I've never been so scared...

So after my really tough, no energy bike long bike ride on Friday I changed my eating habits immediately and went back to eating normal. Meals with proteins and carbs and more calories and no beer.

It's amazing how I feel better after starting to eat. I really did myself a disservice by trying to eat less carbs to lose weight and try to train for an Ironman. For many people they would have said that is nuts. For me I need to prove it to myself it's nuts. I'm an emotional learner which means I need to feel my learning experiences in order to remember them long term.

I've even had some deserts after eating. Stopped for some that yogurt that is basically ice cream. It was a treat after a long ride.

On Saturday I did a swim. I needed it. I've been doing lots of research lately. Our Salmon Social app is going to be ready to officially launch this month and I want to get all my ducks in an order. I was so excited about a concept that I couldn't get it out of my mind and my swim flew by. In fact the first 600 yards takes me usually around 11 minutes and I was so into my head I over shot it and didn't realize until I looked at my watch and 15 minutes had already went by.

The audio book by Allen Carr I listened to about alcohol was great. He predicted by the end of the book that you will no longer drink, that you will quit for good. His approach is so different and it's been now 10 days and I'm done. I don't see myself drinking beer again. It's hasn't even been an adjustment.

Sunday I did more research. I did so much that by 5 pm I was dizzy. Something that I've never had before. I thought my blood sugar was low or it was from the 6 or 7 diet cokes I drank throughout the day. It was a feeling that wouldn't go away for almost 90 minutes. I tried to eat it away and got off the computer and watched some TV. It helped. Then I went back on the computer and the dizziness came back.

It didn't take me long to realize I needed to balance what I'm doing. It was the first time I've figured that out in only 48 hours.

I still need to get my sleeping patterns under control. This being my self imposed greatest summer and not much to do until our app is ready to be marketed I'm living the life of a semi-retired person. It's not bad except I'm getting to bed later and later. Usually around 2:30 am. I'll get into bed around midnight and then watch shows about serial killers on You Tube.

I'll fall asleep before it ends, then it end, then I wake up and am wide awake and then I put another one on to put me a sleep and then the process repeats. It's getting harder and harder to find new serial killer episodes I've seen most all of them. No small feat.

On Sunday I faced reality. I looked at the calendar and realized I only have 3 weeks of potential hard training days. That's it. It really is only 2 weeks and then a 2 week taper. For me to do the best to minimize the amount of time I want to put in the hurt locker I need to make it 3 weeks of hard training and 1 week of taper.

I did learn something during this training session for Ironman Boulder. I've learned that it's critical to have a structured training plan. I was taking my structured plan and juggling my long rides and runs. I can now see that's a mistake. Physically I haven't had the gains I normally do and mentally it puts doubt in your mind.

Looking back at all the years I training very structured and very hard and made it to Kona I was a machine. I had friends that were putting in the hours but not the structure and they had slow Ironman times. Turns out two of them got coaches, got structure and became very good and top age groupers. It's not about talent, it's about training structure. I'm emotionally learning that too.

Knowing I only have 3 hard weeks left gives me two thoughts. The first is I may still be able to pull this out of the fire. If I can finish in a time with a 12 in the front I'll be super happy. The second reason is I know this will be the last 3 weeks I need to put in crazy training hours. This will be my last Ironman, at least for a while.

The next 3 weeks I'm committed to follow my training schedule exactly. In fact I adjusted the schedule and moved the training back one week to give me some harder workouts. The 7 hour long bike ride and 3 hour long run.

My ride today was 3 hours 45 minutes. I can do 4 hour or less rides all day long. I've never had a problem with that length. It's the 5, 6 or 7 hour rides that I don't enjoy, even though one year I did 26 of them. At 4 hours it doesn't feel like it's taken up your full day. Those longer rides eat an entire day. It puts you into an interesting mental state.

On today's ride I listened to some pod casts on marketing. The great thing about learning and training at the same time it's like adding hours to your day through multitasking. If there was a way I could ride my bike outside and work on my computer at the same time it would be idea. I could be on my computer for 5 hours and the time flies by, yet on the bike it goes much slower.

My ride wasn't fast but faster than my last one. The change in diet is definitely making a difference. An incremental gain is better than nothing.

It does amaze me how slow I'm going compared to my past. I was thinking on my bike "do I have cancer or something I don't know about?" The performance reduction is that significant.

I got home around 5:30 pm, ate, played on the computer and then around 9:00 pm I headed out for my run. Of course I really didn't want to run and just pushed myself out the door. The more suffering I do now the less suffering I'll do later, usually.

What did get me out the door easier is I downloaded a podcast from Tim Ferris. It was really good. It had a Silicon Valley young venture capitalist Kevin Rose on the podcast. It was the first episode and it was fun listening to the podcast and hear Tim Ferris get a little drunk on wine over the hour and a half podcast. It was a really interesting pod cast. Again, more multitasking.

The toughest part of my run is my new running shoes. They are too cushioned. Contrary to what people think the cushion on the shoes is what causes injury. Immediately after wearing them the sides of my ankles near my Achilles started to hurt. All you can do is run as gently as possible and hope for the best.

When I got home I was dripping in sweat. There is no greater feeling than getting home after doing a 5 hour plus day of training and it's only Monday. It's a good start.

What's bothering me the most right now is my body and facial hair. I've been showering about every 3rd day which means I have 3 days of growth on my face and my hair is growing fast from all the protein I'm taking in. For the first time I feel gross with a scruffy looking beard.

Worse than that is my legs. There is something about having cleaning shaved legs that makes you feel like a real athlete. I find there is a motivation factor being cleanly shaved like a real triathlete.

After loading up on protein and water I showered. Did a facial shave. Too tired to do the leg shave. The one benefit of shaving legs is it's also multitasking, you shave and it is the equivalent of stretching in the shower.

Finally I booked our hotel in Boulder. It was on Trivago and it's a non-refundable 5 days. Not only am I all in for Doctors without Borders, now I have $1000 of hotel rooms booked.

Oh, I almost forgot. What motivated me today to get out and get my ass in gear was a twitter friend I've never met. He's was supposed to be doing Ironman Boulder and last week ran over a dog, crashed and separated his shoulder. He figured he was out. Then on Saturday he tweets me that he ran 8 miles and rode his bike 4 hours indoors. He still hasn't given up. True Ironman spirit and inspiring to me.

Sunday - Swim / 1:08
Monday
Bike - 3:47:22 / 101 km
Run - 1:31:12 / 15.64 km