It's never felt better...

I find regular training can cause "ground hog" day. The routine makes everyday seem like the next, especially during the week. I get up at 8-8:30 am, work, train, play on the computer, blog, twitter, watch the Daily Show and then go to bed around 11:30 pm. Then it repeats, and repeats, and repeats, and repeats, and repeats until the weekend.

When I sleep I wake up two to three times a night. The strangest thing is that most times I don't know where I am, even though I'm in my own bed. It's that same feeling that you get when you travel; sleeping in a hotel room and waking up and saying "hey, wait a minute, this doesn't look like my room, where am I"? Truth be told, I kinda like waking up and not knowing where I am and trying to figure it out.

When I woke up this morning, I debated with myself if I should weigh myself or not. I haven't weighed myself in at least three weeks. I used to do it daily. My pants and clothes have been fitting fine and Alice thought I was even looking skinny the other day, so why bother weighing myself?

I've even been considering not weighing myself at all, ever again. But today I couldn't resist. I know I haven't been eating well and needed motivation to cut down on food and drink. You see, if I've gained weight I'm actually more motivated to eat better and drink less. I remember what it felt like to be fat and I "never" want to go back to being a fatso.

I ended up weighing 185.4 lbs at 23.1 BMI. I gained 3 lbs and 1% BMI. Another reason I weighed myself was that I wanted to know if weight gain was causing me to run slower. Unfortunately 3 lbs wouldn't be enough to do it. I checked my training log and I've averaged over 600 miles of training per month for the last 7 months. That's probably what's slowing me down, I need to reduce mileage and recover for a few months. Like I did last year. Unfortunately, I still have to train for Clearwater, so until November 14th, I'm "hooped".

Today was the last training day of the month. This number is hard to believe, but it was 599.99 miles of total training. Not because it is a lot of mileage, I've done more, but because I was only .01 away from breaking 600 miles for the month. I considered running down the street to get it, it would have taken only 30 seconds, but I figured no, it's such an unbelievable and unlikely number, I think I'll keep it.

I got my bike fixed today and it has never ridden so well, everything moved smoothly. Those guys at Wheels are excellent. They replaced my brake and gear cables due to corrosion, that's why it wasn't switching gears or braking properly. They also found the headset and areo bars were loose.

They were very fair on the price and charged me $55, but by the time I bought a couple more long stem tubes and carbon brake pads, I ended up spending $155. A $100 of that expense was directly related to having carbon racing wheels. No racing wheels and I'd have an extra $100 in my bank account right now. Man, looking good and thinking wheels will make me go faster on the bike can be expensive. In reality, dropping those 3 lbs would make me go faster and it'd be a whole lot cheaper.

The owner of my local bike shop sure screwed himself, he just lost out on my $155 purchase due to his berating me over not buying my bike at his shop . Although, I did save money at Wheels, their long stem tubes are only $10, my old bike shop was $14.

My legs are still a little sore and flat. During the ride I stopped to change from a podcast to music on my iPhone and a guy rode by me. He got a good kilometer ahead of me before I started the chase. Within about 3 minutes I was almost on his tail. I was flying and he was also pushing it. It just shows how the competitive juices can take over and block the pain of muscle soreness.

Speed Bike - 59.09 / 30.26 km / 30.7 km avg / 135 avg hr

5

September Monthly Totals

Swim - 9.92 miles / 16 km

Bike - 502.49 miles / 810.47 km

Run - 87.58 miles / 141.25 km

weights - 3 sessions

Totals - 599.99 miles / 967.72 km

Total Calories Burnt 44,333

150

Lots of Squirrelly Road Kill...

I knew I was feeling better when I woke up and could walk down the stairs more than one stair at a time. My legs started to feel fresh again and I was no longer walking like an 80 year old. At that point, I realized I could use the "stair test" to determine if I need a rest. If I can only take one stair at a time, it's time to rest.

I love training, even more than racing, and don't like taking time off unless I really have too. I was happy to get back training today. Even though I only took a couple of days off, it seemed like a long time. I NEED my training to keep me balanced.

Today's training was at a moderate effort, keeping the heart rate under 135 bpm. I don't know why, but I've noticed squirrels and chipmunks are really stupid in the spring and fall. You may have remembered that in the Spring I ran over a squirrel. On the last three rides I've now had at least 10 of those varmints run in front of me and passed by at least 10 that were already road kill.

My ride was a challenge. My gears weren't working right and I was stuck in one or two gears for most of the ride. It definitely slowed me down. I tried to fix it, but had no luck. On the way out I was against a stiff wind and it was reversed on the way back. I physically had to stop my bike and grab the chain with my hand to change gears. I wasn't going to let a malfunctioning gears cut my session short. Just being out on the road in the fresh fall air felt so good.

Normally I would have taken it in to my local bike shop, but because of their outrageous behaviour on the weekend, and my vow not to go back to them again, I took it to "Wheels" in Toronto. I had 3 people, one who even lives in the United Kingdom, recommend them to me. I was expecting something more than it was, it was not very impressive, kind of a hole in the wall, but I'm told they have great mechanics. And that's all that matters.

I did my run later tonight and although I'm running slower than normal, I don't care. If I didn't have a watch on, I wouldn't know I was running slower. It still feels good to get out and just run. It was a moderate run, which is at a lower heart rate and most enjoyable. It feels effortless.

What was great about tonight's run was that I came up with a solution. I had a problem with a website I'm building and didn't know how to structure it. Then, low and behold, out of nowhere the answer came to me. That's an example of the benefits of exercise.

Mod Bike - 1:47:00 / 52.55 km / 29.4 kph / 126 avg hr

Mod Run - 1:10:58 / 8.08 / 8:46 pace / 133 avg hr

A little more memory lane stuff...

I was so busy working at my kitchen table on business related stuff that I almost forgot to post my blog tonight. It felt like I had forgot something. That's what happens when you get out of your normal routine. It's important to post my blog before the Daily Show, Jon Stewart's my favorite.

Tonight, my problem is that I don't know what to write about. This is my second day of no training and I'm looking forward to getting back at it tomorrow. Big time. If not, I'm going to become an unbalanced workaholic.

It dawned on me that I haven't written about how well my daughter Alyssa is doing at school. She had some medical problems and which set her school back a couple of years and last January was able to go back full time. Since then, she's been kicking ass.

Ontario schools are a lot tougher than Manitoba schools. They really push the kids to learn. Last year Alyssa averaged in the 90's in all her full time courses. All summer she was also dying to get back to school. This year she's back in the 90's and today found out she has a 90% average in math, when the class average is only 68%. Amazingly, she hasn't been in a math class for over two years. I'm really proud of her.

She's also joined DECA, which is like a young business person's club, where the students focus on creating business plans and they actually go to competitions and have to argue their plan against others. She's on fire right now. I can see it in her face, she's so full of "Piss and Vinegar" and confidence. It's nice to see things are back on track. She's now very focused on which University she's going to go to next year and what she should take. That's a tough decision, who knows what they are going to do with their life at a young age. I definitely didn't and don't know many who do.

I attached a picture of when she was probably 13 years old and we were living in Winnipeg. She had just finished her school year, she did well as usual, and I took her in the back yard and we had a bon-fire and I suggested we burn her school note books. It was a fun time.

Recovery & Rest

8

From KFC to Walmart...

A day off and not training was tough. I had to fight the urge to do anything. At one point I almost had myself convinced to do a 30 minute run. It helped going to Reid's first hockey game of the year.

He plays at a rink that has a bar that you can watch the game from. My kinda place. After a couple of beers for me and rum and diet cokes for Alice, any urge to train went away. Surprisingly, Reid did well and his team won. It's been a long time since he's been on a winning team.

All afternoon I sat at my bar downstairs, drank beer, watched Tiger in the background and read old blog entries. I'm glad I write, because even after a couple of weeks I forgot what I did two weeks ago. After watching 60 minutes and picking up KFC for dinner there was a show on TV about Walmart. It got me thinking, I have a Walmart story and if I don't write it down, I may forget it one day. Plus I need to make room in the hard drive for new stories. So here's my story.

Since I was a kid I've been entrepreneurial. I read everything I could about business and the person and company I admired most was Sam Walton who started Walmart. I bought and read every book ever written about Walmart. I wanted to become the Walmart of the printing industry. Didn't happen, but that's how much I loved Walmart.

On Wednesday July 4th, 2001, I was on the sofa with Alice watching the biography of Sam Walton. I've seen it many times, but this night felt different and I got an urge to go to Bentonville and see Walmarts head office. I told Alice I was going to Bentonville tomorrow afternoon and wanted to know if she wanted to come. She looked at me and said she'd "think about it and tell me tomorrow".

Tomorrow came and she said no, she felt it was something I needed to do by myself. I went to work that day and around 2 pm left and started driving to Bentonville from Winnipeg, which is a 1657 km one way trip. I made one rule to myself, no air-conditioning. I put on my bandanna, took off my shirt and started driving to Bentonville. I crossed the border and by 11 pm that night I made it to Omaha Nebraska. Home of Warren Buffett. I ended up at a casino hotel and spent the night.

The next morning I woke up and got back on the road. I got a call from Glenn Tinley, my sales manager and friend at the time, he asked me where I was. I told him I was on my way to Walmart. He asked me if I was going to try and get into a Saturday morning meeting. I had completely forgot about the Saturday morning meetings. He gave me a great idea.

The Saturday morning meetings are what Walmart was built on. They are legendary. Each week, the executives fly out to stores Sunday night and return Thursday and then early Saturday morning they have a company wide meeting at head office. They go through all the intelligence and recap their progress.

I wasn't even thinking about going to Walmart for any reason other than to see what head office looked like. Glenn gave me an idea. It would be great to attend a Walmart Saturday morning meeting. As I was driving I called Walmart head office and asked to speak to Rob Walton, Sam Walton's son. I had read somewhere that Rob was an Ironman Triathlete and figured that if I mentioned to him I was an Ironman as well, he'd be able to get me into the meeting.

I called and he was out of town. So I asked for the next best thing, Lee Scott the President and CEO of Walmart Worldwide. I got through to his secretary and told her, "I'm a huge Walmart fan, I'm driving from Winnipeg and would like to attend a Saturday morning meeting". She said she'd check to see if I could attend and get back to me.

She did call back, and politely said no. She explained that these meetings are highly confidential and that they are only open to associates and key suppliers. I thanked her and kept driving. I didn't care, I just planned on going there to see the building anyway.

It was a hot drive, from the moment I left Winnipeg and all the way to Bentonville, it was hot. I had my windows and sun roof open the entire way, no air conditioning and 70's music blaring loud. It was an awesome ride. The air was so hot and humid it was giving me a big hug.

On Friday night, I was an hour outside of Bentonville and stopped at a Ruby Tuesdays. I had dinner and a couple of beers. By the time I got back on the road I was feeling awesome. The music was playing and I felt like I was in heaven. The scenery was phenomenal, very lush and rugged. I finally arrived at Walmart's head office around 7 pm.

I was shocked at what I saw. I thought I'd see this glass corporate building on a corporate campus. Wrong! I saw a building that looked like a high school. It was a beautiful night, the sun was setting and I'll never forget how beautiful the sky looked. As I was driving around the parking lot a security vehicle approached.

I stopped and a smaller slight man with a big moustache approached my car. With a southern twang in his voice he asked what I was doing. I told him " I'm a huge Walmart fan and drove from Winnipeg just to see Walmart's head office". He apologized for asking, but said there is lots of corporate espionage and he was on the look out. He then asked me if I wanted to see the inside of the building. I said, "sure, absolutely, that would be great".

He took me inside and said he couldn't take me everywhere for security reasons, but he did take me to the area where they have the Saturday morning meetings. It was like a big pit, like a school auditorium. I couldn't believe it, this was beyond my expectations. The security guy let me take some pictures. If you look at the one of the auditorium you can see him on the stairs, barely. Walmart, inside, seems like your in a high school.

I started talking to him and found out that he used to be the sheriff or deputy sheriff of Bentonville. I asked him if there was a way I could get into the Saturday morning meeting. He said that would be very tough and that the only way you could get in would be to get permission from a director of the company.

He told me that if I wanted to get in I should show up around 6:00 am and wrote the names of three people I should ask for. They had the authority to allow visitors. I thanked him and left. That night I went to the sister town of Rogers and had a beer at a bar and headed back to the hotel to fall asleep and get up early to see if I'd get into a Walmart Saturday morning meeting.

I showed up at 6:00 am and I was one of the first in the parking lot. I went inside and they had three receptionists to handle the visitors alone. I took out the card with the names that the security guard gave me and started asking the receptionist if any were available. She starting paging them on the intercom. None showed up. I realized that trying to find one of them was like trying to find a gym teacher in a school. Not an easy task.

Then, low and behold, the security guard from the night before appeared. Strange. I said hi and he said he take a look and see if he could find someone who could help me. About 10 minutes later he appeared with a very large man in a black tee shirt.

The man in the black tee shirt approached me and said "I'm Tom Coghlan, President of Walmart America, how can I help you?". I looked him square in the eye and said, "I'm Bryan Payne, I'm a huge Walmart fan and I've driven all the way from Winnipeg and I'd like to attend a Walmart Saturday morning meeting". He paused, looked me up and down and then said "sure, come on in"!!!

I couldn't believe it. He took me to his office and we started talking. I had all kinds of questions for him. I asked so much about how they ran their business and what was Sam Walton like. Tom told me his background and how he came to Walmart and told me about Sam Walton who had hired him. The only thing Tom asked was that I not disclose what goes on with respect to financial numbers during the Saturday morning meeting. I said "no problem".

As I sat in Tom's office and looked around, it was so messy. I asked Tom if I could take a picture of him behind his desk with such a messy office. I told him that my office was just as messy and after being in his, if anyone complained to me about my messy office, I was going to show them a picture of his office and tell them that if the President of Walmart America's office could be this messy, then so could mine.

I spoke with Tom for at least 30 minutes one on one. We eventually left and on the way to the meeting we stopped at the cafeteria and he bought me a tea. Along the way there was a wall of pictures of each CEO of the competition, they really personalized who the competition actually was. He then took me to the meeting and at this point I figured I'd blend into the wood work, watch and it'd be over. Wrong.

The layout of the meeting is as follows; the presidents of Walmart's regions are at the back table, then in a horse shoe table layout is the VP's and senior people and then in the stands are everyone else. Before the meeting started, Tom took me over to Lee Scott, the President and CEO of Walmart Worldwide and introduced me to Lee.

Lee was very nice and said "your from Canada? Canadian Tire, tough competitor" and then asked me what I was doing after the meeting. I had to think about it and then said, "I'm going to drive back home". Tom then took me and made me sit close to him, just off to his left side in the stands. Prime seats. I couldn't believe it. Here I was at a Walmart Saturday morning meeting. It was surreal.

The meeting went on and it was SPECTACULAR!!! As I looked at the horseshoe table layout of all the VP's I thought they all looked extraordinarily ordinary. None looked corporate. They were all in tee shirts and shorts, some brought their kids. One guy was fat and had jewelry all over his hands and neck and I swear I've seen him at the horse track. I found out later that he was one of Sam Walton's long time hires. The VP's looked more like Mary Kay and Amway sales people than corporate people.

Lee spoke openly to the managers in the stands. Those that couldn't get into the auditorium watched from monitors outside. He'd call on managers and ask about individual orders or orders that he thought were to aggressive for an item. One manager got up and said "yes I ordered that much and don't you worry, it will sell". The exchanges were incredible. Then they went through Walmarts stores and sales worldwide. It was amazing how easy they made it look. You wouldn't think this was a big company at all.

The meeting went on and during one part of the meeting Tom Coghlan grabbed the microphone and told Lee that the one of the stores that was struggling was doing better and showed a video of one of the associates, who on their own, drove around a competitors parking lot with a mega phone and yelling to the shoppers to "shop at Walmart". It was definitely someone who wanted to do well by Walmart, but I thought, ewe, they may have stepped over the line.

Tom said he wasn't that happy that that associate did that, he'd prefer that they win on price and service and that driving around a competitors parking lot, crossed the line. That Walmart has a bad name as a big corporate bully and this adds to it. Fair comment. Then magic happened, Lee told Tom that he agreed, but that what he loves about Walmart, is "that we need to keep pulling our associates back, rather than having to push them forward". Wow, I loved it!

As the meeting was coming to an end, they had a new corporate VP they just hired and they had heard he was a good singer. So they made him do a song. Now, understand, this is no small production, they had at least 3 guys handling, lighting, video and sound at the back of the room. It was a first class production, so when they asked him to sing, they already had the music ready.

This guy sang unbelievably. He did a Lee Greenwood song and sounded better than Lee Greenwood. The entire place went nuts. This guy brought tears to eyes and brought the house down. I figured it was winding down and coming to an end. Wrong. Lee started to introduce people in the stands. Managers that came in from far away stores and suppliers, then it got to me. What???

Tom Coghlan got up and told the audience that "he was called to the front this morning and there was a person who explained they had driven from Winnipeg and wanted to attend a Saturday morning Walmart meeting, and DAMN if he was going to say no". It brought the house down. Then Lee asked me to say a few words.

I took the microphone and stood up. Now I can't remember what I said, but I can remember the spirit of it and I can remember that my delivery was unbelieveable. It came right from my heart and even if someone offered me a billion dollars, to this day, I couldn't remember how I said it.

The spirit of what I said was that Walmart has changed the world. That thanks to Walmart, they have been able to drive prices down and improve the quality of life for people and society.

Even at that, I still can't remember what I said, but it must have been good because afterwards every President from every region of the globe came up to me and shook my hand, thanked me and gave me their business card. After I finished, Lee even made a joke to the audience that when he asked what I was doing after the meeting, I said "driving home". Everyone laughed.

The meeting ended and I was blown away, it exceeded any dreams I had. Heck a day earlier I didn't even think I was going to be at the meeting. As I was leaving, a guy came up to me from the audience and said that he heard I had a printing company, and asked "would you like to see our print faciliates?". I said, sure. He then spent the next couple of hours showing me their print facility.

Afterwards I got in my truck, stopped by the Sam Walton original store museum and then drove back home to Winnipeg. I had taken pictures and before I left I had them developed at the local Walmart store. I was so paranoid that they wouldn't develop, because without those photo's, no one was going to believe my story.

When I got back to Winnipeg, I told everyone my story. My dad originally thought it was STUPID that I was going to drive to Walmart and try and get into a Saturday morning meeting. My mom and Alice told him "if anything is going to happen, it will happen with Bryan". When my dad heard the final story of my journey, he was most proud of all. After I told him the story, I think I told him something along the lines like "I told you so" or some sort of "rub it in your face statement". lol.

It didn't end there. A month or two later my office phone rang and I picked it up. The person on the other end of the line said "Hi Bryan, I'm Mario Pilozzi, president of Walmart Canada. Your a hard guy to get a hold of. I heard you made a pilgramage down to the mother land and made quite an impression on everyone. I just wanted to say that if you ever make it out to Toronto, I'd like to meet you". Wow. I was in disbelief. I asked him why he didn't leave a message, I'm not that hard to get ahold of, and he said he wanted to talk to me directly.

A few months later I ended up going to Toronto and called him up and I met with him at his office. He was a great guy, he told me his business life story and I really enjoyed the time we spent together.

I noticed a couple of years later that Walmart changed their marketing approach. They used to be "Lowest Price, Always" and now its "Save money, Live Better". I tell the kids, and I'm not kidding, that they used my speech to come up with or reaffirm that new marketing approach. I believe it.

That's what I told Walmart about themselves when I was there. That Walmart has helped people live better. Even poor people have stuff, not brand name, but still stuff. I've often wondered why everyone was so nice to me, was it normal behaviour, or did I help them in some way. Of course I want to think the later for ego purposes.

Today, I don't feel the same way about Walmart. I think they're losing their way, but that's a story for another day. Maybe they need me to go to another Saturday morning meeting and I'll explain it to them.

18

Below is Reid's first game back and the start of only his 3rd Season playing hockey.

Recovery Day - Nothing to do, but write.

I'm now Crispy...

I'm officially over-trained. Last night I went to the movie "The informant" with Alice, Alyssa and Reid. For that 90 minutes during the movie, thinking of nothing else, I felt great. Then when it was over I went back to fatigued.

I must say, in that movie, Matt Damon who gained 40 lbs, added a mustache, toupee and glasses, looked just like my brother Bobby. It was freaky, I kept thinking I was looking at my brother. He even had my brothers listening skills.

This morning I wanted to sleep an extra couple of hours but couldn't. I took my time getting ready, had a good breakfast and even waited until it warmed up outside while I ran some errands.

I went to MEC and picked up some toe warmers, water bottles and a front head light. I like MEC. The products are good, at excellent prices, and they have a second to none return policy. It's become a favorite store of mine. Which is hard to believe, I only thought "granola eaters" bought from MEC. I guess I'm now officially a "granola eater".

They didn't have any brake pads so I went to one of the local bike stores that I spent a lot of time and money at last year. I easily spent close to $1500 at this bike shop last year alone. I don't mind the place, Alice doesn't like it. She says the two owners seem arrogant.

At the end of last year they wanted to sell me a 2008 P2C and offered it to me for $3000. I called Endurosport and they said they'd sell me a 2009 P2C for $2800. The local bike shop could also sell me a 2009, but wanted $3500.

Needless to say I went with Endurosport and got a 2009 model bike $700 cheaper than getting it from my local bike store. Anyways, today was the first day I'd been in their store since I bought my P2C. I found the brakes I wanted and found some long stemmed tubes and before I checked out with my $65 order, one of the owners asked me if I was still driving the Roo. I said no, I sold it and bought a P2C.

He pretty much flipped after he found out I didn't buy it from him. I told him his partner offered me a 2008 model P2C at a higher price than Endurosport was going to offer me the 2009 model. He kept going on and on about why didn't I buy from him. I started to tune him out when he started to give me an economics lesson on why he can't lower his price and I should have bought from him at a higher amount, blah, blah, blah, blah. I just nodded, I wanted to get out of there.

He then stood the hair up on the back of my neck when he said that he gives advice, like some cold weather riding advice he gave me moments earlier, and that has got to be worth paying more for. I snapped at him and said, "look man, your partner knew what was going on, I talked to him numerous times, you couldn't compete on the price and in the past couple years I've probably spent $2000 or more in your store, don't tell me that you give your advice away, heck this order in my hand is worth $65". I could tell he realized he went to far. It became a little uncomfortable. As this was all going on, his partner was stacking shelves, listening, but not getting involved. Pussy.

We both awkwardly parted with pleasantries like nothing had happened, but I was pissed off. Who does he think he is. When I got home and told Alice the story, she gave me the "I told you so" story about their arrogance. The one thing I know for certain is that I'm NOT going to buy anything from them unless I absolutely have to. Had he kept his mouth shut or "accepted" losing the sale like a man , I would have still purchased tune-ups, tubes, nutrition, clothes, etc from them. Now, unless I'm forced to, I won't go back, and obviously I'm not going to be spreading good word of mouth about my experience or recommending others to buy from them.

When I got home, I changed my wheels and put the new brake pads on the bike. It wasn't easy, the new ones were much thicker and I had to spend about 25 minutes making adjustments so that they didn't rub on the wheel. I put one set on and then when I went to put the other set on I realized that Alice took my truck and the package was on the hood of my truck. Damn. I called her, she came back with the old ones in her hand, but the new package had blown off. I ended up walking down the street, in my bare socks, and eventually found them and put them on.

I then re-taped my handle bars and put the new headlight on the bike. It only took me 2 minutes to put the headlight on, but 28 minutes to look for the light attachment. Ah, the joy of having kids, they move and break everything. As a matter of fact, yesterday I went to put on my good dress shoes for a business meeting and the shoe laces were missing from one of the shoes. How does that happen? What the heck is Reid thinking? Doesn't he think, these are my dad's dress shoes, taking his shoe laces would not be a good idea? Or if I take these, he's going to kill me? Apparently not.

Kids break, take and lose everything, especially boys. Actually only boys. I now know how my dad used to feel and I can hardly wait until Reid becomes a dad. I'm going to relish in his suffering. lol.

I finally got on the bike and the weather had turned from sunshine to cloud with a 100% chance of rain. Within 2 minutes of riding, my derailleur wasn't working properly. I couldn't change gears. I got off the bike and at first thought, I should take this to a bike shop, then I remembered that I don't want to go to that bike shop unless I absolutely have to, so I started to fiddle and got it semi-working and persevered on with the ride.

Then it started giving me problems again. I fiddled, it worked better and I kept going. Then it started raining and the speedometer stopped working. I stopped, fiddled and got it working but inadvertently erased all the data. Damn, I didn't record of how far and long I was out for before it was erased. Right from the beginning problem I was wondering if this was an omen and that I shouldn't be riding today.

As time went on I started feeling worse and worse, I had just no leg strength. My heart rate was so low, I was physically and mentally severely fatigued. I decided to turnaround and head back home. I took a road that I hadn't before and it turned into a gravel road. Do I keep going on dangerous gravel, or turnaround and go back? I kept going. I finally got back onto asphalt.

A few times I almost stopped and called Alice to come pick me up, but I didn't. Eventually I managed to get home and along the way realized I'm over-trained. When I got home, Alice said she noticed I've looked terrible all week. Enough said, I'm taking at least 2 days off. Let the recovery begin. I'm going to start with a hot shower, a cold beer and I'm going to turn the computer off for a while.

I had to add this comment. So when I do my book for the year, it will be included. It is from Johan Stemmet of South Africa. He reads my blog and left me a message that I inspire him. He is a Mark Allen triathlete and qualified for the Ironman this year. I asked him "why I inspired him", it threw me. This is his response.

Hi B
Thought it will be best to post the answer to your question on your blog. Without sounding Cheezy here is the answer to "Why do you inspire me" you posted on my blog

Since I've started reading your blog I found it very inspirational.
whatever the post there is always a lesson I can learn from it and most of the times it reflects to my own life.

you are a very positive person and i respect you for your positive outlook towards your career, family and Triathlon training/racing.

When i read your post I can just sense the positive energy you give to others. I think anybody who inter acts with you face to face get something out of it whatever the situation might be.

You should know that training for IM's is not easy and one sometimes just don't feel like doing a training session. when i read your experiences i relate to my own and it gives me the positive outlook to just push through.

being a serious person and one who is always target driven, i've seen when i read your posts that life doesn't always have to be serious to enjoy it. One can have fun and still achieve major accomplishments.
Since qualifying for Kona i was so tensed up to achieve a good time but now i am just gonna enjoy the experience.

thanks again for inspiring me when i read your posts

regards
johan

Long Bike - 2:30:00 / 69.26km / 27.7 kph / 113 avg hr

16

I'm fried...

My base training has now reached it's highest mileage point and I've just started the speed work and power weight lifting phase. My body is also still recovering from racing two weekends ago. Needless to say, I'm fatigued. I haven't felt this way since 2008, when I was training for Florida Ironman 70.3.

Swimming today was hard to finish. I got to the pool and within the first 10 minutes I just wanted to get out. At first I was hoping the pool was going to refresh and rejuvenate me, but it didn't. I would have stopped if it was not for one thing, I was having my fastest swim of my life.

I started a series of 8 x 100's and when I finished the first one it was at a 1:31 pace per 100 meters. To put that in perspective, my absolute best swims are around 1:42 - 1:44 and during my comeback year I swam a consistent 2:25 per 100. At first I thought my watch was broken.

I did my second 100 and same thing, it was 1:32. For the entire 800 meters, each 100 didn't go above 1:34. It was impossible to quit when I was having the fastest swim of my life. However, even at that I still wanted to quit, but kept talking myself out of it. All I wanted to do was go back to work, put in my time and have a nice cold relaxing beer and a good nights sleep when I got home.

But I kept swimming. Using every ounce of mental strength I had, I kept swimming. I finished my second last set and was resting when a guy in the next lane asked "which year did you do Hawaii". He was looking at my tattoo. At first I thought that was a strange question, how did he know if I did Hawaii or not? Then I had to think about it hard and told him it was 1988. He then told me he did it in 1986 and an instant bond was created. Come to think of it, he's the first old timer I've met since my comeback started.

His name was Steve and at 45 years old he was no longer in Ironman shape. He reminded me of myself when I started my comeback in 2007, a big boned Ukrainian. We had a great conversation, reminiscing about triathlons in the mid 80's and talking about our old gear and how wonderful the experience of doing the Hawaiian Ironman was. We both deeply agreed we'd love to go back. Unless you've been there, it's hard to describe how wonderful it is and the need to want to experience it again, even for just one more time. For me it would be a death bed wish.

Steve's story was paralleling my own. He was an Ironman and life priorities took over; kids, family, work, etc. Steve said he wished his friends would want to train and do stuff, but they don't. I told him to get new friends. He chuckled. Steve said he's busy with work, he has about 40 people he oversees. I told him I have a number of business units over 2 provinces with a lot of employees. He asked me if I trained with someone and I said no, too tough to co-ordinate. I saw Steve thinking to himself "see, it can be done".

I could tell that Steve is at a turning point in his life. Get in shape or accept fatness. As we spoke I could see his eyes lighting up. He said it had been a long time since he spoke to someone like me. Steve seemed like a really good guy and I told him to google Training Payne and he should be able to find my blog to leave me his contact info. I told him that if he gets back into it, let me know, I'm always up for a weekend run or ride.

Actually Steve didn't know it, but he motivated me today. I was close to wanting to cut my swim short because I felt so sore and mentally tired, but talking to him put a little more gas in the tank and I was able to finish those last 500 meters strong. Steve told me I swam like a rocket.

I hope Steve decides to get back into Ironman shape, you feel so good being in awesome shape. Plus, you can still enjoy a little extra food and drink. One of the things that I didn't tell him was that us "Original Ironman" have a mental strength that never goes away, even when our muscles do. We did Ironman's when they didn't seem plausible, we were pioneers. In our case we don't need to work on the mental strength to finish, we just need to focus on the physical strength.

Tempo Swim - 1:09:06 / 3000 meters

Back on track...

The saga of the dogs attacking me continues...This morning I decided to drive by the house before work and get the address. Then I was going to call animal control and have them talk to the owners. As I got closer to the house I decided to knock on the door and talk to the owners myself.

I drove up the long driveway looking for the dogs and didn't see them in the yard and when I got out of my truck they didn't appear to be outside, good. There was about 4 older cars and a truck parked beside the house, a bit of a junk yard. I didn't know what type of people to expect. I knocked on the door and a teen-aged girl answered. I asked if her mother or father was around and she asked why.

I told her I wanted to talk to them about their dogs. She told me to hold on and then came back and said her mother had to get dressed and would be with me shortly. I was trying to piece together a teen-aged girl at home and a mother still sleeping at 9 am in the morning.

She let me in the house to wait. It was large, dark and messy bungalow. Boxes and junk everywhere. I noticed a young man, who I assumed was the son, maybe 26 years old, in an electric wheel chair. It looked like he had MS or something.

The mother finally appeared in her house coat. I nicely introduced myself and told her that her dogs had chased me about 5 times this year and last night out and out attacked me on the middle of the road. She apologized and seemed sincere. She didn't know why her dog was doing that this year, but acknowledged he had been chasing cyclists. She said the dog had never done that in the past. She also mentioned that she only has one dog, the other one is the neighbors. I told her both dogs attacked me.

She again apologized and told me she would make sure her dog goes on a leash when she puts him outside. She thanked me for coming to see her directly. And her son in the wheel chair also gestured and mumbled what I think was a thank you, but it could have been a F you, I couldn't understand the poor guy. lol. I actually left feeling sorry for them. They seemed like nice people that were a little down trodden.

I got the impression that not many people treat them with respect. I left feeling like I did the right thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to get some pepper or wasp spray just in case they don't tie that dog up, but I did think they were nice people.

Training today was weights and track work and the track work was a killer. It's my first session of my new training cycle. My legs have NEVER been as sore as they were tonight. They felt like I had hit the wall during a marathon. I could hardly jog after each interval because there was so much lactic acid. Listening to IMtalk Podcast got me through it. Beven's laugh is contagious and as my legs are seizing on the track, they are talking massage. What irony.

Of course a couple of women showed up at the track and started to do speed work and put me to the test. One was probably late 40's and could run. I was running faster than one, but slightly slower than the "older bird". She was running on the outside lanes and I was on the inside lanes and had a tough time keeping up with her. I only gained ground when we were running into the wind. I'm good at wind and hills.

I was so glad to finish and stretching never felt so good. Something I've never done before happened to me. I opened my car door and it hit me in the eye. I was trying to avoid a branch. It was like getting punched in the eye by a car door. Imagine that.

I also emailed back and forth with Mark Allen today and told him I'd be signing up for Ironman China training in December. He said "great". After today's session I don't know if I can handle only a 3 week break from one season to another. I may have to reduce my training and go to Clearwater without any peaking expectations. We'll see, I may be thinking this way just because of tonights pain and suffering.

Weights - 45:00 minutes

Speed Work - 1:00:06 / 7.86 miles / 7:38 pace / 156 avg hr

And I thought I'd have nothing to talk about...

By 3 pm this afternoon my brain was fried. It was a busy day of dealing with STUFF, important stuff. I ended up going home early and having a nap. It's the only thing that helps me reset mentally and it gives me a second wind for training.

I waited as long as I could before I had to wake up in order to get back from training before dark. I just made it out the door in time. I didn't realize sunset is now 7:15 pm. The ride was initially uneventful, except that my legs were flat. I was thinking that tonight's blog entry was going to be short and uneventful. Other than almost running over 3 squirrels and 2 chipmunks in two days, they must be stupid this time of year, nothing exciting happened. Then that all changed.

I was riding by the house with the two big white dogs on Bell School Line. They've chased me at least 4 or 5 times this year alone. Last time I faced my fears and stood up to one of them that chased me, it was the older one. Today they both came at me, the young one and the old one. I wasn't panicked and just kept riding, thinking they would follow along on their yard, that they were just having fun. Wrong!!!

They cut onto the street and the young one went ahead of me and was about 2 feet in front of my wheel when it stopped. I had to hammer on my brakes to avoid hitting him and they both had their teeth out, growling and barking hard. I got one foot out of my pedal and almost wiped out because the other shoe didn't come out easily. I was getting rattled. All I could think of was get the bike between me and the dog. That young dog wanted blood.

I finally got it out and was SCREAMING my head off at the top of my lungs. I've never screamed that hard. The dogs kept coming, especially that young prick. I kept walking backwards with the bike between me and them and was just past the end of their yard and yelling the whole time to keep them at bay. I was yelling at least a full minute, maybe longer. I was shocked that the owners didn't come out running. Three horses on the other side of the fence were intensely watching. Normally horses don't notice anything but the screaming sure got their attention.

I finally got so PISSED OFF. I went crazy!!! I started showing my teeth and told the dogs " okay you Mother F'ers lets go"!!!! and I started running right at them. I was serious, I wanted to kill them. I had it! They were startled, then started running the other way. I guess I went to far because once I got off the road and onto their yard they stopped, turned around and started running back at me, showing teeth and growling at me. Shit!!!!!!! I went to far, I lost the upper hand. Again I put the bike between me and the dogs and slowly backed up to get back on the road. We had a stand off once I got back on the road.

The whole episode was exhausting. I was exasperated. My head hurt. I was so wishing I would have seen the owners. I would have given them a piece of my mind about their F'ing dogs. On my ride back I was ruminating real bad. Fantasising about how I'm going to hurt or kill them.

At first I was thinking that next time I'm bringing a baseball bat, then thought that's too big to carry. Then I thought "pepper spray" and that I'm going to really get those Mother F'rs next time. I then settled down and figured I'm going to get an air horn. Then if that doesn't work, I'm going to get the pepper spray. And if I get pepper spray, that better work, or I'm going to lose it and get a gun and shoot those Mother F'ers. I'm so mad about this situation. I was even thinking I'd love to have John Barclay's dog Nero (ex-police dog) maul those bastards.

Don't get me wrong, I like dogs. Just not these two any longer. Anyway, as I left, I looked at the three horses and they were still watching with great interest. What a night! I'm so pissed off I'm still shaking mad.

Tempo Bike - 1:17:08 / 36.87 / 28.6 kph / 132 avg hr

I'm ahead of last year...

I was just checking my training log today and realized I'm only two thirds of the way through this month and I've already done over 100 miles more than last September. Now in all fairness my season ended September 12th last year, after the Muskoka Ironman 70.3, but I like seeing the increased mileage. It feels and looks good.

This year my season will end in November after Clearwater, but I won't get much more than 3 - 4 weeks off. Today I officially got my airline tickets issued for China. I'm now registered and have airline tickets in hand. There's no turning back now. My only concern about racing in March is pretty much all my bike training will be indoors. Five to Seven hour rides indoors, Yuck! I'd rather ride everyday in the rain than indoors. If it doesn't snow much, I may experiment with winter riding.

Today's training was tough to get the biking in because it's getting dark early. Actually, at just after 5 pm today Summer officially ended. I guess I have to stop wearing shorts to work and get back to wearing jeans. The weather today was awesome, 23 C with a light humid rain. I really enjoyed my ride. Then later tonight was my run in the dark. After my stumble and wipe out a couple of weeks ago I made sure I kept the knees high. It was one of my slowest runs in a long time. I guess I'm still recovering from the race.

Mod Bike - 2:01:50 / 64.94 km / 31.9 kph / 131 avg hr

Mod Run - 1:16:28 / 8.84 miles / 8:39 pace / 134 avg hr

I finished my video of Muskoka late last night. Enjoy

Always a brides maid...

Finally, I'm back to normal. I wasn't my sharpest this morning, but after a couple of meetings and a little training over lunch time I was back to my old self and was back to being as sharp as a bowling ball.

I got a call from Al Nolan this morning. He was laughing at my Beer Run Video. For the past two years Al has wanted to do it so bad, but unfortunately for him, his kids play elite hockey and this weekend they were already in a Tournament in Cleveland.

Next year I'm thinking of moving it up a week or two because I'm racing in Syracuse on the third week of September. I don't want to leave it too late and risk it being too cold outside. I think I may do it the run either on August 29th or September 12th. I'll have to poll everyone to see which weekend works best.

This year I was lucky enough to come in second, again. Alice has already arranged my two most "precious" trophies and they sit proudly on the bar. I've also decided that from now on, in all my races going forward, I'm going to wear the "Captain's Hat". Muskoka Ironman was the first time I did it and it feels great. It's me. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.

There is no downside, the crowds yell and cheer "The Captain" on and Alice can more easily spot me coming through the finish line. I'm also getting new blog friends and I'll be easier to spot at races. I'm looking forward to meeting a few of them, especially next year at the Lake Placid Ironman. I'm already looking forward to having a beer with Doru.

Actually there is one downside, the hat is old. The hat was my grandfathers and proudly hung above his bar, as it now does over mine. My grandfather died before my grandmother and after she died the only thing I wanted was "the Captains Hat" and I was lucky enough to get it. I noticed this weekend that in the sun I saw some faint writing on the band that said August 5th, 1965, San Francisco. The hat is 44 years old, my age.

I was also concerned that it will get too sweaty and dirty, but Alice assures me she can get it cleaned up without damaging it. Perfect. I've now got my trademark.

Long Swim - 1:02:13 / 3000 meters

Weights - 45:00

Below is what I think an inspirational video. John Brown, left a comment about My Triathlon Song Video on YouTube . Naturally, I checked out to see who he was and came across his video. His video is very inspirational. Awesome job John!

I got a DUI in my sleep...

Thanks goodness for Advil. I woke up at 4 am dehydrated with a post beer run headache. But it was worth every shuffle down the stairs to get some water and an take an Advil.

I had the weirdest dream last night. I was drunk and driving a wooden pedal car, like the one's you rent at Centre Island. I got caught in between a couple of buses and was pedaling away when a cop stopped me. She asked me to roll down the window. Yes, my wooden car had a window. She then took one look at me and said your drunk and charged me with DUI. I was freaked. How am I going to get to work? This is a major negative effect on everything in my life, I'm hooped. I was devastated.

Needless to say, it was one of those dreams that seemed so real that even when I woke up I wondered if it was real. At first I figured I could beat the charge because I was in a wooden car and was pedaling. Then I thought more about it and then it hit me, if I was in a wooden pedal car, I was probably dreaming. Yes! I didn't lose my license, it was only a dream. Thank God.

I think I had the dream because last night I had an urge to eat Chinese food after the beer run. I wanted to order from a new place around the corner but couldn't remember the name to phone in an order. I asked Alyssa to drive me, but she was busy with homework and I couldn't wait. I then got a great idea and took Reid's trick bike instead.

It's not a comfortable ride and it must have looked strange with a large adult riding a kids bike down the sidewalk at 10 pm. The seat is so low that my legs were killing me. It is one of those bikes that kids don't sit on, they just stand on the pedals. When I got to the restaurant, I asked how much food would fit in a bag that I could carry and still steer my bike.

The cashier went to the back and came out with the cook to discuss my options. The cook then had a brilliant idea. I actually wished I had thought of it first. He said, why don't we just deliver it to you and then you don't have to carry it back on your son's small bike. Yes, that WOULD be much easier. So I paid and pedalled my way back home. By the time I got home, my thighs were burning.

Today was video editing day. Alice and I looked through all the photos and video that Jacob and Reid took at the beer run and we put together the video. It was fun. The hardest part is finding just the right music to put to it. We started at 10 am and finished around 5 pm and by 6 pm I was out the door for my long run.

The run was amazing. For the first time in a long time I listened to music and just spaced out. I was running on pure endorphins and enjoyed the cool evening. I saw my first tree with the leaves starting to turn colours. Summers officially over.

Long Run - 1:50:20 / 13.50 miles / 8:10 pace / 140 avg hr

Below is a video that Reid put together of when Davis was here last weekend and Jamie let him drive his Ferrari.

2nd Annual HOUSE OF PAYNE 5 km BEER RUN...

The House of Payne Beer Run is my Christmas. I can hardly wait for it and even have trouble sleeping the night before.

This year the beer run went on the road to the House of Barclay. After last years inaugural race, John kept insisting to have it at his house with the course along the beautiful shores of Lake Ontario. Normally, it defeats the purpose of naming it the House of Payne Beer Run, but John a good friend and he kept asking me all year if he could have it at his place. I didn't want to move it, but only because it was John, I said yes.

I'm glad I did. He moved into his new neighborhood last year and it is absolutely spectacular. It is a quiet street, mature trees, in a "fairy tale" like setting. The course ran just down the street with most of it on a path that ran along Lake Ontario. It was the perfect day for a beer run, sunny and we even got a nice breeze off the lake.

I got to John's place around 11:45 am to help set up. I had a nice bike ride prior and before I showed up, I called John to try and prank him. It was retaliation for when he pranked me about the Florida Ironman 70.3 last year. He told me that a truck, carrying alligators, turned over and the alligators got into the water at Disney and they are cancelling the swim portion of the race. I'm not a good swimmer and don't like swimming, but I swam at least 10,000 meters a week all winter and was "pissed off" they cancelled the swim. All my work was now for not. He then told me, and not right away, that it was a prank. Bastard.

I know John can be nervous about having everything ready, so I called him and told him I had bike trouble and wasn't going to be able to get there until just before the race started. I was expecting him to be freaked out and he wasn't. He calmly said "no problem, I'll see you when you get here". Damn. I called him an "asshole" for not falling for it and told him I was on my way.

When I arrived, I had everything we needed in the back of my truck. It was like a race on wheels. We unpacked and started to set up. John took me through the course he created. It was a beautiful run, but there was a couple of problems. First, it was too complicated. I was sober and I think I would have got lost, even with the signs everywhere. Secondly, this is a beer run, it's about supporting each other. The ideal is an out and back course so you can hi-five and cheer each other along the entire way.

With an out and back, you're in constant contact and support with each other. John's route was beautiful, but for a beer run would have been torture mentally, especially for the non runners. Everyone would have been alone with their thoughts and their beer burps and wondering when the hell is this thing going to end. For sure no one would have showed up again next year.

I tactfully told John "I think we need to change the course". When I explained my logic, he completely understood and laughed. He then wondered out loud if someone else would offer to have the race at their house next year. I told John, "no way, The House of Payne is NOT going to go on the road again, this is my race!" I told him that because it was him, I made an exception.

He started laughing and told me that he really didn't want to have it, he just felt sorry for me having to host it and offered to do it this year to make it easier on me. I laughed. What a total misunderstanding. I love putting on this race, it's what I live for. Poor John, he and Heather worked so hard getting ready, thinking they were helping me out and feeling sorry for me. That just shows you the kind of friend John is. I'd do anything for him, except help him move furniture. lol.

The race was smaller than last year, a few people registered and didn't show. But I thought it was more fun this year than last year. The location was unbelievable. John and Heather have an absolutely gorgeous house, with a pool and hot tub in the back yard, all in the middle of a picture perfect neighborhood. As we were running, John's neighbors were outside doing yard work, the average age had to have been 80 years old. I told John they must call him "the young couple" that moved in.

Like I said, the run was a blast. It's amazing how everyone is fairly quiet and reserved before the start and then after 5 km and 6 beers, everyone becomes "long lost brothers and sisters". We had our first female entrant this year, Lisa Fortuna. She did the full 5 km off the "ladies tees". She only had to drink three beers. Alice said she also would have done it if she knew she would've only of had to drink three beers. Next year, I'm going to allow wine and hard liquor. A lot of people want to come but don't think they can drink that much beer.

It was a prediction run, which means anyone, regardless of their finishing time can win. No one is allowed to wear a watch and the winner is the person who predicts their time closest to the actual time. This year Tony Valentini was first and only 12 seconds off his predicted time, I was second and Richard Kun with a finish time of 71 minutes and 38 seconds was 3rd. It just shows, anyone, regardless of their speed, age or gender, can win. It's a great way to level the playing field and make it more exciting.

I can hardly wait until next year. Unfortunately, John spoiled us and next years route will be no where near a nice as this years. A special thanks to John and Heather for hosting an awesome Race. And a special thanks to Alice, Alyssa, Reid, Heather and Jacob who helped volunteer.

After the race, Alyssa drove me home and I had some more beers. Later on, the Fortuna's came over for some Chinese Food. I finally hit the wall, collapsed and went to bed before Alice. That rarely happens. I couldn't have had one more beer if my life depended on it. What a wonderful day. I can hardly wait until next years race.

Long Bike - 1:42:07 / 53.81 km / 31.5 kph / 133 avg hr

Beer Run - 25:25 / 3.1 mile / 8:10

15

Below is this years 2009 House of Payne Beer Run Video. Enjoy.

Back in the pool...

All year I've been swimming twice a week, except for the past three weeks. With the taper for the race and a couple of missed sessions I was in the pool only about once a week. If you don't swim regularly, you loose it. Much quicker than running and biking. I don't know why, but you do.

I went at lunch time and twelve minutes into it I was getting sore and wanted to quit. Twenty minutes into it, it felt like forty minutes. At the thirty minute point I was starting to convince myself it would be okay to make my first session back a shorter one, especially after doing a race. Then I bitch slapped myself and told myself to "man up".

I emptied my head of any thought of stopping before I finished my scheduled 3000 meters. My arms started to feel better from the endorphins and I was going pretty hard. I was surprised that I was still doing some 100's in the 1:39 - 1:42 range. An hour after I finished, I was physically finished. I can't remember the last time I was tired after a swim. It's not uncommon for me to feel hungry, but tired? Never.

When I got home from work the first thing I did was snack on a little popcorn, then Alice made her world famous pizza and I ate way too much. It's her fault, she makes it on a pan that can barely fit in the oven. It's probably 20" x 24" and the kids have a piece or two and then I eat the rest of it like the little piggy I am. I have no self control.

I filled up on pizza, then became tired and passed out on the couch in a carbohydrate induced sleep. After a couple of hours I awoke from my hibernation and forced myself out the door to do weights. I love getting pumped on a Friday night. I had to throw that one in there. Heck I like getting pumped any night:-). Tough session, I was sore afterwards.

I can hardly wait until tomorrow. It's the 2nd Annual House of Payne Beer Run. I'm hoping to get up a little earlier and do a ride before hand. Only doing a 30 minute run on a Saturday is sacrilegious. It's also Reid's first hockey game of the year tomorrow. He's going to be sore and tired. Hee Hee.

Tempo Swim - 1:03:22 / 3000 meters

Weights - 45:00

I just noticed fall is around the corner...

Tonight I realized I don't know how to dress properly to ride during this time of year. I left after dinner, it was only a little after 6 pm, with a long sleeve shirt under my cycling jersey. After 5 minutes of riding I started to overheat. I almost stopped to take some clothes off.

Thirty minutes later, as the sun went down a little, my hands, my body and especially my feet started to get cold. Last year by this time I pretty much was finished for the year and didn't much notice the cooler weather. This year I have another 56 days of training until the season ends. I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of cold weather riding ahead.

The new cycling shoes are great, especially in warmer weather. They have lots of air holes and keep my feet cool and wick the sweat away. Good for hot days, not good for cold days. I've noticed my feet are getting much colder sooner than my old pair.

I think I may have no choice but to go back to wearing my old, cracked sole, pair of cycling shoes for cool weather riding. Or I might take a look to see if they have a cheap, thick and heavy pair of cycling shoes on sale. Even better if they are fur lined. I'm more concerned with heat and comfort than light weight and stiff soles.

I had a good ride, listening to IM talk and going at a fairly decent pace with my legs feeling somewhat back to normal. They had a guy on the podcast who runs 100 mile plus ultra runs. He made a comment that some of the best ultra runners tend to have very large legs, not the same sort of build as a marathoner.

I found that interesting because I have large legs and have always thought I could be good at ultras. Apparently, you need the large legs for going up and down the trail hills. In my 50's, I think I'm going to entertain doing ultra runs and triathlons. I'm just not at the stage of my life where I want to go through that level of suffering just yet.

As I rode tonight, all of a sudden I saw a whole lot of cars parked on a country road in the middle of no where. It was strange. Then in a field, down from cars was a bunch of trailers. At first I wondered it it was the Circus, or some Gypsies. The house style trailers looked really expensive. Then I realized, their shooting a movie. I figured it must have some big stars with all those chichi accommodations.

Mod Bike - 1:35:15 / 50.19 km / 31.6 kph / 130 avg hr

Last day of R & R...

I can't sit still. Last night I took the plunge and signed up for Ironman China on March 14, 2010 and then I signed up for Ironman Syracuse 70.3 on September 19th, 2010.

Next Year is going to be a big training year. In addition to China, I'm signed up for Ironman Lake Placid. And hopefully I'll be good enough to qualify for Hawaii somewhere along the way. Potentially, I could be doing three full Ironman's next year, not including at least a couple of Half Ironman's.

I took one more day off from training and will be back at it tomorrow. I'm almost back to 100% physically and mentally. The only problem about taking time off work is trying to catch up. I think I finally got caught up. Now I'm focusing on getting everything ready for the beer run on Saturday. I'm going through my list and checking to see what I have and what John may need to pick up.

I'm looking forward to Saturday's race, we should have about the same amount of people as last year. The tee-shirts arrived today and they look great. I approved the artwork for the racing bibs, and they look cool. Now I'm just waiting for the award beer bottle labels and we'll be all set.

I attached this years invitation for the beer run and the rules. Mark at work did a good job. Anyone who reads my blog who is interested in joining us, let me know. The more the merrier.

Recovery Day

The Chief's all over me...

Tough day mentally. I knew it was going to be. I'm getting too old for this. Now this upcoming weekend is the House of Payne 2nd Annual 5 km Beer Run. Once it's over, I'm going to get off the bottle for a while. I want to be at my best for Clearwater.

My legs and especially my calves are still sore and went for a massage today. It was a random phone call and I lucked out and found a great masseuse. The best part is they are literally a 5 minute drive from work. My legs felt much better and she was cracking my back and neck over and over again. It was so relaxing.

I got a text from the Chief, he wants to know what Ironman 70.3 we are going to do next year. I told him I didn't have the brain cells to think about it today and we'll have to look at things tomorrow. Alice doesn't want me to do Muskoka next year, she'd like to go somewhere different. It's too bad because I'd really like to go back next year and "spank that bike route...HARD". It got the best of me two years in a row and I want to beat it.

The Chief is hooked and now so is Rich. Rich told me he wanted to do another one just 6 hours after he said "never again". Rich made and interesting comment. He told me that he was talking to a guy about how great he now felt getting back into triathlons. That he had went from 220 lbs to 190 lbs. The guy told Rich that he should never stop, it would be all bad if he did and that doing triathlons will force him to stay in shape. It was something that has obviously resonated with Rich. I agree wholeheartedly and can't see myself ever stopping either.

I forgot to mention that I met a couple of other Mark Allen Online Athletes at the race, Eric and Mindy Fernando. They both finished 2nd in their age group. Eric was in my age group and finished with a blistering 4:39. At the race I saw three Mark Allen trained athletes on the podium. I recommend Mark's program to everyone I know. I think Hans and Carlos are going to follow it for Ironman Lake Placid.

I got let off the hook this evening. I was scheduled to do an MRI for a research program I volunteered for. When I showed up they couldn't find my appointment or paperwork. Thank goodness, I really wasn't looking forward to having to try and lie still for a long period of time. As fate would have it, I got to go home and relax and I'm starting to feel a lot better.

Recovery Day - Massage