Looks like wetsuits are going to be allowed for the GREAT FLORIDIAN IM. Ave water temp for the lake is 74 degrees this time of year and USAT rules state the anything less than 78 degrees is wetsuit legal. Anybody got one I can borrow, buy or steal I'd be grateful.....I'm 6'3 185lbs

My SWIM - I'm a little complacent right now with my swim so I have increased focus of this discipline.  

 Yesterday I completed 2000 yards in 30 minutes flat.  I KNOW THATS SLOW but it was a mixed workout and included 500 yards of 1 arm drills, 500 hypoxic kick intervals, rests and all that kind of collateral influence, so it was pretty good. 

My BIKE - I have my toughest mileage coming up next 2 weeks... Mostly hrs on the bike moderate intensity and POWER INTERVALS during the week.  The importance of doing POWER intervals in prep for a long distance rac ...

I have asked our web guy for a 'count down clock' for the site but he wont budge... He says they are geeky and he has a reputation to keep. 

So here is my update - less heady and more to the point than last week. 

Saturday started with a 3 hour ride at 6:00AM there were a few groups meeting up at Brownell Travel, the local athlete dispatch. Seriously this place will have 50 people waiting around for a run or ride.  This morning there were 4.  Most everyone's season is over and I guess they are sleeping in. 

So we headed out...at......a.....snails......pace........or maybe Im just impatient, probably the latter but anyway I put it down and disappeared for a while.  The head wind made for great training giving me opts to perfect my aero position...

I have made some drastic changes over the past several weeks and only have a few  weeks to adapt to them.  ...

So last week I throw on my gear at about 5:30PM and head out for a long run.. 14.22 miles was the actual distance clocked.  I clipped doff an 8 minute pace and whipped in with attitude and form 1hour and 50 minutes later.  this included a couple stops for traffic and toe pulling.....later on that... 

For this this weeks long run the temperature outside was PERFECT.  I donned on my IPOD with pace chip and 2 hrs worth of fuel.  I looked like a gun slinger wear under and fancy shoes. As I eagerly stepped onto the pavement for  a 16 miler, I knew within 100 yards that this was going to hurt.

My route was the same, (check out the training routes under TRACYS LONG RUN for specifics...)  Up down around UP and across and down and across and then UP again but there was a difference. This time I added 1.5 miles and it took me 2:12 to get it done...I stopped only once to pull a toe and refill ...

TOPIC: How Can An Athlete Increase Muscular Endurance?

The Question:

Muscular endurance plays a huge role in just about any sport. 

So how do you know you are maximizing your potential, doing what you need to do to have maximum gains?

Well ask yourself this

Recently while training a few athletes, I was questioned about the value and reasoning behind doing all these short burst exercises like "power intervals" or " sprints"...I should have explained...

While there are many reasons for this, I will answer this question with the primary answer and leave the rest for future blogging.

The Three Keys For Muscular Endurance:

1. Maximal Strength ...

So much for team camaraderie. You can tell we are on the eve of the race. Now everyone is looking at whether they can beat you versus the “team” concept.

I checked my bike into transition this evening. It was crazy to see all of the countries represented. A little intimidating to say the least. How did a little race in Irondale, Alabama lead to me being in Germany for a World Championship?

The transition is literally 3 city blocks long. I’ve never seen more bikes on two rows in my life. Transition will take a while to get in and out of. I have a pretty good spot. Right at the beginning from the swim but that also means that I’ll have to run with my bike for 3 city blocks just to get out of transition! My bike is next to the Australian National Team and right next to them is the Team from China. Pretty neat guys really. Hopefully, I won’t see them again until they cross the finish line.

Today I hung out and ...