A Windy day, but I got to 713 miles...

I woke up almost every hour on the hour last night. I was anxious to get up early and do my long ride. It's my last long ride before I start a two week taper program tomorrow. Then, I start a month of active rest after that. Which means my next long ride won't be until mid December. I was also excited because I knew it was going to put me over the 700 miles of training for the month, which would be a new October record.

I took my time to get ready and puttered around for a couple of hours. Before I left, I pumped my tires and my rear tire stem got a leak, so I had to change the tire. Rather than get upset, I decided to use it as a challenge. I pretended I was in a race and ended up changing it in just over 6 minutes. I also figured it was a good omen, it reduces the odds that I'll get another flat soon. However, for the year, I think that was my 10th flat.

It was one WINDY ride. Winds were 47 kph and gusting up to 68 kph. For the first time ever, and it happened twice, I almost got blown off the road. I was in the aero position and had to fight as hard as I could and sit up to stop from going into the ditch. Into the wind, on slight uphills I was going 10 kph and on one downhill it was only 28 kph. It should have been in the 40's. It was a push hard on the pedals ride. On one long stretch, all the for sale signs were just blowing near horizontal.

At the turnaround point, I was only at a 25.4 kph average. I can't ever remember riding that slow, but I didn't care, I was just enjoying my last long ride of the season. When I turned around, it felt so cool to cruise at 44 - 48 kph on the flats with no effort. About 2/3 into the ride my legs were getting fatigued from 2 hours of pushing into the wind. I just kept telling myself that it's better to pay the price during training rather than racing.

When I pulled into my driveway, my legs were not looking forward to the brick run. The key is not to think about it and just do it, which is what I did. About 5 minutes into the run my legs started to feel strong and I was surprised how fast I was going with little effort. The only unfortunate thing that happened today was that I lost a pair of heavier winter gloves on my ride. They fell out of the back of my jersey. Then on the run I lost my Timex iTouch that allows me to change songs and adjust volume on my iPhone from my watch. Today was an expensive session.

I ended up training enough to get me to 713 miles for the month. A good sign considering my favourite number is 13 and I'm in the 13th wave in Clearwater and if you look through my October training mileage, there is a lot of Thirteens throughout. Plus, it's only 13 days till Clearwater. I like it. Also, there is a great blog post to read from Johan Stemmet about "10 lessons from Kona". How can you tell he's a competitor?

Oh yeah, I decided to extend living the life of a monk until November 21st, which is my birthday. Last night I decided to throw a small birthday party and post Clearwater celebration for myself and invited my tri-buddies. Some I haven't even met yet, but read my blog.

Long Bike - 3:15:10 / 92.98 km / 28.5 kph / 121 avg hr / 2846 ft climbing

Brick Run - 30:24 / 3.69 miles / 8:14 pace / 141 avg hr

Transition - 3:57

October Monthly Totals

Swim - 13.14 miles / 21.19 km

Bike - 566.36 miles / 913.48 km

Run - 134.09 miles / 216.17 km

Weights - 5 sessions

Monthly Total - 713.59 miles / 1150.95 km

Calories burnt - 52,264

Weight 183.4 BMI 21.6 %

110

Best soup on the planet...

Last night my legs got the absolute best running workout I can ever remember. It will be a long time until I forget that speed work session. I did the calculations and if I extrapolated my average mile pace to a 5 km race, it would have been an 18:22. I went as hard as I could without injuring myself and this morning both my calves were straining equally. Getting out of bed and walking down the stairs was a little rough. I was glad today's workout was a swim, I'm a big proponent that the cool water helps aid recovery.

I left work early and went for my swim. I was happy with it. About 15 minutes into it I saw Steve, my 1987 Hawaii Ironman buddy. I told him that I met another couple of other guys at the pool, John and Hugh, and John is training for an Ironman after only doing sprint distance races. I was encouraging Steve to sign up for the Syracuse Half Ironman next September. I told him the best way to get in shape is to set a scary goal. One that forces you to train or die.

Steve likes the social aspect of training and I told him that I'm sure there will be lots of rides and runs he could join next year with all the guys training for Ironman. Steve said he needed to get a bike and wondered if I'd go with him to help pick one out and I said "no problem". I said I already know the bike, the Cervelo P2C. Providing of course he feels good on it. I guess I'm a little bias owning one myself.

Today was a speed swim session and at the end I had to do 20 x 25 meters, one easy, one hard. On my last one, I really went hard and focused on pulling as much water as I could. I ended up doing that 25 meters in 18 seconds. If I was able to maintain that speed it would be a 1:12 per 100 meter pace. Now at least I know how fast that pace feels. I realized today that I "could" be a faster swimmer if I was go hard like I do when biking and running, but going hard in swimming hurts to much. Maybe one day I'll learn to enjoy swimming pain.

When I got home I had swimming hunger pangs. I never get them from biking or running, just swimming. The odd part is that swimming burns the least amount of calories and makes me the most hungry. Yesterday Alice made a big pot of homemade beef vegetable soup. She is a World Class soup maker and nothing's better than second day old homemade soup. I had two big post swim bowls of it.

This morning, I summoned up the courage and stood on the scale, the first time in weeks. The last time I stood on it, I was 185 lbs. Today I was 181.8 lbs with a 22.1 % BMI. It was a pleasant surprise. I've now had 6 perfect days of eating and 19 days without a beer and it's starting to show. My goal is 177 lbs and 19 BMI before Clearwater.

Speed Swim - 1:09:13 / 3000 meters

I'm seeing the light...

Things are getting better, eating wise. It's now been 5 successful days and each day gets easier than the next. The first two were tough, especially not eating past 8 pm. For those first two nights I had to leave the house and go for a 90 minute car ride just to keep me from snacking.

Last night I lost all my computer data. I don't know what I did, but when I restarted the computer, all my data was gone. Everything. The computer screen was wiped clean and it looked like the day I took it out of the box. I called Apple and they confirmed the data was lost forever. All 183 gigabytes, which included close to 15,000 pictures and all my work files. Gone.

I should have been freaked, but wasn't. I was actually happy. I was so happy that I made the right decision to buy a time capsule backup system from Apple. At the time, I debated if I really needed to spend the $500 to get one. I called Apple and they instructed me how to restore the files and viola! 6 hours later my computer and all my files were back where they belonged. If I didn't have that backup system I'd be pretty freaked right now. It was the best $500 insurance policy I ever spent.

In typical fashion, I went to bed hungry and woke up full. But I still forced myself to make some strawberry pancakes this morning and I'm glad I did, they tasted so good, especially with pure maple syrup. Today I was almost cocky enough to get on the scale. In only 5 days I'm starting to feel svelte again. I can see it and feel it. It's an amazing transformation in less than a week. But I'm not yet confident enough to step on the scale and know I'll be 183 lbs or less. Mentally I couldn't take the rejection. Maybe Monday will be the day.

I had a track work tonight. I wasn't looking forward to another week of running circles around a pitch black track that needs resurfacing. So instead, I went to another track, closer to home, which is usually locked at night. Tonight it was open for football practice and the best part was that all the lights were on. It is a brand new track, Olympic worthy. It was great to run with lights on and have the energy of kids practicing in the middle. On my second lap, Jenny, my neighbor from across the street, said "hi". She was part of the parent gallery and was watching her son Matt practice.

There was a lot of kids on the field and almost as many parents watching their kids. I remember when I was a kid, parents rarely watched practices, let alone games. It wasn't uncommon for kids to get rides with neighbors or coaches. Heck, when I was a kid, the word coach meant "the guy to call if your parents couldn't drive you", he was a quasi taxi driver. Somewhere along the way, this all changed. Now parents are involved in everything. Parents even watch practices, which I've done many times. How sick is that?

In my grandfathers era, if a woman was having a baby, the husband would drop her off at the front door of the hospital and come back seven days later to pick her up at the same front door where she'd be waiting. Then in my dad's era, they would go in with their wife and wait in the waiting room until it was over. Then in my era, they started having Lamaze classes and the husband would be in the room to watch and participate. Some people even videotaped it. I kinda liked my grand fathers era, where it was a drive-thru delivery.

With both our kids I was in the delivery room and in both cases I almost passed out. When Alyssa was born, the nurses were more concerned about me than Alice. They said I was green from just sitting beside Alice and holding her hand. There was no way I wanted to see what was going on down below. The doctor noticed I was going to pass out, so they made me put my head between my legs and had me drink some apple juice while they comforted me. Poor Alice, she was getting no attention.

During Reid's birth, it was similar, although I was a little stronger. At one point, the doctor "presented me" the umbilical cord with the scissors ready to cut it like a ribbon, and wanted to know if I wanted the honors. I looked at him like he had a third eye and said "ya right, not a chance, aren't you paid to do that?". I've thought about it afterwards and wondered if I should have cut the cord? Would it have been a great memory? Do I regret not doing it? The more I think about it, the more I realize "I absolutely did the right thing". There's no way I wanted to cut it then, or now.

I had a good session tonight. I'm not sure if it was the lighted track, the fact my neighbor was watching or that I'm just feeling stronger. The session included 3 x 1 mile intervals. The first was at a 5:53 pace, the second a 6:01 pace and the third a 5:51 pace. On the third and final, my maximum heart rate got up to 168 bpm.

Speed Run - 56:02 / 7.73 miles / 7:15 pace / avg hr 151

Still on track...

I'm still eating healthy and haven't eaten anything past 8 pm for 4 days in a row now. It's amazing how fast my body is adapting and dropping weight. I can feel it and even see it in the mirror. I now have a two pack, four more to go. Actually, I'd be happy with a semi-four pack. lol.

The one thing about not drinking beer, eating healthy and regular training is that everyday seems like "groundhog day". If your not sure what that means, watch the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. The general premise is that he relives the same day over and over and over again.

That's how I feel right now. These habits are good for my body and mind, but I must admit, it's a little too stable. It's a very safe lifestyle, but not too exciting. I love excitement and mania in my life, it's part of my DNA. I wish I could figure out how to blend the two. Lord knows I've tried. But unfortunately, I'm an all or nothing kinda guy.

Today was a cooler grey day with a little rain. I got on the road by 4:30 pm and did a speed bike workout. It was a good session. I love hammering on the bike and today my legs felt strong enough to push hard enough to get my heart rate up.

A few times I got so deep in thought, that I rode some intervals longer than I should have. That would NEVER happen during running speed work, I'm always looking at the clock, I don't want to run hard any longer than I have to. Luckily I had no rain and got back before dark. I was happy with the ride and my energy level. I'm still flat, just not as flat as yesterday.

My picture of the day is where I hang up my training clothes. Some people use their stationary bikes or elliptical trainers, I have a chair. It's the only place in the bedroom that is messy. When the pile gets too big or smelly I clean it up. The beauty is that I know where everything is and Alice doesn't complain about it too much.

Speed Bike - 1:06:47 / 33.74 km / 30.3 kph / 129 avg hr

Feeling weak...

In non-typical fashion, I did my run this morning. Right from the beginning my legs were stiff and flat. I prefer not to run in the morning, my legs tend to be tight and I'd rather have an all day warm up to avoid injury.

Before I hit the road, I put on two heart rate monitors, a Garmin and a Polar. I've been getting upset that my Garmin hasn't been working properly and didn't want to go on another run without a backup.

Right from the beginning, the Polar was displaying differently. It was lower than the Garmin and I know the Polar is accurate. It took about 10 minutes before the Garmin started displaying the same heart rate as the Polar. I've decided that I'm going to change the battery in the Garmin's chest strap one more time and if I still doesn't work properly, I'm returning it.

My run was really a shuffle and near the end, a small area on my quads were temporarily a little sore. Just as I finished a long and extensive stretching session, I got a call from work, they told me a couple of people were waiting in the lobby for me. I knew I had an appointment, but thought it was a half hour later. Worse part was that they were out of town visitors and it was an important meeting. I spoke to them on the phone, told them I was running a little late and was only 15 minutes away. The truth is that I live about 20 minutes away from work and still had to shower and get dressed.

Needless to say, I used my triathlon transition skills and had a 30 second shower. Literally. I just wet my hair and rinsed the sweat off me, no soap or shampoo. I quickly changed and was out the door in under 4 minutes. I drove 80-90 mph (125-140 kph) on the highway, I'm glad there was no cops, and got to work in under 15 minutes. They were relaxing and talking to my partner in the boardroom and no one was the wiser.

I did my bike ride after work and my legs were still flat. On the bike I didn't even have to worry about my heart rate getting too high, my legs had no strength to push hard enough to get it high. I'm not sure why my legs are so flat feeling, but I have a couple of ideas.

It may be from 8 months of training, averaging over 600 miles per month with no break. I noticed that after today's workout, I'm already at 621 miles for the month. By the end of the month, I'll be close to breaking 700 miles. The only other explanation is I'm starting to detox and lose weight from eating healthy, which is causing my body to focus more on getting rid of fat and toxins rather than repairing muscle damage.

I don't want to keep sounding like a broken record, but I can hardly wait until November 14th when I can take a month long active recovery break. I wish it was longer but by mid-December I need to start training for Ironman China.

My body really needs to repair and rejuvenate. Surprisingly my mind is okay.

Mod Run - 1:00:41 / 7.13 miles / 8:31 pace / 137 avg hr

Mod Bike - 1:51:44 / 56.60 km / 30.4 kph / 121 avg hr

3 Perfect days of eating healthy

Still staying away from the Goodies...

Last Thursday I went to Walmart to pick up my $14 golf pants and before I left, I made an impulse buy of those mini Halloween chocolate bars. Of which, I ate half on Thursday night and the balance as my dinner on Friday.

How things have changed for the better. I'm now on day 2.5 of my 20 day eating healthy challenge and I've been successful so far. No chocolate, no candy, no junk food and no eating anything past 8 pm. I also haven't had a beer in 2 weeks, which is even more remarkable. That's like Popeye without his spinach.

Last night I couldn't wait until morning to eat breakfast. I was even thinking about what I was going to have as I was trying to fall asleep. Instead of counting sheep, there was pancakes and waffles and omelets floating above my head. Then it turns out that when I woke up this morning, I wasn't that hungry. I actually ended up forcing myself to have an unexciting bowl of oatmeal with some toast. What a let down.

An upside is that after only 2 days of torture, my pants are already fitting better. Not drinking beer has also helped. Had I not stopped drinking beer for the last couple of weeks I'd be up at least 5 lbs more than I am now. It's just intuitive, I averted disaster, I can feel it.

I had a good swim just before lunch today. I swam a little earlier than I normally do because I had a full afternoon of meetings. I thought the pool would be empty but I was wrong. The lanes were full with stay at home moms. Then right at noon, they left and the pool was empty. Mental note, don't swim before noon.

I did speed work and on my 12th and final 100 meters of one set I was able to do a 1:37. I was happy with that. I was also looking forward to riding my bike tonight, but my last meeting of the day didn't end until almost 6 pm and it was already getting dark out. So rather than risk bodily injury with a car or wild animal, I pushed it into tomorrow just to be safe. Although, according to the weather forecast my ride will probably be in the rain.

Since I've gotten home from work, I can't tell you how many times I've opened the fridge and pantry just out of habit. Even after I ate a full dinner, five minutes later I was back in the pantry. I'd look at the food and would be ready to grab it and then talk myself out of it.

My internal dialogue goes something like this "yum, taco chips", "nope can't have them - stop", "yum, almonds, there good for you right?", "no, you don't need them, you just ate dinner - now close the damn pantry door - you can do this, you can do this". I then close the door and 10 minutes later I open the door and the dialog begins all over again. Ugh, this is hard.

Today's mantra......17.5 more days to go, 17.5 more days to go, 17.5 more days to go.

Speed Swim - 1:11:33 / 3000 meters

One day down...

I did it. Yesterday I had one perfect day of healthy eating. I can't remember the last time I didn't eat any chocolate, candy or junk food and not eat anything past 8 pm. Actually, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

I was anticipating the first two days to be the toughest, severe detox and hunger pangs. But it didn't happen, at least not yet. It looks like Johan Stemmet is going to keep me company, he's starting a 6 week challenge to drop some weight as well.

I haven't stepped on the scale in weeks. I don't plan on doing it for a while or if at all, it would just depress me. My clothes still fit fine, except my pants are slightly, slightly tighter. Although it could be because Alice just washed them. I'm not fat by any stretch, but even gaining 5 lbs is not something I want to do. My goal is to be about 178 lbs or lighter for Clearwater and under 175 lbs for next years Ironmans.

I was up early this morning and twittered away, killing time until the it warmed up outside before going for my long run. With Reid's permission I took his video camera on my run. I wanted to capture my long run route and the fall colors. It was a beautiful day to run.

My run was going well until the half way point when my Garmin's heart rate monitor started screwing up. It shot up to the 180 bpm and above range. It's so frustrating when that happens, especially because I train solely on heart rate and time. This is the second run in a row this has happened. One more time and I'm taking it back to MEC.

When I got home I took off my sweaty shirt and enjoyed a few glasses of water. Nothing tastes better than water after a long workout, not even beer. The opposite is true for shorter workouts, beer tastes better than water. After a cool down, I downloaded the video to edit and realized quickly that it was really" jiggly". I didn't realize how much movement I have when I run. But I still put it together and posted it on my blog. Enjoy, but beware, you may need a Gravol or go into an epileptic seizure.

Long Run - 1:42:24 / 12.54 miles / 8:10 pace / HR unknown

Sick house...

Reid came home from a birthday party last night and went right to bed, he felt sick. This morning he was feeling no better, his head was hot and cheeks red. With the swine flu going around, you start to worry more than you normally would.

I've seen some TV shows lately that show healthy, athletic kids getting H1N1 and end up in the hospital fighting for their lives. One of the parents said that "you never think it would happen to your kid". That resonated. Alice took him to the walk-in clinic this morning and the doctor said he has a virus. Hopefully that's all it is.

Alice is also getting sick and I'm getting my second cold sore. I know I've gotten my cold sore from eating too much chocolate. My experience is that the sugar overload weakens my immune system. Alice is a diabetic and knows all about the power of sugar. She tells me that eating too much sugar is not good, it causes major insulin spikes. Mark Allen agrees and says those spikes shut down your fat burning system for a day or two. Alice says if I'm eating all that chocolate, I may as well be drinking beer.

That got me thinking and I decided to do a 20 day challenge with myself. The rules are simple. No chocolate, candy, junk food or beer and no eating past 8 pm. My motivation is to lose some weight for Clearwater and get my fat burning system to work efficiently. Plus, I need to get rid of some "love handles" I just noticed creeping up. It's going to be hard, but I'm determined to do it.

I did my long ride today. The autumn leaves looked beautiful. The first 56 km of the ride was mostly into a 27 kph head wind. At the halfway point my average speed was only 27.7 kph. Going up some of those hills with a direct head wind was slow going. I actually didn't mind the slow speed. My original plan was to ride with Carlos today and take it easy.

It was a cool ride, but the good news was that it didn't rain. It spit a bit, but no rain. On the way back from the turnaround with the wind at my back I was able to get my overall ride speed to a respectable 30.5 kph average. With about 8 km left to go, a young cyclist came up behind me and I could tell he thought he'd easily pass me.

My competitive juices got going, after all I've got to show those cyclists that triathletes can ride. We had some hills coming up and I put it into gear, going up some of them at 36 kph. After about 5 minutes of riding I looked back and he was moving farther back. I had made my point, a guy with Aero bars is not to be messed with. For the rest of the ride I didn't see him again.

It felt great to finish. Afterwards I had a nice stretch and a really hot shower. Now for the rest of the day I'm going to relax and fight the urge to eat junk food. My experience is that the first 2 days will be the toughest and then it gets easier from there.

Long Bike - 3:43:40 / 113.49 km / 30.5 kph / 132 avg hr / 2911 ft climbing

3 Weeks and 6 lbs to go...

Earlier this week I wrote how I taught Reid about Interest, Taxes, Collateral and Loan Agreements when he borrowed a $100 from me to buy his video camera. I was so proud, and in a lovingly fatherly way take great joy in making his life difficult. Anything just short of torture is fun, and most importantly, he can roll with it.

I've always told both kids that Tiger Wood's dad use to torture him to make him mentally tough and gave Tiger a code word that if Tiger ever used would stop his dad from abusing him. Legend has it that Tiger never once used that word. Years ago, I remember coming up with a code word with Alyssa and Reid. Unlike Tigers dad, I forgot the code word, so even if they used it, it wouldn't help much.

Well, Reid's no fool. I asked him if I could use his video camera for my next ride so I could capture the fall colors? He said "yes, but it will cost you $10 to rent it". Damn. He got me back. Not to be deterred, I negotiated him down to $5, I think. I'll find out tomorrow.

Today was my scheduled golf game. The weather was terrible in the morning and just kept getting worse as the day went on. Our tee-off time was 1:36 pm. I had 4 layers of clothing on, which included 2 sweaters, plus a wind breaker and I was still cold. I wore a pair of cotton running gloves, big mistake. Within 2 holes my hands were frozen. By the fourth hole I was having trouble gripping the club. Not to mention it was tough to see or find my golf ball with all the fallen leaves on the golf course. NOT FUN.

Near the end of the 4th hole, I bailed. I said my good-byes and left. I couldn't take it anymore. Luckily I was able to get a rain check to play another day. If I didn't get that rain check it would have been the most expensive 4 holes of golf I've ever played. The green fees alone were a $150. I actually want to play the course, just to experience Glen Abbey first hand.

I was going to go for a swim when I left, only because I had nothing else to do, but I was too wet and cold. My pants were soaked and I could feel the cold in my bones. I went home, changed into some dry clothes, relaxed on the couch watching Jerry Springer while munching on Halloween Candy. Specifically, small Aero bars, Kit Kat bars, Coffee Crisp bars and Smarties. After eating about 20 of them, maybe more, I passed out from a sugar induced coma, waking up 3 hours later.

So much for eating healthy and trying to drop some weight before Clearwater. I'm exactly 3 weeks away and my plan is to drop 2 lbs per week. When I woke up, my hands still were still feeling the effects of the cold and I decided not to eat dinner. I told myself "the Halloween candy WAS my dinner". For some reason, saying that doesn't make eating all that junk food feel so bad. I also got an email about Clearwater today, Luis is scheduling some workouts and wanted my shirt size. He plan's to give everyone trained by Mark Allen Online a technical shirt. Cool.

Once I left the golf course, the weather got worse and and worse. At this moment is absolutely terrible. Cold and raining hard. Tomorrow is a long ride so I'm hoping the sky rains itself out tonight and it's not too cold tomorrow. If it's not raining, Carlos may join me.

Also, I've had some questions from my non-Canadian friends asking what a Wagon Wheel is. Click this Wagon Wheel Link and it'll show you, or on this Wikipedia Link for more info. In Canada they're a cultural tradition in students lunches. When I was a kid I remember them being much bigger, come to think about it, so was a Big Mac. Like everything, they've downsized them and up sized the price, but they're still good.

I took a picture at the golf course, if you look at the trees in the background you'll see them blowing to the side. The wind was blowing between 40 - 60 kph. Even then, the picture doesn't do justice in showing how cold and wet it was.

Golf Rest Day.

Marathon Meetings...

I'm not a big meeting guy, especially long scheduled meetings. I'd much rather deal with something in the hallway, a quick sit down or a phone conversation. The one good thing about most meetings at our place is that we get right down to business, no pleasantries. It's a good bunch of people and none of us need warm up talk.

The only time I have longer meetings is when I have a monthly sales meeting with our yearbook sales staff. They work from home and we only get together once a month and the meetings run at least 4 hours straight. Lots to cover. I usually order in pizza's and work through lunch so were done as quickly as possible.

I just set up a new rule for myself today, thanks to Jevon in the U.K., I don't want to be in any meetings that take up more time than it takes for me to run a marathon. Today was just over 4 hours, I could have run a marathon. Not good. I love that comparison. So my new motivation is to get faster at marathons so my meetings get shorter. lol.

I finished up the meeting just after 2 pm and was "mind numb". The lights were on but no one was home. So I left early to do a swim and weights. Even though I had 3 pieces of pizza during the meeting my Carb monster forced me to pull into Harvey's and get a hamburger to eat while driving to the YMCA.

Considering I didn't swim since early last week, I had a pretty good swim. The sets were hard. The guy in my lane was a guy I've talked to before, but I can't remember his name. Last year he was "smoking me" in the pool and was nice enough to give me some pointers. This year we're swimming at the same pace. Either he's gotten slower or I've gotten faster. I think it's a little of both.

As I finished my last lap, I met a couple of guys similar in age, John and Hugh. They are friends and were resting at the end of the lane. We got talking and they are triathletes. Hugh's been doing triathlons for over 3 years and John just started. John is signed up to do Ironman Wisconsin next year. He's like John Barclay. He's only done a couple of sprint distance races and then signed straight up for an Ironman. John's also started a blog documenting his journey, its http://wisconsin2010.blogspot.com/

I had a good weight training session, but for some reason I feel like I have a frozen shoulder. Usually you get that when you don't exercise. I think I got mine from pushing too much weight about 6 weeks ago. I'm glad to be in the Chisel phase so I don't need to push the weights too hard. All I want to do is keep it healthy until November 14th.

When I got home I "pigged out" thanks to the Carb monster. I had two big plates of spaghetti and meatballs, a wagon wheel and a bowl of Special K. I just can't stop eating. I've got to ask Alice to hide those damn wagon wheels, they keep calling my name. Eating all that food tonight added a little weight resistance to my track work session.

It was cool, windy, dark and deserted at the track. Running into the wind was cold. Mentally it wasn't an easy session. I'm glad it had less repeats than normal. All I focused on was doing each interval, not thinking of about how many are left. I was pleased with the times. My first 400 was at a 6:21 pace and my 8th 400 was at a 5:21 pace. I was even able to get the heart rate up to 176 bpm. I can't remember the last time it went that high. I didn't even think I could get it that high anymore.

I'd love to rest on the couch right now, but I can't. I have to go out to buy some docker style pants for a golf game tomorrow. I don't golf, I don't like it, but it's with some guys I went to high school with, so I made the exception. Normally I only golf once or twice a year as an excuse to drink beer, smoke cigars and screw around driving the cart. With me being "on the beer wagon" until after Clearwater, this round of golf I'm actually going to have to golf. Oh, how I wish golf was only 13 holes.

My day to day wardrobe consists of suits and jeans. I don't have anything in between. I've never been a casual style pants guy, they make me feel "old". I do have "one" collared golf style shirt. This golf game is going to be expensive. It's at Glen Abbey, where they host the Canadian Open and I'm sure the green fees won't be cheap and now I have to buy pants. Being the fashionable guy I am, after finishing this blog entry, I'm off to Walmart to get my pants.

Maybe if I don't take off the tags, I can return them tomorrow.

Long Swim - 1:04:42 / 3200 meters

Weights Chisel - 45:00

Speed Run - 48:21 / 6.35 miles / 7:38 pace / 149 avg hr. Highest 176

Teachable moments...

That SAD lamp seems to be working. It's only been three days but it feels like a summer morning when I have it on. I'm not one for watching morning TV, but because I have to sit beside it for about 15 minutes I have no choice.

At first I was watching the News. But the more I was watching it, the more I realized that it is all "mind noise", especially CNN or Squawk Box. They dissect stuff so deeply and make everything sound like urgent breaking news. It was giving me a headache.

I finally came across the best show to watch in the morning. It has a relaxing narrator, was not too serious and the more I watched it, the more I enjoyed it. The show is "Rich Bride, Poor Bride". It's on one of those women's channels and they follow a bride and groom through their preparations for their wedding while they try to stay on budget.

I love watching them argue about wedding stuff, especially the guys. Some of the guys are into it more than the women and will even argue about floral arrangements and such. One guy even tried to pick his bride a dress off the bargain rack for $299. She was having no part of it and was "pissed off" that he even came to the store. It's a great way to start and ease into the day with a few good laughs.

When I got married, I was smart enough to know it was Alice's day and between her, her mom and my mom, they planned the wedding. My only job was to show up. In fact, the morning of our wedding I did an Olympic Distance Triathlon. Our wedding was at 2 pm, so I had the time. I asked Alice if she minded and she said she didn't care so long as I showed up on time. Which I did.

Works been busy, we launched some new yearbook building software over the past couple weeks and we are getting awesome feedback. The schools love it, which is a very good thing. The only downside is that I'm not able to sneak away at lunch to do a little YMCA training.

Tonight was a speed bike session. It was a 1 x 20 minute time trial. I love those long intervals. I love humping through the pain. It was another nice night, 13C and a misty rain. Perfect weather for going hard. When I got back, Alice made a huge roast dinner and I had 5 wagon wheels for dessert. I wish she didn't buy them. She buys a big box of them for Reid's lunches and I end up eating them. Man are they good. I'm craving chocolate lately and have no wagon wheel willpower.

When I got home Reid was waiting to ask me if he could borrow some money, he wants to buy a Flip HD video camera at Wal-mart for $160. I asked him how long it would take for him to pay me back and that I'd have to charge him interest.

He went "what's interest"? So I explained it to him. He agreed to $10 interest. He originally asked for $75 and then I had to educate him on what taxes are. So he realized he had to borrow more money to pay for the taxes. He also learnt about collateral and that if he didn't pay me back I'd have to reposse his waterbed. Lol. I love torturing him. Then I told him he'd have to create and sign a loan agreement. So he agreed to all the conditions and prepared the paperwork and we both signed it. He then put it on the side of the fridge.

I could sit at the kitchen table all night doing homework with him, trying to explain interest, taxes, contracts and collateral and he'd have a "deer in the headlights" look and I'd repeat myself over and over until my head hurt. But when he really wants something, it's amazing how quick he can pick up concepts on the first go around. I don't think he'll ever forget about interest, taxes, loan agreements or collateral. I know he'll pay me back, he's solid that way, although it would be fun making him sleep on the floor for a while.

Speed Bike - 1:03:28 / 32.31 km / 30.5 kph / 127 avg hr

I attached a video from Reid's new Camera. Pretty good quality.

I'm alive, I got my mojo back...

I woke up this morning worried. My left calve was sore and I was paranoid that it was an old injury coming back. If it did come back it would prevent me from running for a minimum of 3 weeks. I stretched it a bit and decided to go for a run before work and try it out.

During the run it felt fine. When I got back it started acting up slightly. I figured it may be due to stress, I remember Mark Allen telling me that often calve problems are stress induced. Or I figured it may be dehydration. I don't remember drinking a lot of water over the past few days. I've had lots of coffee and Coke Zero, but not much water.

The one thing I do know is that even if it becomes an injury and I can't run, I'm doing Clearwater regardless. Even if I have to hop on one leg across that finish line, that's what I'm going to do! So if it's my subconscious trying to stop me from racing, it ain't going to work:-)

I ended up drinking lots of water this morning and even took some vitamins, including fish oil and flax seed oil. I thought maybe they'd loosen things up. By in large, for most of the day it felt fine.

At lunchtime I picked up my bike, they repaired the sheared Aero Pad and Riser. They wanted to charge me $20 and I told them no way, it was a warranty issue, they back tracked quickly and agreed not to charge me. The bonus was that they gave me two nice new arm pads. They couldn't find one to match my old cheap one.

When I left the store I didn't look at the fish & chip restaurant across the street. I didn't want to be tempted again, I figured I better start eating a little healthier. Yesterday I just couldn't resist, but with no regrets, it was well worth it. They tasted so good.

Today was a warmer than normal gorgeous day. When I got home it was 18 C. For the first time in weeks, I felt strong on the bike. I was really getting worried about my lack of strength and thought I lost my mojo. Apparently not, thank goodness. I wasn't even trying very hard and I averaged 31.8 kph for over 2 hours. It felt absolutely amazing riding in warmer weather with the leaves just starting to turn colors and flying down the country roads listening to my Podcasts.

Although near the end of the ride my Podcast ended and there was silence. Just me, the road and nature. I can't remember riding without my iPhone playing something into my ears. It was really enjoyable just hearing the bike whizzing along and having no chatter in my ears.

It was another finish in the dark.

Mod Run 1:06:41 / 8.22 miles / 8:08 pace / 137 avg hr

Mod Bike 2:07:06 / 67.54 km / 31.8 kph / 125 avg hr

Part of the Mark Allen Family Again...

I tried my SAD lamp for the first time this morning. Wow, is it bright, just like you were lying in the sun. I wouldn't be surprised if I start getting a tan. I can see that this is really going to help when we have to move the clocks back at the end of the month, it won't seem like winter in the morning.

Work has been Crazy. Lots going on. I normally swim at lunch time but couldn't, I had to take my bike to EnduroSport to get them to fix my broken aero bar. Thankfully it was still under warranty, one less expense to worry about, although it won't be ready until tomorrow.

My carb monster is still getting the better of me. Across the street from EnduroSport is a place that has the best "fish & chips" in Toronto and I've always wanted to try them. Today was the day. I ordered Take out, drove back to the office and ate it at my desk. It was excellent. My car and office still stink of fish & chips.

I also broke the bank today. I spent $1100 on 14 months worth of coaching. With two Ironman's scheduled and the potential for a third if I qualify for Hawaii, plus a some 70.3's and who knows what else, I decided to sign up for a full year membership with Mark Allen Online. It's much cheaper to go for a full year than week by week. I'm now officially a team member again. I wonder if they are now going to include my blog in their daily twitter feed, or will it be deemed "too explicit, corruptible and bad for business"? lol. Probably.

Now that I'm back in the MAO family, Luis mentioned that there may be some group training sessions in Clearwater and gave me a program to follow leading up to Clearwater. I noticed he moved my maximum heart rate up to 142 bpm. Cool. Finally after 3 seasons of aerobic training my body is conditioned enough to stay aerobic at a higher heart rate. I'm hoping this will help me build more speed. When I started my maximum was only 138 bpm. The concept is that after years of consistent training it can be moved up slightly.

I decided to take today off and blend Monday's workouts into the rest of the week. It seems to becoming a trend, this is now my third week of doing that. Rather than swim in the evening, which I don't like because the pool area is dark, depressing and busier, I went for a car ride with Alice. I wanted to have a nice relaxing conversation and at home there is too many distractions, like email, Internet, and television. It felt good for the two of us to get out of the house and just drive and chat. We had a good "Vulcan mind meld".

Fish & Chip Recovery Day

Good to be done...

Last night we watched a movie as a family, all of us, Alice, Alyssa and Reid. It was a horror movie. We were in the basement, all the lights out, watching the 61 " TV and getting startled when they do those scary things, like a cat jumping out of nowhere into a scene.

It was fun, it reminded me of when I was younger and it was just Alice and I. Our weekends consisted of us walking down the street to the video store and renting a movie and watching it that night. The store we'd go to was called "Video 1001" and they had the best popcorn in a bag I've ever tasted. The bag was long and narrow and about 3 feet long. It looked like you were carrying a surfboard down the street.

It was very romantic. Spending a quiet night at home, watching a movie in the dark and eating popcorn. Last night all those memories flooded back to me. Those are the best moments. It feels so right and anyone can have them.

I got to bed at midnight and had a good 9 hour sleep. When I woke up, I shuffled downstairs, my legs were so sore. Alice said I didn't look good, she said I looked hungover. The training has been beating me up. I've also been retaining lots of water which I chalk it up to muscle repair and eating "Old Dutch" Salt & Vinegar Chips.

This was the week with the highest amount of training miles on my schedule. Now it will slowly go down until Clearwater. You don't know how much I'm looking forward to this season ending. I'm also dreading indoor bike training over the winter for Ironman China. I still can't fathom what a 7 hour indoor bike ride is going to feel like. I'm starting to wonder if I should get a Compu-trainer. John Barclay keeps telling me how great it is. I wonder if it really makes a difference?

Today I let my legs warm up for a couple of hours and then went for my run. I chose a different route today, I was getting so bored with my regular route. I love running in the Escarpment but lately the traffic has been so bad. I can't tell you how many cars have almost side swiped me. My greatest fear is me having a misstep and falling into a car bumper. I now look at the road and my feet when a car goes by, just to be safe.

I had a good run, it was a beautiful day, about 8 C with very little wind. Everyone was out for Sunday ride, bikes and cars. When I got back I set up my SAD lamp beside the bed. This week I'm going to start using it. EME posted a great idea to my blog and suggested I put it on a timer.

Long Run - 1:50:06 / 13.43 miles / 8:11 pace / avg 137

Just Chill'n for 5 hours...

I looked at my schedule yesterday and was a little depressed when I saw that today was a 4 hour bike ride and 30 minute brick run. I don't mind doing them in warm weather, but this was going to be my longest ride ever in cold weather.

I tried to sleep in and "Money Mart" called and woke me up. I guess Alyssa was put down as a reference by a friend who hasn't paid back the money she owes. Alyssa told them before she doesn't hang out with her friend any more and doesn't have a contact number. But they keep calling and today they recked my planned sleep in. But not to be undeterred, I forced myself to go back to bed. It took about 30 minutes to get back to sleep, but it work and I slept till 11:30 am. It felt good, just what the doctor ordered.

When I woke, I looked at the weather channel and it was 6 C. Ugg. It was going to be a cold long ride. However, it did feel good waking up and not being hungover on a Saturday morning. I bundled up and even put on skiing gloves. I tried the toe warmers I got last night but they were to big to fit in my shoes. I brought them anyways, just in case I had to stop to use them.

Five minutes into my ride, my legs hurt and were flat. So bad that I would have loved to have just turned around and went home and rested. Not that I didn't consider it. The entire ride I listened to IM Talk Podcast. They were in Kona interviewing all the pro's. The most depressing part of my ride is when I thought I was at the 2:45 mark and it was only the 2:15 mark.

At one point I came up beside a guy who was 67 years old and was not a bad cyclist. We started talking and he reminded me that this time last year it was 20 C. I was thinking "I wish I had qualified for Clearwater last year". I was also thinking that I couldn't believe I did my long ride last weekend after drinking all night and sleeping only 4 hours. Last week the ride flew by, this week it felt like a full 4 hours plus.

I was bringing it home, going down rolling hills at around 50 kph, when I hit a bump and my aero bar arm pad snapped off and rolled into the ditch. I was lucky I didn't wipe out. I stopped and looked hard for it and couldn't find it. It was a good thing I was only 5 km from home. Riding home I was wondering if the damage is under warranty.

I got home and went for my brick run. The middle of my back was sore, like I was shivering all day. I don't know if it was from the cold or having to ride upright for the last 5 km. Even after a 4 hour ride I look forward to a brick run. I don't know why but I find it enjoyable. When I run, time goes by so quickly. Before I knew it, it was over.

From the time I started, until I finished, including transition time and stretching, it was just over 5 hours of training time. I started at the perfect time because I got back just as it was getting dark. Once I finished I didn't shower, I started the barbecue and made some hamburgers. The dinner of champions.

Alice wants to watch a horror movie tonight. For some reason she's in the mood for a horror movie. So now were now off to Blockbuster. When I get back I'm going to have a long hot shower or maybe even a long bath. I'm still cold. I don't even want to look at my schedule to see how long I need to run tomorrow. I'm not looking until the morning.

Long Bike - 4:00:20 / 119.66 km / 29.8 kph / 130 avg hr

Brick Run - 30:51 / 3.65 miles / 8:26 pace / 140 avg hr

Mr Carb-tober...

I don't know what it is, but come October, every year, all I want to do is eat carbohydrates. Last year it was ice cream, specifically Wendy's Frosty's and McDonald's McFlurries. I was going through drive thru's twice daily. I was like a ice cream drug addict, I needed my fix.

This year, thankfully, I haven't been an ice cream monster, but I've still been craving carbs. Cookies and taco chips have been my downfall this year. Lunch today was a baked potato, chilly and a chicken breast salad. Way more food than I needed. Tonight was pizza. Of course I ordered two medium pizza's, thinking the kids will eat one and Alice and I will eat the other, and I end up eating one of them myself. The upside is that at least it was a vegetarian pizza.

My daughter says I have no self-control. I have discipline. But no self-control. So true. I guess I figure because I train so much, I can eat whatever I want without worrying about it. Wrong. I can feel a little belly growing that wasn't there last Friday. Although last weekend was Thanksgiving and three days of pure beer drinking. I guess a little belly is to be expected.

Tonight I did speedwork at the track with a medium pizza in my stomach. Some people that do Ironman triathlons complain that they have nutrition and stomach issues during the race and often it prevents them from finishing. In my case I have an "Iron Stomach", pun intended.

I remember at 20 year old, I ate a large domino's pizza and went for a run 10 minutes after I ate it. It hurt. But the worst part was when I passed the domino's pizza store and smelt pizza, it was the closest I came to "throwing up" during any training session. Tonight I didn't even feel the pizza in my stomach as I was hauling ass around the track. I guess I'm lucky, I feel so sorry for those people who suffer from stomach issues.

After the session I went to Home Depot to get some chemical activated toe warmers. They didn't have any in yet, so I went to Lee Valley and got a re-usable pair. They seem bulky, but I'll try them out on tomorrows long ride. They're better than nothing. I hope they work.

I also found myself very tired before and after the workout. I swear it's this time of year. I'm carbo loading and wanting to sleep. Waking up in the morning is getting more difficult. It must be primal. I'm storing fat for the winter and getting ready hibernate like a bear. The name Bryan does mean "strong like bear", maybe it should mean "eat and hibernate like bear, starting October".

Running Speedwork - 48:29 / 6.49 miles / 7:28 pace / 140 avg hr

WARNING - Do not let your kids watch this video. You've been warned.

An award winning day...

I've lost my bike legs and I don't know why. I had a speed session tonight and I went as hard as I could but didn't go as fast as I thought I should have. My legs at times were even getting lactic acid build up from pushing so hard. The average speed of the session was slower than I would have expected and it was really hard for me to get my heart rate over 146 bpm.

What bothered me most was seeing the low heart rate when I was going as hard as I could. I've read about this happening to athletes when they are over trained. I hope that's not what's happening to me. Last year I did 6 months of intense exercise with 6 months at half the intensity. This year I've already done 7 high intensity months with one more to go. I'm wondering if my body has had enough, or is it my late night partying?

I've decided to cancel our annual Halloween Party this year, I need a break from late night partying and I can't just have a few drinks. I'm all or nothing. Until Clearwater I'm going to try and live alcohol free and eat semi-healthy. I had a dream last night that the reason I have fatty liver disease is because I'm constantly gaining and losing weight. Week in and week out I tend to lose 2 lbs during the week and gain 2 lbs on the weekend. My body is constantly processing fat. Maybe that's part of the problem?

I barely got my bike ride in tonight. I got home from work later than planned and at 7 pm we had to be at Alyssa's school, she was getting some sort of award. Getting out the door to ride was a major chore. I couldn't find any of my winter gloves or cycling tights, which was causing great irritability, just ask Alice. I had clothes pulled out of drawers and all over the floor, everywhere. I found so many single gloves, but couldn't find pairs. I was on a mission to find them because it was so cold and windy outside. Not finding them was not an option.

I did find them and ended up making it back in time to eat, shower and get to Alyssa's school just in time. In my haste, I forgot to change glasses. As I was driving to the school I noticed I had my cycling glasses on with the prescription insert and because the lens was clear it looked like I was wearing goggles. Not a good look for a school function. Unfortunately we were running late and I couldn't turnaround and get my regular glasses. Here I was, going to see my daughter get an award and I wouldn't be able to see her.

Then as we were getting closer I asked Alice to check my glove box for contacts. I thought I put some there a long time ago. She found them. I put them on and disaster was averted. Alyssa ended up getting an award for the highest mark in last years grade 11 Media Arts class. It was a big production with lots of fanfare and hoopla. Even the school band was there to play.

She was one of the kids that accepted an award and looked like a regular kid, most looked quite socially awkward. Some looked like future serial killers. Although I did love seeing the "stoner kid" with his beat up jean jacket, long hair and Fu Manchu, get his honours award. I remember those guys from when I went to school. They'd be stoned all the time and somehow make the honour roll. It didn't surprise me when the top overall academic honours went to an Asian guy and girl. Not many things change. Asians also got the top academic awards at my school when I was a student.

I was really proud of Alyssa. All the students walked into the auditorium in single file and the place was full with parents. I got a little choked up when I saw her. It was great to see her back excelling after struggling with health issues for the past two years. When she accepted her award, the teacher giving it out also commented that Alyssa was in her English class and "was a pleasure to teach and a great student".

As Borat would say "ve-ry nice"!

Weights - 45:00

Speed Bike - 57:50 / 30.27 km / 31.3 kph / avg hr 130 / 842 ft climbing

Cold numbers...

I knew it was going to be a long day before it started. I was busy all day in meetings and I wasn't going to be able to leave early. I needed to get on the road by 4:30 pm if I was going to have a chance of getting back from my ride before dark.

The good news is that I got the ride in. The bad news is that I didn't finish before dark. Sundown was around 6:30 pm and I got back at 7:30 pm. It turned out I actually felt safer riding in the dark because of the flashing red light on the back of my jersey. I noticed that in the dark, the cars give me much more room than normal. Most go into the other lane.

My ride started cool and ended cold, around -1 C. It was a good thing I brought and extra set of gloves, about 50 minutes into the ride I put on the second pair. About 2 hours into the ride my feet were really cold, near frozen. It reminded me of when I lived in Winnipeg and as a kid would skate outdoors for too long. Even though I was in my shorts, my legs weren't cold, but my feet and butt were.

When I got home I got the chills. I had to change my clothes and wrap myself in a blanket as I ate my dinner. It took about an hour for me to warm up. Before I started my run I decided to update the Podcasts on my iPhone and next thing I knew it was uploading new system software that took about 25 minutes to install. I was ready to run, but after 25 minutes of waiting I was getting tired and unmotivated.

It finally finished the download. I put on running sweats and a toque for the first time this year. I pushed myself out the door and listened to IM Talk as they interviewed the finishers at Kona. As I was finishing the run, I noticed a REALLY FAT cat up in the distance. It was in the area where retired people live. I was thinking that some old granny had overfed her cat. As I got closer I realized it wasn't a cat in my path, it was a big raccoon.

I got within 10 feet and it wasn't moving and was looking at me. I was trying to think if raccoons were dangerous. All I could think of was "rabies" and that they have that dark stripes over their eyes like a mask and that can't mean their friendly. They look like robbers. I yelled out at it, hoping it would run away. It didn't. It just looked at me. Then I decided to run around it and kept talking at it. It did move slowly, as if it was going to climb a small tree, but it didn't take it's eyes off me. I ended up getting by it, but kept looking back to see if it was coming after me. I didn't get the impression that it was scared of me.

My parents left back to Winnipeg today. Yesterday my Dad took it upon his self to fix our main toilet. The toilet has been broken for close to a year. When you flushed it, you'd have to lift the tank top in order to jiggle the handle to make the rubber valve close. If you didn't, the water kept running. My Dad told me it was an easy fix.

He went to home depot, and ONLY $35 and 6 HOURS later it was fixed. It now works better than it did originally. But the most amazing thing is that I didn't hear my Dad yell or curse once. I must say, him fixing that toilet was one of the best gifts we've ever gotten. It was becoming such a pain to lift the tank lid every time you went to the washroom. Not to mention having to do it for Reid every time he went to the washroom, which was a lot. He drinks lots of soft drinks.

I noticed some key numbers today. First off, it's only 30 days till Clearwater. Then I noticed I surpassed the 6100 km of riding this year and finally, I exceeded 18,500 visits to my blog. I thought those were some cool numbers.

Mod Bike - 2:23:15 / 71.50 km / 29.9 kph / 130 avg hr

Mod Run - 1:11:10 / 8.30 miles / 8:34 pace / 135 avg hr

I included a video of today's ride. You can see the leaves on the trees turning color and falling.

Still recovering...

I napped about 4 hours yesterday after dinner, then had 8 hours of sleep overnight and still woke up tired and a little shaky. I figure it will take me 4 days to get back physically and mentally. I got an email from my brothers girlfriend Darlene, thanking us for the fun weekend and joking that she now has to join AA and weight watchers.

Yesterday and today I noticed my legs, particularly my Achilles was a little tight. I had a gut feel that if I ran today I'd get injured. It's a good thing I had a swim and weights scheduled. I find that swimming and weights help stretch everything out. Sure enough it worked. After today's sessions my legs felt much better.

My swim was SLOW. I had absolutely no core strength. Although I had absolutely no arm fatigue at all. I really have my swimming arms working smoothly right now. When I finished I was so hungry and then tired. On my drive home from work I started to fall asleep and had to fight to stay awake.

Yesterday my cousin Jason ran a 10 km race in Winnipeg. He did a 43:35, finishing 3rd in his age group and 29th out of 270 runners. Jason has been following Mark Allen's low heart rate principles, has dropped 20 lbs and beat the time he set in a spring 10 km race by over a minute. Good job Jason. I included a picture of him with his son Shae.

Long Swim - 1:04:31 / 3000 meters

Weights Chisel - 45:00

Winston Churchill's black dog is following me today...

Last night was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. It started with Bob going to bed early and just Alice, Darlene and I partying. Then after a few hours, my brother got back up and the party went on longer and harder.

Looking at the last nights pictures is reminding me of things I forgot about, like jumping on the trampoline with Darlene and Alice.

I did do one thing that is even too embarrassing for me to blog about. If you can believe that. It was fun at the time, but completely out of line and out of character. Alice had went to bed and my wheels "came completely off" and I did some crazy stuff just to get a laugh from Bob and Darlene. That's why I need my "guardian angel" not to leave me alone.

I had to get up at 11 am to see my Bob, Darlene and the kids off. I can't remember feeling this bad in a long time. I was still drunk and woke up with the shakes. Not pretty. After they left, I went back to bed and slept until 3 pm. When I got up I still felt no better.

I was going to go to the YMCA but didn't for three reasons. The first was that I didn't think I was in any condition to drive myself there. The second was that I felt like I was going to have a heart attack and even swimming would be difficult. And the third was that it was Thanksgiving and the pool is closing at 5 pm, not giving me enough time. So I deferred the workouts a day.

I can party and party and party and get up the next morning, train, and party some more. The problem is that based on the way I feel right now, I seriously think I'm going to die young if I don't get myself under control. It just seems like so much fun at the time and unfortunately I have no "off" switch.

The worse part was that I felt so good on Friday from a week of clean living. Now I've got to start all over. Complete self-sabotage. I got to figure this thing out. I don't like the way I feel right now.

"A man's resolve is never stronger than the day after his worst night of weakness" - I think I heard that somewhere. It's so true.

Booze recovery & Detox day

It doesn't get easier...

When you stay up and party hard night after night you lose track of the days. Everything becomes one big blurry day and night all wrapped into one. It's a groundhog day long weekend of sorts.

When I woke up today I wasn't feeling too well. I looked at my computer and sure enough I had a two hour long run scheduled. Damn, I was hoping it was only going to be 1:40 or 1:50. I can tell you I REALLY wasn't looking forward to doing that run. I puttered around as long as I could to defer the run, but then eventually just went out and got it over with.

About 45 minutes into the run I was averaging an 8:38 pace. I was running up hills and into the wind, however I'm normally not THAT slow. I figured the late night shenanigans were catching up to me. I then told myself to not worry about the time, just relax, keep the heart rate low and enjoy the run. Which I did.

I was shocked to start seeing my average pace getting faster and faster. I guess that wind was bad. By the time I finished I had brought the average mile pace down to 8:08 per mile. I made up 30 seconds per mile. That was a good feeling, knowing you still got it after my second late night of debauchery.

By the time I got home, my brother was still in bed. Then he got up around 3 pm and had another two hour nap before Thanksgiving Dinner. That's when it hit me, I have an incredible Constitution. Forget about triathlons, but in real life partying, very few people I know can keep up with me. To bad I can't turn pro and make a living doing it.

All afternoon the house smelt like turkey and we had a great dinner. My Uncle Chuck from Toronto also joined us. This was our 5th Thanksgiving dinner together since we moved to Toronto. It was a really nice time and of course everyone ate way to much. Then it all ended downstairs at the bar. Again.

Long Run - 2:00:07 / 14:74 miles / 8:08 pace / 138 avg hr

22

I had an Ironman day and night of sorts...

Last night I was so tired, felt a cold sore coming on and wished I could have went to bed early. I knew I wasn't going to get a chance to do that when my brother called from the Airport at 11 pm just to make sure I had beer in the fridge. Which I of course I did. Alice picked up two cases, a total of 48 beers and half were King Cans. Little did I know, 8 hours later we would have finished them all before going to bed.

There's not much to say about last night other than it was FUN. Lots of beer, lots of laughing, lots of BBT (beautiful booze talk). Then the beer bong came out. My brother was freaked at how industrial and scary it looked. He then bet me $1000 that I couldn't do 6 beers at once. I tried hard, but couldn't do it. I probably got 4 down. Damn, I really wanted that $1000.

At one point I read yesterday's blog entry to Bob, as it was mostly about him and I wanted him to hear it first hand. He got very verklempt and was hugging my arm as I read it. He was touched. He laughed, especially about me thinking he only has a grade 10 education, he knew I was right and a nailed his description perfectly.

Normally Alice stays up with me when we're partying. Partly because it's fun, but also because she's my "guardian angel". She looks out for me. You see, if she's not around I could get pretty crazy and the next thing she knows I'm calling her from Las Vegas in the morning. She was tired and I "assured" her everything was going to be okay and I'd be on my best behavior.

For a few hours it was just Bob and I, talking, laughing, crying and hugging. We did some play fighting earlier in the evening, I was hitting him with the bong and he was deflecting and trying to get me with a stool. Sitting, just the two of us, we had some heartfelt conversation and touching moments. Things came full circle, as pre-school kids we were best friends, then arch enemies as adolescences and in our teens, and now were best friends again. I was touched when Bob told me he felt I was his "best friend".

We got to bed around 7:30 am and all but 4 beers were gone, only because Alice put them in the fridge upstairs and we didn't know they existed. The Sun had already been up for a while before we decided to pack it in. In my altered state I was wondering if I should just stay up and do my training first, then go to bed.

It's a good thing Bob and I live 2100 km apart, us hanging out on weekends could be the death of each of us. We're a bad influence on each other. If my mom only knew, she probably "wouldn't let me play with him anymore". lol.

I went to bed and had a BKO (booze knock out). I woke up on top of the bed, fully clothed at 11 am. Not a sheet disturbed. I shuffled downstairs, had some coffee, pancakes and within an hour was out the door for my long ride and brick run. Needless to say it was an interesting ride.

As I rode I was still in an altered state, if you know what I mean. No listening to podcasts today. My brain couldn't take the thinking required, all it could handle was listening music while it vegged. For the next 4 hours I trained and didn't eat a thing and only drank a little bit of water.

I was on auto pilot and physically felt fine surprisingly fine. My heart rate was incredibly low for the entire ride. I actually though my heart rate monitor wasn't working properly. I didn't have much leg strength and until the last hour.

When I finished, I had a bagel, jumped in the shower and came down and had a beer. I could feel a deferred hangover coming on and the only way to fight a hangover it to get back on the horse and start drinking again. When I got back, Bob had invited some friends over to join us for dinner.

John and Heather Barclay also came over for dinner and we shot our application video for the TV show "Mantraker". Shooting video is a LOT harder than it sounds. It's tough to sound natural. Lots of takes, lots of laughs. John was taking the serious approach and I was taking the crazy "wild card" approach. Hopefully we got some good footage to work with.

The rest of the night was a continuation of the previous night and I don't remember what time we got to bed, it was at least 3:30 am. I wish my personality had a personal regulator, I only have an "on" or "off" switch and it can make for some tough mornings.

Congrats to Johan Stemmet and Maryka Sennema , they're official a Kona Ironman Finishers. I was tracking them all day.

Long Bike - 3:30:36 / 102.1 km / 29.1 kph / 126 avg hr / 2726 ft climbing

Brick run - 30: 14 / 3.46 miles / 8:13 pace / 140 avg hr / 282 ft climbing

19

This may be a crazy weekend...

Since last Sunday I've been on a role, eating well and drinking none. Combined with training, I can feel my body getting stronger and leaner in the past 6 days. A couple weeks ago I was feeling burnt out, now I feel great. That all may come to an end, not the training, but the eating and drinking.

In about 4 hours, my brother Bob is arriving from Winnipeg with his girlfriend Darlene and his kids Aaron and Coco. Bob's 13 months younger than me and we never got along as kids. Anyone that knows us, especially growing up, couldn't believe we were brothers. We didn't look alike, I was polite and respectful and he wasn't. He'd get me so mad, we fought all the time and sometimes I'd give him a nice older brother beating.

Then late one night, I was around 18 years old, got REALLY drunk at the lake, lipped off to him, and he couldn't have picked a more opportune time to "give me some payback". To this day, and it WILL happen tonight, he reminds me of his victorious moment, and I WILL remind him that I was "fall down drunk" and he took advantage of the situation. The memory of beating me up that night, is Bob's "Al Bundy Moment", similar to Al reminiscing about being the high school football star.

Kudo's to Bob for the win that night. I deserved to lose. I could understand his years of wanting to get back at me one day. It made him feel better and I wasn't in any condition to feel a thing anyway. Although the next morning I do remember having a semi-black eye and my face was pretty puffy.

Although we were arch enemies as kids, we're very close as adults. However, I do use the word "adults" loosely. We're kinda like brothers. lol. I now trust him with my life and would do anything for him. I know he feels the same way.

He already called me an hour before the flight and started talking business. Bob, like me, is in the printing business. I've had a tough week at work and we've made some changes internally. The last thing I want to do is talk about it. I'm looking forward to seeing Bob, but I know the minute he gets in the house, the beer will be flowing and so will the "shop talk". I really don't mind talking shop with him sober, but once we get drinking, it can get pretty emotional and loud and I'm getting too old for "Italian love". That's when your hugging and slapping each other at the same time. I just want to relax and enjoy the weekend.

A few years ago, after a LOT of drinking, I threw Salsa all over him and literally everywhere around the bar, including the floor, carpet and even the walls. We weren't even arguing, we were laughing. It was 4 am and he was thinking of going to bed and in my altered state I threw Salsa all over him. I think it was my way of keeping him up and the fun rolling. Anyways, we both ended up paying the price because we had to take off all our salsa covered clothes and Alice threw them in the washing machine and didn't notice our cell phones in the pockets. It turned out to be some pretty expensive salsa. It was quite a sight to boot, two business leaders drinking beers at my bar at 4:30 am in just their underwear.

Bobby's a unique guy, when I say "they broke the mould", you can ask anyone who knows him and they will agree "they broke the mould". Not many people start smoking in grade two and I'm not kidding. Fortunately he did end up quitting... 30 years later. He has a grade 11 education or so he says (I think it's grade 10), he founded and runs a growing $22 million dollar printing operation, is an idiot savant when it comes to reading financial statements, drinks a LOT of beer ALL the time, tells the same jokes over and over (although at least 70% of them still make me laugh), he can be pretty funny (especially when he drinks and makes good humored fun of people), he has a "Heart of Gold", and is more stubborn than a mule when he thinks he's right, or wrong.

I am looking forward to him coming because no one can get him laughing like me. I don't know why, but he thinks I'm funny. And if he was here, he'd use one of his old worn out jokes and say "yeah, funny looking". And I'd tell him he has to move on from the 40's and start using jokes from the 50's.

The last story I have about my brother is when he did a triathlon. He did two Olympic Triathlons in his lifetime. In each case he brought beers and smokes with no training. He was the only guy in the registration line smoking with a six pack of beer in his duffel bag and I'm not kidding. I remember all the triathletes looking at him like "who is this guy"?

He finished both races and the last one he finished when others may have quit. For the last 10 km he rode on flat tires and after the race couldn't move his wrists from the pounding of the road on his rims while trying to keep his wheel straight. But he did finish and right afterward had a beer and a smoke. I included a picture of my brother, handing a beer to his childhood friend "Auntie Hank" as he crossed the finish line. I guess Bob beat Hank that day. Bob is the guy in the back with no shirt on.

Can hardly wait until he gets here!!! Kinda.

Tempo Swim - 1:05:38 / 3000 meters

Weights - 45:00

22

It's not always easy...

All week I've been going down memory lane reading Johan Stemmets blog while he's in Hawaii preparing for the Ironman. He's racing this weekend.

When he mentioned the Ironman parade I started going back through my pictures because I remember having one of me in the parade and I was going to post it. Then I came across this one.

For 21 years I've had a romance about my Hawaiian Ironman experience. It's unexplainable unless you do it. I don't have one bad memory of the Ironman until I looked at this picture. The picture shows me moments after I finished and I was on the massage table, I was so sore. I couldn't bend my knees. Heck, I couldn't even turn my neck to look at the camera. I willed myself across that finish line and it hurt. There was lots of walking to get there, but I did it. (Unfortunately I wasn't trained by Mark Allen at that time).

Funny thing was if I didn't have this picture, I would never have remembered how sore and exhausted I was. Looking at it also reminded me of how Alice had to help me with my bike and I shuffled very slowly back to the hotel, leaning on Alice with most of my weight the entire way. She said going up one hill she thought she was going to die I was so heavy.

When we finally did make it to the hotel, I went right to bed and slept like a rock. Alice was also an Ironman for getting me back. The funny thing was that this trip doubled for our honeymoon, we were married earlier that year. I guess in this case, Alice helped carry ME over the threshold.

For the past 21 years all I remember was doing it, not how I did it, or how I felt afterwards. That's the one thing about the Ironman, finishing is ALL that matters. I couldn't imagine having to live with myself for the last 21 years if I didn't complete that race.

Changing gears, it was a busy and intense day at work and will continue into the evening with a three hour plus sales conference call starting at 7 pm. The minute I got home I got on the bike for my speed bike workout in order to be finished before hand. My legs were sore from yesterday's speed run session. The kind of soreness that you really don't want to pound on them again, it's painful, but you know you have to in order to get stronger and faster. My average bike speed looked slow today, but it was deceiving because I did two very long and steep hills. For the non hills I was flying, sometimes up to 44 kph.

Bike Speed work - 1:20:56 / 37.39 km / 27.7 kph / 130 avg hr