shot as far as heavy training.

Luckily, after this week, my schedule lightens up a bit. I plan to get more regular with the training regimen, but I'll need to revise my plan a bit to back off the mileage and/or intensity to account for this week's inactivity/setbacks. I need to swim more, so I'm working on getting up earlier than 5:30 AM so that I can get down to a pool when it warms up just a bit more. I figure that if I swim once on my own on either Fridays, Saturdays, or Mondays, I can get my "long, slow" swim in to work on distance and use the Texas Iron Wednesday night class for drills, speedwork, and intensity.

I'm afraid these continual setbacks are going to make my Buffalo Springs Lake Half Ironman a disappointing experience. I have until June 24 to get back into "race shape," but the base miles and foundation I had last winter just aren't there this year. Quite frankly, I'll be surprised if I do BSL in less than six hours. I guess there's still hope for improved fitness, but it's going to take more dedication and getting my work obligations taken care of more efficiently to have time for proper training.

On the plus side, the trial should be over by Friday, so I intend to get SOMETHING done training-wise (probably a ride or short run). Saturday, I'm definitely getting back into the ATC taco ride. I rode that route last Sunday by myself and my fitness on the hills has definitely fallen off. I'll need those skills somewhat for BSL, but DEFINITELY for IMMoo.

Update. Well, since my last post, training became VERY sporadic for a variety of reasons . . . weather, work, motivation, health . . . . regardless, I've started up again today with a short, easy bike ride. I did an easy 16.5-mile ride this afternoon. The wind was pretty rough, gusting up and over 15 mph. It was a nice ride and a good way to get back into training, especially after last week's week-long flu. I'll be doing a brick tomorrow at lunch -- 20-mile ride and 5-mile run. Wednesday is swim night with Texas Iron, and Thursday is a lunchtime 45-minute run followed by the Texas Iron spin class after work. Friday will probably be an off-day because of work issues. Saturday I plan to start up with the ATC Taco ride again and a nice long run on Sunday.

So . . . I'm back into it! Unfortunately, if my trial goes next week, I'll have quite a bit of "rest" days. Maybe I'll make it a run week and focus on getting some amount of running done each day. Haven't figured it out yet.

Anyway . . . those are the plans. We'll see how it all shakes out!