Sweaty mileage report

I know, I know, the mileage report is usually Monday, so without further adieu here are the stats for last week:
Run: 52.5k
Bike: 175k
Spin: 4.0 hrs
Swim: 7.8k
Dryland: 1hr
Weight 161
Everything is pretty much hunky dory, I'm just chugging along and logging some miles. This week I'll be able resume my running mileage and get a good 5 or 6 runs in. Everything else should pretty much stay the same. Maybe some extra bike kms, but nothing too crazy.
Monday was a designated off day, just did 30 minutes of stretching and some upper body weights and nice easy day.

Today, was another matter. Smog. I work outside. I play outside. On these bad air days I can actually feel it in my chest and have a very slight cough. Yum yum, love that particulate air matter circulating in my lungs/system. Perhaps I should take up smoking to get some filtered air.
It's a tough question. Does training in this soup have any benefit? On one hand, I must get acclimatized to heat and you if you don't train when it's crappy out, then you can't race when it's crappy out. On the other hand, breathing on bad smog days is like wrapping your lips around an exhaust pipe. The net benefit is likely negative.

So what did I end up doing today? I didn't want to ride indoors so I said 'screw it' and did a 3+hr brick. A little extreme, but it was in the plan and I didn't want a bad air day mess with my plan. So I biked ~75k and ran 7.5k.
For dinner, I had an extra helping of antioxidants and 9 hrs of sleep tonight should put everything right for tomorrow. Cheers.

Ironman weekend

Close, but not quite. Swam just over 3k on Friday night (an IM swim is 3.8k), Saturday's bike was 175k (an IM bike is 180) and today's run was 23k, combine that with Fridays' run and the total is 32k (an IM run is 42). I shall easily meet an exceed these distances over the 3 days. However, the REAL trick is doing them ALL on the same day. :)

Let's back track a bit. Saturday's ride was rather wicked. I did not end up going to Kitchener as my buddy Ian was tied up doing wedding stuff. So I did a similar ride as last weekend, just longer. Naturally I structured the route so that the hardest hill climbing was in the last 50k and by the end I was rather pooched. Lessons learned from Saturday's ride:
- no matter how easy you think you are going for the first 75k - it's not easy enough.
- pack some InfiniT concentrate. (InfiniT is what I use for fluid/fuel)
Even with multiple pee breaks, stop lights, a few dirt roads and some tough climbs, I was able to hold 30k/hr - it was a good session.

Today was a 2hr run in the heat. I hate heat. I hate humidity. And worse yet, I hate smog. Fortuneately, today wasn't too bad, however the forecast is predicting somewhat of a heat wave starting Tuesday. Must get myself acclimatized.
Actually, despite my bitching, the run went well. I was afraid my legs might be a little too pooched from yesterday's ride, but all things considered I felt pretty damned good. Could have easily extended the run, but was short on H2O, plus it was my 2nd long run in 6 days. Decided to play it smart (cough) and head home. Distance: 23k Time: 1:52.

Finally, Ironman Brazil is today. Here's a couple of pics:


Plenty more pictures available here.

The other cool thing about this race is that Gordo Bryn was in it. Gordo runs a little site called GordoWorld. A top notch site with alot of quality information that Gordo and company freely dole out. Gordo did an incredible 8:36 and placed 5th overall. Amazing. By the way, there was only 21 seconds between first and second, talk about a close race. Luke Bell led for the majority of the race and was passed in the very late stages of the marathon by Argentinean Oscar Galindez. An awesome race.

TGIF pre swim update

Hey. A quick update before I hit the pool.

Since I found my legs, (re: Wednesday's post) yesterday I did manage to do two quality workouts. The first was a rather decent 13k run and the second workout was 2 hours of time trialing on the spinner.
I've really upped my spinning time this year compared to last year. I find coach Troy's spinerval dvd's to be great workouts and they help to pass the time. It's also a very focused bike effort with little downtime. That's the primary reason why I like it. The other tangible benefit is that there are no cars! It will be interesting to see if the extra time on the spinner will yield results.

Today I ran an easy 8.5k and soon I'll be off to the pool to log 3k or so. Tomorrow is looking sweet! So the plan is to get some serious riding in. I'm hoping my buddy Ian is home in Kitchener so I can do that 170k round trip.
Rumour has it that on Sunday Mr. Humidity is rearing it's ugly head. I really don't like the adjustment of having to workout in hot, humid weather. It'll take a few weeks to acclimatize. The plan for Sunday is a ~2hr run.

That's it for now, I'm off to the pool. Have a great weekend!

Found my legs

Eep, I must be getting old. It took me 10 days to recover from the Mississauga half marathon. Oh sure, I've still been working out regularly of course, but the running mileage has taken a beating over the last 2 weeks... something I shall soon rectify.

Here is the workout update:
Tuesday: 2 hours of aerobic spinning, plus 30 minutes of weights and core.
Wednesday: easy 9k+ trail run. (Love the trails!)
swim: 4800m
Today's swim was great... I felt like a swimmer. Check my set out:
4X400m on 6:15 (each one came in 5:45-5:50)
8X200m on 3:15 (each one was about 2:50)
16X100 on 1:40 ( consistently 1:20)

The good news, my times are starting to come down and it's getting easier. Since my times are faster, I'm going to have to start lessening the rest. I sure love that set though.

That's it for now, it's bedtime!

Monday weigh in

Just a quick update because bedtime is just around the corner. Last week was pretty much dedicated to recovery, there were no hard, intense workouts, no weights or hill running. The bad news is that I went for a long run today and my legs still have not recovered from last week's race. This is defineately something to be aware of this week.

Here is the mileage report:
Run: 40k
Bike: 140 km
Spin: 3.5 hrs
Swim: 7.3k
Weight: 161

It's looking like I'll need another 2 or 3 days for the legs to get back to 'normal', this is kind of ticking me off as I want to ratchet up the intensity, but I know better, so I won't. The last thing I need is an injury.

Workout wise, the weekend consisted of a nice 140k ride with Cliff, we got lots of quality saddle time. Notice, I'm not bitching about the crappy weather. :)
Sunday was a rest day and today was my long run, which was just over 23k. The legs complained after an hour into the long run. I had that deep tissue fatigue thing happening again. They have the nerve to complain after I gave them the day off yesterday. Sheesh.

Cheers!

I'm raising a glass to my buddy Ian who is off for what I'm sure is to be a wicked stag this weekend. Cheers Ian! For those with a worse memory than mine, Ian ran the Mississauga half with me last weekend.
So as Ian is getting primed for a weekend of debauchery, I'm slowly recovering from the race last weekend and getting ready for my Mom who is coming to visit us for a few days. (Hi, Mom!)

Today, I did an easy 11k run. I had originally planned 13k, but I can still feel deep tissue fatigue in my legs. Discretion got the better part of valour and I cut it 2k short.
They say that for every mile raced, you need a day of recovery. I frequently say screw conventional wisdom - if everyone was 'conventional', the world would be booooooring. However, intellectually I know that recovering is just as important as your 'hard' days, so I hereby swear not to ratchet up the intensity until fully recovered.

I also logged 3k in the pool this evening, the main set was a nice lactate acid producing 10X100m, with the first length butterfly. The good news is, each one came in on 1:15 or 1:16. Yay!

Have an excellent long weekend and as my good friend, Reddog, says.. Be Safe!

The virtue of selfishness?

Is that an oxymoron? I don't think so. I was thinking about this earlier today. If you have not effectively looked after yourself and met your own needs (mental, phsyical, spiritual etc..) , how can you help others? I don't necessarily think selfishness is bad thing, obviously, as with anything, if taken too far, it's a terrible thing. But if it takes a little bit of selfishness to further explore you, then I'm all for it. Regardless what others think. As with all things, a balance is needed. Give a little bit, take a little bit.
So take some time for yourself, you never know where it might lead. After you have done that for you, turn it around and do something for someone else, maybe your significant other, a friend or even a total stranger.
Pay it Forward
(for those that don't know, it's a movie - a definate worthwhile rental)

All this talk about selfishness makes me want to go spend some quality time with my wife. :) Before I go, here is what I did today:
-spin: 2 hrs
-weights/core: 30min
-planned next month of training.

Still in recovery mode

Listen to your body! This is probably one of the biggest things I've learned over the last couple of years, how to effectively listen to what my body is telling me. All things come in to play here, sleep, eating habits, the previous days workouts, the previous week's workouts and one's own daily ups and downs.

I know it's too early to do anything intense, one does not engage in high intensity workouts a mere 3 days after a half marathon. My legs still have some minor residual soreness, but it's really not that bad and I did a 5.5k easy/recovery run without any problems.
Wednesday is also my swim day, I was feeling a little tired - didn't sleep so well last night. But swimming is great for recovery workouts, so I couldn't really come up with an excuse not to go. I have to do some long endurance type swimming and Wednesday is the day to do it. Besides feeling a little tired, I was having a hell of time trying to think of something fun to do in the pool. Endurance swimming comes down to logging laps and it can get tough being creative when the ultimate goal is to just get the laps in.
So I get to the pool and just started swimming, no sets, just laps. This lasts for 30 minutes before I start getting really bored. After my straight 30 minute 'set', I did a 10X200m alternate swim /pull set. So in the end I did roughly 4300 m. Not too shaboo.

Tuesday weigh in

Ok ok ok, I know, Monday is suppose to be weigh in, I got sidetracked steam cleaning @#$!! carpets! I wonder if that constitutes a workout? It should, because it's such a pain in the ass.
Last week was week number 19, which culminated in an actual race. Finally, after 19 weeks of training I got to race. Now that it has been 48 hours after the race, I've been reflecting on my status for the season. The verdict is I'm happy where I'm at. My work on running is starting to pay off and I'm only 6.5 minutes off my long term goal of breaking 1:20 for the half. Although, it may take me an additional 2 years to knock off that 6.5 minutes. It certainly does get exponetially harder, the faster you want to go.

Here's is week 19's mileage report:
Run: 40k
Bike: 100k
Spin: 2 hrs
Swim 7.7k
Dryland: 2 hrs
Weight: ~162
I'm happy with the week, mostly because I had 2 fairly easy days and still managed reasonable mileage AND got a race in.

My lack of time on the bike is starting to creep into the forefront of my mind. It's not imperative I log mega miles yet, but in a few short weeks, I'll be looking for a solid 300k ++ on weekly basis. I have another 'soft' goal of logging a 500k week on the bike in June and the end of July.

The goals for this week are very flexible, I have to make sure the legs are fully recovered from racing before I crank it up too crazy. Yesterday, was my designated off day, just did some light stretching and that's it. Today, the weather is crap, so I'm going on the spinner for an easy 1 hour followed by upper body weights and core. May get a swim in too.. not sure on that one. That's all for now... later!

Mississagua half report

Ahh.. feel much better, just got up from my post race nap and I'm good to go! For those that don't like details, here is the short version:
Time: 1:26:27 (chip)
Place: 40th overall, 9th in age group.
Bottom line: The quads acted up at the 15k mark, but it was good race.

The slightly more detailed version:
Slept ok, not great, merely ok. Got up at 5 am and chugged down two Boost and a cup-o-Joe. I'm testing out going with purely liquid calories/carbs for my pre race breakfast. My stomach can act up on longer races and since this was a B race, I figured it was a good time to test the new breakfast out.
Sally, my number 1 fan, and I arrived and met up with some good friends of ours, Ian, Mark and Lori. The guys were running and the girls were our support crew. :) (not next year though... right Lori?) After the usual pre race banter, we warmed up and headed to the start, along with the other 4000 particpants doing the half.




Mark saw the camera and ran away. Ian's wearing orange, so that makes me the other guy. Lori wasn't racing, so she wasn't allowed in the photo. :)



Off to the races! As stated yesterday, I had simple plan. Run hard. The first 5k was quick, but a controlled quick. A very nice wind at our backs was a definate help, however this would come back to haunt us. My split at the 5k mark was 19:28 or 3:54/km. I took this is as a good sign, breathing and heart rate felt fine and I was in cruise mode. A small stitch made itself noticeable, but it never really materialized. (phew)

The next split was 5.3k as indicated on my Garmin. The time was 21:07 or 3:58/km. I thought, good almost at the halfway mark and I'm maintaining sub 4 minute kms.
The next split was just over 6k. I somehow missed the 15k marker and so took it at the 16k marker instead. The time was 24:45 or 4:06 /km.
A couple things came into to play at this point in the race. Number one was my quads, they simply were not rested enough and I was starting to feel them. (I did 2 hours of time trialing on the bike on Thursday - undoubtedly the culprit) The second, was the wind. By now we are running near the lake and the nice tailwind we had near the beginning was now staring us head on. I kept looking for a big guy to hide behind and draft off, but alas, that wasn't going to happen.
The wind was bad enough, that at one point my cap blew off! That's never happened before... doh. But it's one of my favorite caps, so I stopped, turned around and ran back for it. So I ran a little extra.. :)

So from 16k to 21k I have choice. Blow the legs out and maybe finish 90 or seconds faster or stay in cruise, save the legs and continue my workout schedule this week. I did the right thing, stayed in cruise mode. The last 5k came in at 21:06, a 4:13/km pace.

Not having alot of experience (this is my 3rd half), I'm happy with the way I paced the race. A 1:26 is a PB, so no complaints there and my quest for improved running continues..
Ian came within 1 minute of a PB and Mark, who only got talked into doing the race at the last minute posted a great time. A pretty damned good day for our little crew.

The 'plan'

Actually, I'm not sure what the 'plan' is. This is in regarding tomorrow's race. You say: 'Darren, you are racing in less than 24 hrs, and you aren't sure of your plan?' I say: 'Yep'.
You see, I'm not fully tapered or rested as this is a B race for me. But on the other hand, I'd like to nail a good time (duh). The math indicates, I should be able to run sub 1:25, however I don't think that's realistic, so I'm going to aim for 1:28. I know.. I know, it's a 3 minute difference, big deal.
But, on the other hand, it's a fairly fast course, so posting a big PB is a possibility... Then again, if I go for the big PB, I have a very real chance of just blowing up at the 15k mark.. Perhaps I'll go for the big PB and if I blow up, I should still straggle in at 1:28, but if I don't blow up.. who knows?
Bah, I think I'll just play it by ear and run hard. Hey, that sounds like a good 'plan'. Just run hard. Phew, I'm glad we had this discussion. Thanks!

Here is the workout update: Yesterday I did an easy 6.5k run and my second workout was a 2700m swim. The main part of my swim set was a 10X 100m on 2 minutes. First length butterfly, the next 3 lengths are freestyle. Each one came in 1:18 or faster. So I got lots of rest between sets.
Why do I do set like this? Here is the reasoning: the first length (butterfly, the toughest stroke), produces lactate acid in the muscle, for the next 3 lengths (freestyle), I'm forced to deal with the lactate acid produced from the first length of butterfly. I then get enough rest to absorb some of the lactate acid, but not enough rest so that's it's dissapeared. So by the 6th set, it starts to get hard. I'm trying to get my body used to the elevated heart rate and lactate acid produced during the swim part of my triathlon.
There is method to the madness.

C'est tout for now. I'll update tomorrow with a quick race report. Cya!

Totally time trial

Today was my last hard workout before Sunday's race and since it was raining cats and dogs, the workout was done on the spinner. I fired up coach Troy's Have Mercy 2.0 dvd and settled in for a hard two hours on the bike. At times, my legs screamed at me and when they complained, I turned it up another notch - just to shut them up. Sweat was pouring, I was huffing and the legs were screaming - my kind of workout.
I need to get a few of these types of workouts done, these are the ones that make you faster. My first 'A' race is a mere month away and I'd really like to see my average kph in the 38 range for that race. I need to gain as much time as possible after the swim and bike because I know I'll be passed on the run. :)

My short mini taper starts tomorrow. The plan is to do an easy run and an easy swim. I'll start horfing down the carbs and on Saturday I'll do a very short run with some stretching, then it's off to the races baby!

Status Quo

Are you content with being the status quo? I think most people are. I'm totally cool with that, who am I to judge you? You are the one that has to live up to your standards and no one else. If you are happy being Joe status quo, then by all means, fill your boots. The only real problem I have with the status quo is when they try to bring others to their level.
Example. Let's say Herb is trying to quit drinking. Herb's 'buddies' think this is foolish and exert a negative influence, thus making Herb's goal that much more difficult.

I'm not sure why it's human nature to try to bring others down when they are trying to accomplish something. It's a sad commentary about us. Why is it we envy others successes so much? I guess it's easier to be envious then to actually work and be a success yourself. Just because others don't 'get' what you are doing, doesn't mean you shouldn't be supportive. So, if you have a friend who trying to something new, or is expanding their horizons, clap him/her on the back and say ' you know, I think it's really cool you are doing such and such, way to go!'
Such simple words can go so far..

Alrighty then, on to today's workouts. It was a beautiful day in the neighbourhood, so I went for an easy 8k trail run. I'm not doing any hill or speed training this week, as I'm trying to give the legs a little bit of a break for the upcoming half marathon.

My second workout was a neat swim set:
4X400m on 6:15 (each one came in on 5:55, which gave me 20s rest)
8X200m on 3:15 (each one came on 2:55, again, 20s rest)
16X100m on 1:45
The last set was something I could really sink my teeth into. It reminded of my old swim days. Shorter intervals with slightly longer rest. Much more fun then the long endurance stuff. I started out on a 1:25/100m pace, but by the end of the set I was at 1:15 /100m. Not as fast I was 20 years ago.. but I was pleasantly happy with my swim today. The total mileage was 5,000m.

100k Tuesday

Cracked off a relatively quick 100k on the bike today. A bit of wind, lots of hills, some dirt roads, a couple of stops and my average speed was just over 31k/hr. After the ride, I did my usual post workout stretch routine followed by weights/core work.

I'm starting to keep half an eye on the weather and though it's far away, Sunday's race is looking soggy at this point. I think that predicting weather that's 5 days away is kind of stupid, heck I'm happy if they just get tomorrow right. Yet, like an idiot I'm checking the forecast..

Monday weigh in

I had a good long run yesterday, it was difficult in a good way. Here is the breakdown: first 10k was exactly on my 5:00 min/km pace. The second 10k, which is hilly, I maintained exactly the same pace. I was hungry, low on energy and only carried a measley 10 ozs of water with me for the whole run. (it was a water/honey mixture) So I knew the last 10k was going to be hard. Truthfully, it wasn't so bad. The only hard part was a brutal hill at the 25k mark. It's the hill I do my all my hill repeats on. It's kind of sadistic to put that in at the 25k mark of a long run... which probably says something about my personality, but let's not go there.
The total run was just over 30k and the last 10k, I brought the pace down to 4:51 /km. Not as fast as I thought, but I'm sure that hill really cut into my average pace.

Today is my rest day and I've already fixed the sink and walked the dog. I'm going to do a good 45 minutes of stretching, some upper body weight and some core work. A nice easy day.

Here are the stats for the first week of May:
Run: 73.5k
Bike: 185k
Spin: 1:15
Swim: 8k
Dryland: 1:30
Weight: 162
It was a good week. My body has adapted well to the 70k+ running weeks. My biking is ok, I'm defineately going to have to start logging more saddle time in the coming weeks. Any week I get 8k in the pool is good. So, like I said, a good week.

This Sunday, I have a 'B' race, so I won't be running as much and will be taking an extra rest day. I'll talk more about my plan for the Mississauga half marathon later in the week.

Weekend update

It's Saturday night and I just finished some chores around the house - yup, if you want to hang with me, it's life in the fast lane baby. Actually, I was procrastinating my household duties because I went for a long ride with Cliff.

Let me back up a bit, I emailed a few people on Wednesday about doing a long ride on Saturday (today). The weather forecast was looking iffy, so honestly, I didn't think anyone would want to come. But I said, the first scheduled group was May 6... and since I said it, I could not in good concious wimp out. So I figured I'd invite everyone, no one will come and I'll go do 3 hours on the trainer instead of biking in icky weather. (ok, so I admit I'm a fair weather cyclist) So, Cliff was the only one to call my bluff, for which I'm grateful.

Under the threat of rain and relentless wind, we set out to do a 120k horribly hilly route I mapped out. I admit, when I train, I'm a hardass. I see a hill, I want to climb it, I want to push my personal limits, not because I want win, I do it because I just simply love to train and wish to extend my personal limit. I think it's a zen thing or something. So when I go into Zen mode and I have a tendancy to forget that maybe others are not used to the hills, I suppose it's kind of selfish, but it's not meant to be.
The cool thing is that every time I looked back at Cliff , he's always has a grin on face. I like that attitude. No matter the conditions, the headwind, or the hills.. not one complaint and a big grin on his face.

We get to the 80k mark and I give him the option of extending the ride a bit, which will involve yet another particularly nasty climb, or cutting it short. He chooses the former. I think to myself, yup we are going to get along just fine. By now, the sun was out and wind was at our backs and we sailed home. What a great ride. Oh yea, I broke 80km/hr on the way home. Wheee!

Here is the last two days in a nutshell:
Friday: Run: easy 7k on the trails. Swim: 3000m, it consisted of a 1000m straight swim, 10X100 m on 2 minutes (first length butterfly) and some drill work.
Saturday: Bike: 120k followed by a short 2.5k run.

Eeep, long update.. I'm off to bed, got to get plenty of rest for tomorrow's long run. Cheers!

5k PB!

Did my monthly 5k 'test' run today and cracked off a PB. Yay me! :) Here is the breakdown of the run: 5k warmup, 5k hard, 3k cool down. My time for the 5k hard was 19:30, which is 24 seconds faster than my last 5k test. Now if I can improve 24 seconds everytime I do this test .... It's kind of wierd, my limiter seems to be my legs. My heart and lungs say "go faster" and my legs say "not gonna happen". I think with fresh legs and in an actual race, dropping that time by 90 seconds is a realistic possibility. Ever so slowly, I'm getting faster.
I recall reading that you can realistically see improvements in speed and endurance for the first 5 to 8 years. That's how long it takes to get good. So I have a ways to go, but it's still nice to see an improvement.

My second workout was some time trial work on the bike - yea running speed work followed by time trialing on the bike = fried legs. I did 1:15 on the spinner to a new dvd: coach Troy's Have Mercy 2.0. Spinning can get boring at times, but it's SO effective. You are always pushing gears, no rest, no coasting downhills, it's go go go. The downside is the scenery sucks. :)

Tomorrow I plan to do an easy run on the trails then hit the pool in the evening. Cheers

You gotta have passion

I could not imagine going through life without being passionate about something. So many dreary souls in the world, clocking in and clocking out - they have no passion. You know the type, heck perhaps you are the type, the person who has no passion is in a perpetual state of unhappiness. That misery is reflected in their actions and others pick up on it. In effect, the miserable person is a mirror of their own misery. Worse yet, it's contagious. How many times have you been around an unhappy person, only to find yourself starting to feel that same unhappiness? You get what you give. If you're grumpy all time, well people around will have a tendancy to be grumpy too - it becomes a self fullfilling prophecy.
Get a passion. Pursue it with all your heart, learn from it, if you are lucky, maybe teach others. I'm not saying you have to go do an Ironman or anything, but get out and try something and really delve into it. Of course don't let it interfere with friends, family and commitments. If you have passion, you also need balance. I'll talk about balance another day. That's enough philosophizing for one day. :)

Today, I did an easy run on the trails! I hadn't planned to hit the trails, but I was running by a Bruce Trail access point and said what the heck - I yinged intstead of yanged. Running the trails today made me realize how much I miss it. So today, I vowed to incorporate more trail running in my regime. It's also noticeably easier on the joints, so I'm sure the body will thank for me that. Total distance was roughly 8k.

I also hit the pool today. It's been 2 weeks since my last swim, so I was feeling a little rusty. I figure it's about time to start bringing my swimming up to speed. I did have a good workout though - check my main set out:
20X 200m on 3:15 Fun stuff.
8X 100m drills
200 easy.
Total was 5000m. Any day I log 5k in the pool is a good day. Cheers.

Just a quickie..

Hey guys, just a quick update. The hardest part of getting back into the grind is the mental aspect. It's funny how your own mind plays tricks on you and how you can easily talk yourself out of doing something 'hard.' So as my mind was playing games with itself, the body went for a run and I did my hill repeats today. Was it fun? No. Was it worth it? Yes. Total run was 13k with 8 tough hill repeats each ascent came in at 91 sec. After my stretch and cool down, I did 45 minutes of weights and core work.

Sometimes you just gotta tell yourself to shutup and get on with it. I'm glad I did.

Back in the saddle, monthly totals and more!

Officially, my mini-hiatus is over. Last week was dedicated to resting, not thinking about triathlon, getting perspective and tweaking the 'plan'. I did get a couple of workouts in, just so that I don't lose any fitness and now I'm ready for the big push. So in a way, May 1 is chapter two in my little journey.

Chapter one was from Jan 1 to April 30 and was running focused with a good chunk of spinning time and very little swimming. In the coming weeks, I'll be doing more biking, while trying to maintain some good running kilometers. I'll also be adding an extra weekly swim session.

I have a race in less than 2 weeks, so the above formula won't become fully in effect until the end of the month. The short term, 2 week plan, is to focus on running, add some extra bike sessions, then take it easy for a day or two before the Mississagua half marathon. That race is a "B" race, so although I'll be going hard, I will not do a full taper for it.

Here are the totals for the month of April:
Run: 223.5 km
Spin: 16.5 hrs
Bike: 124 km
Swim 8.6 km
So although I may not be happy with the totals, it's not really that bad considering I had a week of forced rest.

Lastly, Monday is always a rest day. I usually take the day off to catch up on chores etc.. But since last week was so easy and since today is the beginning of chapter two I had to do something. So, 65 biking kms go in the books followed by my routine of upper body weights, stretching and core work.
Ok, I think you are up to date now.. cheers! :)