Training for Ironman Canada

I am in week 2 of a 17 week training program for ironman canada which is the end of August. I am also now teaching 2 nights a week at UPEI until the end of June as well as working full time. Luckily, I don't have to punch a time clock at my day job but I do try to keep regular hours. I am thinking, though, of leaving work around 4:30 pm because that extra half hour will make a surprising difference in getting training done by a reasonable time.

I am not as meticulous as some of my friends in exactly following my training program to the letter. I simply can't with everything else I have to do. What I do is scan the week's workouts and then decide how I can fit them in my schedule. I leave the long workouts for the weekend. For example, this week calls for 2 three hour plus bike rides. I did one this past Saturday (which I am counting toward this week) and will do another one this weekend. I don't have much difficulty fitting the swims in because they are usually only an hour or a little more and I can do that before work. Today, I am planning a 2 hour bike ride which is really more than the program calls for.

Yesterday, after work I did some running drills which is a new thing for me. I really enjoyed it because it was different. I ran for about 10 minutes from my place in town to Victoria Park. I found a fairly quiet stretch of roadway and spent about 20 minutes running fast in one direction and then doing various drills on the way back (high kicks, knees up, skipping etc...) Then I ran for about 15 minutes after that making it about a 45 minute workout. The program calls for this workout every week or two. It is a nice change from just straight running. This program that I am doing has very detailed instructions and a lot of variation in intensity. Hopefully, it will improve my ironman time. I would like to finish in around 11 hours or less. Last year my time was a little over 11 and a half hours and I didn't feel like I gave it everything I had.