Weekend update

I did some quality saddle time on the Spirit of Koo on Saturday. Actually, I figured out that if I started at the CN tower in downtown Toronto and road directly up Younge St (which turns into Hwy 11), I would have ended up 20k short of Huntsville. Zoinks. A 196k ride in total. This was easily my toughest ride of the year, quite hilly with the hardest climbs starting at the 154k mark. (Hockley Valley Ski hill, Forks of the credit switchback and Mississauga road -by the ski hill) The good news is that I felt pretty good for the whole ride. I probably should have rode the extra 4k just to make it an even 200, but I was out of water, sports drink and food. :)
Oh yea, broke a speed record too - I hit 82kph descending down Heart Lake road. I'm still looking for a decent hill where I can break into the triple digit territory.

So the big question for today was how well are the legs going to hold up for the long run. Well they were a little cranky for the first 5k, but once they realized I wasn't going to let them off the hook, they got the job done just fine. Actually, today's 29k long run felt better than fine, I'd say closer to very good.

This concludes my 3rd Ironman-in-a-weekend and it was by far my best. I think a large part was due to the weather, cloudy and not too hot= perfect training/racing weather. The thing that is scaring the crap out of me is that Penticton BC (where IMC is held) is currently in a heatwave - today's temperature is a mere 39C (that's 102F). I really hope it's not that bad come race day - or I'm toast.

Lastly happy anniversary to me! Ironman Lake Placid is going on as I write this update. I can't believe it's already been one year since my first IM and I'm having a hard time believing I'm doing another one in just over a month. Weeeeeeeeeeee!

The weather network, inspiration and more

You would think that the Weather Network with all their dopler radars, satellite imagery and electro-ionsphere scanners could get a frickin four hour forcast correct. Isn't it funny, they'll have predictions for the next 7 days, give you broad generalizations on entire seasons yet they can't even nail down a 4 hour forcast. (sorry for the WN bashing, Mark).
Yea, I'm bitter I got caught in the rain yesterday. I busted my butt to get home so I could log a quick 100k on the bike and maybe get a run in. Instead, at the 40k mark, it started to thunder and lightning. So I had to hightail all the way home and try to outrun the oncoming T-showers. Fun stuff.
Ok, so I managed 80k in total and instead of a run, I did a full body weight routine, so all was not lost.

Today, I did 4k in the pool. They only give us an hour for lane swim and in order to get my whole 4k in I can't really dilly dally around. The main set was the same as Tuesdays.. 10X400m @ 5:45. After the swim I was talking to this older gentlemen (by older, I mean he's 80), he wanted to know about flip turns. (!)
(flip turns are those fancy schmancy turns that swimmers do) So, I explained to him how it was basically a half sommer sault near the wall. What struck me most during our conversation was a number of things 1) his joie do vie (hanging out the pool, being active and asking about flip turns at 80 - yea he has a zest for life) 2) he's 80, looks fitter than most 50 year olds 3) an excellent listener. (such a rare commodity these days) We all could learn a lesson or two from Bill.
In addition to the swim, I did a 14k run.

Lastly I just wanted to mention an inspirational story that happened a couple of days ago. Jenna Lambert completed a 32k swim across lake Ontario. Jenna is 15. Jenna also has cerebral palsy. Talk about heart. You can read the CBC story here.

Sometimes it's tough to 'dial it down'. This is a moderate week, with the idea of building into to the next two weeks, which will be in the 'hard' category. Note to self, stick to the plan.

Yesterday, I did 90k on the bike. This was my hilly ride, 3 tough climbs and multiple rollers. I entertained going for run afterwards, but had to remind myself to reign it in.

Today, I did a 11k trail run. My second workout was a 10 X 400m on 5:45 set at the pool. My swim has come up a notch, each 400m was consistently around the 5:30 mark. By about the 7th one, I was really starting to feel it, but I toughed it out and got it done. This was a harder than Ironman effort and I must remind myself to dial down the intensity at IMC. The goal for the swim at IMC is to get to the bike while expending the least amount calories as possible. I certainly don't want a repeat of what I did last year at IMLP!

Monday weigh in

Last week, being a recovery week, the mileage was cut way back. Here's the stats:
Run: 25k
Bike: 230k
Swim: 10k
Dryland: 2 hrs
Weight: 159
Recovery has gone well and I'm hoping by Thursday or Friday I'll be back to 100%. The plan throughout this week is to up the mileage to the 'moderate' level and hopefully by the weekend I'll be able to go nuts.

Today was slacker Monday, so I just went to the pool and did an easy 2.3k, mostly pull work. Tomorrow I have a long swim planned and either a bike or a run, I haven't decided which.

If you want a quick laugh, check this video. It's true, cheaters never prosper!

Weekend update..

I scored a new wetsuit! I picked up an Orca Pflex through Ebay and it arrived yesterday. It's sweeet. Perhaps I'll model it for you. :) Now I just have to find a local lake to get some open water swimming in..
Yesterday I got a decent 3.8k swim in. I was pretty happy with that because the pool was actually crowded for a change and they only give us an hour. My second workout yesterday was to stack a half bush cord of wood. This took much longer than anticipated and I had to blow off my easy run. It's OK, I'm allowed, after all it is an easy week.

Today was long ride day. Had 100k on the schedule, but did 120k. It was a fairly flat course I road today, about the only item of note was the wind. One of the strongest headwinds I've experienced this year. However on the way back it was also one of the strongest tailwinds I've experienced this year. Grin. The last 50k, I averaged 40kph! Zoom Zoom Zoom. Did the whole ride in sub 3:40, way too fast for an easy day, but I just felt good so I went with it.

Tomorrow is the day that will tell me how well recovered I am from Peterborough. It's long run day. However, I'm only running for 90 minutes tomorrow, so it won't be too bad. Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Cheers.

Recovery

Recovery since Peterborough is going quite well. No residual soreness or muscle fatigue. So right now I'm just trying to balance between the mind, which tells me: 'you must take it easy' and the heart, which tells me: 'hey, you feel good, go go go!'

Yesterday I did an easy 8k run and a good 1 hour pool session in which I did a 10X400m set. It's cool that I can up my weekly swim mileage during this recovery week - it makes feel like I'm not slacking. :)

Today I did just over 70k on the bike. Just focused on technique and recovery and chose a flat route. I followed that up with a good 30 minutes of stretching and some upper body weights and core work.

And the recovery continues...

More pics, weekly weigh in & karma

A couple more pics from Peterborough..




Yours truly exiting the water.. I have no idea what I'm looking at.









Yes, this is the chicken dance. Actually I was just hamming with the crowd just before the finish line. (I think they were clearly unimpressed.)


Weekly totals:
The goal last week was to rest the legs for Peterborough, but up the swim mileage. Here's the totals:
Run: 36k
Bike: 167k
Swim: 14k
Dryland: 1.5hrs
Weight: 159

This week, the plan is to 'listen to the legs', if they are feeling tired, I'll pick up an extra swim session, but the over goal is get some quality rest so I can do a couple of hard weeks at the end of the month because when August comes - it's taper time babay!

Yesterday was an easy 2k in the pool - technique and recovery. Today I did 40k on the bike, again focusing on technique and recovery. I also squeezed in a quick upper body workout along with some core work.

A quick karma story. Last week I found a wallet, tracked down the owner and returned it to him. No big deal. At Peterborough, I managed to lose my bike helmet. Kinda of a bummer, it was new this year and cost me 150 bucks. Well, someone was kind enough to give it to an official and when I contacted the race director today, he said he had it and would Fed Ex it to me a.s.a.p. Booya! Karma in action. Hehehe, usually this stuff can take a lifetime or two to come back around, the turn around time for this one was less than a week!
You GET what you GIVE. Cheers.

Peterborough Tin-Man Report

Two years ago this was my first triathlon. (for the time curious, it was a 5:13) So it was kind of cool to come back and do this course again after 2 years. (by the way, I do not recommend doing a half Ironman as your first triathlon)
For those that regularly follow this blog, you'll know that I can suffer from tummy issues. This has been an on-going learning process and I'm happy to say that after my 6th triathlon, I've made some headway in that department. This, more than anything makes me a happy camper. I probably learned more this race than all my previous races put togethor. It was a good day. So without further adieu, here's the low down..

Short version:
Swim 2k: 27:40
Bike: 90k: 2:31:40
Run: 21k: 1:37:36
Total: 4:39:51 (3rd in age group, 10th overall)

Long version:
Nutrition, pacing, increased water consumption. I knew if I could make progress in these 3 things, I'd do ok. What can I say? Mission accomplished. I won't get into too much detail about them (cuz it's boring), but I'll touch upon all 3 within the report.

I'm waking up earlier and getting calories into my gut sooner. The main goal being getting to the start line with as little as possible in the GI tract, but with my energy stores at their max. Thanks to Sheila, for pointing out that I might be a slow digester. (thanks Sheila!)

Sally and I arrive a little later than I would have liked, so I ended up with a very crappy transition spot in an unusually overcrowded bike rack. On the way to registration, I'm lucky enough to run into Cliff, who actually has his own professional photographer. Cliff is doing his first half iron distance race and I have a feeling of what he's going through. However, I'm running late, so I wish him the best and make my way to registration and the swim start.
Swim 2k: Relax, keep heart rate down, focus. The swim is a mass start, which I like. The gun goes off, I let the elites get a 2 second head start and then I dive in and follow their feet. The plan actually worked, I had a nice pair of feet to follow for 3/4 of the swim. Out of the water in 27:40 for a fairly quick pace of 1:23/100m.(7th overall) It felt quite good and my heart rate wasn't too crazy upon exiting the water.

Bike 90k: Relax, keep heart rate down, focus. Stay in easy gears. Spin. At the 10 minute mark on the bike (and every 10 min thereafter), I begin consuming liquids. The first bottle is half strength sports drink, the next 2 bottles are regular strength. For the most part, the bike part is kind of lonely. The first 45k I pass a couple of people and a couple of people pass me. I hit the turn around point at 1:12, a full 3 minutes ahead of shedule. Upon turning around, I realize why I'm ahead of schedule, I had a tailwind. Now that tailwind has magically turned into a headwind. I'm enjoying the ride, it's hilly at times but it's a nice bike course. Every time I feel lactic acid in the legs, I ease off, nice steady biking, lots of liquids and relax - my mantras. I grab a bottle of water at an aid station and by the end of the bike I consumed that too. Four bottles for a 90k ride and the tummy feels good. I'm happy. Total bike time 2:31. Average speed 35.6kph, good for 27th overall.

Run 21k: I hit the run course running side by side with Paolina Allen (the woman's pro winner). Naturally the crowd cheers like crazy for her, so I soak up some of that free spirit. Actually I'm thinking to myself: 'hey she's a 4:40 is half IM'er, if I can stay with her, I'll have a wicked race!' So I shadow her for the first 2 or 3k, but she's seems to be fading... or maybe just correctly pacing, I'm not sure. So I make a bold move and pass her. At the 7k mark, I'm feeling good, actually make that very good. The run is 1/3 done, I'm taking it easy on the hills and maintaining a steady pace. At the turnaround, I see Paolina is less than 500m behind me, I tell her to catch me. She chuckles.
The run is my weakest link, I'm used to people passing me. But this time I'm not getting passed (as often), so I know I'm on track for a solid PB. My pace is good, I'm relaxed - just keep running. The last 7k is gut check time, some minor nausea is creeping in and I'm playing the "just 1 more km game". Just don't walk, keep running, 1 more km, relax, steady pace, good cadence, 1 more km, don't walk... you get the idea. The last 2k I get passed by a guy in my age group, I tell him to giver, because I'm going to be on his ass the rest of the way in. ( a blatant lie) He later waited for me at the finish line and said: "jeez you looked so strong I thought you were going to kick my ass!" The compliment made me feel good (me? a strong runner??), I told him " looks can be decieving!"
I finish the run in 1:37 (35th overall) - and I'm very happy with that split. Total time: 4:39:51 a full 9 seconds under my A+ goal. So in the end I was 10th overall and 3rd in my age group. And yea, I'm happy with the way the day turned out.

Sunday quickie

Ya know, for a 'B' race, I'm pretty damned happy. :) Today was the Peterborough Half Ironman and I had a good race. My pacing was good, my nutrition was pretty good and nailed a solid PB. Can't really ask for more than that. Total time was: 4:39:xx, I'll give you a more detailed report tomorrow. Cheers!

Whoa dude..

It kind of dawned on me: 'jeez guy, you have a half Ironman this weekend, better wake the hell up!' It's like part of me was saying 'hey, it's just half, the distance isn't that bad - it'll be good for training..' and the other half was saying: ' dude, respect the frikin distance and get some extra rest this week - you are gonna need it.'
Fortuneately, I listened to the latter - I did manage to rest the legs this week, while upping the swim mileage. So I'll be going into this race with legs at 80% and arms at 70% - definately a 'B' race.
The main goal for Sunday is to run this as my Ironman simulation. I've got my Saturday diet planned out and my race morning food as well as my strategy for fueling/hydrating on the bike. Try to stay cool, keep the intensity down and up the water intake. Really, it's pretty simple.
As for time, it's totally a secondary goal, hey if I do a good time - great, I'm trying to make that less of a 'goal'. It's all about the journey.
Now that being said, I'm still willing to make an ass myself and try to give you a rough idea on what would be 'nice':
swim 2k: <29:00 Could be iffy, already logged 11k in the pool this week.
bike 90k: ~2:30 Have to maintain 35kph - shouldn't be too much of a problem. But have to remind myself that I'm really not fully rested - so we'll see how it goes.
run 21k: 1:40. The only thing I really want is to nail my nutrition and put in a decent run.

Happy Friday everyone! I'm off to do an hour easy ride and probably won't update to Sunday. Cheers!

Update on the fly..

Hey everyone... just a quickie update. I'm in the midst of computer trouble shooting and progress is slow.

On the training front:
Tuesday: swim: ~5.5k It was a long swim and then it got crowded and I was losing count. I wanted 6k, but with all the distractions, I'm only logging 5.5k. Which is still alot of frikin laps.
Bike: 47k. Hilly and windy were the themes of the day. A good hard effort and still managed just over 32kph. Funny story: During my ride I actually got stuck behind a car. You know the type, nervous, tapping their breaks every 2 seconds and literally having trouble breaking the 30kph barrier. After a few K of this, I pulled up beside the driver and said: 'either speed up or pull over!' I passed the car, glanced back and he pulled over. :) That was a first for me, actually passing a car... on my BIKE.

Today: Run: 10.5k Did 3X1k at race pace, the rest of the run was at a steady pace.
Swim: 3.4k: 4X400m descending. 2X(4X200) descending. Not a bad set considering the arms were pooched from yesterday's swim.

Plan for the rest of the week:
Thurs: bike. Fri: short run and swim. Sat: stretch. Sun: race.

Hopefully I can my computer back to some sort of normalacy, if not, I'll be looking at the dreaded reformat. Grrr...

Zoinks!

Sorry for the lack of updates, between training, getting stuck in computer hell, bike tweaking, company & Canada Day celebrations - the ol'blog took a backseat for a few days. Let's get caught up, shall we?
Friday- an easy day. Did 11k trail run (in the rain) and a 1 hour easy spin session.
Saturday - bike 180k. Felt good for the first 5 hours, the last hour sucked, had some minor nausea and bloating, just enough to tick me off. I'm starting to think that my tummy issues are heat related, it would appear the correlation is heat + sun = nausea. I can defineately say it's not because I'm going too hard because this ride was slower than last week's and I had no problems last week. I'm getting closer to nailing down the culprit..
Sunday: run 28.5k. Legs bounced back from Saturday's ride reasonably well.
Today: OFF! A dogger-day.

Monthy total for June:
Run: 214.5k
Bike: 811k
Spin: 9 hours
Swim: 31k
Dryland: 5 hrs
Not a bad month, there was 2 easy weeks in June, so all things considered, I'm happy with the totals. I equate the spinning time to a 32k/hr road pace, which is probably a little low - but I try to err on the side of caution. So 9 hours of spinning is roughly 288k, for a monthly equivalent of 1100k. I still need more time on the bike- but somehow I think 'I could always be doing more.'

Weekly total and weigh in:
Run:75k
Bike: 180k
Spin: 6 hrs
Swim: 2k
Dryland: 2hrs
Weight: 159
The legs did some good work last week. Met my run goal, came in a little shy on the bike, did the equivalent of 372k, wanted 400k. I blame the constant thundershowers we had last week. Swim was a wash, but there wasn't much I do about that, the pool was closed for the majority of last week.

Hmm.. what else to report.. ahh right, the plan for this week. Hopefully this week I can some decent swim time, give the legs a bit of break and then do the Peterborough Half Ironman on Sunday.
And now.. your are up-to-date. Cheers.

100/10

Scored some quality zzzz's last night, woke up feeling great. Excellent. I have a solid 4 hour mid-week workout planned, it's good to start it off on the right foot. I zipped through work and starting fueling up on the way home, got to top up those energy stores!

So I get home and I'm getting ready for a 100k ride, then BOOM! 'What the hell? MORE frikin thunderstorms..' Crap, I check the short term forcast and the next 6 hours we're expecting off and on thundershowers. Grrrrr... The Gods must be angry.
Time to pull out the trainer... again! Sigh. So I pop in coach Troy's Tough Love and do 3 hours on the spinner. You know what? It wasn't that bad, time flew by and before you know it, I was done. Fastest 3 hour spin session I've ever done.
So after my 'ride', there was a clearing on the horizon and I was able to get in a quick 10.5k run, before the next round of thundershowers hit. Your probably thinking ' ewww, I bet that run was tough..' Well, you'd be wrong. I mean it wasn't easy, but it was strong and fast. It felt great!
I figure the spin session was worth a good 100k and the run was 10k+, so I did get my 100/10 in for the day. Mission accomplished.

Hump day update

Tuesdays are the beginning of my workout week and this being a 'hard' week, I wanted to set myself up for some punishment. You know, something to set the tone for the rest of the week. So yesterday I did a 14k run that comprised of 10 hill repetitions. The hill I climb is roughly 400m long and it's a good steady climb that takes me 90 to 95 sec to run up. I only had 8 on the agenda, but ended up doing 10. Why? Cuz I'm tuff! rar! The good news is I actually felt strong. All the hill repetitions, weight training and extra attention to running is slowly but surely starting to pay off. It's very satisfying to see and feel the dividends.

My second workout yesterday was a 2 hour session on the trainer which consisted of time trialing, drill work, big gear work and some more time trialing. Yup, fried the legs right some good yesterday.

For today, workout number one was an easy 11.5k trail run. My second workout was a brutal endurance swim session planned ... 15X400 @ 6:00 (!) - but the powers that be cancelled my lane swim! So I had to use all my charm (cough) on pool supervisor and I actually fandangled 30 minutes of pool time out of her. Most cool. Well, cool in the from aspect my swim workout wasn't a total bust. So I jumped in and did a quick 2k - better than nothing, but it's a far cry from the 6k I had planned. Oh well.
To help make up for the lost k's from my swim workout, I did an upper body weight routine and some core work.

You know that half Ironman I've been thinking about doing? I mentioned it a few posts ago.. Anyway, I'm leaning towards doing it - what the hell, you only live once. So my routine until Ironman Canada would like:
This week: hard. bike /run focus.
Week 2: easy. Race on July 9
Week 3: recover week
Week 4: build week
Week 5: cycle focus (last 2.5 hr long run)
Week 6: moderate/hard week - all 3 sports.
Week 7,8 and 9. Taper.
At least this way I can get another race in, test another nutrition strategy and still get a few good weeks of training before taper time.

Monday weigh in

Summary of last week:
Run: 48k
Bike: 337k
Swim: 9k
Dryland: 1.5 hrs
Weight: 160

For what was suppose to be an easy/moderate week, I wound up doing some decent mileage. My body recovered pretty fast after last Sunday's race, so I just went with it and logged some miles. I'm starting to flirt with sub 160 in the weight department and I gotta tell ya - I just love being a regular Pac-man and losing weight at the same time. :)

The plan for the upcoming week is to up the running kms to ~70k and add an extra bike session. I'd like to see 400k on the bike this week, but I see thundershowers in the forecast, and that means trainer time. :/

Today was my slacker day, I did a full body stretch routine, which takes about 45 minutes, then followed that up with some core work and upper body weights. Cheers.

Ironman-in-a-weekend. Part 2.

Hehe.. I didn't really plan on logging serious distance it just.. umm... sorta happened. The weather was perfect, I had nothing on the agenda except hang with Sal, the pooches and train. What a great weekend. Here's the low down:
Fri: run 11.5k (trails)
swim: 4k. (10X400m on 6:00) Great set, felt strong.
Sat: Bike 187k A fairly flat route, legs started to get cranky at the 5 hr mark. Finished in 5:50 for an average speed of 32.1 kph. If you're interested, here's the route.
Sun: Run 29k. Thought I was on my 30k route, but the Garmin only registered 29k.. jypped myself a kilometer. Last 5k was tough, total time was 2:28.

The astute will notice that technically I didn't quite make the running portion. A marathon is 42.2k I only managed 40.5k. I figure the extra 7k on the bike and the extra 200m on the swim makes up for the lack of running k's. (plus I walk 10-12k for work). So as far as I'm concerned it's a wash. :)

One of these days, I'm going to attempt to put into words why I do this - explain 'it'. In the meantime, please take a few minutes and read Thursday's post by Sheila. She does a pretty damned good job explaining 'it' - or as she puts 'The Drive'. Enjoy.

Feelin' Fine Friday

I'm feeling pretty much recovered from last Sunday's race. I know this is suppose to be a fairly easy week, but the weather for the weekend is looking good, I'm feeling pretty good, it's Friday, I already have run 11.5k (trails) and I'm about to hit the pool.... perhaps another Ironman-in-a-weekend?? I'm not saying it's going to happen, but the cards are falling in place.

Yesterday I did 90k on the bike. I went looking for some new territory and found a nice 20k flat section road. I usually do a fair bit of hill riding, so this was something a bit different. The beautiful thing about this stretch of road was that only ONE car passed me for the whole 20k stretch. So as I'm cruising along, passing farms, saying 'Hi' to the cows and rescueing the odd tortoise/turtle crossing the road, I see these massive wind turbines off in the distance. Very impressive. I don't why, but they filled me with wonder. It just seemed so cool, these huge structures, spinning away, generating clean power for the community. Hmm.. a municipality that is actually taking responsibility - I suppose that's the reason why I was awestruck. A single person that takes responsibility for their actions is pretty damned cool, but seeing a whole community do it is downright awesome.

I'm off to do 4k in the pool. Have great weekend!

Regroup Refocus

Did an easy 60k on the bike yesterday, felt good. Today I did a 7.5k trail run and an endurance swim workout. Here's the swim workout:
4X400m 15 sec rest.
2X(4X200m) 10s rest
4X(4X100m) on 1:40
Total: 5k
Each set was a build set, the goal being to get progressively faster through each set of 4. I felt strong and was thinking: ' why couldn't I feel like this on Sunday?'

Speaking of Sunday's race, Sally says I'm too hard on myself. I've come to the conclusion that she-who-must-be-obeyed is correct. But in my own defence, I'll just say that I really dislike being hampered by external issues - like this pesky tummy problem. Hey, if I'm outgunned by a more experienced, fitter, better athlete, I'm totally cool with that. I'll tip my hat to them and say to myself: 'I'll get ya next time..' That's the kind of stuff that makes me smile inwardly.

Regroup, Refocus. The topic of the day. Here's the plan from now until IMC.
Rest of this week: an easy build week.
Week 2: moderate/hard week, add an extra bike session
Week 3: easy week
Week 4: build week, running focused
Week 5: build week, cycling focused
Week 6: even split between 3 sports. Last 2.5 hr run
Week 7: taper commences, but will spike the swim mileage.
Week 8, 9 and 10: Full time taper mode.

About the only thing that may put a crimp into the plan is there is a Half Ironman in 2.5 weeks that I would like to do, at least to test out another nutrition strategy. My problem is that if I enter the event, I'll end up racing it and the subsequent recovery puts a crimp into the above 'plan.' What to do.. what to do..

Muskoka Race Report

The 5 words or less version: humbled?, queasy, #$%%! hot, good.
The plain vanilla short version:
Place: 11/102 Age group. 75/745 overall
Swim 2k: 29:12
Bike: 55k: 1:30:02
Run: 15k: 1:11:23
Time: 3:13:00

The extended version:
I'll try not to get too long winded for this race report. However, there are few things I'll have to get off my chest.
First and foremost, a GREAT race put on by the folks at Subaru and the town of Huntsville is fantastic - the people and the businesses really get into it. Overall, as a venue, I give the Muskoka Triathlon top marks.
Secondly, the chase format makes for a really exciting race. The pro women were given an 18 minute head start of the pro men. Then it's up to the men to to chase them down. Whoever crosses the finish line first receives 10 grand! Of the 26 pros at the race, there some big names: Simon Whitfield and Lisa Bentley were amongst the field. As a lowly age grouper, it's cool to compete against an Olympic Gold medalist and a 10(!) time IronWoman Champion. Very cool indeed.
The nitty gritty:
I went into this race with a 9 day taper, so I was expecting a strong, solid performance. I'm stronger than I was last year and more fit, so I wanted to use this race as an opportunity to test myself. Let's see how it worked out:

My latest pre race routine involves getting up at least 3 hrs before the start and consuming 2 cans of Boost. When racing, it's possible I'll experience stomach issues (nausea), so I'm trying an all liquid breakfast.

2k swim: My swim was merely OK. About the biggest thing that happened in the swim occured at the 500m mark. I was actually grabbed and pulled back. That's never happened to me before and I was quite shocked. My initial thought was to punch the guy in the head. But that's way bad karma, so I just motored passed him and let it slide. At the 1200m mark I said to myself, 'hmm.. I don't feel like I'm swimming well.' My pace was off, the water was very murky, I was sighting way too much and just I just felt off. The numbers: 29:12 or a 1:28/100m pace. I was looking for a sub 1:28, so in the end it wasn't too bad. Just not quite as fast as I wanted.

55k bike: T1 was smooth. I hop on The Spirit of Koo and settle in to a good spin. I can feel some mild nausea at this point, but it's not a big deal. It's feels like the Boost I had 4 hours ago is still sitting in my gut. I take the first 20 minutes at a moderate effort just trying to settle the gut down and to some extent I'm successful. My main problem with fighting nausea while racing is what the the hell do I do with my hydration requirments? Drinking liquids while nauseous can have disasterous results. But not drinking is equally as bad or worse. It's a catch-22.
I fight with the mild nausea throughout the bike and in the end I'm able to consume just over half of litre of InfiniT (sports drink).
The bike portion itself was rather nice, plenty of rollers and a couple of decent climbs through scenic roads. The time on the saddle was 1:30:07 at an average speed of 36.7 kph. Again, on the low end on what I was aiming for.

15k run: Think quick cadence. Make the run flow. Relax. Get in the groove. I think these when I run. It didn't help. Within the first 2k I knew I was in trouble and thought I was going to be sick. Damnit, I have to walk to try settle my tummy. I end up running the majority of the route at a slow, steady pace and managed to not barf. I ran the route in 1:11:23 for a 4:46/k pace. Ok, I'll be honest, that split ticks me off. Five weeks ago, I ran a decent half marathon with a 3 day taper. I train more/harder and get additonal rest and can only manage 1:11 for a 15k run. Damnit, my Sunday morning 30k jaunts are that fast.
Sorry, I promised I wasn't going to whine, but I did have to vent a bit there.

Synopsis
Ok, was the race as bad as I think? No it wasn't. For two reasons: 1) May have been over zealous about my run goal? Possibly. 2) I have to realize heat just kills me and perhaps this is the culprit of my nausea?? (Anyone feel free to chime in here, I'm really starting to grasp at straws.)
The good:
I don't mind being humbled. If analyzed, it can provide an opportunity to learn about yourself. I'm still trying to figure what I learnt from this race. I do have another nutrition strategy I'm going to try and if it works, I'll have this race to thank for it. Hmm... what else was good? Oh yea, I qualified for Ironman Canada and secured my spot. That's pretty cool too.

Good news, bad news

A quick update. I'll do a more detailed report tomorrow. Since I'm an optimist, I'll post the good news: I was fortuneate enough to secure my spot for Ironman Canada. Yay!
Now on to the bad stuff: For me, Muskoka was a very mediocre race. Once again, I was plauged by stomach issues. This, combined with the heat made for a mediocre swim, an OK bike and a very sub par run. I'm kinda bummed about by performance, so I'll try not to whine about it too much in my race report tomorrow. :)

Execution

Not sure if I'll have time to update between now and post race. So I'd thought put my strategy in writing now. The primary goal for Muskoka is to secure my Ironman Canada spot, that's of foremost importance. I've looked at previous years qualifying times and I don't foresee a problem, however, since I've not raced yet, this is still in the 'theory' stage.

My secondary goal for this race is to break the 3 hour mark. This is realistic but difficult. Here's a breakdown of my execution strategy:
swim 2k: about <28 minutes. I'm aiming for a 1:24/1:25 pace.

bike 55k: I hope to come in at 1:28. This is a 37.5 km/hr pace. Not entirely sure how this is going to pan out, I could be as low as 36.5 or as high as 38.5 ... so I picked right smack in the middle.

run 15k: sub 1hr. Perhaps my toughest split and it's going to take some guts. If I can maintain sub 4 min kms after a hard bike, I'll be a happy camper.
Add 2 minutes for transitions and the total time comes in at 2:58. Eep, a mere 2 minute fudge factor to come in under 3hrs. It's going to be close!

A quickie

Hey guys. Just a quickie today... got a case of the 'I'm feeling tired syndrome.' Not sure why, getting lots of zzzz's and the workout load has been cut way back. I'm feeling good.. just tired, like sleepy tired. Maybe something to do with tapering? Shrug.

Workout update:
Yesterday did an easy 60k on the bike, nothing crazy and the legs feel good.
Today, I hit the pool and got 3k in. 1k warmup, 5X100 hard with 100 easy in between each (the hard ones came in @1:05-1:07), 1k drill work.
It was kinda fun doing the sprint work, it's been a long time since I've done any that. Even though it's been almost 20 years since I could call my self a sprinter, I was pretty happy with my times. Next week I'll be back to the long, boring endurance work. Cheers.

Doubtful Monday weigh in

Here is the weekend report:
Taper officially began on Saturday with an easy 100k ride with Cliff, followed by a short 4k transition run. The weather was mediocre (windy and cool), but that's the beauty of meeting someone for a ride - there is no wimping out.
Sunday was a short long run of 14k. I kept the pace controled, even though the legs 'wanted to go' for the last few k.
Here are the stats for the week:
Run 43.5k
Bike: 177k
Spin: 2 hrs
Swim: 8.2k
Dryland: 1.5 hrs
Weight: 161

I look at a week like that and part of me says, 'jeez, you aren't doing nearly enough' and the first inklings of doubt set in. I know it's irrational and I understand that, but I still feel it. This is just part of the tapering process, I must decrease mileage even though I want to do more. So, to help alleviate and keep Mr. Doubt at bay, I tallied this year's total, here is where I'm at:
Run: 1124.5k
Spin: 93.5 hrs
Bike: 1083k
Swim: 96.3k
Dryland: 36hrs
This is from Jan 2/06 to June 11/06. Commentary: Running has been a major focus this year, basically increasing the frequency of runs (upto 6 times per week) and consistency. I've been able to do this and maintain an injury free status. So, even though I believe total kms are a tad low, I've met my goal as far as running is concerned. Is it enough? Bah, is it ever enough?
Spinning: that's some serious spinning time. Roughly 40 more hours on the trainer this year compared to all of last year.
Biking kms: Ok, this one looks bad and it is concerning. But I must remember, that the spinning hours count for alot and that up until July, running will/has been the primary focus. So, once again, I must tell myself all is going according to plan. Hopefully between now and IMC I can get 2k kms in.. then I'll feel better.
Swimming: way low kms, but this is not a problem. Coming from a swim background, the ONLY thing I must remember in Ironman Canada is to NOT NOT NOT hang with the fast guys. Even though I have that capability, I must not, I will not go out too fast. Discipline.

So what does this tell me. I guess it tells me things are going according to the master plan I set out in January. I ask myself 'am I training better/smarter then last year?' and I believe the answer is yes. Will there always be some doubt.. should I be doing more? Could I be doing more? During a taper it is natural to question all your previous prep work, I must remind myself of this and stick my plan. It hasn't steered me wrong so far.
Thanks, I'm glad we had this discussion. Cheers.

Taper & Koo

Well it seems blogger is back to normal. Everytime I went to update over the last couple of days, some sort of maintenance was being performed. Ok.. first things first, here are my workouts for the past few days:
Wed: Run 10.5k (trails), swim 5k (4X400, 8X200, 16X100, cooldown)
Thurs: Taper begins. 2 hours of hard work on the trainer.
Fri: Run 7.5k (trails), swim ~3k. (not sure .. as I'm heading to the pool after this post.. but the plan is to do 3k)

Notice I did say taper. I'm doing a 9 day taper for my race next Sunday, backing off on the mileage and getting lots of rest. Race? Did someone say race? Yea I'm excited. I'll tell you about my race plan next week.

You say :' Why is the word 'Koo' in your title?' An excellent question. Koo was our nickname for our dog Kuma. The word Kuma is Japanese for bear. Here's a pic of Koo and you can see why the name fits:

Actually, his registered name was Yuki-Kuma, which translates to snow bear. You can see why he just got 'Koo' most of the time.

Koo was the type of dog, that very few people actually knew errr.. knew well. Sally and I loved Koo for a multitude of reasons but one of the main ones was his spirit. During Koo's life he had multiple health issues, but his spirit always shone and he pulled through. Everything was always a big 'event' for Koo. Didn't matter if it was getting brushed or going for walk, these were HUGE events in Koo's life and he really didn't care what was going on.. just as long as he was hanging with you.
I could ramble on lots and lots about Koo.. but I do try to keep this blog on topic - most of the time. :) So what does this have to do with triathlon? Well the connections is a bit tenuous, but 'bear' with me.
A year ago, we unexpectedly had to put Koo down. Man that sucked. It still amazes how much Sally and I talk about him and of course miss him. He really did have a profound effect on us.

Many triathletes name their bikes.. well you guessed it, the name of my new ride is The Spirit of Koo. (it's '06 Cervelo Dual for those that don't know)

Eep.. must be off, going to be late for my swim...

Holy crap, I'm flying

Ever have one of those days, when your mojo just seems to gel? I had one of those workouts today. It was a brick workout with the primary goal of simulating an upcoming race. I wanted a hard/fast bike to build up some lactic acid in the legs, a quick transition and a run afterwards. I got what I wanted.
I was smoking on the bike, h0t damn it felt good. I was climbing like a goat and was a bullet on the straight-a-ways. Totally in the zone - yea that's the shizzle.
After 77k, I did a quick transition and put on my racing shoes for a 7.5k run. I went sockless for this run - wanted to see if the feet could handle it. I did have some blistering occur, so it looks like I'll have to waste 20 seconds in the transition to put socks on. :) Other than that, the run was aces. Relaxed. Good cadence. Felt strong. I think in another year or two, I'll actually be able to call myself a runner!
Gotta go, bedtime!

Monday weigh in

After a tough weekend, I really enjoy my Monday off day. Monday is the day to catch up on stuff around the house, chill out, maybe grab a nap or just hang out. It's totally unstructured, IF I do a workout, it's mega easy - there is no pressure. If I want to sit on the couch, watch a movie and eat pop-corn - then so be it. It's my recharge day. I like Mondays.

Here are the totals for the week:
Run: 73k
Bike: 259k
Spin: 1 hr
Swim 5k
Dryland 1.5hr
Weight: 161
I'm logging pretty consistent mileage and that's the key. Consistency. I'm eating well and sleeping well, which goes a long way in helping recovery. The weight just might come down another pound soon - a bonus indeed. One less pound to cart around is always a bonus. Hey, there are bike-wienies out there who will pay large dollars just to shave a few grams of weight from their bike. I'd rather shave a few grams of body weight and save the coin. :)

Ironman weekend #1 .... done!

Me: Ok you two, listen up, you got roughly 6 hours of work to do today, I want you to suck it up and just deal with it. I'll tell you what, you get through today, I won't make you do this again for awhile. Deal?
LL (left leg): damnit, aren't you ever happy? We gave you a pretty good long run yesterday...
RL (right leg): yea! You tell him lefty!
Me: That's it, no more lip from either on one of ya.. or I'll make you climb the ski hill.. twice!
RL: hey Lefty, we better shut up... he's just crazy enough to do that.
Me (quiet to myself): how am I ever going to get through this ride. It's windy, it's hilly and frankly, I don't want to play anymore.
LL: I should start acting up.. maybe he'll take a short cut home...
RL: Yea! Oh wait better not, remember last time when I made the ball of his foot hurt? He made us run afterward!
LL: eep.. ya forgot about that, man that sucked.
Me: Quiet you two! Keep pumping!

And that's how my day went. 182k... done and my first Ironman in a weekend is down for the count. I'm feeling a little like:



I'm off to go refuel the engine and spend some quality with my number 1 supporter.
Cheers!

Weekend update

Woke up this morning, checked the forecast, yuk, thundershowers. But I looked outside, it didn't look so bad... hmm what to do, what to do. Procrastinate some more, eat some food, drink liquids, I'm going to something epic, just not sure what. Ok, maybe not epic, but the plan is to do a big weekend. The forecast for Sunday looks better, I think I'll switch my long run and long ride - be flexible. The idea of cycling in thundershowers for 6 hours just wasn't appealing. So, I did my long run.
Today's long run was just under 30k. A nice steady 30k jaunt, with the last 10k being the fastest. The first 10k was a little bit faster than usual (48min), so I knew the last 10k would be nice and tough. (it was) At the 25k, mark there are few rather brutal hills, which made it tougher, but I was able to make the last 10k faster than my first 10k, so mission accomplished. A good, hard, tough run.

Here are Friday's workouts:
Trail run: ~11.5k
Swim: 5k. Check out this set: 50X100 @1:35 Each one came in on 1:24 or 1:25, excpept for the last 10 which were 1:25 or 1:26. The arms were getting a little tired by the end. Bad ass set though. :)

So, if I get a good 180k ride tomorrow, I'll have my first Ironman weekend done. Stay tuned..

Monthly totals

Want to read a good race report? Sheila competed in last week's IM Brazil... sick. Yes, I said sick. She got some bug a couple of days before the race and still managed to get through an Ironman. That's tough. Big kudos to her. Check her blog and report here.

Yesterday we had nasty thunderstorms and tornado warnings, so I had to bail on my long swim. The reason? My dogs were terrified and I could not in good concious leave them be. So instead, we hung out togethor, I did an hour of spinning followed by weights and core work. Earlier in the day I did an 11k run. Even though me and the pooches were hunkered down, I did manage some decent workouts.

However, today is another matter. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my hard days and since I did two workouts on Wednesday that primarily focused on the legs, today's hard workout was just not going to happen. The plan was to do some running hill work, rest for a bit, then get on the bike for some time trial work. Well I did manage the hill work, but I could tell right off that legs weren't up to par. It was a real struggle. I managed 8 repeats and the total run was 13k. As for the bike workout, I bailed. Yup, not too often I can say that. I do have a large weekend planned, so the extra rest will do me good.

Here are the totals for month number 5. Jeez, can't believe it's 5 months since I officially started training. Time flies.
Run: 237.5k
Bike: 600k
Spin: 10hr 45min
Swim: 30.8k
Dryland: 6hrs

A pretty solid month, decent mileage, a race, I'm healthy and life is good. I have nothing to bitch about.

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! :)

Monday weigh in

Ok, let met start off by saying yesterday's long run sucked. I really don't like to post negative stuff, but I did have to get that off my chest. I've rarely been so wet or chilled as I was yesterday. I'm talking about drenching, soaked to the bone, feet squishy wet - in 5C weather. Fun stuff. The good news is I did get a 2 hour run in, the bad news is I only did 23.5k. I was wishing I had a partner to run with, there are times when solo training is tough.

Here is the recap and mileage report for week number 16:
Run: 73k
Bike: 64k
Spin: 4:15hrs
Swim 4k
Dryland: 1.5hrs
Weight: 162
This week ended up being very similar to the previous week. It caps off another 3 week build period and I'm pretty happy with my current fitness level. I was short a few k's on my projected run total, but on the other hand I got 6 good runs in each of the last two weeks. Bike and swim goals were met and weight has come down another pound.

Next week is a special week, as it marks the halfway mark to Ironman Canada, I only have 3 key workouts for the entire week, I have numerous rest days planned and I'm going to tri not to think or do anything with triathlon. Call it a system purge. The reason for this is to get fully rested and focused for the next 3 months. In May I'll re-examine my workout schedule and tweak as necessary.

Today is a scheduled rest day, I did 45 minutes of stretching, some light core work and upper body weights. I'm a big fan of stretching, hmm.. I mean proper stretching. Few people incorporate stretching in their routine and even fewer do it properly. It's a shame, personally, I've found flexibility to be very helpful in injury prevention. It increases range of motion, which in turn can aid in technique and give efficiency gains. I can't back that statement up with any scientific data - just personal experience. Besides, after a good stretch session you just plain feel good.

Lastly, due to the 'system purge', I may not post too frequently this week - do not despair! I shall be back with a vengenance and will keep everyone updated. That I promise. :) Cheers.

Weekend update

So Lance Armstrong is doing the New York City marathon. Good on him. Personally, I'm hoping this is one step towards him doing an Ironman. It would be great for him to come back to his triathlon roots and compete in Kona. For those that don't know, Kona is in Hawaii and is the site of the world Ironman Championship. In order to qualify for Kona, not only do you have to complete an Ironman, you have to qualify. Due to the increasing popularity of the sport the qualifying times are getting progressively more difficult. It sounds perverse, you put yourself through absolute hell and if you are really good at it, you get to qualify and do it again! Hmm.. perhaps I should make this a goal of mine... grin.

Here is the workout update. Yesterday was an easier day, I did a 10k easy run followed by a core workout and upper body weights. Today was 3 hours on the spinner to coach Troy's Tough Love dvd; I immediately followed that up with a short 4.5k run. The plan f0r tomorrow is a ~30k run, I hope the legs can hold out. I'm starting to close in on 80k of running for the week, which is somewhat of a milestone. The good news is that next week is a super easy week. Next weekend marks the halfway point to Ironman Canada and I plan and doing sweet F.A. Got to get fully rested up for May, June and July because they will be hard.

Pooched

My go hard days are Tuesday, Thursday and the weekend. Tuesday is hill work for running, plus a bike workout and if I'm feeling spunky I'll do some weights too. Thursday is running speed work, plus a bike workout. The weekend is pretty much dedicated to 'going long' - endurance work.
Yesterday, was an easy day. Here is what I did:
Run: 9k easy
Swim: 4000m
Ok, so swimming 4k may not be easy but it does give my legs a break. Actually, I was going to swim more, but at the 3k mark I was so hungry I only managed an extra 1k and called it quits, went home and stuffed my face. Here is the swimming set:
1000 warmup
4X600m on 9:30
500m drill work
100 cool down
Today was a hard day and yes, I'm pooched. My total run was 14k and sandwiched in the middle of that run was my tempo pace intervals. They consisted of 2k @ 3:52/km, 1k easy, 3k @ 3:55/km, 1k easy and 2k @ 3:53/km. It was a tough set. I was starting to think I may not make my goal pace of sub 4 min /kms on the last set, but I just told myself to relax and focused on cadence, lo and behold it wasn't an issue.
My 2nd workout today was a nice 64k bike ride in beautiful 24 degree weather. Naturally, I further pooched myself by doing some hill work. :)
Fortuneately, tomorrow is easy day Friday. Cheers.

The trickle down effect

I knew work was going to be rough today, so I hit the ground running and got in a few minutes early to get a jump start on the day. I still ended up working later than usual, in turn, my run was later then usual. As a result, I almost blew off my 2nd workout - note I said almost. :) Here is what I did today:

Run: total 12k. Did 7 hill repeats. Fastest 89sec, slowest 94 sec.
Bike: spin for 1:15. Planned on riding outside but time was an issue. So hopped on the trainer and actually got a really good, but short session in.
Weights: 30 minutes.

Since I was running late most of the day, my workouts ran later than usual, as a result I'm a little keyed up and I'm suppose to be in bed in 30 minutes. Hopefully I'll get tired real soon. :)

Monday weigh in

It's always good when you accomplish your goals for the week. Last week was actually week number 15, I think I mentioned earlier it was week 14, but I just double checked and it's actually 15. I can't believe 15 weeks have already past buy. I find when I really start to focus in on something, the time just flies. Ok, so here are the totals for week 15:
Run: 73.5k
Bike: 60k
Spin: 4hrs
Swim: 4.6k
Dryland: 1 hr
Weight: 163
A couple things to note: I ran 6 times last week and 73.5k is my highest mileage to date. I'm glad the body is adapting well to the running stress I'm putting on it - I plan on adding more running miles in the weeks to come. Bike and swim are good. I want to start adding some more bike mileage, but must keep reminding myself of the 'plan' - which is to still focus on running. Must keep reminding myself to stick to the plan.
As for weight, I'm a light 163. The increased running frequency is slowly changing my body composition (which I want). I'm trying to trade a couple pounds of fat for lean muscle. Seems like a fair deal, ya?

Next week, I'll be running 6 times again with expected mileage closing in on 80k. I'd like to bring saddle time up to 7hrs and maintain swimming mileage. Cheers.

Easter update

So far, it's been a great long weekend and the bonus is, on Monday, not only do I not have to work, its' also a scheduled off day. I think every weekend, should be 4 days off instead of the standard 2..
I see I haven't updated since Thursday, so here's a quick mileage report of the last few days. Friday was an easy run day of 11k. Did some strides and a couple short sprints. On Saturday I did 3 hours of 'Tough Love' with coach Troy. This is my 3rd of 6 sessions I've planned to do with that particular dvd. This one involves lots of standing/hill work and gives my legs a really good workout. After the spin session, I did a short 4.5k run.

Today was long run day and even though I had a hard spin session yesterday, the legs weren't too bad. I guess that shows they are adapting to the stresses I'm putting on them. I had 25k planned, which is a little less than usual, but I brought the mileage down a few k's for three reasons: 1) this is highest run mileage week of the season so far. 2) I have another high mileage running week ahead. 3) We have company coming over and I don't want to be too tired for the festivities. :)
Pacing for the run went as follows: first 10k @ 5:05 /km - a tad slow but I had a pee break, a pebble in my shoe, and had to adjust my mp3 player... twice! :) The next 10k is quite hilly but I was able to bring the pace down to 5:00 /km. The last 5.5k I was feeling good and the tunes were rocking so I brought the pace down again to 4:44/km.
That's all for now, see you tomorrow for Monday's weigh in. (looks promising, I think I shaved another pound. :) Cheers.

The running man

As most of you who have been following me for the last few months know, I've been running focused and plan on staying that way for another month. I've been upping my running frequency, endurance and added hill training and tempo runs, all in the hopes of becoming a 'real' runner.
This week and next week I'll be running 12 times. Somewhat of record for me, but I'm in my 14th week of training so I should be able to handle the increased load. Don't worry I haven't forgot about the other 2 sports, I just don't need to do them 6 days week. Phew.

Today was tempo run Thursday. I did a 3.5k warmup, then ran 2k hard, 1 k easy, repeated that 3 times and did an easy cooldown run home. My first 2k was at a 4:05/km pace and the next two sets were 3:55/km and 3:52/km respectively. Total run was just over 13k.
My second workout was an hour on the trainer, did some big gear work, some steady state work and some cadence work. Afterwards I spent 30 minutes doing weights.
That's it, I'm off to bed and I totally plan on sleeping in as much as my body will let me. Damn, I love long weekends!

Tic toc tic toc tic toc

Time.
I wasn't planning on getting verbose this evening. But I can feel the words are going to flow a little bit better than usual, so I might as go with it. I'm going to talk a little about time management. Yea, I know one or two of you have smirk on your face, just hear me out.
It's said that the average working Joe actually has about 8 hours of free time each and every day. The problem is that free time comes in a little chunks throughout the day, thus it's difficult to get a long stretch of free time. This makes it easy to put off stuff we know we should be doing but just don't have enough 'time'. Going for workout is a good example. Making excuses not to do something is the easy way out. Anyway, back to the topic. Where do you find time???
My trick is get as much as free time in a row as possible. Here's a typical day/example. Up at 5:30. Out the door in 15 minutes and at my desk working by 6:20. No lining up at Tim's for 10 minutes to get a coffee, no stopping to read the paper - all of these little things cut into my quality time. I eat at my desk, while working, I work through my breaks and lunch and I sure the hell don't go outside for 10 smoke breaks a day. I snack on the go and eat in the car on the way home. Within 15 minutes of arriving home, I'm out the door and doing my run workout. Yea it can be tough - but that's just mental, just suck it up and get it done.
Bam! Workout number 1 already done. Next I eat, do some chores, grab snack and get ready for workout number 2. If I'm lucky, I can grab a 20 minute nap. Do workout number 2, get dinner ready, get all my stuff ready for the next day. Food, coffee, uniform laid out, showered etc. If all goes well, I have an hour to chill with Sally or fart around on the computer. Then it's off to bed.
The point is. YOU have the time - just stop wasting it. No excuses and nothing is impossible.

Ok, let me climb down from the soapbox and tell you what I did today. Yesterday was a bit of leg frier, so today was an 8k easy run and a pretty hard 4600m swim session. Here's the swim details:
1000m warmup
6X400m on 6:15
5X200m on 3:15
cooldown
Other then my arms getting a little tired, I have no complaints and I'm pretty happy with the day's workout. Cheers!

Inaugural ride

Well it would appear that switching shoes did the trick. I did hill repeats in my new Saucony's and my ankle seemed just fine. It was perfect weather and I really wanted to stoke the engine and just run. However, the plan was hill repeats, and I have to stick with the plan. End result was 11.5k with 6 hill repeats - it felt great.

Yes I did it. I finally got my new bike on the road. I figure it's 20 degrees out, there is hardly any dirt and salt the road, there is NO excuse to not ride on a day like this. So I took my bike on a 60k jaunt around Caledon. It was sweet, it was fast and it was fun. Could you ask for anything more? At one point I hit 70km/h, I think with the right hill I could get that sucker well into the 90's. Muahahaha. Not a bad inaugural ride.

Monday weigh in

Today is my designated rest day, so instead of working out, I spent a couple of hours tweakin my bike. It's amazing how fast a couple of hours can fly by, a tweak there, an adjustment here, swap a tire, test stuff out, check emergency kit...

Last week was a fairly easy week, I ran myself down pretty hard during the previous week's training camp, so I needed the rest/recovery time. Here's the stats:
Run: 49.5km
Spin: 5 hrs
Swim: 0 (!)
Dryland: 2 hours
Weight: 163
I guess the only thing of note is the lack of a swim last week. Really, it's no big deal though, swimming is the easiest sport for me, it's the other two sports I have to concentrate on.

The next two weeks are scheduled to be running focused. This may be subject to change, depending if I get that ankle pain I mentioned yesterday. I should know tomorrow if new shoes will solve the problem as I'm scheduled for a hill workout. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. So here is the tentative plan: run: 70km, bike 7hrs, swim 5k.

A taxing issue

Hey guys, just a quick weekend update because I'm actually putting off doing my taxes at the moment.
In case you're wondering, Friday ended up being a write off - it happens, not very often, but it does happen. Naturally, being well rested, Saturday's spin session was wicked. I did the same session as last week and my legs felt much better this time around. They are defineately getting stronger. Afterwards, I did some stretching, some core work and an upper body weight workout.

Today, was long run day. I felt awesome and was going to crack off a great run, except at the 17k mark I got a niggling little pain in my right ankle. It did go away after a few kms, but I'm not happy that I had it in the first place. Going to change shoes and keep an eye on it. I did manage to negative split the last 10k and the overall distance clocked in at 29k.

Ok that's it on the workout front. In other news, I'm thinking of putting togethor a Saturday morning long bike crew. Something fairly harcore and geared towards people training for Ironman. So, if there are any other tri wienies out there, drop me a line, the email is on the left. I'll compile a list and send out more information if I get a decent response.
Ok ok ok.. back to doing taxes. Sigh...

Rem cycle

Ever have one of those nights? I love and need my zzzz's, especially when training. So I hunkered down for a solid 8.5 hours of sleep last night - yes, I go to bed at 9. Sally woke me at 5:30 and I swear I was in the middle of a rem sleep cycle. Oh joy, waking up tired and sleepy. I wanted to call in sick for work, oh sure could you imagine that? "Hi, ya I won't be coming in today because I'm in the middle of rem sleep cycle." Somehow, I doubt they'd be understanding.

I did have a small after work run scheduled, but I blew that off - this is a moderate mileage week, so I can do that without feeling guilty. (ok, I still do) Instead, I went for nap. Usually a 20-30 minute nap sets me up real fine. Not today. I'm still sleepy. See? That's what you get when you wake up in the middle of a rem cycle.

Here is the workout update. Yesterday, run 7.5k, spin for an hour and 30 minutes of weights. Tonight I have a pool workout planned, but I'm soooo very tempted to pop a bowl of popcorn and watch a movie instead. I'll let you know what happens. :) As for this weekend, I'll be doing a 3 hours spin session to coach Troy's Tough Love volume 13. This did a good job frying my legs last weekend, so in a sick way I'm kinda looking forward to it. I'll follow that spin session with a short run. On Sunday, I'll be running ~27k.
Have a great weekend!

The 'wave'

Still pretty much in recovery mode from last week's training camp. Yesterday, I did 2 hours of aerobic work on the trainer and a 30 minute weight session. Today was a steady 13k run. It took some mental effort to get it done, but as usual, once you get going - it's not so bad. Hopefully, another day or two of easy workouts and I'll be back to 100%. The next 2 weeks will be, once again, running focused, so I need to be fully recovered.

What is 'the wave'? The wave occurs when I'm running against traffic and a courteous oncoming car moves over and gives the runner (me) lots of space. Usually, if there is no oncoming traffic for the vehicle, they will cross over the centre of the road and give me lots of space. This is a nice gesture, it tells me they see me and that I don't have to worry about them.

So who gets the wave from me? Basically, anyone courteous enough to move a few feet over and give me a little extra space. I wave at them to acknowledge their coolness, they wave back saying 'hey, no problem'. I actually, consider myself fairly fortunate. Country roads have far fewer cars and at least 75% of the vehicles that pass me, earn a wave.
I have to admit it boggles my mind when someone doesn't move over, especially if there is no oncoming traffic. I have hard time understanding that type of mentality. Obviously, they don't get a wave. No wave for you!

So, if you are in my neck of the woods and you see a runner waving at you, it might be me thanking you for your courtesy.
/wave

Monday weigh in

Phew. Training camp is done. Lots of quality workout time last week and back to work today = one tired puppy. Today is a rest day, I'm taking full advantage of it. Instead of working out, I watched Shawshank Redemption. An excellent movie. Here's the mileage report for last week:
Run: 72 km
Spin 10 hrs
Swim 7.8 km
Dryland: 1.5 hrs
Weight: 163
What can I say. I accomplished what I set out to do. I wanted a tough week, I got a tough week. Mission accomplished. The only other thing of note was that I dropped a pound. One less pound to cart around is always a good thing.

This week will be a moderate week. I have to see how well the body bounces back from training camp before I start beating myself up again. The *tentative* mileage plan for the week is: run:50k, spin: 6 hrs and swim 5k.
Cheers.

Careful what you wish for

Training camp is done!
I would slide the last 6 days into the 'difficult' side of things. I had to carefully guage each day and make each workout just hard enough so that I could get through the week without blowing up. Well I didn't blow up, but today's long run was tough. So in the end I calculated well, got what I wished for and made it through the week.
Here's is the quick version of the last two days. Saturday, was a 3 hour spin session. I "rewarded" myself by spinning to a new dvd, Spinervals 13.0 Tough Love. Yikes, this was a leg frier. Lots of standing and hill work, this chewed up my quads rather nicely. (mental note - I want to do that dvd at least 6 times). Afterwards, I did a short 4.5k run and I just knew that Sunday's long run was going to be epic.
Fast forward to today. Damn, what a gorgeous day, perfect for a long run. I wonder how well the legs will hold up, they took a beating this week. Oh well, it's my last work out of training camp - let's get er done. My pace was slow, but I wasn't worried about that, today was about just slogging through some tough miles. I'll tell you a secret. I actually walked the tougher hills. I had scheduled 30k and wussed out at just over 27k. I was starting to hit that "grey area" of doing too much. So instead of tacking on the last little mini 3k loop back to the house, I just headed straight for home. Yay, now it's recovery time!

Side note about recovery. I was reading this brief science article about laughter. Basically, just thinking about laughing is good for you. We've all heard of the therapeutic value of laughter. What struck me in this article is that the participants had higher level of HGH (human growth hormone) when just thinking about laughing. So how does this relate to recovery? Well, HGH is a huge factor for athletes and greatly aids in recovery and is primarily released during sleep. Faster recovery = better quality workouts. So, by putting two and two togethor, I figure laughing may make me a better athlete. I'm sure someone, somewhere will find that funny.