IRONMAN 70.3 ROCKFORD TRAINING – WEEK 11 WRAP-UP – MAY 18, 2025
Classic Rock lives in my head, and this week was a little rocky, so here’s the playlist (more like earworms) of this week in training.
Bicycle Race – Queen
I’ve been riding my e-bike pretty regularly to work and back the past couple of weeks. The temps have been warmer, and it hasn’t rained. But my bottom bracket on this bike has been creaking and making popping noises so much that it just can’t be ignored any longer. Thursday did, however, look to possibly have storms in the afternoon, so instead of trying to ride home and then hop on my tribike for an actual workout, I opted to extend my ride commute home and use the e-bike for the workout. I powered it down to the lowest level and rode 20 miles on it, making it home in time to also get in a swim. The storm? It may have rained for 10 minutes in the late afternoon. I took my bike into the local bike shop to have it looked at, but come Monday, I will really just want to ride my bicycle again, even if it is to work and back.
Dust In The Wind – Kansas
Friday was hot, and lately the pollen around the Chicago area has been off the charts. I came home and headed out for my 8.25-mile run. When I got home, there was a weather alert on my phone for a potential dust storm. That storm was something we hadn’t had here, well, in like ever. Fortunately, I only had to deal with the pollen on the run and not the dust, as it would have been miserable.
Against The Wind – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
My “coach wife” Kari was looking at her phone and said, “It looks like your best day for biking this weekend is Sunday.” Great. I have had to move my weekend schedule around so much this training cycle that I was dreading the swap. It means moving the bike to Sunday, which is no big deal, but it puts the typical Sunday long run on Saturday and makes it a back-to-back hard run effort after the Friday run. Did I listen to my wife? No, I chose to ride on Saturday, a day that was cold and windy. Fortunately, the wind would be in my face heading out this time, unlike last week when I suffered trying to make it back home after a long ride. Going out toward the west was hard, but coming back, I was flying. I put in 55 miles on the ride, and then followed it up with a 5-mile brick run. Sometimes you just have to take on the day as it is presented. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, as race day is always a gamble.
Lust For Life – Iggy Pop
I was running that 5-mile brick run and caught up to a runner I see on the trail all the time, and we always share a wave and hello. This time we were running in the same direction when I caught him, and we introduced ourselves and talked about our running plans for the year. Tom, as I learned, is newish at running, but has three marathons under his belt and had a ton of questions about fueling for me as he was trying to figure that part of it out. It really was a high-energy conversation that I enjoyed, and it ended quicker than I wanted it to, as my trail home went opposite of his. He definitely had a lust for life and running, too.
Running On Empty – Jackson Browne
Sunday came, and I was still sore from the 60-mile effort on Saturday. A lot of the time, getting a run workout done when you really don’t want to is to just get dressed and take the first steps out the door. And that’s what I did today. Put my foot outside the door, paraphrasing Robert Plant on Led Zeppelin’s The Ocean. But once out, I could feel the strain of running on tired legs. Running on empty, for sure. I kept putting one foot in front of the other and ended with a nice 10.75 miles. Just get out there, and you might surprise yourself.
That wraps up the soundtrack for the week. I’m sure I will have something in my head next week.
Week 11 Totals: Swims 2/2600 yards – Bikes 3/88 miles – Runs 5/35 miles
an amazing run 