No flat but I lost another soldier...

I was really feeling melancholy today and I was hoping that working out would help. It normally does. I had to be out the door by 5 pm in order to get back from my ride before dark. Before I could ride I had to pick up a spare tire, a hand pump and a couple of new water bottles. I've been losing so many water bottles on my rides. The ones I lose are always the two behind the seat and they seem to work their way out of the holders when I go over bumpy roads or train tracks. It's really frustrating when you lose them on a long ride when you really need liquids. I was also anxious to see if my rim was okay from riding on a flat tire for 10 km and if I repaired the tire and tube properly. The fixing took me close to an hour after I took a "fine tooth comb" to everything, I even sanded out any nicks in the rim.

It was cold out today, -6 with windchill and 40 kph winds. Things didn't start out that well. I couldn't find my flashing red light I normally wear on the back of my jersey for safety. Then I had to stop to realign my speedometer and cadence magnets and to top it off I had to go back home after a kilometer to fix my cycling shoe, it had rocks in the pedal and the shoe wouldn't lock in. It was a good thing I had my toe warmers on, near the end of the ride my feet were okay but my hands were starting to freeze through my cycling mitts. And even though I kept checking to make sure the rear water bottles were secure I still managed to lose one again. I was pissed. One highlight was that I didn't get another flat tire and the rim is fine.

When I got back home I was freezing and the middle of my back was sore from shivering. I took off my wet clothes, put on my dry running clothes and ate my dinner on the couch with a blanket covering me. It took about 45 minutes for me to warm up and once I was warmed up I really didn't want to put on my cold wet jacket again and go for a run. But I did anyway. It was a moderate run so I took it easy and really enjoyed the run even though I was looking for it to end so I could get home to warm up and relax again. When I did get back I was feeling a lot better mentally. Since I started race training a month ago, in the past two weeks I can really tell I'm getting in better shape. I'm not fatigued after a workout and I today my legs didn't even feel like I trained at all, they were fresh as daisies. Last March I did 651.29 miles, this March I ended up doing 697.25 miles. Details below.

Mod Bike - 2:16 / 64.73 KM / 28.5 kph

Mod Run - 56.37 / 6.56 M / 8:37 pace

March Totals  

Swim -15.68 Miles / 25.29 KM

Bike - 554.85 Miles / 894.92 KM

Run - 126.72 Miles / 204.38 KM

Weights - 9 sessions

Total - 697.25 Miles /1124.59 KM

Calories Burnt - 51,643

170

 

Getting mentally focused...

I did my weight training session during lunch today and pushed my swim to Wednesday. Mentally I had a work related issue come up that kinda took the wind out of my sails and I really didn't feel like doing a swim tonight. It's been a long time since I've felt that way and it tends to take away my motivation to train. So I took the evening off, had some beers, thought about it, discussed it with my wife and by the end of the night I felt much better and refocused. 

I forgot to mention on yesterday's blog entry that I took a couple of baked potatoes with me on yesterday's long ride. I must say I was pleasantly surprised, they were quite good and went down fairly easy. It was a nice change from eating just Lara Bars. 

Weights - 45 minutes

17

The hour of Power...

Yesterday the kids asked me if we were going to turn all the lights on in the house again like we did last year for Earth hour. I forgot we even did that, but I'm sure we did and it's just one example of bringing some fun to the family. At 8:30 I turned every light in the house on and our house was lit up like a Christmas tree, but I did restrain myself, I didn't turn on any power tools, increase the heat or run all the water. I looked up and down the street and virtually every house had no lights on. I'm sure our neighbors weren't too impressed and most Ontarians will be disgusted, but I don't care, it created a memory and I don't believe there is global warming, new data is showing the world is getting colder and that's why they have switch the name to "climate change" from global warming. About a week ago I asked Reid, who's 12 years old,  if he wanted to be a "follower or leader". He took some time to think about it and then said " it depends on who the leader is". The answer was unexpected and blew me away, I thought it was genius. I wished I had thought of that.

When I woke up this morning there was a light rain and today was my long ride followed by a brick run. I kept debating if I should take my new bike and get it wet or take the time to get my old bike ready to ride. I ended up just waiting as long as I could before I had to get out the door to be back before dark. During that time I took Reid to buy him a jigsaw and some wood for one of his crazy projects he's working on, it's has to do with Star Wars. A couple of weeks ago it was a sewing machine and now it's a jigsaw. He's using his allowance to help pay for it. It will now be weeks before he gets his allowance.

It was a good decision to wait before I rode because once I got out the door I could see the dark clouds moving out and sunshine coming in. Once I got on the road I realized this was not going to be a fast ride because of the high winds. It was so windy that on some of the uphills I could only go 9 kph and on one downhill I only went 18 kph into a head wind. A real positive was that my heart rate was amazingly low, it averaged 121 bpm for the entire ride. It was night and day to last weeks ride. Mind you I didn't stay up until 5:30 am last night. 

At the 90 km point, I was 15 minutes from home and got another flat tire. My second one in the last two rides. When I started to change the tire about 5 minutes into it the tips of my fingers were starting to freeze. I was careful, put the new tube in and filled it up. As I was putting the tire back on, air started coming out of the stem, I forgot to close it. Then I realized that I had no C02 left. One of them must have fallen out on the ride. I debated if I should call Alice or just ride home on a flat and risk damaging the rim. Home was about 10 KM away. I decided to ride. About 5 minutes after I started to ride, another cyclist rode up and I borrowed his pump and filled the tire. YES!! I started to ride again and in about 60 seconds the tire was flat again and one of my water bottles fell out of the cage and was gone forever. I just kept riding home anyway. I got home, albeit slow and went for a brick run.

I thought the brick run would be a waste of time because I had to stop and fix my tire and my legs wouldn't get the benefit, but it wasn't. I could tell I was getting a good transitional workout. I was also surprised at how fast I was going. At the halfway point I was averaging a 7:41 pace and finish at a 7:46 pace. It was a good way to finish after the problems on the bike. I figured maybe Karma got me because I didn't turn out my lights for Earth Hour? I also hope my rim is okay. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I passed the 1000 km mark on the new bike I got in mid January.

Long Bike - 3:34:11 / 99.3 KM / 27.2 kph

Brick Run - 30:01 / 3.86 miles / 7:46 pace

What does your wife think...

These past two mornings the weather has been beautiful. My plan was to get up real early and run, but yesterday's late night prevented me from doing so. When I did get up I relaxed and took it easy, and started drinking lots of water before I did my long run. I had Reid make me some pancakes, he makes an excellent pancake. Mine are awful, unless you like black burnt pancakes. 

It was nice out and I debated if I should wear shorts or not. I went for the shorts. I also found a new route in the Escarpment. Went down Walkers line and went west on Britannia Road. Lots of rolling hills. I finally took a picture of myself with the "Women's Institute" sign on someones yard. It's old and I think it's cool looking. I'd love to have it in my "man cave". During the run, I started thinking about the questions I get from people when they learn that I put in 12 - 24 hours a week of training for triathlons. 

It seems I always get the same two questions, Where do you find the time to train, do you work? and, How does your wife feel about you training so much and what does she do while your training? Normally I just answer it simply and say, yes I do have a 9:00 - 5:00 job and Alice doesn't seem to have a problem with it and seems to have lots to do at home, especially during the week.

The reality is that I'm a lucky person. I have a personal and professional lifestyle that supports me doing triathlons, and to do it it requires give and take on the home front. The first thing I did was marry my "soul mate", which took 6 years of dating to verify. Last year we celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary and 26 years together. She and I both learnt about each others, or I should say, "my warts and pimples" before we got married. To me she's the picture of perfection. Alice is secure within herself. She doesn't need me by her side everyday and in fact, it would probably drive her crazy. She enjoys being a mother and being around the kids and understands that I need to train in order to feel good about myself. 

On the other hand, I know that it is important to be a good Father and Husband. My core responsibilities are to provide income, help raise our kids without damaging them to much, spend quality time with the family as a whole and with each of them one on one. If I just did my own thing it would be all wrong.

The first thing I realized was that quantity of time doesn't equal quality of time, and the second was that when I am around the family I try to make life fun, or at minimum humor them with my stupid ideas and actions. Alice is a stay at home Mom and I try to spend as much time with her on weekends as possible to give her a mental break. When I was training hard for the Ironman and putting in 10 hour training weekends, that was a little unfair. So I've now decided to try to get up early, while she is sleeping and try to get back from training an hour or two after she wakes up. And I've decided to only do an Ironman every second year (at least that's what I say now). We've also been lucky to find something we both enjoy doing together. Which is hanging around the bar downstairs, enjoying each others company, talking, listening to 70's music, drinking more than is healthy (at least I do) and getting to bed in the wee hours of the morning. Of course on those weekends, which is almost every weekend, it's impossible to get up early to train. But my intent is to get up early:-) 

In five words, "we have a strong marriage". That's how I'm able to train for the Ironman. Actually, I just realized that from now on, when people ask, I'm just going to say "we have a Strong marriage". Like I said, I'm a lucky guy!

Long Run - 2:02:44 / 15.05 miles / 8:09 pace 

Lost 7.5 lbs on the run.

9

Give it a tri...

For me, doing triathlons is the ultimate endurance sport for so many reasons. The first is that I don't get bored or over train like I did when I only ran. I found that as an extremest I have no middle gear, It's either on or off mode and doing just 3 runs a week wasn't satisfying, so I'd run 6 days a week. After a while it became mundane and often I'd have to self talk myself do to workout. Then, with only one rest day, at some point I'd get injured and have to take time off until I healed. Then I'd repeat the process all over again. 

In 1986 when I decided to train for my first triathlon, which was a Half Ironman (19 years old and fearless), I instantly fell in love with the sport. I found that blending the training sessions for swimming, biking and running made training less mundane. It also satisfied my need to train often in order to feel "like a million bucks" everyday. The unexpected benefit was that the people, atmosphere and camaraderie at triathlons is amazing, it was 20 years ago, and when I got back into it after a 15 year layoff nothing changed but the peoples faces and race distances.

With the sprint distance races, anyone who can swim, bike and run can experience a triathlon without hours and hours of training. I'm not a coach, but I think someone can finish a sprint race with only two 30 minute swims a week, two 1 hour bike rides a week and two 30 minute runs a week. That's a total of only 4 hours of training a week. Most people could fit 4 hours of training into their lives without to much trouble. With that amount of training don't expect to be on the podium, but you will get to experience the anticipation, fear, pain, suffering and exhilaration of finishing a triathlon. 

And once you do one, don't expect to be hooked on it either. My daughter tried a "Kids of Steel" triathlon when she was about 9 or 10 years old, picture above, and didn't like it and won't do another one. She didn't expect the transitional pain from going from one discipline to another, but she could say she did one. Also, don't worry about equipment, no wet suit, a borrowed mountain bike, helmet and runners will do. I actually have a lot of respect for the beginners I see on mountain bikes doing triathlons.

Today was a beautiful day, it was 9 C and all sun. I cut out of work early, one of the benefits of being the boss, and did a swim and weight training session. For the first time this year I can see myself firming up and feeling stronger. My legs are handling more weight on the machines.  I had a good swim and of the 12 x 100's, I stayed in between 1:37  and 1:47 per 100. I realized before I got to the pool that I forgot my towel and I had a decision to make, go home and get it or use my shirt. I used my shirt and they did my weight training. It felt great to finish by 4:30 pm on a Friday. Let the weekend begin.

Swim -   1:07: 50 / 3000 meters

Weights - 43 minutes

15

It could have been ALL bad...

Tonight was Reid's hockey game and I can tell he likes me watching him play. In order for me to watch him I needed to finish my ride by 7:30 pm and put off my weight training until tomorrow. I was working on a tight schedule to begin with and because I was enjoying the ride I decided to add 15 minutes to it by going a different route. I figured it would make it tighter, but I was riding strong and thought I should still make it back in time, barely. Then, at the half way point, I got a flat rear tire. 

My mind started swimming with thoughts. My first thought was "why did I take this longer route, if I hadn't I wouldn't have gotten a flat." Then, "why didn't I pump up my tires before I left?" Then, "this is a new bike and will I be able to get the wheel off quickly because of the rear pull outs?" Then, "do I have all my tools, a spare and air?" Then, "will the tire come off and go on easy or hard?" Then, "am I going to over or under inflate the tire?" And the BIGGEST concern was "AM I GOING TO MISS REID'S GAME???"All these thoughts happened before I even got off the bike to fix it.

This was a moment of truth and I had a choice. I could panic and get upset and angry, or relax and enjoy the experience. I decided to do the later. I figured that in a race the same thing could happen and why don't I pretend that I'm in a race and see how fast I could change the tire while staying calm and positive. The first thing I did was start the timer on my watch. I wanted to see how fast it would take me from beginning to end. I know this may sound funny, but many morning's I do the same thing when I wake up, I set the timer and see how fast it takes me to shave, brush my teeth, shower and get dressed, my record is 6 1/2 minutes. This is when Alice tells me men are lucky.

From getting off the bike, fixing it and getting on the bike it took me 7 minutes 20 seconds. I've got to admit I was impressed with how fast I did it considering I took my time to check the inside and outside of the tire, making sure there wasn't a sharp object lodged in it that could re-puncture the tube. I probably could have even done it faster but in that short period of time I had two cars stop, at different times, and ask me if I needed help and we chatted a little. I'm not complaining, in fact I was really moved by how generous these people were when they saw me with my bike on the side of the road. They were both willing give up their time to give me a ride home and this all happened in the span of 7 minutes and 20 seconds. 

I did get back in enough time and was even able to have a quick shower. Reid was anxious to go, he hates being late for anything, and I couldn't find the camera. I wanted to take pictures of him. I was searching high and low as he kept telling me to "hurry up, forget about the camera, lets go!!!" I couldn't find it anywhere. Rather than get upset I decided to stay calm and cool, just as I did with the flat tire and ended up leaving without it. As we drove to the rink I remembered it was in my gym bag in the back seat. Yes! 

When we got to the rink, it was all for not. Reid's coach didn't tell us that the game time had changed and as we walked into the rink his team was on the ice and the game was close to ending. Reid was disappointed, only because the same thing happened to us last week and he enjoys playing. Then in a very respectful way, I talked to one of the coaches and the coaches wife and gave them the "velvet hammer" about not notifying us for two weeks in a row. I could see Reid appreciated me discussing it with them. In the end, misfortune turned into a good father son bonding and memorable moment. 

Tempo Bike - 1:29: 38 / 45.12 Km / 30.3 kph

It takes more than exercise...

I find that with even putting in 16 - 24 hours of week of Ironman training does not guarantee weight loss, as strange as it sounds. From personal experience if I eat simple sugars, fried foods, over eat or drink beer, no matter how much I train I don't lose weight. Which is unfair. One would think that with that kind of effort you could get carte blanche and eat whatever and as much as you want. 

My Achilles heel is beer. I love it. I use it often as a "reset" button. If I'm getting burnt out from training I'll have a "bunch" of beers, enough to really feel it, and the next day it seems like the slate is clean and the burnout is gone or at least a lot less. I know a very wealthy family, who's father built a multi-billion dollar empire. The son, who is now the CEO of the company was telling my brother a story about how he learnt to handle stress from his father. He explained that one day he hit his breaking point and was having a near nervous breakdown, he just couldn't take the pressure at the time and went to his father's house to explain his situation. His father took him downstairs to his bar, pulled out a big bottle of Scotch and they finished it that night. Needless to say the son was hungover the next day, but was much less stressed and it helped him to keep moving forward. His father showed him how to hit the "reset" button. His Dad was definitely no "Ward Cleaver". 

Now I'm not endorsing or recommending excessive and regular drinking to handle stress and burnout, but from personal experience I have found that this also works for me when I get to my breaking point and life's not fun. The next morning, especially if I'm hungover, I find that I never have a greater resolve than after a night of excessive self indulgence. In training for triathlons this may seem counter productive and it may be for some, but it works for me. I love the euphoria, mania and fun times that come with it. Thankfully I'm told I'm a happy and funny drunk, at least 95% of the time, which would be an A+ in school. What I don't like is the weight gain. If I lose 2 lbs in one week and I have one night of beer drinking on the weekend, I gain it all back and it takes another week to get back down. At the Louisville Ironman, in the elevator after the race, I finisher was saying he hadn't had a beer in 6 months and was looking forward to one. Now that's an Ironman!!!

I didn't need to hit the reset button today, but I was tired from not getting to sleep until 1 am and my legs were tired from 3 plus hours of leg training yesterday. After an early evening snooze I pushed myself out the door. I knew I'd feel better 5 minutes into the run, and I was right. I had a good run, I didn't look at my average pace on my watch and just focused on keeping the HR under 140 bpm. There was a light rain and by the time I returned home my body was steaming. It looked like smoldering smoke coming off my clothes. I've never experienced that before, it looked really cool.

Tempo Run - 51:38 / 6.64 miles / 7:46 pace

How did we get here...

I normally write about how my training for the day went. I've decided to spice it up a bit and add some commentary every once in a while. I find that when I'm training for over 3 hours, I have a lot of time to think. What came to mind tonight was how expensive doing triathlons has gotten and does having all the toys make us better? Before I go any further I want to say that I have all the toys, except for a power tap and a Compu Trainer, which I'd love to have. So I am being hypocritical.

I started doing triathlons in 1986, it was still a grass roots movement. It was easy to get involved in, all you need was a bathing suit, a bike, a helmet and runners, family and friends were allowed in the transition zone to help you out, except at the Ironman. It wasn't uncommon to see people riding their bikes with running shoes in rat traps, heck, even cycling shoes at that time weren't clip less. When I started I was 19 years old making $24,000 per year and it didn't cost much to get involved. Last year, after a 15 year layoff, I got back into triathlons and my income is significantly higher and I didn't want to look out of place so I bought everything I needed and signed up for quite a few races, including Louisville Ironman. All in all it cost me $14,070 for the year, including travel expenses (I itemized it all). I ended up doing a total of 13,834.24 Km's of training, it cost me $1.02 per km or 1.64 per mile or .03 cents per calorie burnt. When I put the numbers to it, it can be an expensive sport. It's really changed from those early days. I was shocked to see that the average competitor's income at the Louisville Ironman was $180,000 U.S. Things have really changed!

Does all this cost advancement make us faster? I don't think so. I remember 20 years ago there was the epic Ironman races between Mark Allen, Dave Scott, Scott Molina and Scott Tinley. These guys had non triathlon or carbon bikes, no special wheels, they changed clothes from the swim to the bike and from the bike to the run and they set some of the best times to date, all on older basic technology that no one would be caught dead using today. Yet, very few modern day pro triathletes have beaten the old times of Mark Allen or Dave Scott. So why am I saying this? I've decided to revolt in my own way. I'm no longer going to get caught up in all the latest and greatest technological advancements (with that said, I already have most of them. I should have thought of this last year, my wife Alice would have been happier). But things like nutrition is one thing I can immediately deal with. I'm going to eat food to get my vitamins. I'm not going to go crazy on buying and eating sports bars. If you think about it, if you go for a 5 hour ride and you eat one bar an hour and a bar costs you $2.50 that's $12.50 just in food, not to mention sports drink. Tonight, instead of a sports bar, I ate a banana, a wheat grain bun with butter and a couple of fig newtons with regular Gatorade that I mixed up.

I love triathlons. I love the people who participate and volunteer. The support and camaraderie hasn't changed after 20 plus years, it's an awesome sport and I would never slam it. I'm just saying that it can be an expensive sport and buying all the goodies doesn't make you go faster. This year, I'm going to be trying to spend as much money as I did when I was 19 years old. You may recognize me on the road if you see a guy with a few baked potatoes in the back of his cycling jersey.

Today's run was great. Excellent pace, kept heart rate under 135 bpm. It was windy outside, about 40kph winds and only 2 C (-4 C with wind chill), that's why I didn't do my ride outside. On the run I thought I was running at a 8:04 pace, but then realized I didn't restart my watch after a brief traffic stop and of course it looked like I was running a consistent 8:04 pace until I finished. It's a good thing I use two watches. The bike was strong and long and I didn't finish until around 11 pm. My legs felt strong and my pace reflected it. The last 30 minutes was character building.

Moderate Run - 1:16:18 / 9.3 miles / 8:12 pace

Moderate Bike - 2:00 / 63.09 KM / avg 31.5 kph / avg hr 127 bpm

Some day's time flies...

It's strange, some day's when I wake up time goes slow, I look at the clock, watch TV or read the paper and then look back at the clock and very little time has pasted. Other days it's the opposite and time moves quickly. Today was one of those days when time was moving fast from the moment I got up. I kind of like these days because work and training flies by. Of course I love to have time move quickly during the week and slowly on the weekend, but unfortunately it doesn't work out that way. 

Work did go by quickly, by the time I looked at the clock it was 5:15 pm. By the time I got home it was 6 pm and I needed to eat quickly and get to the YMCA by 7 pm in order to give me enough time to do all my training. I was looking forward to tonight's training because I knew it would seem to go by quickly and it did. I really noticed that my legs are much stronger than they were a few weeks ago, which is a good thing. My swim was strange. I started off strong at around a 1:45 per 100 on the warm up and then I couldn't hold under a 2 minute 100 by the half way point. I just didn't have any strength. It was a very enjoyable swim, except I couldn't go hard. It was like I "phoned the workout in". The last 100 I went as hard as I could and only did a 1:55. I did notice that my left calf seemed to be on the verge of cramping again, so I used that as an excuse to not feel back about going slow. I think my calf was tender from the aggressive bike ride yesterday. All and all, I really enjoyed tonight's training. I'm not sure if I benefited from it, but I did enjoy it.

Weights - 45 minutes

Long Swim - 1:31:53 / 4000 meters 

I starting to get my bike legs back...

Yesterday the family went to the new Art Gallery of Ontario, it's quite a building, redesigned by Frank Gehry. Although some didn't think it was too impressive, I caught a photo of a guy in a deep sleep in the lobby. I wasn't sure if it was real or an art exhibit. You be the judge.

Afterwards we went out for dinner and then Alice and I hung out at home, shooting pool and having some drinks. Turns out we didn't get to bed until 5:30 am. Time flies when your having fun, even after 26 years together we still really enjoy each others company. I got up at the crack of noon and right out of bed put on my cycling clothes. It wasn't great weather, about 4 C with a windchill of -1, and strong 30 kph winds. I put some toe warmers in my shoes, the ones that are typically used in work boots and they worked great, my toes stayed "warm and toasty". Right from the moment I left the house I felt strong. Normally I ride at around 85 rpm and today 90 rpm was low, many times I even got to 100 rpm. It was windy and it didn't matter I was driving hard into the wind. Even with head on winds, there was times I was riding at 33 plus kph. The only thing I recognized early was that there was no way I could keep my heart rate below 140 bpm, for about 40% of the ride I was over 140 bpm. I figured with the late night partying my body was under stress, so I just rode strong and tried to pull the heart rate down as much as possible.

I just had a great ride, I was riding hard and attacking the hills. I was so windy that on some of the downhills the wind was blowing on my arms so much that I would have to really focus on keeping my wheel straight. I ended up riding 3 hours and averaged 30.3 kph which I felt was really good considering it was all hills and all wind. I love the new Cervelo P2C, it just feels great, it seems to be FIST fitted perfectly and runs so smooth and quiet. I got home feeling great and quickly showered and was out the door to go grocery shopping. The amount of salt on my bike shorts was amazing, white everywhere. Shortly after I got to the store I was getting into a semi-bonk state and the mid section of my upper back was sore, the type of soreness you get when you've been out in the cold shivering for a long time. I ended up eating my dinner lying down on the couch and after I ate I felt much better. I didn't realize it until Alice pointed out that I only ate a couple of pancakes today and a couple of Lara Bars on the bike. No wonder I was fading. It's weird how yesterday I didn't feel that strong and today I felt awesome. I enjoyed the ride so much, I was just in awe how beautiful of an area I get to ride through and how wonderful I felt. It was one of life's simple pleasure moments.

Long Bike - 3:00:15 /91.08 km / 30.3 kph / Avg HR 137

I had a great run, but not because of speed...

John Barclay came over to go for a long run with me. Last year John and I ran a lot of long runs together in preparation for the Louisville Ironman. On our long runs we talked all the way through, it makes the time go faster and you really get to know each other. For example, one guy I met from the United States regularly runs with a woman in preparation for marathons. His wife actually asked him if he was having an affair. He told her, in a way, yes. On those runs the two of them talk more than he and his wife talk and in a way were having an emotional affair. I was shocked that he would answer his wife this way and was also impressed with his honesty.

John and I were able to catch up on each others lives, although John reads my blog everyday and knows basically what I'm up to, but wanted clarification on a few things, especially my cutting back on my expenses. He also wanted to tell me that I must have a big ego to twitter all the time. That's fair. I told him I twitter for a few reasons: (a) I want to learn more about it and how it creates networks, (b) it lets him know what I'm doing and why my blog may not be up yet, instead of him sending me emails at 10 pm wondering when the blog will be posted, and (c) it lets my mom know what's happening. I also told him it is really cool to follow other people, my favorite is following Lance Armstrong. I was telling John about a blog I'm following of Johan Stemmet in South Africa and his address is  www.tri-stemmet.blogspot.com. He's also as egotistical as me because he's also on Twitter (Fun jab at John). I like reading his twitter, it's like being there and it's neat to see there is other crazy people out their like myself putting in lots of mileage.

John and I did just under 2 hours of running. It was one of my slower runs, but one of the best in a long time because it was with John. It brought good memories. It's kinda like time travel to last years training. John felt badly that he may be slowing me up, but I told him I didn't mind going slower as my heart rate was still in the zone and I was still getting a good workout. Even going slower I still had to walk some of the hills. Plus, I don't know if I could even go faster if I wanted to, my legs were getting some lactic build up and for some reason I just didn't have it today. Next week John has a 30 km race, it's full, so I might have to crash it if the weather is nice and I don't party the night before. Yes, I'm 43 years old going on 12.

Long Run - 1:56 / 13.14 miles / 8:49 pace

19

A Mini holiday close to home...

One of the great things about living in Burlington is that you are only 40 minutes away from Toronto and 45 minutes away from Niagara Falls. Ontario has so much to do that we don't even have to drive somewhere and stay in a hotel. We can just get up early and drive. Reid was so excited to go to Niagara Falls, he wanted to see the Wax Museum and Ripley's Believe It or Not. I was going to swim before we left but woke up a little late and Reid was pressuring us to go because he had to be back for his 5 pm drum lessons. 

Since I changed my email provider I'm not getting spam but I'm getting a lot of e-newsletters. I didn't realize how many I signed up for and were blocked on my old spam filter. All I've been doing is "unsubscribing". It's amazing how many I was getting from race photo companies, even though I already bought my images they continue to send them. The one thing I see when I see those pictures is "pain". I can truthfully say that I enjoy training much more than racing. It is easier for me to go on a 7 hour training ride than race an Olympic Distance Triathlon. I just find that no matter what, the competitive juices in me make me go all out. I love it when I race well and get a good time, but the pain to do it is not always fun. Even a 5 K or 10 K is hard when you go all out. I will say that in a sick way I enjoy Ironman's and Half Ironman's, I think is because I don't have to go all out to do well, I can get in a rhythm.

After dinner I went to the Y and did my weight training and swim session. About 1500 meters into the swim I was unmotivated and really wanted to cut it short. Then a woman started swimming in the lane beside me and she was pretty good, I could tell when they can do flip turns and the butterfly. During my sets I was able to keep up with her and slightly pass her. Before I knew it I was finished. It was also fun watching the kids beside me on the other side of the lane rope try to race along side me as I swam.

Weights - 45 minutes

Tempo Swim - 1:05:39 / 3000 meters.

Finally a good ride, even with a hangover...

I ended up drinking 17 beers in total last night, although they were light (that's my attempt at humor), and got to bed at 4:30 am. Needless to say I woke up with a bit of a hangover. It's great having a bar in the house, no drinking a driving and hanging out with Alice is fun for me. Last night I told Reid about Frank Correnti Cigars. They are a 3 generation cigar shop in Toronto that makes their own cigars, old school style. It is a hole in the wall, very difficult to find, you have to go down a scary alley, and they have women hand rolling cigars. It's are really cool place and Reid wanted me to take him to see it. On the walls they have a lot of pictures with celebrities and the owner of the shop. Alyssa and Alice also decided to come with us. It was a take your family to the cigar shop day.

Driving in Toronto is always an adventure, it's busy and it takes forever to go a short distance and finding parking can be a challenge. We ended up going for lunch, picking up my bike from Endurosport and getting a couple of cigars. It turns out that the squeaking on my bike wasn't the crank, but my speed play pedals. I guess they seized up and started to make noise. We must have drove about 3 hours today. When I got home I was really tired from the highway driving and last night. It was around 5:30 pm and right when I got home I jumped on the new Cervelo and went for a tempo ride. It was only 2 C out and below 0 C with windchill, so I bundled up and rode outside to see if in fact is was the pedals when I went up hills. It was. Finally I had a ride that averaged over 30 kph. By the time I got home from the ride I felt much better. Tonight I'm going to Reid's hockey game and he wants me to film him on the video camera.

Tempo Bike : 59:12 / 30.34 / 30.7 kph

6

I'm reconsidering my shape...

When I think about it, I'm running and swimming better than I ever have. The only thing that I'm worried about is my cycling, which is typically my strongest discipline of the three. Last year I raced at over 36 kph for 90 kms and this year, albeit early in the season, I'm struggling to hit 30 kph on much shorter rides. I was wondering if my gains in running where effecting my cycling. Have I changed my leg muscle distribution so that my running has improved and my cycling has suffered? Or is it just this time of the year and once I get on the road more I'll get back to form? 

Last year my best tempo runs were around a 8:30 pace and I was happy with that. Today my 10 mile tempo run was at a 7:26 pace and the heart rate was around 140 bpm and didn't go higher than 146 bpm. I wanted to make up for yesterday's missed run so instead of doing a 50 minute tempo run, I changed it to 1 hour and 15 minute tempo run. I ran right after dinner, which usually slows me down, but tonight I was strong. For the first 5 Km I averaged a 7:08 pace and it was hard to get my heart rate over 133 bpm. To get to 10 km it took me 45:36. I felt strong the entire time and my legs had no lactic acid build up whatsoever, they felt as fresh as a daisy. Even as I sit here updating my blog, my resting heart rate is 50 bpm, I just had nothing but strength today. It never fails, the day after I do a lot of training my body seems to get stronger rather than needing rest. 

 It was a great way to start my long weekend. I decided to take a couple days off and spend some time with the family for the rest of the week, they are off school for spring break. Tonight I will be hanging out with Alice and shooting pool and having cocktails downstairs. I also noticed that since I started my race training that my body is really firming up and I'm loving when I do 3 hours or more of training a day. I know, I'm sick. But it feels good to me.

Tempo Run - 1:14:28 / 10 miles / 7:26 pace / HR max 146 bpm

17

Missing Monday was hard...

I rolled out of bed at 6 am without an alarm clock and got only about 5 hours of sleep. Surprisingly I felt pretty good and I went to the Y to complete yesterday's long swim and weight session. I did the weights first and then hit the pool for my long swim. The main set was 30 x 100 meters on a 15 second rest before sets. I was determined to get my speed back and I really focused on pulling hard. The first set I did in 1:39 and stayed under 1:49 for 2000 meters, then I couldn't hold it and the last set was around 1:55. I didn't call that workout in, I really gave it all I had. When I got out of the pool I was pretty tired and with the lack of sleep and almost 3 hours of morning training I was a bit of a basket case for the morning. I had problems with my email and was on the phone with Apple support and I'm sure the guy thought I had mental problems, my mind was fine but I couldn't describe the problems and make sense. As the day wore on I started feeling better and I was really hungry all day long.

I got on the road at 6:00 pm to do my moderate bike ride, it was 16 C outside, unusually warm for this time of year. I had absolutely no power. It was very windy and I just did my best to finish. When I got home I was going to rest and then go for a run. I changed into my running clothes and lied down on the couch under a blanket and tried to warm up from the ride. By the time I finished the ride it was cold and my toes were frozen. I was shivering and just tried to warm up before running. Next thing I know I fell a sleep and woke up at 11 pm. I guess I'm running a little longer tomorrow. Today I ended up doing just over 4 hours of training and I was scheduled to do just over 5 hours. All I could do was eat, my body was just craving food and I didn't want to "bonk". By the time I went to bed my body was "burning up" and I was sweating pretty good. I could tell I really pushed my body today. I can't believe that I'm not yet as fast as I was last year, but I keep telling myself that I only started my 3rd week of performance training and to relax.

Weights - 45 minutes

Swim -  1:26:58

Bike - 1:44:30 / 49.07 km / 28.4 kph

I broke down...

Monday's is my long swim day. Today is one of those rare day's where I was almost out the door and decided to take a rest day and move today's sessions into tomorrows. It's spring break, Alice is home and has no responsibility to get up early, so I suggested we go down to our bar and have some drinks. I broke down and had some beers, I couldn't help myself, it was what I was craving. I was a good boy, I didn't drink too much and I made sure I got to bed before 1 am. My plan is to do my long swim and weight's tomorrow morning and combine it with my Tuesday bike and run sessions. All in all, tomorrow will be just over 5 hours of training and I need to fit it in before and after work.

Recovery Day 

9

Exercise is a zero sum game and the cyclists were great...

I was looking forward to today, providing the weather was the 8 C as fore casted, I was going to go for my first outside ride of the year. To get ready I had a bit of work to get my new bike ready, things like changing the brake pads and water bottle holders. All in all, by the time I started to get ready it probably took around an hour, which was okay because when I started it was 5 C and when I ended it was 8 C. 

Once I got outside things didn't go well. The first thing I noticed was that my speedometer stopped working at one point, which caused me to stop and fix it. About a kilometer into my ride all I heard was a terrible squeaking. I wasn't sure where it was coming from and assumed it was the front wheel because the skewer I put in wasn't lubed with much grease, so I kept riding. About 10 minutes into the ride, going up and down the rolling hills on No 1 side rode, every time I started to stand on the pedals or push hard it squeaked, so I turned around and went home. When I got home I changed the skewer and took off. Again, 10 minutes into the ride on the hills of No 1 side road, again, my bike was squeaking hard. It sounded like metal on metal, it was loud and was coming out of the crank. So I decided to turnaround and go home and use my old bike.

I had to prepare the old bike before I could get back on the road; pump up the tires, put in tools and attach water bottle cages. Finally I got back on the road and the old Trek 5900 did not disappoint. It rides quiet and as smooth as silk. I decided not to go on No 1 side road again for the 3rd time because I didn't think my legs could take it, it's a hard ride. I ended up going east and I was flying. I don't think I was under 32 kph very often. About an hour into the ride I realized I my speedometer was turned on incorrectly. Nothing was going my way. It was a good thing I set the time on my regular watch and I could retrace the route on "map my run" to figure out my speed. 

The ride was HARD. On a forum I heard that riding on a wind trainer is harder than riding outside. No way!!! When I take this route I normally keep it in the big ring the entire time. Today it was not possible and keep my heart rate under 140 bpm. On one hill, one of the worst, I was in the small chain in the smallest gear and it took all my energy to get to the top, I hit 160 bpm. If you were looking at me from the front, all you would see is a guy with his eyes closed and mouth open as big as it could go. It felt like my open mouth took over half of my face. Around the 2.5 hour mark I ran out of water, stopped at a store and bought some. For the balance of the ride I reserved myself just to survive and get home. As I rode, I kept asking myself "how could this happen"? In the off season I've been putting in around 350 miles a month of swimming, biking and running. I thought this would be an easy ride. 

During the entire ride I passed by at least 20 cyclists, and all of them waved. I guess I was a little tough on them yesterday. The cynic in me thinks it was just because they recognized we are all hearty souls going out in March for a ride, but I'm going to take the "high rode" and say it was just the friendly thing to do. I met a cyclist named Damian Brown on the ride and chatted for a while. Last year he rode in across Canada in a relay, they finished in only 19 days, he did over 3700 kms of the riding. He also did 16,000 km of riding last year. He told me this was not one of his best rides either, being it's the beginning of the season. 

By the time I got home my legs were pumped and hurting. I wasn't "bonking", but I wasn't far from it. I was supposed to do a 3.5 hour bike, but I misjudged the distance and did a 3 hour and 50 minute ride. Right off the bike I did a brick run. I felt this transition, I normally don't. I was shocked to see that at the turnaround point I was at a 8:04 pace and I ended up finishing at an 8:09 pace, while keeping the heart rate under 140 bpm. The minute I finished and stretched, I drank lots of water and started eating. On the bike I ate every hour and even took a toasted buttered bagel with me, big mistake, it is very dry and hard to get down. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. 

I noticed that my lungs had expanded so much during the training, that I had a post workout cough. I haven't had this in years. The only time I could remember getting it was after a race when I went all out, and that was in my 20's. It took about an hour for me to get back to normal after eating. It just shows that exercise is a zero sum game. I was figuring I was going to be at least as good as last year because I trained consistently over the off season, but I was wrong. Although, when I did figure out the pace, I was pleasantly amazed that I averaged 29.84 kph. Wow! I'm usually really happy with anything over 30 kph and I think it may have been more than 30 kph if I didn't have to do the No 1 side road hills twice. All in all, it turns out that I had a respectable training session. It sure didn't feel like it at the time and I'm glad I was finished the days training during daylight.

Long Bike - 3:50 / 114.87 km (71.22 miles / 29.84 kph (18.5 mph)

Brick Run - 30 min / 3.68 / 8:09 pace

At least 50% of Cyclists are rude...

No beers on last night, it felt strange but wasn't a big deal. I'm focused on dropping the weight and beer is off the diet until I hit my goal. I haven't stopped eating the way I normally do, but the weight is still coming off. For the next week I doubt the scale will show I'm losing weight. I went to the dentist today and he gave me penicillin for a gum infection. Whenever I take penicillin I retain water and feel bloated. So in a week from now, when I'm done with the pills, the water should drain from my body and I'm curious what I'll weigh. The dentist, who is also an endurance athlete, thought I was looking too skinny, even though I told him my BMI was currently over 21.

I did my long run mid morning and was curious to see how I'd do without partying the night before. For the first 9 minutes on a flat road I was at a 7:40 pace, then as I started going up some hills in the escarpment it slowed dramatically. At the 20 minute point I had a fork in the road and a decision, do I go the easier route or the hard route. I chose to go hard, I didn't want any regrets. It was the No 1 side road, arguably the hardest route in the area. At the turnaround my pace was 8:37 and I walked at least a dozen times on the run in order to keep my heart rate under 140 bpm. Then it was mostly down hill on the way back and finished at a 8:18 pace. For the last half I did a negative split at a 7:59 pace. One hill I ran down was at a 5:40 pace.

On the way back a cyclist came riding past me, I waved and he ignored me and kept riding. This is not uncommon from cyclists. I'd say at least 50% of the cyclists are rude pricks and do the same thing. If he was a triathlete he definitely would have waved back, they all do. When this happens I've often yelled "a-hole" as they pass by. This time I wished I had my bike with me, I would have chased him down, passed him and tried to drop him hard. Last year I did this so many times. Cyclists like him motivate me. I just don't understand how they can be so rude. Runners aren't that way, 9 out of 10 times runners will wave to each other as a sense of camaraderie. I've never read an "how to cycle book" and I wonder if the first chapter says to "think you are better than everyone and ignore them, they are inferior to you and don't deserve your acknowledgement". If it doesn't say that, it sure seems like it. 

Last year I had a cyclist do the same thing to me, but this time I was on my bike. About 1 km after we passed I realized that I didn't have a spare tire and turned around to go home to get one. Within minutes I was almost on that cyclists wheel and when he saw me, he pulled his bike over, stopped and turned his back on me as I passed. I assumed he couldn't bear me passing him. Unbelievable, but true. Tomorrow is supposed to be plus 9 C. If it is, I'm taking my new bike out and I'm going to go cyclist hunting. Can you tell they piss me off royally. I'd love to know why they are such jerks. I've include a picture of Reid with his home made veneers.

Long Run - 11.58 miles / 8:18 pace.

It was a pool party...

This has been a good week for training and weight loss. I know if I stay away from the beer I drop weight and in 5 days I've lost 2.2 lbs and 1.4 BMI. I did my swim tonight and it was the first time I've ever swam at the Oakville Y on a Friday night. It was so full with kids, it reminded me of the movie "Caddy Shack" when the country club allowed the caddies to use the pool. It was nuts. I knew as I was swimming that I'm sure more than one kid was peeing in the pool. Actually that wouldn't have been as bad as a few of the women in the pool. Their perfume was so strong I could taste it as I swam. 

At the 20 minute mark of the swim I was unmotivated and really would liked to have quit but couldn't. It was a speed session, which is a painful workout, and I knew if I wanted to get faster and stronger I couldn't cut this workout short. I'm glad I didn't. The 2nd last 100 I went so hard I was able to do a 1:37, which is pretty good considering that at the beginning I was doing about 1:50. I realized the reason I've slowed down since January was because in January I knew that to get fast I had to experience pain. For the past couple weeks I haven't been putting myself in the pain zone. Tonight I went for the pain zone and liked it.

The other day Reid bought some new shoes. He keeps growing. His feet are getting so big that I can actually put my foot in his shoe, and he's only 12 years old. It's tight but I could do it and I even took a picture to prove it.

Speed Swim - 3000 meters / 1:06:15

It was a good ride...

This week has been catch up at work from being away last week. I'm almost caught up. In the past few weeks I've started to bring my lunch to work, with is great because I don't have to leave the office to pick something up, I can just keep working. By the end of the day my head was sore, I was setting up my Linkedin network and we were changing over our email system and it wasn't going well. Needless to say, I had a sore head by the end of the day. Even when I got home I opened up the laptop and started doing more computer work. The one good thing about training is that it takes that cloudy, sore head, away. For the last week I've been starting my training later than I normally do. I didn't get to the gym until after 8 pm, which means I don't finish till around 11 pm. 

My weight training program is now ramping up and has an additional set, which means it is a minimum of 45 minutes to finish. When I got home, I got some of the family video DVD's and put them in the laptop and jumped on the bike. The first video I watched was Alice and my wedding. I don't even like saying that, it sounds so "girlie" to watch your wedding. It was the first time I've ever seen it. It was cool to see what we all looked like 20 years ago. It also reminded me that on the morning of our wedding I did an Olympic Distance Triathlon at Birds Hill Park. The next video I started to watch was the "state of the union" address I gave at work when I became President of Embassy eleven years ago. Man did I talk, it was 1 hour and 23 minutes and I'm only about 20 minutes into it. I sure hope we served booze to keep people awake. 

While watching the video's I had my best ride this year. I averaged 20 mph for 1 hour and 15 minutes. My legs felt strong. I was surprised because when I left the gym my legs and buttocks were sore from lunges. The one thing that I think helps me do triathlons is that I thrive on pain. The more training I do and the more I load on, the stronger I get. It's strange, but true. I don't get the same benefit from resting.

Weights - 45 minutes

Tempo Bike - 25 miles / 20 mph

Reflection...

For the past two days all we've had on the TV is old video's that I got put on DVD. All I hear is Reid laughing, he's hooked on watching them, we have about 50 hours. I've noticed myself reflecting on those times. Watching them really makes me realize how short life is. In some of the video's my parents are as old as I am now, that really puts it in a different perspective. It is also interesting to see everyone evolve; different clothes, different hair cuts, different body shapes and different ages. Yet everyone seems to have maintained the same maturity level, strange, but good. I have video of Alyssa at two years old and now she is 18 years old, time flies. What I'm finding is that each era is like a different life time. When I look at the video's there seems to be a 3-5 year period that is one lifetime and then to evolves into the next 3 - 5 year period that is another lifetime. For me, I think I look much better now than I did then, I should have shaved the moustache off long ago and kept in better shape. Oh well, better late than never.

It's also great seeing the people that are no longer alive, like Alice's parents and my grandmother. Seeing Reid and Alyssa with them is great. For Reid, he idolizes Alice's dad and was really to little to know him, so it's great when he sees himself on his grandpa's knee. Reid just can't get enough of watching himself. He's now realizing that he never talked and when he did, he mumbled. He said he used to think no one listened to him, now he realized no one could understand him. I think it was an eye opener for him. 

Alyssa watches it as she does her homework and every once in a while she looks up and starts laughing at herself. I think we all have memories of how we think things were and when you see the video it's different. I always thought I was tough on the kids, but in the video's I'm pretty darn good with them. I was very gentle and confidence building. I'm definitely tougher on them now.

I think watching these video's is going to effect my behaviors and approach moving forward. I'm realizing how fast life travels and how important it is relish every day and I see the joys in the simple things, like Christmas, Birthday's and our Halloween Parties with Family. My only regret is that I didn't get more video and that I didn't video for the past six years. This year I just bought a video camera and I'm back recording everything. I remember how much my family got annoyed with me videoing them years ago and now I can tell they appreciate it.

On my run tonight I thought a lot about this. That's the one great thing about endurance exercise, you really have time to think. My run tonight felt great. I was encouraged to see my time go down to the sub 8 minute per mile pace, even though I only got 6 hours of sleep last night.

Tempo Run - 51:36 / 6.72 miles / 7:40 pace / HR 140 (85%) 146 Max (3%)

182.8 lbs / 22.7 bmi

A ride through memory lane...

A large box arrived at my office today, it was all our old video tapes converted to DVD's. When I got them home the first thing we all did was start to watch them. They included video's from 1986 to present. They include births, birthday's, Christmas's, family get togethers, kids concerts and even my first Ironman, Marathon, my second half Ironman and the 1989 Triathlon Manitoba Race season. I started my training about an hour later because I got caught up watching the videos with Alice and the kids. They are a blast to watch. The kids were so cute, especially Alyssa. Reid never stops talking now, Alyssa never stopped talking then.

I finally pushed myself out the door for my run at around 7:30 pm which is a little later than I would have liked considering I had 3 hours of training to do. My body is going through some weird stuff right now, it seems stressed. I think because I'm eating better my body is starting to lose weight and that is putting stress on my body or it's because I went to bed at 11:30 pm and didn't fall asleep until 3:30 am, or a combination. I found that the first half of the run was just under a 8 minute pace and then it was hard to maintain the pace while keeping my heart rate below 135 bpm. I noticed was sweating much more than normal. When I got home an hour later the family was still laughing and watching the video's. 

I got everything ready for the bike ride as quickly as possible and I grabbed about 10 of the video's to watch on my laptop while I rode. There was some real gems that I had no idea they even existed. The first was my very first Ironman in 1987. My Mom, Dad, Grandma, Sister Bev and Brother Barret were there. They did a great job video taping it. It was amazing to see the difference from how an Ironman was then to now and how different I looked. The big differences were that there was a lot less people, I think we had 600 in the race. When people came out of the water or off the bike onto the run, no one hurried. No line to get on and off your bike and very grass roots. It was the golden age of triathlon. I remember at the time it was a BIG deal to do an Ironman and very few people were sure if they would even survive and finish, only a small few raced it. It was kinda like climbing Mount Everest in the early days, now lots of people have done it. 

Then they had the video of my first Marathon in 1986, which to date is still my PR at 3:07:57. And they had my second Marathon the following year that didn't go that well. There was tons of footage. I also had a video of my second half Ironman, incredible footage, especially on the bike when they drove beside me and we had brief conversations about how I was feeling. There was probably only 50 people in that race. The final one was of the Triathlon Manitoba season when I was Vice President and we got into the Manitoba Sports Federation. It had pictures and video's of some of the races, again, it seemed like there was under 50 people at each race. There was a lot of good video of my brother Bob and my good friend Rich Sohor and I saw faces I haven't seen for a while and even forgot.

As I rode and watched, I lost track of time. I was supposed to do a 2 hour ride and when I looked down it was already 2:07. I'm glad I had the video's, it made time fly. Today's ride was like tonight's earlier run, my body was not as strong as normal and I was sweating much more than normal, so I just rode in a lower gear to keep the heart rate under 135 bpm. I noticed that my mileage from last year can't be compared to this year. Last year I made a guess on mileage, based on effort based on outside riding. This year I have the speedometer. On the trainer, for some reason, I cycle slower than outside. When I finished and was stretching I noticed the biggest little blister on my pinkie toe. I think I got it from walking a lot in Vegas with my new dress shoes. I drained it, lots of Pusey yellow liquid...Ewe...but of course I made the family look at it just to gross them out.

Mod Run - 1:03 / 7.52 miles / 8:23 miles / under 135 bpm

Mod Bike - 2:07 / 35.26 miles / 16.6 mph / under 135 bpm 

Weight 183.4 / 22.5 BMI

On your mark, get set, go diet...

Last year on this day I weighed 179 lbs and had a 19.5 BMI, today I weighed in at 184 lbs with a 22.8 BMI. The only difference is that I started my race training last year in mid January, which is 6 weeks earlier than this year. I started this years race training last Monday. My plan is to be down to 173 lbs before the end of the month. Oh yeah, I guess the other difference is that last week I was in Vegas eating and drinking a lot.

Tonight I did a long swim and weights. When I put on my swim suit and looked in the mirror I could tell that I look soft. When you see that, it's very motivating, especially when you know what you looked like last year at this time. I know I'm getting a little down on myself and it's only 5 lbs but that's my personality. I tend to be an idealist and perfectionist. My swim tonight was pathetic. I don't know what's happened, but I am as slow as I was last year. In January I was way faster, then I had my tattoo and took a couple of weeks off and I lost all my speed. I'm sure it is my technique. During the swim I was really concerned about my calf cramping and a couple of times it felt like it might cramp so I swam cautiously. That had some effect on my speed. 

I was running about 15 minutes behind schedule tonight. Since the Vegas trip I've been about 15 minutes behind schedule for everything I do. The reason I was behind was that I went to the Oakville Y and when I got there, there was no lap swimming, then I had to rush to the Waterdown Y and I took a wrong turn along the way and that set me back about 15 minutes. After the swim I rushed to the weight room and did as many exercises as I could in 30 minutes. I got 80% complete. Tonight was when I start my 2 rep sets from my one rep set which means I am now going to need more time to finish so running behind didn't help. The highlight of the night was that I set a PR for the squat machine at 610 lbs and I did 2 sets of 12 reps. By the time I finished I was sweating like mad from very little rest between the sets.

Long Swim -3500 meters / 1:17:45

Weights - 30 minutes. 

I was at the bar but I wasn't drinking...

I slept 14.5 hours last night, I can't remember the last time I did that or if I've ever done it. I guess Vegas caught up to me. All night I was tossing and turning, sweating, then chills, covers on, covers off. I also felt my love handles where my kidneys are hurting a little. I've had that feeling before and it is usually a sign that I've went over board and if I don't change my habits I typically gain weight. It's giving me a bit of a wake up call and I decided to stop drinking until I lose about 10 lbs and get down to 173 lbs. I've found that when I drink I can't lose weight no matter what I do and it will give my liver a break. God knows it needs it.

After sleeping so much and lying on my back, when I got up my back was tender and on the verge of slipping out of place. If I sat for too long it also started to get sensitive. I was really conscious of it and made sure that I did not bend over. If I had to pick something up, it was all knee bending. It felt good to get back from Vegas and get back into my routine. If we had to stay in Vegas one more day we would have died. Three nights is absolutely the perfect amount of time. When I finally did wake up today, the first thing I did was drink some water, make a protein shake and drink some coffee. It was all good.

Eventually I decided to take the plunge and start my long bike and brick run. It sure takes a long time to get ready. I bet it takes me around half an hour just to get the bike set up, the water bottles ready, make the Gatorade, set up the laptop, set up the fan, get some news papers, get the nutrition ready. Plus today I had to get all my running gear ready for the brick run right off the bike. I started riding, it was still light out and golf was on TV. It's the first time I rode and watched golf, or say I say listened while I read blogs. Having golf on is very soothing when your ride. I actually found it made time go faster. I also adjusted the wind trainer on my bike, I think it's now more set up like last year and I was able to go a lot faster and still keep the heart rate in the right zone. It feels so much better when I average over 30 kph. 

The ride felt relatively easy. While I rode, Reid decided to be a pro photographer and took a lot of shots of me. When Reid and Alice would come down stairs they both complained that it smelt bad, like mold. I figured it was either, the drip towel I've had on the bike for the past two weeks, which Alice ended up putting in the wash, or the mat under the bike which hasn't been wiped down at all, or me. I think it was me and that my body was getting rid of all the toxins from this past week. Once I finished the bike I ran upstairs to change my clothes and get on the run. They were all laid out but it still took me about 6 minutes to get out the door. Once I started running I was at about a 7:30 pace for the first half mile, then my heart rate started rising. My legs felt great, there wasn't even a transitional discomfort from going from the bike to the run, which is too bad because I like that feeling. If I didn't have to keep my heart rate down I could have run much faster, that's how great I felt. It was also one of those run where every song that played on the iPhone was great. I didn't have to fast forward the song once.

Long Bike - 3 hours / 56.02 miles / 18.67 mph / 133 - 140

Brick Run - 31:01 / 3.74 miles / 8:16 pace / 138 - 144

So long Vegas...

It was another late night, our last. Alice and I went to the Chris Angel show, it was terrible. It was like a high school play, very theatrical, nothing like his street magic. We ended up leaving after about 20 minutes. We were talking to one of the bartenders and he suggested we go to get our money back. Others have for the same reason. The most amazing thing that Chris Angel did was sign a 10 year contract to put on a super crappy show. You couldn't pay me enough to go back to see him.

Surprisingly I woke up naturally at 7 am, which gave me enough time to go for my long run and still have time to get to the Airport for our noon flight back home. The run was different than most. My legs felt so strong that it didn't even seem like I was running. It felt like I was coasting on a bike. It was a little cool and very windy out and I don't think I did much sweating at all. It was one of those most perfect temperatures to run in and not sweat. I didn't even have anything to drink for the entire run. 

When I go to a City I try not to run the same route. I like to change routes and see different parts of the City. I find that running through a City is a great way to see it. The route I took today was through the Asian part of Las Vegas. I went up Spring Mountain Road and I didn't realize it at the time but the entire first half of the run was up hill. My average pace at the turnaround was 8:33 per mile and I just figured it wasn't my day, that all the partying and late nights was catching up to me. When I turned around the pace sped up and I ended up finishing at an 8:20 pace. It was one of the most enjoyable runs I've done in a long time. I just felt so strong and was in a Zen state the entire time.

Long Run - 1:55:12 / 13.82 miles / 8:20 pace / HR 126 - 140

Recovery...from training at least...

Normally I'd do a swim today but I've decided to only do two swims a week. It seems that when I do two versus three a week, I get faster. Last night was another late one. Alice and I spent pretty much from 2 pm to 2 am at the Wynn Hotel. It is my favorite place to go. For the past three years I've come every year and sat at the same bar in the same chair and have gotten to know Darby the bar tender well. This time I got a picture with him. I look forward to seeing him every year. Darby and the other bartender Mike are absolutely amazing. The slowest they took to get me a beer after I finished is 60 seconds and the fastest was 3 seconds and that was when I hid the empty behind a menu and they still knew I needed a beer, they are pros. You should see them scanning a busy bar that is three people deep and everyone has a drink in their hand. No waiting for anybody.

The greatest thing about the Wynn is the people watching and meeting. It is better than any Las Vegas show. We just sit there and people come and people go and some you talk to and others you watch and try to figure out. At one point a really weird young person came and sat beside me, he was all lies and I was catching him lying in a gentle way. I guess I had him on the hot seat a couple of times. At one point he ask me if I was a psychiatrist. Darby, Mike, Alice said the guy had emptiness in his eyes, they figured he was a Jeffery Daumler. One other couple even left the bar when he showed up. At the end of the conversation I diffused him and even bought him a beer and then he left. Mike suggested that Alice and I leave because he may come back and they think he was nuts. I guess if Darby and Mike, who have seen it all, figure this guy was dangerous, then he probably was. I didn't have any problem or fear talking to him. I actually don't mind dealing with psychotic people, frankly I enjoy it. We also met Lani and Johnny from Detroit, heard their story and told them to get married already. It was another great night. 

Rest Day

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Training on fumes...

We had a great time last night. Alice, Lena and I went bar hoping. Lots of drinking and dancing. I don't know what time we got home but it was late and the "whirley birds" were out. At 8 am this morning I looked at the clock and considered going to train, but realized I was still drunk and another couple hours of sleep would probably be best. When I did get up I figured I'd better get the training done asap and I didn't want to split the workouts and cut into our fun time. 

I did a weights session and then a tempo bike ride. It must have looked to an outsider that I was really focused on riding because I wasn't looking at the TV and I had my head down in the aero position and was going pretty strong. What they wouldn't have seen was that I had my eyes closed and was in a coma type state. I covered up the timer, so I wouldn't be a clock watcher, and just listened to music and zoned out. A few times when I had to open my eyes and come up for water I became dizzy and I could see myself falling of the bike. As I had my head down, I was reading the fine print on the Life cycle and it said to "consult your physician if you are faint, dizzy or exhausted". I don't know how well that would work for me. The doctor would just tell me not to drink so much and then he would add "YOU DUMB ASS" in a Ukraine accent. Now that I finished my training it's going to another partying groundhog day. 

I just found out my daughter got her grades and she got a 95% in her University level English and the class average is only 72%. I'm real proud of her. She obviously has Alice's learning genes.

Weights - 30 minutes

Tempo Bike - 60 minutes / 19.47 miles / 19.47 mph / HR 137 - 140

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Let the fun begin...

I was up early. I had a lot to do. I had to do a swim, then a tempo run and get to the trade show on time for a day of meetings. The swim felt hard. I couldn't get any speed. I wasn't sure if it was the jet lag, the lack of sleep, or my technique. I made sure I drank water during the swim, I didn't want to have my calf seize again. Once I finished the swim I changed quickly and did a run. I love the feeling of transition from one sport to another. The first half of the run was into a direct and strong head wind. It was a tempo run and I kept the heart rate under 140. I was shocked when I saw that I was doing a 7:37 average pace at the half way point, by the time I finished I got it down to a 7:37. It was the fastest tempo run I've ever done. Last night I struggled to do an 8:30 and only 12 hours later, I almost cut a minute off my time. I guess my slow swim was not do to jet lag.

I graped my clothes from the locker at the Y and didn't even change. I rushed back to the hotel, showered and got to my first meeting with one minute to spare. It was a great day of meeting and I even got to finish early and now Alice and I are going out to party.

Swim - 3000 meters / 1:03

Run - 50 minutes / 6.58 miles / 7:35 pace / HR 140 - max 144

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