Training, Ruminating and Setting records...

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I woke up early and went to the YMCA to lift weights before work. It was good to lift again as I was starting to feel I was losing my upper body strength.

I had a lot to do at work today, but I also wanted to leave early so that I could start my 3 hour and 10 minute ride as early as possible. I didn't want to ride in the dark. I worked through lunch and got out of work just after 3 pm. By the time I got home, ate a bagel and got on the road it was 4:30 pm.

It turns out that I over estimated how far I was away from home and ended up biking for 3 hours and 24 minutes. It was pretty windy and my legs were flat, but I still managed to get in 101 kms at an average speed of 29.7 kph.

For at least the first half of the ride I was still ruminating about last weeks company party. I still feel very badly about my behaviour. I was doing a lot of "soul" searching during the ride.

About 3/4 of the way through the ride I really noticed my front wheel was out of alignment. It was moving from side to side, and truth be told, it was scaring me to ride, I almost called Alice to pick me up. I'm now thinking the wobbling of the front of the bike down a hill at 82 kph was not me being scared, but it was that the front wheel was not true.

With this new bike I have a love / hate relationship. I love it's fit and the fast times I've gotten on it, but I hate the mechanical issues. The bike just does NOT feel right. If I had an extra $2500, I'd put the Quintana Roo up for sale for $2000, and buy a Cervelo carbon bike for $4500.

Before I rode tonight, I had Alice put a flashing red light on the back of my jersey for safety. I just read about two cyclist that were killed in Winnipeg and I'm a little paranoid with all the riding I do. I figure it is better to be safe than sorry.

This month I set a record for the total amount of miles trained.

I ended up doing a total of 735.46 and I took 5 days off during the month for tapering and rest. I beat my previous best month by 50 miles and that month I didn't have one day off of training. I also burnt 53,000 calories for the month of June.

Total Swimming - 8.36 miles (low do to chest injury)
Total Biking - 599.16 miles
Total Running - 127.9

Total Beers - 169

It was a long day...

I was up early to do a long run with John. We ended up going for 2 hours and 40 minutes and covering just over 17 miles. We both felt good physically. Today my heart rate was really low, John was starting to think I was a "cyborg", it was under 128 bpm for most of the run.

I got home, stretched, ate quickly and got to the pool for my swim. I just started the session when they told me the pool was closing. It turns out that they are following a different schedule for the holiday weekend and that after today they have a whole new schedule for the summer.

I ended up going home and taking a nap. No one was home because the family went to Canada's Wonderland for the day. If they didn't go, Reid's head would have exploded, as he has been dying to go on the "Behemoth" for the past three days and has watched it on You Tube from every angle.

Without training or the family around, the day just drags on and on. It was a long day and it's not over. I'm bored and I can't watch any more TV.

Back to training...

I knew it was critical to train today. I needed to get all the crap out of my body from Thursday's party. I also knew I needed to get my mind back on track.

The ride started out poorly. Before I got out of the garage I got a flat front tire, which took me 10 minutes to fix. The weather man said that today was going to be sun, clouds, rain and lightning, which essentially means he doesn't know what's going to happen.

Today's training was a 5 hour bike ride and I wasn't sure how my body and mind would handle it, but I knew it was an important training session in order to get me back on track.

The beginning of the ride was pretty strong, I went up the toughest hills in the beginning and my average speed was in the 27 km range, which is 1 - 2 km better than normal. About 45 minutes into the ride I caught up with a fellow triathlete named Mark Rutledge. His speed and mine were similar and he was doing a 4 - 5 hour ride, so we decided to ride together and talk.

We kept a pretty good speed up and went up some challenging hills. On one of the down hills I almost wiped out at 82 kph. As I was going down, my front end started to shake and I tried not to panic and not wipe out, which thank God, I didn't. But it was scary. At first I thought it was a loose head set or wheel problem, but Mark checked it out and it looked fine. I think the problem was that I panicked and my arms started to shake. I had to stop one other time because my chain got jammed again.

As we talked we got to know each other and Mark is quite a triathlete. He has done an Ironman in 10:40 range and a half Ironman in the 4:40 range, plus he is 43 years old and in my age group. He was a nice guy and we rode together for close to 3 hours.

When we parted I still had close to 2 hours of ride time left. I decided to go back to one of the huge hills I did at 72 kph and see if the problem was my nerves or my bike. I went down the hill and kept my hands on the brakes, at 60 km an hour I was fine, at 70 kph I started to shake a bit. I think it is my arms, but I'm going to get the bike shop to check out everything mechanical on the headset.

It was warm and humid and I went through my water and energy drink about a half hour before I was to finish. I was really thirsty and I forgot to bring money in order to be able to stop at a store and buy a drink. I pushed forward and kept dreaming about getting home and going right for the water once I got in the door. Which I did. I ended up drinking 8 or 9 glasses of water. When I weighted myself I was still only 177 lbs, which means I probably lost close to 10 lbs on that ride.

I ended up averaging 30.9 kph (19.15 mph) for 155.5 kms (96.4 miles). It was my fastest long ride of the year, but I did feel it when I got home. I wasn't exhausted but my legs did feel like they pushed it pretty hard.

I'm glad I met up with Mark, it helped clear my mind, plus now I have a guy I can call to go for long rides. He also had an interesting comment, he said that he quit drinking for a year to train hard and he wouldn't do it again, it was no fun.

Taking internal stock...

Today was not a good day. I stayed up too late last night and I drank way to much last night and my body felt it this morning.

I wasn't hungover, but I was pretty beat up. The worst part was that I really wasn't comfortable with my behavior last night. I drank to much and lost control of myself. I was a drunken mess and I shouldn't have been based on the circumstances of having employees over. If it was family, no problem, but with staff, I acted inappropriately.

All day I ruminated about the situation and started to take personal inventory. Because of my extreme personality, it is very had for me to do anything in moderation and drinking and partying is no exception. Although it is so fun at the time, when you can't remember parts of the evening or misread situations, you know there is a problem.

I'm very close to quiting drinking all together. If I could learn moderation I think that would be a better solution, but I'm not sure if that is possible.

One of the things that really bothered me today was that I lost my motivation to train. I was supposed to do a 5000 meter swim at 7 pm and I couldn't. My mind and body were not ready. It was a turning point. I knew if I didn't do tomorrow's workout I was in trouble.

Needless to say, I'm really thinking about changing my partying lifestyle, for my mind, spirit and body's sake.

Today's picture is of the cup cakes that Alyssa made, she is an incredable baker. Last night when she was making them, she wouldn't let me touch them because she said they are for her friend who arrived from Winnipeg this morning. If you look closely, the bottoms are chocolate.

Training and entertaining...

This morning I met Jay at his hotel for a 55 minute tempo run at 6:45 am. It was a great day for an early morning run.

Today was the day that I was hosting a company barbecue at my house. As always, the party started at 1 pm and lasted until 1 am. It was a good thing I had a driver to take people home.

We had great fun, great laughs, great people and great lobster. And I'm sure tomorrow I'll have a great hangover!

Today is our 20th Wedding Anniversay and I'm in better shape than when I got married...

Today was a very busy day. Tomorrow, I'm hosting an office barbecue at my house and I'm taking Friday off, so I had a lot of things that needed to get done.

I was hoping to leave work early, but it didn't happen. After work I had to pick up some flowers, chocolates and a small gift for Alice, then go to Canadian Tire, take the family out for our Anniversary dinner, train and then do some work around the house in preparation for the barbecue.

I did it all! I don't know how.

I was able to do it all and put in a 90 minute tempo bike ride, which was my fastest training ride of the year. I ended up going just over 50 km at an average pace of 33 kph and I was able to just get home before the sun went down. I kept my heart rate under 139 bpm.

I ended up getting to bed at 12:30 am, but I got everything done and because of the party, I need to fit in tomorrows 55 minute tempo run at 6:45 am and I'm not a morning person.

The only negative to the day, was that after my training ride I noticed that my new DeSoto short were coming apart at the seam. Which is a shame, because I love those shorts, but I'm sure they will replace them, I've only worn them 6 times.

A smooth recovery is always the toughest part...

I woke up feeling great today. I had a good sleep, my mind was sharp and I had a super productive day.

Tonight's training was the last of my easier, recover from the race, training sessions. I did a 30 minute bike ride in the small front chain ring and was to keep spinning the entire time, no pushing it. I was quite surprised to see that I averaged just over 27 kph (17 mph) as it was hard to keep my heart rate over 104 bpm.

After the ride, I did a quick 15 minute brick run. It was to be very easy and not to exceed 129 bpm. I ended up running at a 8:39 pace. During the run, at one point my foot started to get sharp pains, but as I ran they went away and I was relieved that it was nothing serious. Overall, my legs felt pretty good.

The rest of the evening was driving to stores and picking things up for a company barbecue I'm hosting at my house on Thursday. The only downside is that after the training and the errands I have a sore muscle in my back. For a week, I'd just love to be injury free.

On a closing note, my Ironman Finishers Medal, which I listed on Ebay didn't sell for the $25,000 I was asking.

The party's over, now back to work...

Last night was a celebration night. We barbecued and had some cocktails and I had a nice big cigar. I was so happy with my race performance, I just wanted to savour the flavor.

Today was a new day. It was back to healthy eating and training. After work I went for a post race massage and the therapist said she found no "knots" or tight muscles. It just shows that the 15 minutes of stretching I do after training sessions is working.

I also talked to the owner at my local bike shop about the chain slipping off the small gear on my rear hub during the race. He thinks it is an adjustment that will fix it, but also told me that it is not a good thing to shift down a few gears all at once. He said I should do it gradually. 

My training session tonight was an easy 500 meter swim. I took Reid with me and we both did laps. For an 11 year old he has a very nice stroke. After the swim I had a nice sauna and sweat.

The second big test, could I beat my best time when I was in my 20's...

After Friday's 15 plus beers, which was way more carbo loading than I needed for a race on Sunday, I was able to drink a lot of water, detoxify and get my heart rate down to a semi normal level. This morning my resting heart rate was in the low 60's. Yes, it worked!!!

Everything went well this morning, the GPS got us there 90 minutes before race start and I was able to relax and take my time getting ready. The weather wasn't to good, it was 14 C, cloudy and was supposed to rain. Normally I wouldn't put my wet suit on until 10 minutes before the start of the race, but because it was so cold I put it on a half hour before it started.

The wet suit felt good and I went for a quick "dunk" in the water before the race started. It is a good thing I did because I realized that Reid had used my goggles and tightened them for himself and they were now way to tight for me. In preparation, I also took my time and set up my transition area perfectly for getting in and out as fast as possible.

Before the swim, I took the yellow swim cap which seeded me in the 27 - 30 minute swim finish time, I figured I may as well be optimistic.

Once the gun went off for the swim I knew I was in trouble. I was going fairly hard, my breathing wasn't right, people were banging into me and my chest felt tight from the wet suit. I kept telling myself to stick with it and I'd get into a rhythm and everything would be fine. It was really tough to get into a rhythm, people were banging into me and hitting me and I was a little panicked at one point, I actually stopped to tread water, I wanted to slightly quit at that point.

I started giving myself "self talk" about how much I trained and things will get better and after about 500 meters they did. I started to get into a rhythm and the field started to space out so people weren't banging into me and my wet suit started to feel like a second skin. It never fails, in virtually every triathlon I do, the swim always starts out poorly. I told Alice that next time I'm going to do a 300 - 500 meter warm up swim just to get my breathing in rhythm, even at the pool in training it takes me 300 meters to feel comfortable with my breathing.

The swim was a two lap course, so we swam 750 meters to the swim finish point, then we get out of the water, run along the beach to the starting point and get back in the water for the second loop. I was pleased with my first loop as it was in the 13 minute range. The second loop I came out of the water at around 27:30 for 1500, which is a pretty decent time considering you have to include the 150 meter run along the beach. According to the race timing, my time was 28:51, but this included the time to run from the beach to the transition. Last year my swim time was 36:03.

I got out of the water feeling pretty strong and ran hard to the bike transition. At one point on the run up the hill from the beach to the transition, my heart rate was 162 bpm, which I haven't seen it that high very often. When I got to the bike rack, I was pleasantly surprised to see at least 70% of the bikes for my age group still in the rack, which means that I had a decent swim. Last year my bike was usually the last in the rack.

The transitions was fairly fast, the only hitch was that once I got on my bike I realized that I forgot to put my sunglasses on. It actually didn't turn out to be a problem because there was no sun and the wind in my eyes didn't seem to bother me. If the wind did bother me, I did have a shield on my helmet that I could have pulled down. The swim to bike transition took me 1:36, last year it was 2:34.

I was really nervous about the bike ride, I didn't know if I could ride at a 36 kph pace. This course was really hilly. The first leg out was up hills with a head wind. I just figured that my strategy was to go as hard as I could and have no regrets.

At the beginning of the ride I didn't feel that strong, although I was still passing people, I think it takes a while for the Ensure drink to kick in, which I had a the bike transition. About 5 minutes into the ride I started to feel stronger and was pushing hard, I was starting to pass a lot of people and I was going a lot faster than them. About 1/2 way through the ride I was was averaging around 36.1 kph, which was awesome. On the way back there would be a lot of riding with the wind or with a cross wind. The only downside was that on the way back there was a lot of hills to climb.

During most of the ride I only had 2 - 3 people pass me. Around the 35 km point I was going down a hill and switched it into the highest gear to quick and my chain "jammed". I was so "pissed" off, I had to stop my bike and fix my chain, then get back on the bike and try to make up lost time. I'm sure the stop cost me 40 - 60 seconds. As I was fixing it, the very fit looking and fast guys that I passed, passed me.

Once I got back on the bike, I was bound and determined to catch those guys that passed by me, which I did in virtually every case, one or two may have gotten away from me. At the 40 km point, which is the distance for most Olympic triathlons, I was around 1:08 and was averaging 36.7 kph. This triathlon is a 43.5 km bike and I ended up finishing the bike in 1:11:27 and averaging 36.5 kph, a new Personal Best on the bike. I can't tell you how many times I was closing me eyes in an all out effort and seeing "stars". My heart rate for most of the bike was around 155 bpm.

When I got to the bike dismount, I was going pretty fast and had to hit the breaks hard, I ended up running into the guy in front of me, it was nothing to serious, just a mild tap.

When I got to the bike rack, I was blown away, there was only 3 other bikes in the rack for my age group. That meant that I was in 4th place off the bike in my age group. I had a really fast transition and was out in 53 seconds, last year it took me 2:31.

The transition from the bike to run was smooth, my back wasn't hurting and my legs didn't feel "rubbery" transitioning from the bike to the run. I ended up running beside a 34 year old, who looked like a runner, very thin and sleek. He complimented me on my strong bike, I guess he was one of the guys I passed, then he passed me when I had to stop and then I caught him again.

I felt like I was running pretty good, I was actually surprised to be staying shoulder to shoulder with this guy for the first 3 km. At the 3 km point he started to pull away from me. For the next 1 km I was about 25 yards back from him, then I caught him and passed him, never to see him again.

The run was hard, it was very hilly, some trails and by this time the sun had come out and it was around 25 C. On the run I noticed a couple of guys in my 40 - 44 age division pass me, but I wasn't being passed anywhere near as much as I normally am, I was actually passing some people on my run, which is unusual. I could tell my running was getting better, but I know that I still have lots of room for improvements. I ended up running the 10 km run in 43:51, which is a 7:03 pace, I couldn't believe it! My best 10 km time last year at a road race was 49:28 and that didn't have a 1500 meter swim and 43.5 km bike in front of it.

Needless to say the race was AWESOME for me. I ended up posting a final time of 2:26:37 and placing 5 th in my age group out of 46, and 48th overall out of 349. Last year I did the race in 3:04:26, finishing 45 out of 51 in my age group and 294 out of 395 overall.

The highlight is that I reached one of my pre-season goals, which is to beat my best time when I was racing in my 20's. My best recorded time was 2:35:29 in 1988 at 22 years old and my best memory time was around 2:25 in Calgary. Even using the 2:25 memory time, it was only a 40 km bike, this one was 43.5 km and I finished in 2:26:48, which means I beat my best time as a 20 year old in my 40's.

This year I've beaten my best ever 1/2 Ironman time and my Olympic Triathlon time and now I only have to beat my Ironman time to reach all my goals.

The final race splits were as follows:
Overall competitors 349
Division competitors 46

Swim 28:51 (16 category /107 overall)
Transition 1 - 1:30
Bike 1:11:27 (2 category / 27 overall)
Transition 2 - 0:57
Run 43:51 (10 category /64 overall)

Final 2:26:37 (5 category / 48 overall)

Not feeling it...

I was up early and on the bike by 9 am for a 30 minute pre race ride. I felt horrible, my heart rate was through the roof. All because I decided to party a little to much last night and have one to many Coors Light. My pre race ritual is always to have about 4 beers, two nights before the race. I ended up getting carried away and I don't know how much I had, but it was more than four.

What a stupid thing to do!!!!

After the bike I did a 15 minute pre race run at a 7:44 pace. Again, my heart rate was high.

Later in the afternoon, I decided to try out my wet suit and do my pre race swim in the open water. Alice, Reid and I went to Gulliver's Park and I did a 13 minute swim. The suit felt great.

All day I had been drinking water and doing everything I could to flush my system of any toxins from last night. I'll find out tomorrow if it worked when I take my morning resting heart rate.

I've already packed all my triathlon gear, I've shaved my legs and I'm ready to go. Now I just need a good night recovery sleep.

Getting ready and resting, sort of day....

No training today, a rest taper day.

I had a pleasant morning, all my triathlon gear for the race was delivered today which took the pressure off. The gear included my triathlon racing jerseys with the "Training Payne" logo on them. Plus, I got my regular tee shirts and warm up shirts from Vista Print. Everything looked great.

To get ready for the race I took my bike to the shop to get the gears fixed, then I went on a hunt for a wet suit. I wanted to rent a long sleeve one first to see if I like it, but no one had any available in my size for this weekend.

Over the last few months I've been trying on wetsuits at different shops and none have felt like they fit right. After my last, almost fatal experience racing and almost drowning with a wet suit that was too small, I've decided not to compromise the fit on any level.

I ended up going to Endro Sport, partly because they have a policy that if I don't like the wet suit for any reason, I can return it within 30 days and get a full refund. After trying on the Nineteen Tsunami I don't think I'll be returning it. It felt like it was custom made to my body.

I was a little tired by the end of the day from the driving around in heavy traffic and I was glad I didn't have any training. For the rest of the night I sat at my bar, had some cold ones and relaxed with Alice, Reid and Alyssa. We were playing around with all the bar stuff and trying to figure out where is the best place to hang it all.

Wednesday night doing a triathlon...

I had a fairly late night last night, I didn't get to bed until around 1 am. Ever since I've put a brick accent wall and a TV in the bar area, if feels so welcoming and all I want to do is hang out there.

I decided to do all my training after work and I only had limited time to do it as I had to be at the pool by 7:00 pm. I started with an hour long bike ride. It was supposed to be moderate speed and a heart rate not to exceed 134 bpm, but I couldn't keep the heart rate down. I rode at an effort that I thought was moderate but my heart rate couldn't stay low. I ended up doing 32 km at a 32.4 kph (20.6 mph) average pace. I did feel strong during the ride.

I then ate and was off to the pool to swim 1500 meters. Most of the swim was to be easy effort and that's what I did. My average speed was around 2:00 per 100 meters. Although, one of the sets I was to go hard and I ended up doing 1:42 per 100 meters. I can feel the stress on my left chest when I went hard.

My final workout of the night, in the dark, was a 35 minute moderate run. Again, my heart rate couldn't stay low. So I ran with it higher because the effort felt moderate. Heck, I didn't start sweating until 15 minutes into the run. I ended up running over 4 miles at a 7:59 pace. The route I took was the one I've run before every race I've done well at, I guess I'm a little superstitious.

I could really tell that staying up late and have a few extra beers took its toll on my body today. Even resting my heart rate was in the high 60's. The good news is that I did feel strong during all the workouts, especially the run, where my legs felt like they had a lot of spring. The only bad news is that my back is still bothering me and feels like it could go out anytime. I've been extremely careful on how I bend and move.

Taper Rest Day...

It feels strange, no training.

So I ended up hanging a Foster's Neon Sign that Kevin at work gave me. I put it in my bar area and had a few beers while doing it.

I do have to carbo load for my race on Sunday....

Swimming, Cycling and Selling....

I was up early and did a 2000 meter swim. It my first real test to see if my chest would be strong enough for the race. I wanted to go fairly hard and push the chest a bit to see how it would hold up. Overall it did nicely. Most of the swim was in the 1:40 - 1:48 per 100 meters. I'd be very pleased with that swim time pace in the race. Although near the end of the swim I could feel a little stress in the chest near the shoulder.

After work I did a bike speed work session. I decided to go on the HARDEST hills I ride and do my intervals on them. It was quite depressing, I was working so hard and going so slow. It was a real blow to my ego and confidence. Before every race I'm always nervous about how fast I will go on my bike. I tend to train slow and race fast, it doesn't make sense, and I think I just race "lucky". I would be much more confident if my training times where close to my racing times.

I decided to put my 1988 Ironman Finishers Medal up for sale on Ebay. I've listed it at $25,000 starting bid. I figure if someone is prepared to pay that much, I'm prepared to part with it. With that money I could pay to go and race Hawaii again and get a new medal. Or buy other stuff.

From a hard week to a not so hard week...

I'm racing in an Olympic Distance triathlon in Guelph this weekend, so this week is a taper week. After last week's mega training mileage I'm looking forward to this week.

Today was running speed work at the track. It was a simple 10 minute warm up and then 1.5 miles running hard on the straights and easy on the corners, followed by a 5 minute warm down. Within 25 minutes I was done. It was a nice easy workout.

I've got to be careful this week that I don't over eat because my body is so efficient at storing food as fat, that if I over eat, I'll gain weight and I don't want to race with extra pounds.

Happy Fathers day, long run day...

I woke up sick. I got to bed late last night and before I got to bed I ate a bag of peanuts. This morning all I could taste was the peanuts and I was sweating and felt like I had heat stroke.

I ended up sleeping most of the morning on the couch and drinking water. It was a fairly hot day today and I was also waiting until it cooled down a bit. At 2:00 pm, feeling a little better, I went out for my run. I was a little worried because of my stomach and my left calf a little tender.

I did a 2 hour and 40 minute run in 85 F heat, it was a good thing there was good wind. I ended up running 18.17 miles at a 8:48 pace. The run was hard and my legs were sore. I knew before I left the house that this was going to be a challenging run. During the run, a few times I wanted to walk, it started to bring back memories of what the Ironman run is like. That is exactly how I felt. I had to push myself for every mile.

One good thing from the run was that I finished without walking and that it motivated me to train because I really don't want to feel this way during the Ironman. Another other good thing was that my calf held up and actually started to feel better by the end of the run.

Afterwards I was tired and ended up napping for a little over an hour. I'm glad I finished this week, it was one of the toughest in a while. My totals for the week are as follows:

Swim - 4.34 miles
Bike - 176.42 miles
Run - 39.49 miles
Weights - 1.5 hours

I had Alice take a fathers day picture, we had to wake Reid up, he looks so happy!

A saturday that flew by...

Today was a 5 hour bike ride, followed by a 30 minute brick run once I got off the bike.

Last night we had a few cocktails but we got to bed by 11 pm. I decided to sleep until 8:00 am and get as much rest as possible before today's training. Today it was supposed to rain all day, I really wasn't looking to it, but it turned out to be a nice day.

The ride was good, I averaged 30.2 kph for just over 151 kms. I rode in a whole different direction than I usually do and went on roads I haven't ridden before. I wasn't too afraid to get lost because I just bought a gps and figured it would get me back home. It turns out I only had to use it once. But I really like riding without knowing where I'm going. During the ride I ran into one of the triathlete lady's from the YMCA at a bakery rest stop along the ride, she was doing a 100 mile ride and was taking a rest break. I stopped there because I was having a craving for a cinnamon bun. That is one thing about riding for 5 hours, there is no food guilt.

After the ride, it took me 2:48 to transition from the bike to the run. My running legs came to me within a half kilometer and I ended up running 3.68 miles at a 8:10 pace, which I thought was pretty good after a 151 km bike ride and running in 30C heat.

I felt pretty darn good after the ride. Alice and I ran some errands and went for dinner with Alyssa. I was getting a little tired by that point, but after eating and a few beers I was back to an 8 on 10.

I don't feel like a triathlete unless I swim...

I stayed home from work today, I had some personal business I needed to take care off and I needed a rest, as I got very little sleep last night.

In the morning I went for a 4500 meter swim at the YMCA. I was real concerned about my chest as I have a race next Sunday. Today's long swim would be a real test. I ended up doing the entire workout, albeit slow. My laps were around the 2:00 - 2:10 per 100. The chest felt pretty good, in the beginning of the swim it felt normal. Near the end of the swim I could feel a very very slight tenderness.

After the swim I did about 45 minutes of weights. During dumbbell pullovers, with more weight than I should have used, I could feel it separating the ribs a little to much and causing some discomfort in the chest.

The last workout I had today was a run in the late afternoon. I was very tired, but pushed myself out the door. I ran 6.88 miles at a 8:08 pace. It was not a bad time considering it was hot out and I was tired. I knew it would be a slow run when I left the front door because my heart rate was around 78 bpm. I really didn't have my mind on training and it caused me to miscalculate the turnaround point for a 55 minute run. I ended up having to walk the last 2 kms because my run was going to exceed the time allotted if I ran all the way home.

During this run and Wednesday's run I felt a little twinge in the left lower Achilles. I'm not sure what is causing it. I have been having a lot of salt on my body after the hot workouts of late, so maybe it is that I'm loosing to much salt. Or is it the stress of the training. I did loose around 5 lbs of water on the run.

An unscheduled off day, but I didn't rest...

I was ruminating all day. Earlier this week we had a guy install brick veneer on one of our basement walls. It was a great deal, he was only charging me $250 for labor. As the grout dried, it was poorly done, and was smeared all over the face of the bricks. It really didn't look good.

I did some research on what would take it off and the only thing coming up was to use acid. As I did more research I found out that acid was dangerous and would not work well on porous brick. The experts said it could change the color of the brick or grout. I was really starting to get anxious, as we did get a deal, but the wall did not look very good.

I did contact one guy who said I was "hooped". He said the only thing that I could do, or should have done right after the brick was laid, was to use a brush and water to clean the grout and grout haze off the brick.

Late in the afternoon I was in panic mode. I went to home depot and picked up all kinds of brushes, sponges and cleaning detergents.

When I got home I went right to the basement and started wetting the walls and scrubbing with a steel brush. Low and behold, it was working. I was saturating the wall so much that it was allowing me to soften the grout, rake around the brick and wash down the side of the wall with a sponge full of water. I also used a pressure washer with a very small amount of pressure for a final cleaning.

As I was cleaning and sponging, Alice was mopping up the water. What we were doing was pretty dangerous and we did not know what the potential water damage could be. I must of used 15 buckets of water, plus the water from the pressure washer. We started at 5 pm and ended at 11:30 pm. We didn't get to bed until 1:30 pm. The kids figured I'll be sore tomorrow with all the scrubbing I was doing. I was scrubbing so hard, one of my knuckles started to bleed, athough it was worth it, the wall was starting to look much better. I will say about 1/2 way through my upper back was hurting, plus I had my injured lower back from falling down stairs last week.

Because of this crisis, I didn't do any training. I figured I'd push it off until tomorrow.

Swimming short and riding flat...

I finally made it to the pool for my first swim in 2 1/2 weeks. I figured today was the day I was going to see if my chest was strong enough to swim. I will say I was a little nervous because I have a race next Friday and I need my chest to be strong enough to compete. If I couldn't swim today, I probably wouldn't be able to swim next week. Plus, I needed to swim to get the "rust" out and build my water confidence.

The swim went semi-okay. I swam fairly slow at around 2:00 per 100 meters, but I could still feel a mild stress on my left chest when I took deep breaths. Although, all in all, I was able to swim. I decided to cut the swim short and instead of doing 3500 meters, I did 2500 meters in an hour. I felt it was best to be safe, stop short, and not risk further injury.

The great thing was that I did not feel tired at all after the swim. During the swim, the first 300 meters was awkward, but after that I started to feel my rhythm.

At 7:00 pm I went for a 90 minute tempo bike ride. I kept the heart rate at or just below 139 bpm and ended up doing just over 50 km and averaged 32.4 kph (Just over 20 mph). The time was my best training tempo ride this year. I could have done better but my legs were very flat, especially at the beginning of the ride. The sides of my quads really felt hard and tight. They just didn't have any "jam".

The other symptom that I'm getting a little run down is that I am starting to get a cold sore. Between the hard training, cocktails and late nights, it is all catching up with me and my body is starting to tell me so.

Before I left, I took a small box of cereal with me. It turns out that a marketing company had put packages of cereal samples on the doors around the neighborhood and Reid and his friend went around and collected a bunch of packages and brought them home. I remember doing stuff like that as a kid. The good thing was that at least he didn't do it anywhere near our house.

To swim or not to swim...that is the question...

I decided to turn my alarm off at 6:15 am and go back to sleep. I figured I'd do my swim in the evening.

After I woke up and checked my workout schedule, I realized I have a 95 minute run after work, which doesn't leave me much time to run and then get to the YMCA for 8:00 pm.

I got out the door at 6:15 pm and ran 10.79 miles, the run felt okay, but when I got home and did my calculations, I realized I was only going at an 8:55 pace. I did notice I was sweating a lot on the run and I do have a bad back still, but I'm disappointed that I'm not going faster.

When I got home from the run, I decided to stretch as my left achilles seemed a little sore. By the time I was done, I was running out of time to do the entire swim. I decided to move the swim to tomorrow morning and give my chest one more day of rest.

I got my totals from last weeks training.

Biking 154 miles
Running 31 miles

I also got some of my photo's from the Florida 70.3 Ironman.

Monday almost wasn't long enough...

I weighed myself this morning and after 4 straight days of relaxing with beers and not so healthy, late night eating, I was up 5 lbs. Even after all weekends long training sessions, I was still up. After I weighed myself I resolved that I was going to start eating better and I did today.

Today I also sold my old wetsuit on eBay. I ended up getting $156 U.S. for it. Now I have some money to buy a new one that fits me.

After dinner I was on my bike by 6:00 pm and did 82.67 kms that took me 2 hours and 45 minutes. I ended up averaging 29.8 kph. The ride was nice, a sun shower had just stopped before I started and it was calm and humid on the ride.

When I finished the ride I "hustled" to the YMCA to do my weight training. I had to rush once I got there because I only had 40 minutes before it closed. I just barely got everything done. The minute I finished my workout and got in my truck, torrential rains started. I'm so glad they didn't happen when I was on the bike. It was raining so hard, I couldn't see out my truck window with the fastest window wiper speed on. From the YMCA, it was get back home, do some stretching, have a shower and get to bed.

I just fit everything in today.