I hope I didn't screw anything up...

Yesterday after the race, Alice and I went to a "Food & Drink Fest" and then a great Irish pub in Hamilton.

Today I woke up not feeling well. I was sluggish and still felt sick. My legs were a little tight, so the first thing I did when I woke up was stretch.

From yesterday's race, overall my legs feel okay, but I have a sore "charlie horse" on my left hip. I felt it near the end of the run and it is a 3 on 10 on the pain meter, but I really hope it goes away and doesn't effect my training.

I'm drinking a lot of water in order to flush out the lactic acid. I'm also trying to eat as many fruits and vegetables as I can to speed up the recovery.

When I got home from work, I slept for around 1 1/2 hours before my bike ride tonight. I rode for 1 hour and 45 minutes. I was looking forward to the ride because I figured it would help get rid of the lactic acid and help speed up my recovery.

After the ride, I had a good stretching session. As strange as it sounds, I could actually stretch further than prior to the race. Overall I feel good, but tomorrow will be the test, as later in the day I have an 70 minute run.

For the month of March, I set a training record. Between swimming, biking and running, I did 651.29 miles and burnt 53,979 calories. And I only gained 3 lbs.

It must have been the 108 beers I had in the month of March.

My 30 K Race was a success...

I woke up still feeling sick and my resting heart rate was around 70 bpm, I was hoping it would have been in the 50's. I didn't know if it was because I'm not feeling well or pre-race jitters.

I got to the race with plenty of time before it started, it was pretty cold, windy and I was really nervous. I had no idea on how I would perform or how I would feel.

I had all kinds of questions for myself, like, is all the training I'm doing worth it? will it help my times? what if my legs fail me? was the pre-race run yesterday going to backfire? should I have swam yesterday? Etc, Etc, Etc, lots of mental "noise".

I decided my strategy was going to be to keep the heart rate around 144 bpm - 174 bpm and let the times fall where they may. For the first 10 K, I did it in 48:10, the second was around the same and the third 10 K was faster, even though there was hills.

For the last 5 K of the race, I was doing around 168 bpm - 180 bpm, overall I averaged 157 bpm. The entire race I felt good and had energy for a fast last 1 K, especially the sprint to the finish. My final time was 2:24:03, which is a 7:43.6 per minute mile pace. My goal was to do 8:00 - 8:10 minute mile pace.

Overall, I finished 532 out of 4409 finishing participants and in 91 place in my gender category.

It was my best running race since I started a year ago. At the half marathon point, I was around 1:41. If I was able to maintain that pace for a marathon, I would have finished around a 3:22:36, it would be quite an improvement from my 3:58 Philadelphia marathon.

At the end, my legs felt pretty good, bending the knees was not a problem. I can tell my legs had a healthy workout, but they don't feel like a quick recovery will be a problem. 30 K was the perfect distance, any longer would have been "painful".

I think this race was really important for my psyche, I needed to see some results from my "Mark Allen Online" training program. With no prior speed work, I thought I did really well. With speed work, it should only get better.

I'm so glad I did the race!

The race is tomorrow and I'm not sure about anything...

Last night, Alice and I had cocktails and didn't get to bed until 1:30 am.

Then at 7:00am we had to get up to go to Reid's hockey game. Reid's team lost, but they still had enough points to make it to the house league finals on April 12th.

All day I've been tired and sick. I still have a running nose and sore throat, plus the extra beers last night didn't help the head.

After the game, we went to pick up the race package and went for breakfast. Afterwards, when I got home, I slept for a few more hours.

At 6:00 pm, I went to the Y and did 3500 meters in the pool. I felt really strong in the pool, I think the speed work session earlier in the week is helping my strength in the pool. I was also in a Zen like zone from being sick, time just flew by.

When I got home, I ate some pasta and went out for a 35 minute pre-race run, with 5 x 10 second pickups, keeping the heart rate under 129 bpm. During the run I didn't feel that good, my nose was really running. After the run, I stretched, drank more water and made some "salty" popcorn to eat.

I have no idea what tomorrow will bring or what my race strategy will be? I do know I'll have some new songs to listen to, as I added about a 100 of them to my ipod this afternoon.

I need to see how I feel in the morning and what my resting heart rate is going to be at. I've never done a pre-race run and a swim the day before a race, so I'm not sure how my body will perform tomorrow.

I'm a little nervous and hoping for the best.

First day off in 77 days....

Last night was great! Reid's team won their three on three championship and were awarded the gold medal. (Reid is bottom front, on the right, lying down with his #1 finger up).

I was real tired last night, but it was an exciting game and watching it woke me up. He scored a really nice goal and got an assist as they won 8 - 6 against the first place team.

It's amazing how much he has improved since the beginning of the year.

I got 8 hours of sleep last night and woke up with the beginning of a cold and sore throat. It never fails, I'm running a 30 K race on Sunday and now I'm starting to get sick.

At least today is a taper day with no training. It is the first time in 77 consecutive days that I have not trained. Which at least gives me a little rest to recuperate and hopefully fight off this cold and be ready for Sunday's run.

Alyssa, Alice and I went out for dinner tonight at an Italian restaurant and I carbo loaded with pasta and beer. My best races have been when, two nights before the race, I have some beers.

After the dinner, I actually started to feel better, which is a good thing. When I got home, I drank another beer as I updated my blog, and am now starting to mentally prepare for Sunday's race.

Until I'm at the start line, I never know what my strategy will be, but 99% of the time, the strategy is to go as hard as I can.

I need some sleep...

I'm tired!

Last night I only got 4 hours of sleep, the night before was a late night with cocktails and the night before that was only 5 1/2 hours of sleep.

I was up today at 5:10 am and went to the Y to do my 3500 meter speed swim workout, followed by a power weight training session.

For the first time since I started training 10 months ago, I almost stopped during my swim after 22 minutes and went home because I was "exhausted". I'm not sure if it was from the lack of sleep, the cocktails or the speed bike session the night before, it was probably a little of everything.

I fought through and ended up finishing my swim workout in 1 hour and 22 minutes, then I did an hour of weights. It was not easy from a mental and physical perspective.

Physically, I was training at around 144 bpm and it was my first anaerobic swim of the year. Mentally, I was just "drained". I kept thinking, maybe I should go home and come back tonight? But I persevered and I'm glad I did.

It turns out that tonight is the final championship game for Reid's three on three hockey team and they are going for the gold. Which is good and bad, as I was hoping I'd be able to relax on the sofa tonight.

Oh well, that's life!

The beginning of the speedwork phase...

Last night we had a great time at the NHL old timers game.

The old school players are awesome and gracious, they don't make them like they used to.

We went to an after party and met Paul Coffee, Bryan Trottier, Glenn Anderson, Dale Hawerchuck and Bob Probert. I got my picture with Bryan Trottier, my favorite NHL player when I was a kid, and Reid got lots of Autographs. The players really took an interest in him when they spoke to him, he loved it.

I also won a Tretiak signed jersey at a silent auction.

This morning I was a little under the weather as the beer was flowing last night, but as the day wore on, I started to feel much better and started my bike ride at around 7:30 pm.

Today's training session was the first speed workout of the year and marks the beginning of the next phase of training. It wasn't long, but it was TOUGH. In total is was around 55 minutes and with only about 17 minutes of intervals, which doesn't sound like much, but it was hard.

My heart rate got up to 171 bpm and afterwards I did 15 minutes of easy spinning, my legs felt like rubber.

I felt a little sick afterwards and I'm not sure if it was from last night or from the intensity of the workout. It's probably a little of both.

What a couple of busy days...

Tonight, Reid, Alice and I are going to the NHL old timers hockey game. Which meant I needed to get in a 4500 meter swim and an hour long run in before work.

I did it! And as the day wore on, I started to feel the tiredness.

In the past 2 days, I've only had a total of 10 hours sleep and did 4.5 hours of training in 25 hours. With the lack of sleep and working and training so much in a short period of time, it feels surreal. I'm in a Zen like state without "sharp" thinking.

I'm looking forward to tonights game, to relax and have a beer. Another benefit is that I don't have to get up at 5 am tomorrow, I can sleep in till at least 7:30 am.

A busy day that started with 4.5 hours of sleep...

I got to bed at 12:30 am last night and I was up at 5:00 am to do my weight training session at the YMCA.

I knew today was going to be a busy day. I had to meet some co-workers at 7:15 am and drive 2.5 hours to Rochester, New York. We spent the entire day there and got back to my house around 6:40 pm.

One of the people had a flight to catch at 9:40 pm, so we had a pizza delivered to my house and had a few pints of beer before he had to leave to the airport. Which meant I wasn't able to start my 2 hour and 15 minute bike ride until 8:00 pm.

I did start and finish the ride, burping up some beer along the way. I actually felt surprisingly good during and afterwards. Watching 2 hours of "Dancing with the Stars" helped pass the time.

Last week it was a "brutal" ride due to the power weight training session before the ride. This weeks power session did not have the same effect. It was a moderate ride, under 134 bpm and I was able to do it with high rpm's.

It felt like I was trying to play catch up all day in order to get the training done.

Tomorrow is going to be more of the same, as I'm taking Reid to an old timers hockey game in the evening and somehow I need to fit in 3 hours of training.

Easter Sunday's run didn't seem that long...

Last night I had a great steak dinner and some beers.

For some reason, red meat and beer help my recovery.

Today was a 2 hour long run. My buddy John ran with me and the time just flew by.

We both run around the same speed and talk during the run, which makes it enjoyable.

The run was through the Niagara Escarpment and was a series of hills and slight inclines and declines.

The scenery is just beautiful and because we started early, there was very little traffic.

We ran at about an 8:45 minute mile pace, which ended up being around 14 miles.

It was interesting, the route we ran today was the same route I did my first long run on when I started my training program in January.

On that first run I was not able to keep my heart rate below 139 bpm unless I walked. I must have stopped 12 plus times.

Today's run was much different. Other than a couple of "bathroom" breaks and a brief walk at the top of the biggest hill, we ran all the way.

I can really see the improvement!

My 5 hour and 23 minute Saturday training day...

Reid had his house league playoff game at 7:00 am this morning, so I was up at 6:00 am.

Good thing I went to bed at 10:30 pm the night before.

It was an exciting game, it ended up as a one all tie. Reid's team really deserved to win, but at least they didn't loose.

By 9:00 am I was on the bike for my 3 1/2 hour ride, followed by a 30 minute brick run.

The ride was strong, I stayed at the upper end of 139 bpm and made sure I ate something every hour on the hour.

It seemed to work, I had good energy for the entire ride.

The transition from the bike to the run took me just over 8 minutes, unfortunately I had organizational issues. I would have like it to be around 5 minutes.

Once I got on the road I felt strong running, it was very tough to stay under 139 bpm as my body just wanted to go faster.

I ran 33 minutes at a 8:59 pace, which is my fastest brick run of the year by 11 seconds per mile.

After the run, I drove to the Oakville YMCA and swam 3500 meters at a moderate pace. I averaged around a 126 bpm heart rate.

By 3:30 pm I was finished for the day and stopped by the Beer Store for some Coors tall boys.

Depending on how I feel, I thought I might have a few tonight. I figure it's best to be prepared, just in case I get a "craving".

A new focus for me is to eat during every hour of training, so my body will be prepared to accept and process food during my racing.

On the bike I ate a bagel, bran muffin, and Cliff bar. On the run I ate another Cliff bar, then a banana after the swim.

I really feel great physically and mentally.

Surprisingly, I don't even feel like I worked out that much today!

My fastest Tempo run of the year...

Last night I went out for dinner, had a few pints and watched Reid's playoff game.

They won and are now in the final next week.

After the game, we went to Dairy Queen, I was "craving" a peanut buster parfait.

I got to bed early and had a great sleep, 10 1/2 hours. It was perfect for recovery from all my training.

Today's training was a 50 minute tempo run, it was my fastest of the year, I averaged a 8:08 per minute mile over 6.17 miles.

My heart rate was to stay under 139 bpm, but at times it got up to 143 bpm for a short while.

I find it interesting that if I drink a moderate amount beer the night before training, I have a better, faster workout. There must be something in my DNA as I come from a family of beer drinkers.

I knew today's run was going to be good because my heart rate while standing was around 48 - 52 bpm.

With less than 60 days left to go before my Florida 70.3 race, I've decided to really start watching my diet and eat more healthy food.

I'd like to drop about 8 lbs and run the race at around 169 lbs.

I don't have any training tonight & it's a strange feeling...

I was at the YMCA at 6:30 am.

I did a 3500 meter swim at tempo speed, then did an hour of "power" weight training and was done today's scheduled training by 8:45 am.

It felt great to be done for the day so early in the day!

Tomorrow is a national holiday. It's "Good Friday".

So tonight I'm going to go out for dinner with Alice, relax and have a few "well deserved" pints!

My body is changing & I have 60 days to go...

Today was an easier than normal day. Relatively speaking.

I got a good 8.5 hours of sleep last night and after dinner I did a 75 minute tempo ride on the bike.

I can still feel the "soreness" in my legs caused by entering the "power" phase of my training this week.

My legs feel like I just started working out, not like I've been training for the past 10 months.

I am really curious to see how well I perform with the volume of training I've been doing since signing up with the "Mark Allen Online" coaching program in January.

I'm currently doing around 17 hours a week to prepare for the half Ironman and I expect it to increase in June once I start my full Ironman training.

My family has told me that they notice the changes in my body, that I'm getting much more fit and athletic looking.

I've noticed that I'm starting to get muscles in places I didn't have muscles.

I'm also starting to get "veins" in my arms and legs, something that I've never had in my entire life, or even thought was possible.

As you can see, it's a very different look than my "fat" guy picture on the sidebar of the blog.

I can't imagine what my body is going to look like for the Louisville Ironman in August?

But I can hardly wait to find out!

Special Update: I just realized that in 60 days I will be racing in the Florida half Ironman.

Call me "Herman Munster"...

I was up early, had my "toast" and was in the pool by 6:30 am.

My swim was "slow". I did 4500 meters in 1 hour and 47 minutes.

It turns out that starting the "power" phase of my weight training program really does effect performance.

I felt like I was swimming with no power. It was tough just to keep my heart rate at 119 bpm.

The run was no better.

After work I was extremely tired. So much so, that I needed to sleep for over 90 minutes.

When I woke up, my legs were sore, I was still tired and I wasn't looking forward to my run, especially as it was also raining outside.

But I pushed myself out the door and did a 75 minute run / shuffle, which turned out to be just over 8 miles.

My legs felt like "LEAD". I was moving slow, my pace was a 9:10 mile and I felt every step in my quad and glutes.

The "quasi" pain put me into a Zen like state, for a portion of the run, I didn't even remember running it. My mind was elsewhere, which was "kinda" cool.

Although, I must admit, I like the feeling of "pain".

It means somethings happening!

(Quick Fact: Between Monday and Tuesday's workouts, I did over 6 hours of training in 28 hours).

The start of a new phase...

This week is going to be a tough week of training.

Not only is it going to be longer than most, but it is going to be harder.

It is the muscle building phase, which includes lifting "heavy" weights and the start of speed work sessions for running and biking.

I started the power session of my weight training program today, low reps, high weight. Quite frankly, I was a little nervous.

I got used to the endurance phase, it was a safe phase, now I'm entering a "it's going to hurt" phase.

The weights took me an hour, then I followed up with a 2 hour bike ride at a moderate pace, not exceeding 134 bpm.

I was told that during the power phase of weight training that my performance during other training sessions would be effected negatively, and the biking definitely was effected.

I did high rpm's, but I had to keep it in the second lowest gear to keep my heart rate in check. I couldn't wait for the 2 hours to be up, I was experiencing a "weird" kind of pain, like I had nothing in the legs.

Tonight was just a mental exercise to keep going and finish.

Today and tomorrow are heavy duty training days, I'm going to be very interested in seeing how my swim and run are effected tomorrow.

Major swim breakthrough...

Another good sleep of 9 hours.

I'm now back to normal from my trip to Israel and the jet lag.

I had an awesome swim today. It was moderate pace, 3500 meters, under 134 bpm, but it turned out that my 100 meter times did not exceed 2:00 minutes, even using pull bouys.

I did the calculations and it turns out that my time today is the same or faster than when I was in my 20's.

Based on the times in the pool today, I think I would have done the Ironman swim in around 1 hour 20 minutes. When I was 22, I did Ironman Canada swim in 1 hour 21 minutes.

The training program is working!

Later in the afternoon I went for my weekly long run. It lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes and I ran a 8:35 pace.

For the first time since I started the program, I really feel I'm starting to improve.

It's taken approximately 2 months, but this week I noticed the improvement.

Back in Burlington & Back in the saddle...

I got back home from Israel last night at 8:00 pm.

We went out as a family for dinner, the beer at dinner tasted so good!

When we got home from dinner, Alice and I played some pool, listened to music and had a few more cocktails.

This morning I woke up after 10 hours of sleep. It was great to catch up and I felt refreshed.

Today's training was a 3 hour bike ride. It went well, I was able to keep a real high cadence and the heart rate was close to 139 bpm for the entire ride.

It was a strong ride. I ate every hour as I didn't want to "bonk".

I don't know what it is about cycling, but after long rides, it is one the thing that causes me to want to nap afterwards.

Which I did.

I was going to swim, but didn't think the pool would be open long enough to get my full 3500 meters in, plus I wanted to keep napping.

Israel was a success on every level...

I only had 4 hours of sleep last night, but I was still up at 5:11 am to do my training.

I did a 50 minute tempo run, followed by an hour in the weight room.

I ran along the ocean and it was nice, it seemed like I was running faster than usual.

It has been a long time since I've been able to run with shorts on and no snow.

Hurray, I love it!

My trip was successful on every level. I was able to keep up my training, even traveling overseas.

Now I'm off to the airport for my 12 hour flight back home.

I should be home by 8:00 pm and told the family that when I get home we are going out for dinner and cocktails.

I plan on having a few pints to celebrate a week well done.

In Israel, I'm the fastest in the pool...

It has been a long day.

I was up at 5:00 am and in the pool by 5:45 am to do my 3500 meter tempo swim.

It was only one of two pools in Tel Aviv and I didn't know what to expect. I didn't even know if it was indoor or outdoor.

When I got there, I realized I was the youngest person by about 40 years. I felt like I was in the movie "Cocoon".

While I was there, one person had a medical emergency and had to be taken away by ambulance.

I was by far the fastest in the pool, thankfully.

I had a great swim, the water was warm and had a salt like taste. It was nice.

For the rest of the day I was busy, busy, busy and got back to the hotel at 12:15 am.

Day Two - Mission Accomplished.

Day Three - I need to be up at 5:00 am, two workout sessions, and my motivation is to "burn" off all the food I ate today.

I think I've been eating every 3 hours....

Yesterday, I left at 6:35 pm from Toronto, via Frankfurt, and arrived in Israel 16 hours later, at 2:40 pm today.

With all the time zone changes, Air Canada seemed to be feeding us every 3 hours. By the time I arrived, I felt like I just ate a Christmas dinner.

I was fairly tired when I arrived. I only had 3 hours of sleep and my "back side" hurt from sitting on a plane seat for so long.

It's strange, I find sitting on a bike seat for a long time is easier than sitting on a plane seat...go figure.

I just had enough time from when I arrived until I had a scheduled dinner meeting to get in my 60 minute bike ride. I had a nice view of the ocean and a sunset from my bike, so I took a picture.

I did a tempo ride, fairly hard but not over 139 bpm, at times my watts were up to 255.

After the workout and shower, we went for an amazing dinner.

There was so much food to eat, plus desserts and then when I got back to my room, HP dropped off chocolate and dried fruits as gifts.

Between the plane food, the authentic middle eastern dinner and the room snacks, I need to burn about 7,000 calories to get back to zero.

But you only live life once, at least in this lifetime!

Day 1 - mission accomplished.

Now I need to find a 25 meter pool for Day 2.

Some people run 4.5 km, I swam it this morning...

I'm leaving to Israel this afternoon, so I had to get all my training in before I left.

I didn't get much sleep last night, about 5 1/2 hours, and was in the pool by 6:40 am.

Today's long swim workout was 4500 meters, the longest distance I've ever swam. Previously my longest swim was 4 km, which is the swim distance of the Ironman.

The swim was okay. My arms were very "heavy", perhaps from the weight training session last night. I was struggling to do 2:05 per 100 meters.

I finished the swim in 1 hour 39 minutes.

On the way home from the swim, I stopped at McDonald's and picked up a large coffee and bran muffin for only $1.69. I love a good deal, caffeine and good carbs.

After I ate and read the paper, I did a 65 minute run under 134 bpm, then stretched, showered, and packed.

It is going to be interesting how I handle my training in Israel.

I'm only gone for 3 days, but 28 hours of those 3 days is in a plane, plus airport waiting time, and a time zone difference.

In addition, I've got full days and evenings of meetings.

I emailed my hotel and they found me an Olympic sized pool, and they have a Lifecycle and weight room, so I'm hoping I can pull it off.

Oh yeah, I included a picture of a custom paint job Reid did on his goalie helmet.

He didn't care if I put it on my blog, which for an 11 year old, is a round about way of saying to put it on my blog.

Monday evenings are all training...

On Monday's I don't split my workouts, I don't do one in the morning, and the other in the evening.

I do them both in the evening, which makes for over 3 hours of consecutive training.

I started at 7:32 pm, which is about an hour later than normal, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

The first half of my training was a 1 hour and 45 minute bike ride followed by 80 minutes of weights, then of course stretching.

By the time I was done, it was 10:45 pm. I feel good, but it was just a long evening.

Part of the reason I started later was that I was "craving" a Dairy Queen soft ice cream cone dipped in chocolate, so before I started training, I went a got one.

It tasted better in my mind, but was still good.

It did give me something to work off tonight!

Swimming like a fish...

Last night I carbo loaded with some beers and pizza.

Today at noon, I did a 3000 meter swim.

It was the best swim I can ever remember having.

I thought Friday nights swim workout was good, but this was even better!

I altered my swim stroke. I reached as far as I could with my arm, then pulled.

At first it was awkward and caused my torso to really twist from side to side, but somehow in doing so, my speed increased.

I was easily doing 1:45 per 100 and even kept under 2:00 just pulling. And the amazing thing is this was a moderate workout and my heart rate was around 121 - 129 bpm.

Around midway through my workout another guy started swimming beside me, he had just regular swim trunks on and I was "pumped" to see how much faster I would be than him.

The problem was, he was kicking my "butt".

I couldn't believe it, I can't remember the last time I've been the fastest in the pool. There is always someone humbling me.

As I was leaving the pool, I realized that he was doing kick flips at the wall. Obviously he swam competitively in the past.

Whew...that makes me feel a little better, at least he was no just a "regular" guy with regular swim trunks.

When I got home I ate, snow blowed my driveway and two of my neighbors, then went for an 80 minute long run. I did 9.24 miles at an 8:40 pace under 139 bpm.

The weather was better, but I'm so looking forward to the snow melting so I can run on the sidewalks. There is so many drivers that don't give me a lot of space when they pass me.

Especially young people and old people.

A new PR for bike training...

I slept in today until 8:30 am, I got a good 8 1/2 hours of sleep.

As unbelievable as this sounds, I've gained a few pounds in the last 10 days. It's not due to muscle, but it is due to poor diet.

Primarily, refined sugars and fried foods. Surprisingly it's not due to beer, as I haven't had many for a couple of weeks.

I figured that by burning over 40,000 plus calories per month, I could eat and drink whatever I want.

Wrong!

Last week for example, I did my long ride and brick run, then "bonked"afterwards. Doing so was a reflection of my poor diet.

For today's 4 hour long ride (which is the longest I've ever been on a bike indoors), followed by a 30 minute brick run, I was determined not to "bonk" this time.

I started to eat better two days ago and decided to eat something during the ride. I had either a banana or cliff bar for every hour of the training session.

The ride went reasonably well, 4 hours is a long time and the "butt" and "legs" get sore. But I managed through it. Lot's of sweat and determination along the way!

After the ride, I dried myself off, changed quickly and was out the front door in just over 6 minutes.

The cold weather outside just "sucked"!

It was snowing and blowing, again. I'm just sick of this weather.

I heard that we may break a record from 1939, for having the most amount of snow fall this year.

The run was slow, it is really tough to run on the snowy roads, but it went well. I listened to my iPod and enjoyed it.

When I got back, I felt good, no "bonking" this time. I had a protein shake and a couple of baked potatoes.

Then I had a nice post workout snooze...