I'm back at home at the folks house, just chilling and relaxing. Already had a big bag of Lay's potato chips. (only my second bag in 8 months!) I'm not too sore, just more tired than anything. So all in all, I'm feeling pretty good. Here is the quick and dirty IMC 2006 update:
swim: nailed it. Wanted 56:00, swam it in 56. Nice and easy, pacing was spot on.
bike: 5:31. Very solid. Small bummer about the bike was when I hit the top of Richter's Pass, I had a very bad tire puncture, totally tore the casing on my front my tire. I was S.O.L., but a tech van was fairly close and they got me up and rolling with a new tire. Cost me a good 12 - 15 min.
run: 4:2? Yup. Still my nemesis. It was hot. It was hilly. It was windy. Settled into a comfortable pace for the first 10 miles, then slowly faded from there. Legs just got heavier and heavier. Had to slow due to tummy issues numerous times. Hey if it was easy, they'd call it FluffyMan or something. :)
That's it for now, I'll get a more extensive race report up later in the week - as for now, I think there is glass of wine nearby with my name on. :) Cheers!
Monday, August 28, 2006
Monday, August 21, 2006
Last post.
Hey everyone.
This will most likely be my last post until post race and it will be a lengthy one, got lots of stuff to cover.
Let's start off with a funny story. I went for my last bike ride and got my first flat of the season. I seem to get one flat a year and it figures it would be on my very last ride. No biggie, might as well get it out of the way now instead of during the race. I pull out a brand new spare and lo and behold it has a busted seam. Great. Two tubes, both with holes. Murphy's law is kicking in. I rumage around in my emergency kit and find some old patches, fortuneately the patch held until I got home. Phew.
'06 Mileage
Mileage report from Jan 2 - Aug 21.
Run: 1582 km- A 13% increase over last year.
Spin: 104 hrs 30 min- A 45% (!) increase over last year.
Bike: 3429 km- A 5% increase over last year.
Swim: 187.7 km- The same as last year.
Dryland: ~50 hrs of stretching, weights and core work.
Starting weight: 168
Ending weight: 159
Comments: A large part of the early part of the season was 'running focused', a 13% increase over last year is nothing to sneeze at, but I know it needs more work if I'm going to continue to make gains in that department. Looks like next year will be running focused again.
The large part of my biking gains was time spent on the spinner. 104 frikin hours - zoinks. That's basically the same amount of time that I actually spent outside on the bike. So if you do the math you are looking at ~ 6700 km on the bike. An almost 25% increase in time spent on the bike compared to last year.
Umm.. ya this year was running focused.. riiiiiight.
About swimming. The mileage is virtually identical to last year. The only thing I did different this year was log some big swim weeks later in the season.
Goal
In all seriousness this isn't super important. Yes, I have some time goals I would like to meet, but I fully realize that long endurance type activities can take years to learn and do well at. I'm only now starting to understand my specific nutrition needs and all the little physical cues my body tells me during an event.
That being said, I'm still going to tell you what I'd like to do and if the weather cooperates and if I can pace well and if I can 'nail' my nutrion and if I can race smart. Notice the ifs.
Swim: ~56 min. I can go faster, but I won't. I must control myself and take it easy.
T1: roughly 4 min. Puts me on the bike 1 hr into the race.
Bike: ~5:20. I took a recent half Ironman bike time of 2:30, doubled it and added 20 minutes. I hope that's reasonable.
T2: 4 min.
Run: the hardest one to judge. They say if you take your best stand-a-lone marathon time and add 30 minutes, you've nailed the run. All my long runs are roughly at a 5:00 /km pace. Is it reasonable to run at that pace after the bike? Doubt it. But my recent half Ironman pace was 4:36 /km. So maybe it is. So I'm going to take the 5:00 /km pace and add 10 extra minutes. Run time: 3:40. I feel like I'm going out on a limb on that one.
Total: 10:04.
You just know I really want to find that 4 minutes and 1 sec somewhere to break the 10 hr mark. Ya that would be the holy grail. Honestly, I think I have a 25% of chance of acheiving that. But it's on the mind.
Thank you's
Obviously first and foremost is my wife, Sally. Could not have got this far without her. Yea, she's my rock.
Canada Post Was awesome enough to come on board as a sponsor. This is a rather expensive sport and working for a company that has an employee sponsorship program and having the powers that be recommend me for it - is rather cool. This would have been a very tough year if they didn't come on board. A big thanks to them.
My family and friends for being understanding. I know some of you don't get "it", but you put up with my eccentricities and that alone deserves thanks. (My folks are going to be at the race!)
My fellow tri-wienies. With special mention to Cliff, and Sheila.
Thanks to the lurkers who read the blog, the people who have taken the time to drop me a line or an email. It's appreciated.
Before I forget, tune your browser to Ironman Live , this Sunday to get live updates of the race throughout the day. You can even plug my number in (754) and get a status report. (send some positive vibes too, will ya?) The race starts 7am Pacific time which is 10am EST.
Eep, it's getting late and I need some quality zzz's. Next update will be post race! Cheers!
This will most likely be my last post until post race and it will be a lengthy one, got lots of stuff to cover.
Let's start off with a funny story. I went for my last bike ride and got my first flat of the season. I seem to get one flat a year and it figures it would be on my very last ride. No biggie, might as well get it out of the way now instead of during the race. I pull out a brand new spare and lo and behold it has a busted seam. Great. Two tubes, both with holes. Murphy's law is kicking in. I rumage around in my emergency kit and find some old patches, fortuneately the patch held until I got home. Phew.
'06 Mileage
Mileage report from Jan 2 - Aug 21.
Run: 1582 km- A 13% increase over last year.
Spin: 104 hrs 30 min- A 45% (!) increase over last year.
Bike: 3429 km- A 5% increase over last year.
Swim: 187.7 km- The same as last year.
Dryland: ~50 hrs of stretching, weights and core work.
Starting weight: 168
Ending weight: 159
Comments: A large part of the early part of the season was 'running focused', a 13% increase over last year is nothing to sneeze at, but I know it needs more work if I'm going to continue to make gains in that department. Looks like next year will be running focused again.
The large part of my biking gains was time spent on the spinner. 104 frikin hours - zoinks. That's basically the same amount of time that I actually spent outside on the bike. So if you do the math you are looking at ~ 6700 km on the bike. An almost 25% increase in time spent on the bike compared to last year.
Umm.. ya this year was running focused.. riiiiiight.
About swimming. The mileage is virtually identical to last year. The only thing I did different this year was log some big swim weeks later in the season.
Goal
In all seriousness this isn't super important. Yes, I have some time goals I would like to meet, but I fully realize that long endurance type activities can take years to learn and do well at. I'm only now starting to understand my specific nutrition needs and all the little physical cues my body tells me during an event.
That being said, I'm still going to tell you what I'd like to do and if the weather cooperates and if I can pace well and if I can 'nail' my nutrion and if I can race smart. Notice the ifs.
Swim: ~56 min. I can go faster, but I won't. I must control myself and take it easy.
T1: roughly 4 min. Puts me on the bike 1 hr into the race.
Bike: ~5:20. I took a recent half Ironman bike time of 2:30, doubled it and added 20 minutes. I hope that's reasonable.
T2: 4 min.
Run: the hardest one to judge. They say if you take your best stand-a-lone marathon time and add 30 minutes, you've nailed the run. All my long runs are roughly at a 5:00 /km pace. Is it reasonable to run at that pace after the bike? Doubt it. But my recent half Ironman pace was 4:36 /km. So maybe it is. So I'm going to take the 5:00 /km pace and add 10 extra minutes. Run time: 3:40. I feel like I'm going out on a limb on that one.
Total: 10:04.
You just know I really want to find that 4 minutes and 1 sec somewhere to break the 10 hr mark. Ya that would be the holy grail. Honestly, I think I have a 25% of chance of acheiving that. But it's on the mind.
Thank you's
Obviously first and foremost is my wife, Sally. Could not have got this far without her. Yea, she's my rock.
Canada Post Was awesome enough to come on board as a sponsor. This is a rather expensive sport and working for a company that has an employee sponsorship program and having the powers that be recommend me for it - is rather cool. This would have been a very tough year if they didn't come on board. A big thanks to them.
My family and friends for being understanding. I know some of you don't get "it", but you put up with my eccentricities and that alone deserves thanks. (My folks are going to be at the race!)
My fellow tri-wienies. With special mention to Cliff, and Sheila.
Thanks to the lurkers who read the blog, the people who have taken the time to drop me a line or an email. It's appreciated.
Before I forget, tune your browser to Ironman Live , this Sunday to get live updates of the race throughout the day. You can even plug my number in (754) and get a status report. (send some positive vibes too, will ya?) The race starts 7am Pacific time which is 10am EST.
Eep, it's getting late and I need some quality zzz's. Next update will be post race! Cheers!
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Lucky number, brick, swim, details.
And my lucky number for Ironman Canada is..... ... 754! Can't say it really does anything for me, it's just a number. However, on race day, you can just punch in my number on Ironman Live and you will get a progress report on me. It's kinda neat, you can share in my suffering. :)
Workout update:
Wednesday: bike 75k, run 4.5k (my last brick)
Thursday: swim 3.3k (my last pool swim for awhile) The main set was 2(4X400) descending. The fast 400's were 5:13 and 5:09. Felt good. Felt strong.
Some little details to take care of in the next few days: tune & clean bike, get bike box rental, start 'pre packing', goto bike store, get a run in, pick up tux and go to one of my bestest buds wedding, party.. but not too hard, get a ride in on Sun - final bike check, visit sis & neice, pack a zillion little things knowing full well I'll forget something, get an open water swim in, final run and pack up car on Tues, go over list one more time, catch flight on Wed. I have no idea how the pros do this for a living. It's crazy.
Workout update:
Wednesday: bike 75k, run 4.5k (my last brick)
Thursday: swim 3.3k (my last pool swim for awhile) The main set was 2(4X400) descending. The fast 400's were 5:13 and 5:09. Felt good. Felt strong.
Some little details to take care of in the next few days: tune & clean bike, get bike box rental, start 'pre packing', goto bike store, get a run in, pick up tux and go to one of my bestest buds wedding, party.. but not too hard, get a ride in on Sun - final bike check, visit sis & neice, pack a zillion little things knowing full well I'll forget something, get an open water swim in, final run and pack up car on Tues, go over list one more time, catch flight on Wed. I have no idea how the pros do this for a living. It's crazy.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Will power > lethargy
Ug. Feeling very lethargic today. Went to the pool for a my last scheduled 4k swim, did 3k and called it. (2k straight, 1k drills). Later I did a short 7k run and it took a supreme amount of effort to get my sorry ass out the door. Well at least I didn't bail. Phew.
I figure a good night sleep will set me straight. My problem is that's it harder for me to sleep due to reduced training volumes, so now when I go to bed I keep going through race scenarios and questioning my season's master training plan. Intellectually, I know there is nothing I can do now, I truly believe I trained better and smarter this year and I know I'm ready. I just can't help questioning all the prep work.
Back to basics:
-race smart
-pace well
-follow nutrition plan
-the race will take care of itself.
I figure a good night sleep will set me straight. My problem is that's it harder for me to sleep due to reduced training volumes, so now when I go to bed I keep going through race scenarios and questioning my season's master training plan. Intellectually, I know there is nothing I can do now, I truly believe I trained better and smarter this year and I know I'm ready. I just can't help questioning all the prep work.
Back to basics:
-race smart
-pace well
-follow nutrition plan
-the race will take care of itself.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Monday weigh in
The 'official' leg taper began last week, here's the mileage report:
Run: 46.5k
Bike: 230k
Swim: 13.5k
Dryland: 1.5 hrs
Weight: 160
I've adopted what I call a 'staggered taper'. The theory is that since running punishes the body the most, I need to recover the longest for that particular sport. My running miles have slowly been decreasing for the last 2 weeks and last week's decrease was ~25%.
I had a big cycle week 2 weeks ago and overall mileage since the big week has been cut in half.
The swim taper is now officially started. I did an extra swim session last week, but this week the swim mileage will be cut in half. So mileage totals for the coming week should be something like this: run: 30-35k bike:180k swim: 7k
My weight jumped 2 pounds? I find it hard to believe I gained 2 pounds in just one week of tapering. I'm not sure if that's an anomoly or what. Some weight gain is to be expected as I'm reducing the workout load but still eating like a pig. :)
Still no race number yet...
Run: 46.5k
Bike: 230k
Swim: 13.5k
Dryland: 1.5 hrs
Weight: 160
I've adopted what I call a 'staggered taper'. The theory is that since running punishes the body the most, I need to recover the longest for that particular sport. My running miles have slowly been decreasing for the last 2 weeks and last week's decrease was ~25%.
I had a big cycle week 2 weeks ago and overall mileage since the big week has been cut in half.
The swim taper is now officially started. I did an extra swim session last week, but this week the swim mileage will be cut in half. So mileage totals for the coming week should be something like this: run: 30-35k bike:180k swim: 7k
My weight jumped 2 pounds? I find it hard to believe I gained 2 pounds in just one week of tapering. I'm not sure if that's an anomoly or what. Some weight gain is to be expected as I'm reducing the workout load but still eating like a pig. :)
Still no race number yet...
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Still numberless, open water swim, cherries.
T-minus 14 days.
So it's Sunday afternoon, my long run was done long ago, all my chores around the house are done and I'm sitting here eating a bowl of cherries and updating my blog. My usual routine involves an afternoon nap, but I don't need one of those today as I only ran for 1:15. (15k) As far as training goes for the next two weeks I'll be using a 'less is more' philosophy. Here's the workout update for the past few days:
Fri: swim 3.2k: 2k straight, 1.2k drills. Run: 13k
Sat: swim 2.4k. An open water swim with the C3 triathlon club. Gosh, I've been missing out. The swim was in nice clear and clean water. All the people were super friendly and I got a chance to break in my new wetsuit. Gotta hang out with those guys more often. Afterwards, I did 100k on the bike.
Sun: run 15k
Race numbers for Ironman Canada were suppose to be out on Friday - they still aren't out yet. It's no biggie, Ijust want to know what my lucky number is. :) Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Cheers!
So it's Sunday afternoon, my long run was done long ago, all my chores around the house are done and I'm sitting here eating a bowl of cherries and updating my blog. My usual routine involves an afternoon nap, but I don't need one of those today as I only ran for 1:15. (15k) As far as training goes for the next two weeks I'll be using a 'less is more' philosophy. Here's the workout update for the past few days:
Fri: swim 3.2k: 2k straight, 1.2k drills. Run: 13k
Sat: swim 2.4k. An open water swim with the C3 triathlon club. Gosh, I've been missing out. The swim was in nice clear and clean water. All the people were super friendly and I got a chance to break in my new wetsuit. Gotta hang out with those guys more often. Afterwards, I did 100k on the bike.
Sun: run 15k
Race numbers for Ironman Canada were suppose to be out on Friday - they still aren't out yet. It's no biggie, Ijust want to know what my lucky number is. :) Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Cheers!
Thursday, August 10, 2006
13:10, Brick Thursday.
Not a heck of a lot to report, all is still going according to plan. At the end of this week, I'll have reduced 'leg miles', by 25% over last week. Swim miles will be up this week, but come next week all 3 sports go into hardcore taper mode. Here's the mileage report to yesterday and today:
Wednesday's workouts:
Run: 11k (trails)
Swim: 3,000m. 1k warmup, 1k time trial, 1k of drills. The 1k time trial came in at 13:10 for a 1:19/m pace. This tells me a couple of things: 1) my 400m 'hard' sets are not hard enough. I maintain the same pace (1:19/100m) during a 400m 'hard effort'. Should be faster. 2) my swimming endurance has improved. I was winded after the 1k time trial, but not blown out.
Today was brick day. A 75k hilly ride followed by a 7.5k run. Physically felt strong, but mentally was not 100% 'into it'. Lol, taper is already messing with my head. :) Cheers.
Wednesday's workouts:
Run: 11k (trails)
Swim: 3,000m. 1k warmup, 1k time trial, 1k of drills. The 1k time trial came in at 13:10 for a 1:19/m pace. This tells me a couple of things: 1) my 400m 'hard' sets are not hard enough. I maintain the same pace (1:19/100m) during a 400m 'hard effort'. Should be faster. 2) my swimming endurance has improved. I was winded after the 1k time trial, but not blown out.
Today was brick day. A 75k hilly ride followed by a 7.5k run. Physically felt strong, but mentally was not 100% 'into it'. Lol, taper is already messing with my head. :) Cheers.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Tuesday weigh in
Ok, so I missed yesterday's weigh in, however it was an off day - so I decided to take the day off blogging too. :) Actually yesterday was pretty sweet off day, Sally and I both had the day off work and we both took advantage of it by being lazy bums.
The stats for last week:
Run:59.5k
Bike: 150k
Spin: 5 hrs
Swim: 9.7k
Dryland: 1.5hr
Weight: 158
About the only thing of note was the spike in spinning time. Due to weather I had to do two bike sessions on the trainer. I'd equate 5hrs of spinning to the rough equivalent of 160k of road work.
Everything else is pretty solid, run and swim k's are good and weight has seem to settle in at 158.
This is my first week of tapering. The plan is start decreasing the 'leg mileage' and add an extra swim session. I recover fast from swimming and I just want to tweak the swim mileage a bit. If you've noticed I upped the overall swim mileage over the last 8 weeks, the theory being, this will put me in a better physical state for the bike. I've already done all my big bike and run mileage and I can't absorb any more fitness in those departments, however I do feel I'll benefit from a few extra swim k's even though I'm tapering. That's my theory.
So that being said, I did a nice 4.9k workout in the pool today. My current favorite long distance set:
4X400, 2(4X200), 4(4X100). Each set of 4 was 1 pull followed by 3 descending. Oh yea, and 100 cooldown.
Afterwards I did 60k on the bike. See? Only 60k - I really am tapering! Cheers.
The stats for last week:
Run:59.5k
Bike: 150k
Spin: 5 hrs
Swim: 9.7k
Dryland: 1.5hr
Weight: 158
About the only thing of note was the spike in spinning time. Due to weather I had to do two bike sessions on the trainer. I'd equate 5hrs of spinning to the rough equivalent of 160k of road work.
Everything else is pretty solid, run and swim k's are good and weight has seem to settle in at 158.
This is my first week of tapering. The plan is start decreasing the 'leg mileage' and add an extra swim session. I recover fast from swimming and I just want to tweak the swim mileage a bit. If you've noticed I upped the overall swim mileage over the last 8 weeks, the theory being, this will put me in a better physical state for the bike. I've already done all my big bike and run mileage and I can't absorb any more fitness in those departments, however I do feel I'll benefit from a few extra swim k's even though I'm tapering. That's my theory.
So that being said, I did a nice 4.9k workout in the pool today. My current favorite long distance set:
4X400, 2(4X200), 4(4X100). Each set of 4 was 1 pull followed by 3 descending. Oh yea, and 100 cooldown.
Afterwards I did 60k on the bike. See? Only 60k - I really am tapering! Cheers.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Taper time, T-minus 21 days
Exactly 3 weeks from now, it will be 1:36pm (BC time). In theory, I should be just starting out on the run, I'll have wobbly legs and I'm sure I'll be asking myself 'why?' or saying something like: ' ahh crap, I still have to run a $%#@! marathon.' Whatever the case, I just hope I have the mental fortitude to pace correctly and stick to my nutrition plan. If I can just do those two things, the race should look after itself.
Upon looking back, I say to the tri gods: I held up my part of the bargain. I trained better and more importantly I trained smarter. (or so I believe). I've learned much and will undoubtedly learn more, but I am ready. I am excited. I am scared. I can't wait.
Yesterday was the official start of the taper, I went out did a nice 150k ride with Cliff. Saturday morning was absolutely beautiful, perfect riding weather and nothing but miles of deserted country roads to ride. A pretty sweet way to start a taper. The other cool thing was that there was a re-broadcast of the '05 Ironman World Championship in Kona on Saturday afternoon. Watching it gave me the spine tinglies, a shot of inspiration and a tear to two for Blazeman.
Today was long run day. I ran about 6k less than my last long run. Total distance was 22.5k. Pretty uneventful.
I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself as I forgot to mention Friday's workouts; heres the scoop for Friday:
swim 3.7k 1k warmup, 5(5X100m) on 1:30. First 100 was pull, then descend the next 4. The fast ones were coming in 1:12 to 1:15.
run: 11k. Just a steady run, always thinking of form and cadence.
That closes out week number 32. As usual, I'll give you the hard numbers in tomorrow's weigh in. Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Cheers.
Upon looking back, I say to the tri gods: I held up my part of the bargain. I trained better and more importantly I trained smarter. (or so I believe). I've learned much and will undoubtedly learn more, but I am ready. I am excited. I am scared. I can't wait.
Yesterday was the official start of the taper, I went out did a nice 150k ride with Cliff. Saturday morning was absolutely beautiful, perfect riding weather and nothing but miles of deserted country roads to ride. A pretty sweet way to start a taper. The other cool thing was that there was a re-broadcast of the '05 Ironman World Championship in Kona on Saturday afternoon. Watching it gave me the spine tinglies, a shot of inspiration and a tear to two for Blazeman.
Today was long run day. I ran about 6k less than my last long run. Total distance was 22.5k. Pretty uneventful.
I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself as I forgot to mention Friday's workouts; heres the scoop for Friday:
swim 3.7k 1k warmup, 5(5X100m) on 1:30. First 100 was pull, then descend the next 4. The fast ones were coming in 1:12 to 1:15.
run: 11k. Just a steady run, always thinking of form and cadence.
That closes out week number 32. As usual, I'll give you the hard numbers in tomorrow's weigh in. Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Cheers.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
115F, EZ(er) Wed, lollygag Thurs.
Ok, it's official, Tuesday wasn't just hot, it was Africa hot. The thermometer on the back porch read 36C, but the humidity was stifling, adding another 10C to the 'humidex'. Yea, that's right it felt like 46C /115F. Whimper. I can deal with the heat and humidity, just hydrate well and dial down the intensity, but when you throw smog in the equation... let's just say instead of the 100k bike ride I had planned I ended up doing 3 hours on the trainer.. in the air conditioning. :) Three hours on the trainer is a tough workout, easily worth the 100k I wanted for the bike. Done deal.
Yesterday I did an easy 11k trail run and a 3.7k swim. The swim set was: 3(3X400) pull, moderate effort, hard effort. The hard ones were 5:15's. They felt strong, but I should have been faster. Cooldown was 100 easy.
For today, I'm in between workouts. I'm sort of dreading my second workout because it's raining out with a chance of thundershowers and I have a bike workout planned. Sigh, trainer time.... again. My first workout today was a 15k run with 10 hill repeats. The legs were lethargic and I had real trouble hitting my usual time goal, so to punish my legs for acting up like that, I gave them 15 sec less rest for the last 4 repeats. There. That'll learn em. Naturally, those last 4 were more inline with my regular times. Go figure, I give them less rest, THEN they perform.
Sigh, I guess I should go hop on the trainer now, can't really put it off much longer. I think I'll go do 2 hours of time trial work. Running hill work + cycling time trial = good sleep tonight. Cya.
Yesterday I did an easy 11k trail run and a 3.7k swim. The swim set was: 3(3X400) pull, moderate effort, hard effort. The hard ones were 5:15's. They felt strong, but I should have been faster. Cooldown was 100 easy.
For today, I'm in between workouts. I'm sort of dreading my second workout because it's raining out with a chance of thundershowers and I have a bike workout planned. Sigh, trainer time.... again. My first workout today was a 15k run with 10 hill repeats. The legs were lethargic and I had real trouble hitting my usual time goal, so to punish my legs for acting up like that, I gave them 15 sec less rest for the last 4 repeats. There. That'll learn em. Naturally, those last 4 were more inline with my regular times. Go figure, I give them less rest, THEN they perform.
Sigh, I guess I should go hop on the trainer now, can't really put it off much longer. I think I'll go do 2 hours of time trial work. Running hill work + cycling time trial = good sleep tonight. Cya.
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