New Plan Required...

I just felt it was going to happen and it did. I'm now officially injured. I can't run because of the side of my left heel. I think I've got a stress fracture, but I'll know tomorrow for sure. I'm going to the doctor and I'm going to get it checked out.

I felt something at the end of yesterday's brick run and it was confirmed today. I can't run 50 feet without pain. I hope it's not a stress fracture because that could put me out for 6 weeks. I hope it is something that can be fixed with a cortisone shot. 

I actually think it was initially caused from cycling. With the new bike, I was fitted incorrectly. It caused me to put to much pressure on the ball of my foot and caused the initial injury. I then had to adjust my running style to keep the pressure off the ball of my foot. It then caused more pronation and put pressure on the outer edge. Now it seems that I've over stressed the outer edge and have a possible stress fracture. 

I also think "the straw that broke the camels back" was the Mississauga Half Marathon. I went so hard and whenever you race hard you open yourself up to injury. I was asking myself if it was worth getting injured to set a half marathon PB of 1:27:51 and ultimately my answer was "YES". 

Since I got refitted on my bike, the ball of my foot doesn't hurt as much, but I still don't think it is the best fit possible. I've noticed that in the aero position after about 90 minutes I start getting a little neck pain. I'm going to adjust it a little more and hopefully it will help.

With my first race exactly two weeks away it will be interesting if I'll be healthy enough to do it. In the meantime I need to set up a new training plan. I know I can swim, do weights, and should be able to bike, and I've never tried it, but maybe I can water run. 

I have a choice to make, do I get down or do I deal with it in a mentally positive manner. I've decided to make it a positive experience. Everything happens for a reason. All I can focus on is what I can do, which is eating well and doing training that allows my heel to heal. I've always heard that a broken bone becomes stronger when it heals, so ultimately my heel should be stronger in the long run. Like I said I'm going to look at this as positive as I can.

I've also got to remember that my goal for the year was to qualify for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. My "A" race to do that is the Muskoka 70.3 in September and I should be okay by then if I take care of myself now. I really wanted to do well in Morden in July because it was the first half Ironman I ever did and wanted to do really well as a homecoming surprise, but I've got to put my ego aside and do what's right for my body.

I've just got to remember that "Life's not a destination, it's a journey".

Unplanned Rest Day

16

Wild weather...

I didn't get up until noon. Our neighbors, John and Lisa and their son Jacob, came over and we hung around the bar and played pool. They left late and Alice and I stayed up talking until 5:30 am. The Sun was coming up and I was even debating if I should just go for my long ride before going to bed. I figured it would be a bad idea because if the cops pulled me over I'd get a DUI and lose my drivers license.

We ended getting up at noon and I rushed to eat, hydrate and got on the road by 1 am. When I left is was sunny and warm and I decided to wear my triathlon clothes. As I started riding the weather changed. It got cloudy, colder, windier and even started to rain. 

Last week was a flat ride, this week it was back to the hills and it wasn't easy. I was riding pretty good. There was a lot of triathletes on the road today. I caught up and passed quite a few other riders. One I passed tried to keep up to me and for a while I was surprised they could stay with me, but within about 3 km I dropped him or her (it was either a man or a manly women) and then they went a different route. 

It was a pretty uneventful ride, my only regret was not changing from the racing wheels to the training wheels before I left. I decided not to because I was running out of time and wanted to be finished by 5 pm.

After the ride I did a 30 minute brick run. It was really hard to keep my heart rate down. It felt like I was running slow when I was actually running fast. My left ankle and Achilles was twitching and I think if I would have ran any further it would have become painful. It is right on the edge of being healthy or getting injured. When I got home the kids and Alice gave me a bad time for leaving the kitchen a mess. I was just focused on getting out the door to train. Oops.

My body felt good after I finished, MUCH better than last weekend. Now the rest of the evening is relaxation and I'm going to barbecue some steaks. Since I got the charcoal barbecue I'm hooked on cooking with charcoal. It is so hot and adds such flavor. I'm trying some nice big thick steaks tonight and can hardly wait to taste them.

Long Bike - 3:15:49 /102.48 Km / 31.3 kph / 125 avg hr

Transition - 03:48

Brick Run - 30:00 / 3.94 miles / 7:37 pace / 143 avg hr

13

Speed equals danger...

Today was speed work on the bike. It was a great day for a ride, 22 C and sunny. It was a hard workout and my arms felt it. When I was a kid and I'd run track, I'd go so hard that my arms would get this "pins and needles" feeling. The same thing happened to me during my speed work session.

I was going up the first King Hill and my arms got that "prickly" feeling and my heart rate started going through the roof. For me that's about 160 bpm. I normally sit when I go up hill but today I decided to stand and go as hard as I could and didn't stop until I crested over the top. I felt like I was Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France. It was probably a 13% grade and I think I went faster up the hill standing on the pedals versus sitting.

On the second King Hill I stayed in the saddle and had the same sensations in my arms. I hate doing the King Hills but I feel like I accomplished something when I finish. Going up the hills are hard and going down the hills can be a bit scary. On one downhill I got up to 78 kph and I'm always worried a car is going to pull out of the driveway, a dog is going to run out on the road or I'm going to hit a big bump. When I'm going downhill I keep telling myself to "relax and keep going straight, especially if an animal crosses the road". On the second downhill I did I had a major scare. 

Because I've got my racing wheels on and they have a very wide rim, the wind catches them. At the bottom of one of the downhills I was going about 55 kph and the wind caught the front wheel and I had to work hard to keep the bike upright. I thought for sure I was going to wipe out. This year I've been going hard and I've had more near miss wipe outs than all the other previous years combined.

For tomorrows ride I'm going to put on my regular training wheels now that I know there is no problem with my racing wheels. I'm also going to bring both sets of wheels to my races just in case there is high winds. Other than fighting the high winds I had a good ride and at times was riding 40 kph directly into the wind. Afterwards, my body was still feeling the intensity of the workout. 

Speed Bike - 1:15:37 / 36.32 km / 28.9 kph avg

18

Settling down...

After yesterday's speed work my heel felt fine. Then, an hour later it started hurting when I walked. It is a really strange injury because I can run, bike and swim on it, but it hurts when I walk.

I also noticed last night and especially this morning that my legs are sore. I look and feel like an old man when I get up from sitting for any period of time, or getting out of bed. For being a well conditioned athlete I sure don't walk or feel like one. The training has pushed my legs to build and build and build to the point of extreme soreness. It then dawned on me that now is time to mentally relax, race and recover. 

For the past 4 months I've been doing well over 600 miles of training a month and building a strong endurance and speed base. I'm reflecting on last year and realized that I was in similar shape for my first race and it carried for the entire season. After that first race I didn't do much speed work or heavy weights and I took days off to recover and taper until the season ended, and I had awesome results.

I know I'm in much better running shape this year than last, I've already set an all time PB for the half marathon, beating my previous best by over 4 minutes. My biking and swimming seems at least as good as last year, although I won't know for sure until my first race. 

I don't think I need to push my training any harder and I don't think there will be anything more to gain by doing so. My guts are telling me that if I push it too much harder I'm going to break my body down and get a major injury and all my training will be for not. It would be like starting over and with my first race in just over two weeks I don't want to miss it or perform poorly.

Today I've mentally made the decision to closely monitor my body and err to the side of caution. With all the base building and speed work I've been doing, I think as long as I don't miss more than a day or two, I won't loose any fitness, which will allow my body time to heal. I'm also going to make sure I eat as well as I can, and take my supplements. I've already started to make ice and Advil my two best friends. 

After this weekend, my training schedule changes until the end of the year. My schedule is giving me much more down time for tapering and recovery. If I can make it until the end of this week without any major injuries I think I can make it until the end of the year. And then, my plan at the end of the year is to take my mileage down considerably and let my body heal and then start it up again in January. 

I remember hearing that getting faster is a 3 - 5 year journey and that if you push your body too soon before it is ready you'll injure yourself and set yourself back. I think this is true. Last year was my first year training properly and now I'm in my second year and doing nothing differently and I'm getting stronger and faster. I'm just imaging if I can stay healthy this season and have the same increase in performance next season I'll be unbelievably happy and maybe even be good enough to qualify for the Hawaiian Ironman.

It's taken me 43 years to understand that I need to be patient. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I didn't make this decision too late and that an injury doesn't spoil this years progress.

I planned on biking today but it rained all day and this evening I had a High Reunion for the Alumni that moved to Toronto. I went to St. Paul's High School in Winnipeg, a Catholic, private all boys school, run by the Jesuits. This was the first annual get together for the alumni that moved to Toronto. We had people who graduated from the 1940's up until 2003 show up. 

One thing about St Paul's is that no matter what year you graduated or your position in life, there is an incrediable sense of camraderie and acceptance. Some of the graduates have moved on to run multi nation insurance companies & banks, but if they come to one of these events they get no more respect than when they were in high school.

It was fun to see a couple of people I haven't seen in a while. After 25 years I didn't recognize them and they didn't recognize me. One of the guys told me that I'm the only one that looks in better shape now than any of us looked like in high school. I didn't expect that and it felt good. 

The one thing that hasn't changed is that most of St Paul's graduates are still crazy deep down. It was fun to finally go to event where people had more than one drink and by the end of the evening the booze was pretty much gone. There was lots of stories about teachers and getting in trouble. It was a school that still had the strap.  

The function ended by 10 pm and it was to dark to do my ride and the pool was closed. It was worth going and missing the workout. It looks like tomorrow will be a double workout.

Rest Day

2.5

A moment of Truth...

Last week I decided not to do my running speed work session. Instead I did a moderate run. The reason was I wanted to give my hamstring some time to heal. It was still sore from racing the half marathon a couple weeks ago. It turns out that it was a good decision.

Today I went to the track and I wasn't sure what to expect. My heel was sore, but the strange thing is that the discomfort is when I walk. When I run or bike it seems to go away and when I'm wearing shoes there is less discomfort. The pain is not coming from the muscle or tendon but the bone area. I'm almost thinking it may be a stress fracture. Either way it's not yet preventing me from training, which is a good thing.

The warm up at the track was okay and the 4 x 100 speed sprints started to loosen the heel up. Then I got into the main workout, which was 3 x 1600 meter intervals. My focus was to go as fast as I could and maintain form. Whenever I do speed work I try to pretend that I'm in a 5 km race and run through the pain. 

The first set I did at 6:24 (5:57 pace), the second was 6:22 (5:57 pace) and the third was 6:18 (5:52 pace), with just over a 3 minutes light jog in between sets. My fastest 100 was at a 4:47 pace. I was really happy with the 1600's average pace, it was my fastest ever, and if I was doing a 5 km race and could have maintained that pace, I would have finished in 18:26. If I ever did that time or even broke 19 minutes, I'd be ecstatic. I was also happy with the fact that each 1600 was faster than the previous.

The important part was that I didn't get injured and it looks like my hamstring is healed. I was also pretty happy with my times considering I did just under 5 hours of training yesterday and was really tired this morning.

The one strength I have found I have, which I'm finding is not common, is that I can race at a similar pace to my training paces over long distances. The longer the race and the more pain involved, the better I'd do. I guess that is why I like Half Ironmans and Full Ironmans.

I forgot to mention a funny story from this past weekend. The bar we went to on Friday night had a live band and lots of cougar women were on the dance floor and extremely drunk. In fact, everyone in the bar was extremely drunk. Anyways, one of the cougars, in her late 40's, asked my son Reid who is 12, to dance. She was all over him on the dance floor. It was not like an older women dancing with a child at a wedding. She was dirty dancing with him like she wanted to take him home. He kept looking at us for help and I kept laughing and giving him the "thumbs up". When the song ended he was able to slip away.

Speed Run - 59:14 / 7.76 miles / 7:38 pace / 136 avg HR

Lots of training...

Tuesdays are usually busy training days to begin with, but when you also add Monday's missed workouts to Tuesdays,  it becomes a long course triathlon and then some.

I woke up this morning with sore kidneys. I'm not sure if it was from the 8.5 hours of sleep and lying on my back or from the two big bags of popcorn I ate at the movies last night. If I was a betting man, I'd say it was the popcorn.

I planned on doing a session in the morning but couldn't get out of bed. This meant everything was going to have to be done at lunch and after work. I also had to fit in a doctors appointment at the end of the day. My doctor is retiring and I need to find a new family doctor, so they require me to come in for an interview. 

The doctor was from Egypt and moved to Canada. It took him a few years to get his license in Canada even though he practiced for 20 years in Egypt and Kuwait. Prior to coming to Canada he specialized in Internal Medicine, now he is a general practitioner. 

It works out well that he used to specialize in Internal Medicine because he was very familiar with elevated liver enzyme levels and causes. He seemed very knowledgeable when I asked him about them and I'm to drop off my recent blood work results and ultra scan to him. Then we will meet and go through the findings and set a game plan. In addition to him, I have one other doctor working with me who will also be reviewing the scans. If either of them don't figure out the problem, I may go to the Mayo clinic in the U.S. to get it figured out.

The one thing the doctor said was that the rise in enzyme levels is definitely not due to endurance training. He also didn't think I drank enough or long enough for it to be alcohol related, although he did say I drink to much. He told me I need to limit my beer intake to 14 per week. Which I'm going to attempt to do. I may start at 20 and work my way down, but I'll get there. 

He also told me I'm a little overweight for my height and weight. He said my BMI was 27 according to the chart. On my scale it says 21 - 22. Alice and Alyssa think I have a false sense of body image, like an anorexic, when I tell them I need to lose a little more weight. Now at least I can tell them that my doctor agrees with me.

I got all the training sessions done and I was tired mentally, but not physically. It was a good decision that I missed my long run and speed session run last week, my leg is feeling 100% now. I did notice that my Achilles soreness may be from my bike not my runners. Either way it's all injury management and prevention until the end of this racing session.

At the end of the week I start a 12 day taper for my first race of the year. Today was my last weight training session until I race. I'm looking for the next two weeks of tapering, it's not easy workouts but it is different than my normal routine and I get the odd day off. 

I find that once the race session starts, the tapering weeks help keep me mentally fresh and avoid burn out. Last year this time I was in major burnout mode before my first race. This year I'm not. I think it is because this year I'm used to doing the mileage and I'm spending less time in the pool, which I dread. 

Now that I'm finished training for the day I'm going to shower, put on some warm clothes (it was cold and rainy on tonight's ride), get some fruit and yogurt and watch the movie "Ironman" with Robert Downey Jr. Jamie Grant borrowed it to me and said it's great. Maybe it will help me relax and perk up.

Swim - 1:00:35 / 3000 meters

Weights - 45:00 minutes

Run - 1:00:27 / 7.26 miles / 8:19 pace / 132 avg hr

Bike - 1:55:05 / 57.38 km / 29.9 kph

Needing to get back in a groove...

This past weekend was tough on my body, training aside. For the past month I've been eating fairly healthy. I've had no alcohol or junk food and it's shown. I lost about 7-8 lbs and my resting heart rate got as low as 37 bpm. In that time I also set a PB for the half marathon.

My plan all along was to be very strict about my diet and then on this past weekend I could eat and drink whatever I wanted, which I did. 

The first thing I noticed was how dead the food I was eating tasted. Alice had brought all types of snacks for the kids, so I started eating them. I started eating chips and it had been so long that I had almost forgot the taste. What I did notice was that once you start eating them they don't fill you up and you keep eating them and other than the flavouring, they have no substance. 

On Saturday and Sunday morning I made breakfast for the family and it was eggs, bacon and pancakes. Lunch was hamburgers and hot dogs and dinner was steak. On the way home from the beach we stopped at Wendy's, and for the first time in a very long time I had fast food. The grease from the fries was giving me a headache almost immediately, although I did like the frosty.

Needless to say, after a weekend of debauchery I felt terrible this morning. Very tired and unmotivated. It's amazing what a poor diet can do to you mentally and physically in a short period of time. It also didn't help that the test results I got on Friday showed my liver enzymes getting worse not better.

This afternoon I went to another doctor and reviewed the results and started to put together a plan. I was a little bummed out and still very tired. When I got home from work I had a nap and was going to go train but just felt so tired and unmotivated. Instead I decided to try and pick myself up mentally, so Reid, Alice and I went to the movie Star Trek. It was nice to get my mind off of everything for a couple of hours.

I loved the movie, but ate way to much salty, buttery popcorn, especially with free refills. I didn't mind postponing today's workout too much because it was only a swim and weights and I decided to move it to tomorrow. My legs were also a little sore, I think from dehydration. I'm glad I took today off because it gave me an extra day for my sore shoulder and elbow to heal.

I was wearing contacts all day because my glasses, somehow, got broken at the cottage. My theory is that I must be dehydrated because my eyes were dry and I was blinking like crazy. I couldn't get the glasses fixed because the place that sold them to me is moving any they are closed until Wednesday, so I rigged them up with a staple and a screw.

Rest Day

500th post...

Since starting this blog I've posted 500 times. That's about 15 months of blogging. I think the amount of time it takes me to do a daily entry would be enough time for the average person to get in good shape if they trained that length of time everyday.

I felt much better this morning. I was up at 5:30 am and decided to go back to bed and get more sleep, Al Nolan and his sons Mike and Kevin are coming by the cottage today and I want to be fresh. I wasn't sure if I should run this morning or wait and run tonight. I was weighing all the pro's and con's as I laid in bed. I finally got up at 8:30 am and after much internal debate decided to go for my run. 

It was a beautiful morning. It had rained last night and it was fresh outside, a little overcast and 16 C. About 30 minutes into the run the sun came out and dried the roads. I ran on the Friendship trail to Port Colborne. It was a beautiful trail and about half way through the run it was sunny, hot and humid. 

I'm keeping track of things that cross my path on my bikes and runs. Yesterday I had a chipmunk run in front of my bike and a Robin almost flew into me, it was about 4 feet from me before it turned. Today a gardner snake was in my path and a snail. 

I was looking forward to the run ending and finishing my blog. My family doesn't mind me training but when we are on a mini vacation I feel guilty not spending as much family time as possible. 

Al and the boys showed up at noon and we hung around the cottage and then went down to the beach. The beach is unique in that your allowed to drive on it, park, set up your lawn chairs, cooler and have some cocktails. Security is constantly driving by and bothers no one. Al couldn't believe this place was only 30 minutes from his home. We are definitely going to rent there again.

Even on the drive down the kids thought it was great because the rear door of the van was open and they were able to sit with their legs out. On the way back Reid actually fell out of the back of the van. We were driving pretty slow and it was damn funny watching him fall out and roll in the sand. He wasn't hurt and was laughing about it.

We ended up getting home around midnight and all in all we had a great time. 

Long Run - 1:40:02 / 12.62 miles / 7:55 pace / 134 pace

13

Wasn't that a Party and I paid for it today...

Our rental cottage is on 13 Shipwreck lane. It was an omen. This resort is awesome, we have a great location on the water and there is so much to do. 

After dinner and relaxing we went to one of the bars and watched a live band. These guys were in their 60's and sounded great. There was about 9 of them and a full horn section. When they played Chicago songs you would swear you were listening to the real Chicago if you closed your eyes.

I had way to many beers and should have said good night to everyone at around 11 pm because I knew I wasn't going to remember the rest of the evening. Apparently I was arm wrestling guys at the bar and went undefeated one on one. Then I arm wrestled 3 guys at the same time, they were all pulling. I lost that one.

There was some young guys at the bar and apparently I one of the guys was pissing me off so I told him I was going to give him 30 seconds before I jumped him, which I did. All hell broke loose, guys were pulling us apart and 3 security guards showed up. I don't remember tackling the guy.

It must have turned out okay because afterwards I had 3 Jagermisters and Red Bull with the guy and even gave him and one of the security people a ride home. Don't worry, Alice drove. I was also having a great time with the Security Guards, Bar tenders and the guy I fought. We closed the bar down and offered them to come to my place. I'm glad they didn't.

At noon when I woke up I wasn't feeling to good. My shoulder was sore, my elbow was really sore and I had a purple little toe. I had no idea how the elbow got sore. I figured the shoulder was from the arm wrestling and that someone must have stepped on my toe because I was wearing sandals. And this morning I noticed the frame of my glasses was broken. I must have slept or stepped on them.

Alice and the kids asked me if I wanted to go with them to the pool and beach this afternoon and I was in no condition to join them. I opened a beer and put it on the coffee table in front of me and looked at it. One way to start feeling better is to start drinking when you wake up. The family left without me and I was looking at the beer and looking at my bike. I was scheduled to do a long ride today. Alice figured I should not do the ride.

I decided to leave the beer and go for my bike ride. I was like a robot, I just got dressed, got on the bike and rode. It was a beautiful day. I started on the biking trail which was wide and nicely paved, but I found myself stopping and starting way to much when I had to cross roads. In the first 30 minutes I had to stop and start at least 15 times. At that point I started riding on the roads.

As luck would have it I got on the road that goes all the way along the water to Niagara Falls. It was a great road and flat, flat, flat. I can't remember the last time I rode without lots of hills. I felt absolutely amazing and was riding strong. Riding through downtown Niagara Falls was amazing. The streets were packed with people, I was flying past cars at 38 kph and people were watching me and some even cheered at my speed.  By the 3 hour mark of the ride I was averaging 34.4 kph.  With about 40 minutes left in the ride I didn't feel as good or strong and made a wrong turn. I almost got lost but was able to find my way back.

The minute I got in the door I went from feeling a 7/10 to a 1/10. It felt like a "bonk" and a "hangover" all in one. I felt so nauseous and even had to throw up. I wasn't able to rest because it was dinner time and I was the barbecue chef. Somehow I was able to cook dinner between lying on the couch, going to the bathroom,  going to the barbecue, and repeating several times. The family said the food tasted great. It was the first time I've cooked using charcoal.

I couldn't eat. I tried but couldn't do it. All I could do was wallow in pain lying on the couch. Alyssa ended up giving me an Advil and a little while latter I was feeling better enough to fall a sleep. I slept for a couple of hours and woke up feeling like a 6/10. I was good to go and ate my dinner. They were right about the steak,  it was tasty. 

As I finish my blog entry, the beer that was opened earlier today is still on the coffee table and I'm looking at it. Once I'm done, I think I'm going to have a beer, tape my glasses with black hockey tape, and make a bonfire to make smores. I don't think it's going to be a late night, Al Nolan and his kids are going to come over and hang out with us tomorrow.

Long Bike Ride - 3:45:45 / 125.76 / avg 33.4 kph / avg hr 133

5

Results & Recreation day...

I was looking forward to today for a couple of reasons. The first is that I'm getting the results from last weeks blood work tests and hopefully there will be some answers and direction. The second is that we are going away as a family to Sherkston Shores and renting a cottage for the weekend. The weather is supposed to be in the 20's and their is a 150km, 12 foot wide bike path that I can do my long ride and run on.

I did my swim first thing in the morning. I knew I had to do it but it took a lot of inner discussion to get me committed and out the door. Even on the drive to the pool I didn't mind the stop lights and delays in getting there. When I got there the lanes were full and with very slow leisure swimmers. It was another reason for me to postpone the workout but I didn't. Even 30 minutes into the swim I really wanted to quit, then they took the pool down to one lane only and everyone was in one lane, and everyone but me was about a 3:00 per 100 swimmer, and now I really wanted to cut it short, but I kept persevering.

The reason I wasn't motivated was because of the anxiety of getting my blood work results. I just wanted to get them and do nothing else until I got them. But I was worried that if they came back with bad news I'd be too down to want to train so I really forced myself to work through the anxiety. I'm glad I did, I had a good swim with all my 12 x 100's between 1:43 - 1:48.

When I got the results, in only one week my ALD and AST rose another 25%. My doctor explained to me that my body is not getting rid of all the toxins and the waste is being dumped into my blood stream. He said that I need to take pressure off my kidneys and liver and suggested that I start taking enema's everyday and recommended a nutritionist. I asked if the waste was cause by the amount of exercise I do and he said no.

A little background on this doctor is that he is closing his practice in July. He almost died of prostate cancer 2 years ago and believes that a holistic doctor through nutrition saved his life. He is now finishing his training to be a holistic doctor.

I expressed my concern and asked "shouldn't more tests be done"? From my research it could be many things, including cancer or a tumor, etc. He thought it was a good idea and booked me for an ultra sound. I was a little concerned because after his near death experience he has "really drank the Kool-aid" on nutrition and when "all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail".

After I left I decided to talk to another doctor at the research program I'm involved with and have them get me into a specialist. I'm not discounting the nutrition aspect, and will try it, but I also want to pursue a medical diagnosis through scans and biopsies. 

Now let the weekend begin...

Speed Swim - 1:13:40 / 3000 meters

22 / 3 jag

Better but not as strong...

I don't know why, but my body responds well to lots of training. The more consecutive days of training, and the harder the workouts, the better and stronger I feel. If I miss a workout or two, which isn't often, my body seems to get weaker quickly. Other peoples bodies respond well to rest, but not mine.

 I ran yesterday after missing two running workouts, as part of my injury management plan, and this morning my legs were stiff. It took me a while to loosen them up. I also noticed that my left heel was now bothering me again and felt really tight. I think the key to this year is going to be injury containment and management. 

It was a busy day, lots to do. I picked up some new tires, tubes and a case of C02 from MEC. Even with the best prices in town, it cost me around $200. I made sure I got the most puncture resistant tire I could find. The one I got was a Michelen with 4 layers, plus a carbon layer. I'm so sick of changing flat tires I hope they are great and I don't get another flat tire this year. That would be my dream.

When I got home, from the minute I pulled into the driveway until I got on my training ride, I was busy doing bike stuff. I had to put my racing wheels on the bike, change brake pads and do adjustments. Then I changed the tires on the training wheels. Ate dinner and was on the road by 6:30 pm. 

It was a great night for a ride, 31 C and sunny. I could feel the difference of the new wheels immediately. The first thing I noticed was riding into a cross wind the deep dish of the wheel catches the air and you really have to focus on taking control of the bike. The other thing I noticed was they sound great. I started going around 45 kph and they had this rumbling sound, kind of like a disc wheel but not as loud. I loved it. Hearing it come up on you or passing in the opposite direction, could be intimidating.

I wasn't sure if I was going to take it easy and do a moderate ride or go back to the schedule and do my bike speed work. I decided to risk it and go back to the speed work. I could tell I didn't have the energy I had last week and didn't want to slip any further behind. I also decided to do two King hills. The new tires have easier gearing on the back and I was curious if it would make a big difference. I did, but it was marginal. It was still a grind to get up the hill.

On the way down from one of the Hills, at about 65 kph, a couple of women were standing at the foot of the hill beside their bikes, talking and blocking my lane, they didn't see me coming down the hill, and I was headed right for them. I was only about 200 meters away from them and was yelling to get their attention. They finally noticed me and disaster was averted. 

I did the best I could on the ride tonight and could tell at the end of the ride my body was really stressed because it was tough to keep my heart rate low. I'm sure it was from the abuse I put on my body on Tuesday night. The minute I got home I went to do weight training. I noticed on the ride and especially at the gym that my sweat was "super" salty. I got some in my eyes at the gym and it felt like I had soap in my eyes. It took a while to wipe it away and be able to see again.

Bike Speed work - 1:15:09 / 36.12 km / 28.9 kph

Weights - 45:00

It was a tough day...

This morning my head didn't feel too good and I've been feeling melancholy all day. 

It was the last weigh in for my 21 day challenge and I ended up weighing in at 178.6 lbs. I started at 184.6 lbs. I lost more than I think I actually did because I was very dehydrated this morning. I probably only lost 3 lbs, but I sure liked seeing that 178.6 on the scale. I've been in the 170's three times this month. The last time I was in the 170's three times or more was six months ago.

It was one of those days when I wished I didn't have to work today and of course I was pretty busy all day. I had no time to take it easy. Even though I wasn't feeling too good and was craving something nice a greasy, I ate healthy and as much as I wanted to order that burger from Wendy's for lunch I went with for the salad instead. When I got home I was still feeling terrible. I was craving carbs but resisted, but it wasn't easy to resist. 

I was a little nervous about today's run. I'd taken 3 days off from running to help my emerging injuries heal and I was really hoping it was enough time for them to heal. I rested as much as I could and even had a little nap before training, hoping that it would make my head feel better. 

The minute I started running my left Achilles was really bothering me. It was worse than three days ago. I was wondering if it was seizing up on me from lack of running. I decided to run through the discomfort and see if it would loosen up. About 30 minutes later it was feeling fine. My other concern was my right hamstring and at times it seemed to be a little stressed, especially on the up hills, but all in all it held up and I didn't feel any pain or discomfort when I finished. Mission accomplished, the rest seemed to work. Now I need to rest my head and drink lots of water.

Moderate Run - 1:20:47 / 10.46 miles / 7:43 pace / 138 avg heart rate

The worst ride ever...

We finally got a nice day. This week it's supposed to be warm and may even get up to 30 C on Thursday. Today I was looking forward to riding in some warm weather. Jamie Grant and I decided to do a ride together and while I was waiting for him I realized that I had no spare tubes. I lost my last one on Saturday's ride when I rode over a super bumpy road and it fell out of the rear seat straps that were holding it. I also lost another water bottle at the same time.

I ended up patching a couple of tubes while I waited for him and it was a good thing I did because by the time I got to Jamie's house, which is only a kilometer from my place, I got a rear flat tire. I fixed it and then 30 minutes into the ride my front tire went flat. I fixed that and then 10 minutes later it went flat again. 

As I was fixing my 3rd flat tire I realized that one of the reasons the tires were going flat was because I had put the patches on upside down. Duh!!! I ended up calling Alice to pick me up and as I was waiting I decided to try and patch one of the tubes again and it worked good enough that I was able to ride home. Later this evening I checked the tire and it was flat again. I think that gives me 8 or 9 flats so far this year alone.

I figured the problem is that I have put on over 2000 kilometers on those tires since February and they weren't the best tires to begin with. They have pretty soft rubber and have lots of little cuts on them. Before my next ride I'm going to put on my racing wheels and they have brand new tires on them. With only 3 weeks until my first race it is probably a good thing to try them out and make sure all the gearing works well. I'm also going to go down to MEC and get some new tires for my training rims and I'm going to make sure they are as puncture resistant as possible.

Unfortunately with all the delays I was only able to get about 70% of my ride in. Having the flat tires set me off a bit, and I've been feeling a little down regardless, and couldn't hold myself back from having some beers. For the rest of the evening Alice and I had drinks outside and then moved downstairs to the bar. It was a bit of a late night.

A positive today was that I ate really well and even after some beers, although I would have loved some KFC, I didn't eat anything. It is also the last day of my weight loss challenge with my imaginary friends on Twitter and I didn't want to sabotage myself.

Bike - 1:20:17 / 38.27 km / 28.6 kph

15

Victoria Day...

Today was a national holiday and it was great to sleep in. I ended up getting a good 9.5 hours of sleep which is just what I needed for recovery. 

Yesterday was a rest day and it felt weird doing nothing. I ended up relaxing and even had some beers. I hadn't had a beer in a month and even though my liver is not in good shape I just couldn't resist. Until I find out what exactly the problem is I'm giving myself a grace period and trying to keep everything in moderation. Plus, I don't think it is alcohol related because from what I read, the ratio's of the AST and ALD don't seem to support it and "I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night". 

Today I spent time finding out what foods are good for the liver and what are bad. Of course fruits, vegetables and whole grains are good, and dairy, alcohol and saturated fats are bad. 

This afternoon I did a swim and weight training session. It was a fast and slow swim and didn't seem to make sense. For one 400 I was able to do a 7:09, then for another 400 I was only able to do a 7:40, yet it felt like the same effort as the first 400. 

During the weight training I got a phone call from the husband of one of my sales people. She had a heart attack this past weekend but was okay. It was a shocker because she is relatively young. She had a couple of clogged arteries and had to have angioplasty. She's probably going crazy because she lives for her clients and I'm sure she's worrying for them. I'm just glad she's okay.

For the rest of the day I took it easy. Alice, Alyssa and I went for a car ride in the Escarpment. It is beautiful country side to drive through and I'm so lucky that it's where I ride my bike. I was going down roads I've never been on and looking to see if they would be good roads to cycle on. We ended up at Mohawk Race track for dinner. It is a lot of fun sitting in the restaurant and betting on the horses. I ended up winning a whopping $2.

Swim - 3000 meters / 1:03:50

Weights - 45 minutes.

Taking it easy...

When I finished yesterday's training I was feeling like I was pushing myself too hard and not allowing enough time to recover from last weekends half marathon. After the race I had sore hamstrings, especially the right one and after yesterday's session I my right hamstring was bothering me and I was starting to get a sore left Achilles. 

I was scheduled to do a long run today and decided not to. I was going to substitute with a long swim and at the last minute, as I was getting in my truck, I decided I should just take the day off and rest. I'm not injured but I think I'm on the verge of hurting myself and I should have taken it easy this past week and didn't. I may as well take it easy now before I get an injury that could take weeks to heal. I also took some Advil and will be icing my Achilles down a few times a day. 

My first race is in 4 weeks and my "A" race is in 8 weeks. I want to be fresh for those races. It never fails, once you start speedwork your chances of injury go way up. This week I'm going to take it easy and only run two times and at a moderate pace. I'm not going to do this weeks running and biking speedwork sessions. I figure that one week of training normal versus speedwork shouldn't hurt and the alternative is possibly getting injured. 

On the liver front I decided to do a spread sheet to see if I could find any relationships between the high GGT, AST, ALP and Bilirubin. I put down the blood work results since 2006 and added exercise, medications, beer consumption and weight. The only thing that I saw that was apparent was that when my level of exercise increased dramatically so did my enzymes levels. Yesterday my buddy Gord was doing some research and suggested it could be the amount of exercise I do. One thing is for certain, more test's will be required to determine the cause.

Rest & Recovery Day.

13

Attitude is everything...

For most of last night I spent my time surfing the web to find out more about my elevated enzymes. The one thing I know for certain is that my liver bile ducts are not working properly and putting excess GGT, AST, ALT and Bilirubin into the blood stream. Many things can cause the elevations that I have. It could be alcohol, medication, hepatitis, non-prescription drugs, antibiotics, anti inflammatory, fatty liver and the list goes on and on. It could also be a sign that I have issues with my gallbladder, kidneys or bones. My situation is that I have high GGT, AST, ALT, Bilirubin, Albumin, and Creatine. I've always been told I've had a fatty liver. 

The good news is that my Cholesterol has went from bad to perfect:-)

I initially thought it may be alcohol because I do like my beer and drink more than most, but I'm not sure because I didn't even have a beer 2 - 3 weeks before the test and 2 years ago the levels were fine and I drank similar amounts back then. The one thing I do know for sure is that I have liver disease and I don't know why. The only way to find out is by the doctors doing tests.

I was a little bummed out yesterday. I felt a little better once I got more information and realized it could be a lot of things. It kind of became a family affair and even my daughter was surfing the web looking to see what it was. Of course she pulls out all the scary possibilities and results. At a certain point I had enough and went out and rented the movie "Benjamin Button" and we had a family night. We all watched the first half of it. The other half we'll watch tonight. It's a long movie.

This morning I got some comments from Sam Horowitz, Johan Stemmet, Brooks Running, Todd Schoonover and tsauerbrei. All the messages were supportive and encouraged me to be positive and not dwell on the "what ifs". It was the same advice I'd give others in a similar circumstance and I appreciated their kind words.

I was still a little bummed when I got up. I had the house to myself for a couple hours and did some more research and got ready for my ride, it was nice and peaceful. Today is my long bike and brick run and it's supposed to be on and off rain all day. I got out the door for the ride at around 10 am. For the first 30 minutes of the ride all I was doing was thinking the worst about my situation and feeling sorry for myself and every song that came on the iPhone made me a little emotional. At one point I started to tear up.

Then I started asking myself what is the worst thing that can happen. The liver is pretty resilient, but even if it was really damaged, I could always get a new one. From there I started working back and realized that it is going to take some time for the doctor to figure it out. I'm sure I'll be going for a lot of tests and I bet I won't know for a few weeks and it doesn't make sense for me to worry about it. I've had this condition since May 2007 and there is nothing I can do about it until I know what is causing it. Then we'll determine the action plan and move forward.

After I made the decision to not worry and move forward I started to enjoy the ride. Everything seemed a little more beautiful and I was enjoying the moment. The ride was strange in that I had a lot of different new animals cross my path. In the past I've riden by turtles, deer, squirrels, birds, dogs, cats, dead raccoons, dead skunks, horses, cows, lama's, pigs, sheep, geese, swans and today I added a frog, a baby duckling and a ground hog.  

I decided to ride really easy today and not do any King hill climbs. I didn't want to further injure my hamstring. For some reason, even at a low effort, I had one of my fastest long rides over some challenging rolling hills. I kept my heart rate at an average of 124 bpm and still averaged 31.2 kph for just over 4 hours. I was shocked. For the last 90 minutes of the ride it was "pouring rain". The good thing was that it was about 19 C and not too cold. I'd much rather ride when it is warmer outside and raining than ride when it's cold with no rain.

I had a couple of mishaps during the ride. A couple of stupid drivers, but nothing near as close as the truck that hit me. But the worst was going down a hill at 50 kph I went over a patch of asphalt that had some oil on it and my rear end started to slip to the side. It happened so fast I didn't have time to get scared. Needless to say I took it easy until I got off that stretch of road. 

When I got home my legs and neck was feeling a little sore. I could feel the difference from missing last weeks long bike ride as part of my taper for the half marathon. I was looking forward to the run to give my legs and neck a rest. My transition time was just over 4 minutes and during the run I felt pretty good. Around the 2 mile point my right hamstring started to get tender but I was able to manage it and when I finished my left Achilles was starting to tighten up. When I got home I did over 16 minutes of stretching and then took some Advil. Everything seemed to be okay. 

Oh yeah, yesterday I realized I have another medical condition, part of my gum, under my new crown, is infected. Called the dentist and he prescribed me some antibiotics.

Anyways, onward and upward!!!

Long Bike - 4:12:50 / 131.72 km / 31.2 kph / 124 avg heart rate

Brick Run - 30.06 / 3.91 miles / 7:42 pace / 140 avg heart rate

Now what's next???

This morning I woke up and felt much better than yesterday. I decided to keep taking the Coconut oil and for the rest of the day I felt fine.  I thought my health concerns were over. Wrong!!!

I'm a volunteer participant in a medical research program and this morning I found out that some of my blood work came back abnormal. My GGT came in at 250 and it should be under 60, my AST 60 and it should be under 37 and my ALT 67 and it should be under 46. In January 2007, the same test's were fine, except the GGT was slightly elevated to 87. Last week I was turned down for additional life insurance after they did some blood work and now I know why. Needless to say I'm concerned.

This afternoon I went to see my family doctor and he also seemed concerned and ordered a battery of blood work tests and a urine test, which I did right away. I'm scheduled to see him next Friday to review the results. I did some research on the net and it said that when GGT is high, it doesn't identify the problem, it just identifies that something is wrong and that it requires further investigation and tests. 

After getting this information it took the "wind out of my sails". I didn't feel like doing anything. I just wanted to do some research and learn more about what the results meant. Even though I didn't feel like doing anything I went to the Y and did my swim and weights anyway. When I got there I forgot my towel in the car because all I was doing was thinking about the tests. The workouts were somber. I kept wondering what was wrong and was it something serious and of course I was thinking the worst. On the drive home and even as I write this blog entry I'm in a contemplative state of mind.

Swim - 1:06:28 / 3100 meters

Weights - 45:00

I'm not feeling well at all...

I started to change my diet yesterday and began by adding Coconut Oil to my morning smoothie. This morning I did the same and I also added Tahini on a bagel. When I got to work I started to feel really weird. My face and arms started to feel like they were being jabbed with "pins & needles" and my fingers felt bloated like "sausages". It felt similar to overeating something with lots of fat and salt, like KFC. I also noticed that my sense of smell was enhanced. Everything I smelt was making me sick. And I knew it wasn't from me being pregnant.

By noon I had to go home. I was quite worried and feeling really sick. My face felt like it was bloated and I didn't feel healthy and was getting nauseous. I wasn't sure if it was the Coconut Oil, the old Tahini or something else. When I got home I wasn't feeling any better and decided to lie down and then had a nap. When I woke up I was feeling a little better but not much. Around dinner time I decided I was going to see if doing some exercise would help and got ready to do a running speed work session.

Once I got dressed I started feeling really sick again. My sense of smell was so heightened and the sweat from my hat and shorts were making me feel ill. When I got to the track and started training I started to feel a little better, actually a lot better. Although I did feel different. It felt like my mind was separated from my body. I was able to do my speed work and it felt like I was more of an observer than a participant. I was going hard, time went by fast and I didn't feel any discomfort. It was actually a pretty cool feeling.

Near the end of intervals I could feel some tightness in my hamstrings, especially my right one. For one 12 minute interval I averaged a 6:34 pace, a 9 minute interval at a 6:30 pace and six 1 minute intervals as low as a 6:14 pace. I pushed the pace just hard enough to feel hamstring discomfort but not to cause damage. During the run, the winds were gusting up to 69 kph and I'm sure running directly into those head winds caused added stress to the hamstrings.

After I finished and stretched, I started to feel ill again. I still had a heightened sense of smell. To me, it smells like I've got a grease odor coming out of my pores. Even after I put on fresh clothes I can still smell it. It's like we cooked bacon and can't get that bacon grease smell out of the house. I also find that when I get up from the couch I get a little dizzy and my face becomes flush, which tells me it has something to do with my blood sugar.

I've decided not to do tonight's weight training session and do it tomorrow. My plan is to drink lots of water and hopefully it will go away. I've also thrown out the old Tahini and bought a new one. I feel so lousy.

Any suggestions or comments welcome.

Speed Run - 1:02:10 / 8.15 miles / 7:37 pace / 140 bpm

The Carb Monster...

I'm a little frustrated about my weight. Since April 13th I've only had 3 beers and by and large have eaten well 80 - 85% of the time and I've only lost 4 lbs and 1.5 % body fat. With all the calories I burn during training, combined with proper eating, I was expecting more of a weight loss. I figured if I didn't drink beer and stayed away from sugar and fried foods that I'd be down 8 - 10 lbs in a month.

However, I will say that my body feels tighter, my pants are looser, and my heart rate is much lower resting and during exercise. I find that I'm constantly craving carbohydrates and my buddy Gord Brauer tells me that is one of the reasons I'm not losing weight. He says that eating carbs all the time is causing my body to release insulin and if I don't burn those carbs, then the insulin helps quickly stores them as fat. And because I'm eating all day long, I'm releasing insulin all day long and storing fat all day long. He suggested that I should be adding more protein and healthy fats to my diet and stop the late night snacking, which I'm going to start doing.

I did my biking speed work tonight. At first I thought my heart rate monitor was broken because my standing heart rate got down to 38 bpm as I was filling my water bottles. I always thought drinking beer helped improve my performance, but now I'm not so sure. I've never had such low heart rates when I was drinking beer. 

Tonight my legs were exhausted, but not sore, and I would have loved to stay on the couch and not train. As I lightly pushed myself out the door it started "spitting" rain and getting cooler. It looked like this was going to be the first day I got my new bike wet and figured "it was going to happen sometime, I guess it will be today". But it didn't happen, I was lucky enough to finish my training before any real rain started. 

I did two of the King hills as part of my intervals, about 12 minutes of straight climbing. I think I'm getting faster. By memory I think I used to go up them at about 6 kph and today it was 8 kph. I figured that's a 25% improvement. I went hard and left it all on the road. For the last 15 minutes of spinning back to my house my heart rate was mostly in the 130's and when I got home and started blogging I felt like I was mini "bonking". Those signs tell me my body is officially stressed from a good hard workout.

One positive is that my calf's were not as tight today. The big decision I have to make tomorrow is whether I do my running speed work session or make it a tempo run. One thing I do know is that this weeks training is a muscle and character builder. 

Bike Speed Work - 1:13:34 / 36.47 km / 29.7 kph

Calfing tight...

I'm not sure if I should have done the calf press yesterday. Later in the day my calf's started feeling tight. Before I went to bed and when I woke up this morning I massaged them with "the stick". I got up early this morning and was debating if I should run or run and do a shorter than scheduled session. 

I decided to run and about 10 minutes into the run my left calf was still pretty tight and I was doing a very easy jog. I can't even remember the last time I ran so slow. I decided to persevere and do the entire workout but keep it slow and stay as relaxed as possible. I'm glad I did, it was a beautiful morning and as the run went on it loosened up. After I finished and stretched it improved quite a bit.

I came across this interesting article http://www.triathlon-ironman-myfirstironman-ironstruck.com/coconutoil.html and I think I'm going to try it. About 5 months ago I bought some coconut oil and only used it once. Tomorrow I'm going to try it in my morning smoothie. 

I found it hard to get out the door to do my run this morning and my bike ride tonight, which is unusual because I enjoy running and cycling. The reason why was that I broke my training schedule rhythm by tapering for Sunday's race. The last ride I did was 6 days ago. I knew that today was an important day for both cycling and running and getting back in the groove. It would have been easy to miss or reduce today's workouts and use recovery as an excuse, but I just couldn't do it. I felt it was important to get back on track as soon as possible.

I had the best ride ever tonight and I couldn't believe it. It was a moderate effort and I was able to keep it in the large front chain ring for the entire ride, even on the hills. I wasn't expecting a fast ride because of the race on Sunday and I figured my legs would not have a lot of strength, but I was wrong. I ended up averaging 34.2 kph with my heart rate averaging 127 bpm and it was a challenging course with lots of hills. Last year my fastest training ride was just over 33 kph. During the ride I had to stop and help a fellow triathlete who's headset came loose and didn't have any tools. Normally I would have rode with him a while but tonight I was motivated to see how fast I could go at a moderate pace and decided not to spend any time chatting.

Two thirds of the way through the ride my phone rang and from the caller I.D. I saw it was the cop who took my hit and run statement. I stopped the bike and answered the phone. He told me that he couldn't get a confession. The truck was the fathers business truck and the daughter drives it. She admitted to driving down Campbellville road the night and time I was hit, but did not remember hitting anyone. The cop told her that hitting someone is one thing, but hitting someone and not knowing it is worse.

The cop told me he was very aggressive with her, to the point were he even called her a liar to her face. He felt she was the person who hit me but had no proof. The father was concerned and wanted to know if I was okay. The father also talked to her one on one but could not get a confession. The cop also told them that I had overcome a lot of challenges to get in good shape and be competitive and that she could have seriously injured me, or worse. It was apparent that the daughter has some problems, especially when you go to the track all the time and take your infant.

So that's that. There is nothing I can do. It's over and she got away with it, but hopefully also got the message. I spoke to a guy at MEC and he told me not to go down Campbellville road because there are a lot of drunk drivers going to or from the race track.

By the time I got home from my ride it was dusk and my toes were getting frozen. Being the positive person I am I was thinking this was good for my sore foot. It was kinda like icing it.

Mod Run - 1:10:58 / 7.88 miles / 9:00 pace / 125 avg hr

Mod Bike - 2:28:28 / 84.67 miles / 34.2 kph / 127 avg hr

It was all water today...

Yesterday I ate "guilt free" after the race. We had a filling mothers day brunch and for dinner it was many servings of Chinese food. I wasn't looking forward to getting on the scale this morning because I knew I was going to weight a lot more due to the salt in the Chinese food and my leg muscles retaining water for recovery. I was right, I was over 5 lbs heavier than Friday. I figure it will take until Wednesday to get back to my natural weight.

This morning my legs were a little tight and I was slow to walk to the bathroom and down the stairs. It reminded me of how I felt all of last year when I started training under Mark Allen's coaching program. By lunch time my legs were feeling better and I went to the Y to do weights. I'm just starting my chisel phase and only have to do one set, which made today's session very enjoyable. I was also surprised that my legs felt so good. 

After dinner I was looking forward to getting to the pool to aid my race recovery. I find that the cool water helps the healing process. It's the next best thing to using ice on sore muscles. I took last Friday off from swimming as part of my pre-race taper so it has been 6 days since I was last in the pool. I decided to take it easy today and the entire swim was at a fairly easy pace. On a couple of 100's I went hard just to prove that I can still keep it under 1:50. During the swim I had to go to the washroom 3 times, which is a first, usually I only have to go once. I guess my body is starting to get rid of the water retention.

This week is going to be a difficult week of training. More running and biking miles that usual are scheduled. I'm still debating if I'm going to do a running speed work session this week or just a tempo run. I don't want to over do the speed work, especially after Sunday's race. I'm going to see how I feel and make the decision on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how my body handles lots of miles this week and still recover from Sunday's race. 

Weights - 30 minutes

Long Swim - 1:11:08 / 3000 meters

1:27:51...

I did it!!! I set a Personal Best for the Half Marathon and beat my previous PB from 1988 by 4 minutes and 25 seconds. I set that record when I was 22 years old. I was shocked that I had such a good race. I finished 10th out of 306 in my age group, 68th out of 1897 overall men and 81st out of 4408 overall.

Last night I was concerned that I was going to have one of my worst races. Earlier in the day I was cleaning the barbecues, getting one ready to sell, and was on my feet for a few hours and working hard, lots of scrubbing. I was getting a sore upper back and my left thigh seemed to have lactic acid build up. I didn't get a chance to lie on the couch and rest until around 7:30 pm. I was also concerned that I didn't Carbo load properly. I had a barbecued steak and potato dinner last night, about 9 creamsicles, and chicken and ribs the night before. Not the ideal Carbo loading formula.

My other concerns were physical. Would my lower abdomen be okay? Would the ball of my left foot be okay? and would my left knee be okay? All of these are minor injuries and would they get worse? Would they get worse and jeopardize my triathlon performance this year.

I got about 6 hours of sleep last night and was up about 3 times in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, which is a good sign that I was well hydrated. I did have a concern because one of the times I got up I was sweating like crazy and my body felt like it going to burn up. Not a good sign a few hours before a race. When I woke up I did the regular pre-race ritual of having coffee, a bagel with butter, lots of water and an Advil.

My biggest and most difficult decision was to determine what clothes to wear for the race. It was only 7 C outside and it's a difficult temperature to dress for. The decision I had to make was whether I go with a singlet or long sleeved shirt. I decided to wear a singlet and put a long sleeve shirt on top and figured when I got to the race I'd make the final decision at the starting line. Driving to the race I was really second guessing myself and wondering if my leg strength would last for the entire race and wished I had eaten better and rested more in preparation for the race.

I did about 10 minutes of light jogging and a few surges before the race. I was really worried because my heart rate was higher than I would have liked it to have been. In the car driving to the site it got as low at 40 bpm resting and in the 130's during the warm up. My legs still didn't feel fresh after the warm up.

It was cold and windy at the start. Very few people had a singlet or armless shirts. At the last minute I threw off the long sleeve shirt, which I never got back, and went with the singlet. It was a good decision. Within 200 meters of running I felt fine, although I was second guessing myself about how well I'd do and had to do some "positive" self talk. Then I remembered what Mark Allen said about racing, "empty your mind, don't think and stay in the moment". Which I did and I settled into a "blissful" state.

For the first two miles I averaged a 6:38 pace. I then settled in at a 6:41 pace. I was focusing on running "light", with good form and keeping my cadence as high as possible. Once I got going I knew my core was rested enough because for 75% of the race it was at 145 bpm or less, but I wasn't sure about my leg endurance.

I was concerned when my legs started to feel the lactic acid building as early as mile 3. My strategy was to try and keep it from building until I got to the half way point, as that is when I feel the race really begins. About mile 6, I could see down the road that a Canada Goose was in the middle of the road and was attacking runners as they passed by. The crowd was having a great time watching this. As my luck would have it, the goose lunged at me and I had to jump out of its way. Once I did that my legs broke rhythm and my thighs started to feel tight.

So far in training I've had a deer jump in front of me, dogs chase me, a cat chased me (yes a cat), I ran over a squirrel and now a goose attacked me in a race, what is it with me and animals. I can't imagine what's next?

I didn't panic after the goose attack and tried to get back into my rhythm quickly and relax, hoping the lactic acid would flush out of my legs. My legs eventually did feel better. At the half was point I was averaging a 6:42 pace and kept focusing on relaxing and keeping my cadence high. At this point I was feeling confident that if I could just relax and not injure myself that I'd break 1:30, but I wasn't taking anything for granted. Anything could happen. My legs couldn't go any faster without losing form.

My plan was to wait until 5 kms to go before I opened it up. I tried to go a little faster but noticed that my legs started to quickly get tight so I went back to my normal pace. I didn't want to blow up with 3 miles to go. I then decided I was going to open it up with a kilometer to go. The last kilometer I went a little faster and was able to bring my average pace down to 6:40 by the time I finished. All I focused on was smooth form and not getting injured. For the last 200 meters I was flying.

Crossing the finish line I felt great. At no point during the run was I even breathing hard, even on the up hills. I'd be passing guys who were huffing and puffing, which I normally do, and I'd be breathing regularly. It was a weird and great feeling. I knew I broke 1:30 and was thinking I had a chance to break 1:29. I didn't look at my watch until I finished and was shocked and "pumped" that I broke 1:28. I crossed the line and saw 1:27:51 and did a "fist pump".

Surprisingly, this was the easiest half marathon I've ever done. Afterwards my legs didn't even feel that sore. I'd say a 6 on 10 on the soreness scale and I was even able to jog across the street to get to my car afterwards. The only thing that was tight was my hamstrings, which was a first for me. I didn't stretch much after the race because it was so cold and I was getting the chills, but I did made sure I ate, and drank lots of water.

My main focus was to get on the bus going back to the start line so I could get in my car and go home. The one good thing about finishing before everyone else is that there is no line up for food and the buses are fairly empty. When I got home I was so cold and the first thing I did was have a hot shower, put on some warm clothes and had a good stretching session. With all the water I drank and the stretching, my hamstrings started to feel normal again. The only thing tight was my iliotibial band and it started feeling better as the day went on.

For the rest of the day it was go, go, go. We had a great mothers day brunch and I ate lots of "guilt free" food. I didn't get a chance to relax and watch Tiger play golf until 4:30 pm. The good news is that all my hard work cleaning the barbecue paid off, I ended up selling it and got a whopping $35 and even felt good enough to lift it and put it in the back of the women's 4 x 4.

Mississauga Half Marathon - 1:27:51 / 13.1 miles / 6:40 pace / Avg HR 146

It's now a waiting game...

Tomorrow is the half marathon. I'm more anxious than I've ever been because I want to do well. In actual fact I want to set a Personal Best and not get injured doing it. Strategy? I have none and I never have. I usually determine how I'm going to race once the gun goes off.

I went to bed later than I wanted to last night. Microsoft support called just after 11 pm to help me figure out my wireless network problem. We had a scheduled appointment at 9 pm, which they were 2 hours late for, and I was getting ready to go to bed when they called. By the time we finished it was 12:30 am. Throughout the process they kept blaming the problems on the ISP and Apple, but I can be a strong personality and I wouldn't accept their conclusions. It didn't make sense to me. Needless to say they almost resolved the problem and then told me I needed to call Apple to get a password. After I got off the phone, I played around with the computer and got it working. Microsoft was wrong, I didn't need Apple.

By the time I got to bed it was 1 am and I woke up at 7 am this morning. I started loading print drivers on the laptop and then decided that I should really go back to bed and get a couple more hours of sleep in order to be better prepared for the race. I'm glad I did because I felt much better when I got up. I was refreshed. 

After about 4 large cups of coffee I went for my pre-race run. Ten minutes into the run it started to rain and hail. I didn't mind running in it and actually enjoyed it, especially because my iPhone was playing some awesome and motivating music. The only downside was that my shoes got soaking wet. I did about 5 surges and according to my watch during one of those surges I was running at a 4:32 per mile pace. I never thought my legs could move that fast, even if it was just for 15 seconds. Wouldn't you know it, just when I got home the sun came out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

I kept my effort very easy on the run, except for the surges and averaged 122 bpm. Afterwards I was making my banana pancakes and my standing heart rate got down to 45 bpm. If it can have a resting heart rate that low tomorrow I'll have the best race I'm capable of doing. It may not be a PB, but it will be the best I have in me. 

I'm a little nervous because this is the first race I'm doing without a few pre race beers the night before and I'm hoping it doesn't have a negative effect on my performance. I've always raced well when I've had a few beers the night before. Hopefully it's just superstition. Now all I can do is wait, try not to eat to much tonight and get a good nights sleep and make sure I set the alarm and get up in time. My greatest fear, and I've had dreams about this, is sleeping in and not getting to the race in time.

Pre Race Run - 34:53 / 4.16 miles / 8:22 pace / 122 avg hr

Getting things fixed...

It happened. I finally broke the 180 lb barrier. I haven't been in the 170's since September of last year, which is 6 months ago. I weighed in today at 179.0 lbs with a 21.4 BMI. I've lost 7.8 lbs and lowered my BMI by 1.2 in the past 24 days. I also had only 3 beers in all that time. I wonder if there is a relationship between beer consumption and weight? I wonder???

One of my progress goals, which it looks like I'm going to achieve is to be 179 lbs or less by the time of the Mississauga half marathon this Sunday. I hope my pigging out, er, I mean "Carbo loading" at Tony Roma's tonight won't sabotage my efforts. Although I am proud to say that I did have the discipline to turn down the post diner mint.

I took today off from training as part of my tapering plan. I needed the rest in order to give my left foot, left knee and lower left abdomen time to heal. I hurt my knee weight training yesterday. Unfortunately I'm going into this race at about 80 -85% healthy. I just hope I don't do any further damage.

Today has been fix it day. I've been dealing with Microsoft to fix a wireless networking issue and with my gas guy to fix our outdoor patio heater. I have dealt with Apple support and now I've had experience dealing with Microsoft support. There is no comparison, hands down Apple is the best. Apple will stay with you until the problem is solved and their call center is in North America and they speak English as a first language. Microsoft still hasn't fixed my problem and is trying to set up an appointment time for another tech support person to call me. They are also based out of India and I have to keep asking them what they just said because they don't speak clear English. It's very frustrating. 

The very good news is that I got my patio heater fixed. It is a commercial grade patio heater and has never really worked that well since I got it 3 years ago. I called the company that sold it to me and they said to bring it in. They ended up changing the entire inside of the unit and didn't charge me for it. When I got it home it still didn't work and determined it was a gas line problem. The gas guy came and fixed the line and now the heater works great. It's working better than when we originally got it. Now I'm not sure if the unit was the problem or it was the gas line all along. Either way we now have essentially a brand new patio heater.

To me, it is really important that we have the patio heater working. Summer is coming and Alice and I like to spend weekend evenings outside, listening to 70's music and having cocktails until the wee hours of the morning. This evening I sat in my chair and tested out the heater. It worked perfectly. If you look closely at the picture you will see that is a diet Pepsi on the table and not a beer, unfortunately. 

I don't plan on depriving myself of beer this summer, so I only have about 4 weeks left to get down to my fighting weight.

Rest / Taper day.