Feeling like Iron...

Late last night, my leg muscles started to feel empty. I went to bed at 11 pm and didn't fall asleep until 2 am. I felt the same way I do after an Ironman. My legs were completely fatigued and even though I should be sleeping like a baby, I couldn't fall asleep, I kept tossing and turning.

Before I knew it, it was 8:30 am and I was up. That's two days in a row that I've only gotten only about 6 hours of sleep. This morning I felt much better mentally and physically than I did yesterday.

I was really happy when I stepped on the scale after waking up. I was 180.2 lbs. That gives me a total of a 4.8 lb weight loss since Christmas. Since last weekends long bike ride, I can feel my body losing weight, even though I'm eating about 3500 - 4000 calories a day.

Today's run was hard. It was cold, windy and hilly. A triple threat. It felt fatiguing, just like an Ironman run. If I had to do more than 19 miles, it would have felt EXACTLY like an Ironman run. All things considered, I was pleased with my pace, and when I got home, even after drinking a couple glasses of water, I weighed in at 177 lbs. I figured I lost at least 5 lbs of water on the run.

Before I left the house, I drank lots and lots of water and didn't bring any on my run. At the last minute, I put a power bar in my jacket. I'm glad I did. At the 2:03 hour mark I was fading and started eating it. It wasn't easy, the bar was frozen solid. I had to break off pieces and put them in my mouth to let them warm up before I could chew them.

My knees were sore by the end of the run. Some weekends are easier than others. This weekend was the closest training weekend that felt near as hard as an Ironman. I'd say 85-90% as hard. I'm at that part of the Mark Allen Program where he overloads you to near exhaustion.

The highlight of my day was that I set a monthly PB for training volume. I ended up doing 1451.87 km or 900.16 miles for the month of January. I beat my previous best month by 113.93 kms. That's a win. Another couple of wins was losing the 4.8 lbs and not having any beers for the month.

Also, only 40 more days to Ironman China. Thank God. It can't come quick enough. Alice told me this morning that she doesn't want me training for an Ironman over the winter. She said yesterday night I looked completely exhausted and didn't look healthy.

Long run 2:34:01 / 30.26 km / 5:05 p-km pace /1923 ft climbing / -10 C , 35 kph wind

180.2 lbs / 21.4 % bmi

January Monthly Training Totals

Swim - 19.25 km / 11.94 miles

Bike - 1203.41 km / 746.11 miles

Run - 229.21 km / 142.11 miles

Weights - 7 sessions

Total - 1451.87 km / 900.16 miles

Calories burnt - 65,000

0 beers

A crazy ride...

I have three statements. First, this was mentally the hardest indoor ride I've EVER done! Two, I'm NEVER going to train for an Ironman indoors over the winter again! Three, I reserve the right to change my mind.

I think I'm starting to get burnt out again. I'm so glad I took yesterday off and rested. I was reading that a sign of over-training is "irritability". I've definitely had that in the past few days. I've also had very little motivation to blog or even look at my computer.

Today, my parents travelled from Winnipeg for a visit. I wanted to get most of my training done before they arrived this afternoon. I started my indoor bike training just after 9 am and with no understatement, I'm surprised I finished. It took every ounce of will power and self Psychology I could muster.

It was bike one hour and take a 10 minute break and eat something. At the three hour point my brain was mush. I decided that I needed a change of scenery and moved my bike from the basement to our bedroom. I thought it may lift my spirits with a brighter room and being able to look out the window. It helped a little. I also told myself that if I finish, I'll set a monthly training mileage record. I'd be north of 1400 km's / 868 miles for the month. I was also motivated by Doru's comment from yesterday's post.

By hour 4 and beyond it was a pure struggle. I fought to stay on the bike. Staying on the bike for an hour was difficult. At one 30 minute point, I had to get off for a few minutes. The last hour was the absolute worst. Every 10 minutes I wanted to get off the bike, but kept going. A couple of times I did get off the bike and just wanted to lie on the bed. In both cases, within 30 seconds of getting off the bike, I forced myself back on.

At one point, Alice came in the room to tell me my parents arrived. I looked at her and barked "I don't care!". It was one of those irritable moments. When Alice or the kids would come into the bedroom to get something, it would irritate me. I just wanted to be left alone. Anything that broke my thought, irritated me.

Today's picture is of me at 5:57 of the ride. I was brain dead. My goal was to average 30 kph for the entire ride. At that point I was averaging 29.8 kph, which would give a total of 178.5 km's for the ride. My original plan was to get off that bike at 6 hours, regardless if I hit 180 km or not. When I got to the 6 hour point, I "sucked it up" and pushed myself to hit the 180 km mark.

I was so glad to finish the ride, but wasn't yet finished the day's training. I still had a brick run. It was -10C and the cold felt great. It was so nice to get off that bike and get outdoors with my iTunes blasting. It was the perfect pace and heart rate for Ironman China. I can't tell you how relieved and proud I was of myself for finishing. I raised my arms in victory when I pulled into my driveway after finishing.

Once I was done, I showered and we all went out for dinner at the "Tin Cup". I started to feel mentally better after I ate, but still not motivated to do anything but relax. I didn't even take my iPhone to the restaurant and haven't even bothered to check email, even though I saw the alerts. Physically I feel fine. Mentally I just want to veg-out.

Long Ride - 6:02:11 / 180.02 km / 29.82 kph / 135 avg hr

Brick Run - 30:02 / 6.02 km / 4:59 p-km / 140 avg hr

183.4 lbs / 22.8 bmi

Friday night struggle...

Tomorrow is a big training day. Unfortunately, due to cold weather, I'll have to do my long ride indoors. Today my focus has been to mentally prepare for tomorrow. After last weekend and having a taste of outdoor riding, I'm not looking forward to tomorrow's indoor ride.

I didn't swim at lunch today. I was immersed in a project, papers spread all over my desk, and had a choice to make. Do I stay focused and finish? or do I go for my swim and hope I have the same enthusiasm and clarity when I return? I decided to go with "the bird in the hand" and finish up the project.

It was just as well because I wasn't feeling all that spry and I did a swim a couple days ago, so swimming today wasn't critical. I decided to rest up, not overeat and mentally prepare myself for tomorrows long ride and brick run.

I've been spending the night relaxing and planning my trip to LA. I'm really looking forward to training outside in warmer weather. I have just 5 long rides and runs left until China and two of them are going to be in sunny California, which means I only have 3 left in the cold weather. Looking at it in that way sure puts it in perspective that China is not far away and mentally I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with respect to indoor trainer riding.

I've also been trying to plan my race schedule for next year. I haven't decided yet, but I started by putting all the local races and official half and full Ironman's that I'd be prepared to travel to on my calendar. On the food front, Costco is now selling hard boiled eggs that are already peeled. It's a great idea. Who doesn't like a healthy boiled egg with salt on it?

Rest Day

183.4 lbs / 22.8 %bmi

Speeding through snow...

I couldn't do my weights at lunch, I had a full day sales meeting. We work through lunch and I have pizza brought in. Normally, I can stop eating at a couple of pieces. Today I think I stopped at about five. I figured it was at least a 1000 calorie lunch.

I got to the YMCA by 4 pm and did a power weight training session. My joints were feeling the stress of the extra weight. I cautiously pushed as much weight as I could.

When I weight train, I don't sit still. I go from one machine to the next as part of my recovery. For example, if I'm doing a lower body exercise, once I'm finished one set, my rest is doing an upper body exercise, then I go back the the next set on the lower body exercise. If I waited after each set, and didn't move from machine to machine, I'd be in the gym at least 15 or 20 minutes longer. Needless to say, I work up a pretty good sweat rotating from machine to machine.

My overeating continued when I got home. Alice made Lasagna, I ate two big pieces and then 4 bowls of cereal. Ugh. In total I ate 4700 calories today. I had no self control. I find if I eat poorly at lunch, that lack of discipline carries forward for the rest of the day.

Tonight was my running speed work and it was really hard for me to get motivated to do it. First it was cold, - 17 C. Second, it was dark. Third, there was snow on the ground. Fourth, my stomach was so full, even 3 hours after eating I was still burping up Lasagna. I was debating with myself "whether or not I should do it tonight or tomorrow am in daylight?".

At about 9 pm, I read some blog and twitter posts and got a little inspiration and motivation. I got a "you can do it!" from @ree_ti_ree and a "suck it up wuss" from @rbuike. That's all it took to help push me out the door.

It was not a fast speed work session. I was doing timed intervals and was running on newly fallen snow. It's the equivalent of running on sand, with the added danger of slipping. The benefit was that different muscles for stabilization are used. The entire run I was burping up Lasagna. It was not an easy run, going as hard as you can and trying to keep your food down.

Tomorrows a new diet day. Onward and upward.

Weights - 50 minutes / power b

Speed Run - 1:10:32 / 13.45 km / 5:13 pace / 143 avg hr (max 168 bpm)

182.4 lbs / 21.7 % bmi

Another training PB in 2010...

I had the fastest 3000 meter training swim, ever. Normally, with breaks and such, it takes 63 - 65 minutes. Today I finished in 59:02 and that included rest breaks.

My main sets included 1 x 800, which I did in 13:43 or 1:42 p/100, then a 2 x 400 and finished with a 8 x 100. Then I took it real easy for the 400 meter warm up and 200 meter cool down.

My fastest 100, which was my last, was 1:34 and my slowest was 1:44. I'm assuming that I can comfortably maintain a 1:44 pace for at least 1000 meters. If I could do that for the full 3800 meters in Ironman China that would give me around a 1:06. I could only wish. In 2008 Ironman Louisville I did a 1:17:15 (2:01 per 100). Even if I could do a 1:10 (1:50 per 100) in China, that would be a huge improvement over Louisville.

Tonight was indoor biking speed work. Depending what's on TV, determines if it will seem like a long or short ride, perception wise. Good shows equals time going by fast, bad shows equals time going by slow.

Tonight went by relatively quickly, one of my favourite shows called "Dragon's Den" was on while I did my intervals. Although time went by faster, it wasn't an easy session. I did 4 x 6 minutes at an all out pace.

I love givener on the bike, there's nothing like feeling that burning pain in my legs and still trying to go harder and make them hurt more. I'm a sadist on the bike. I wish I could do the same thing in the pool, but I'm too much of a "suck".

Switching gears, I think I'm going to do the 11 day training camp in LA. I was on the LA Tri Club website and noticed that there is a 102 mile Tour de Palm Springs on Saturday and the Palm Springs Half Marathon the next day on Sunday. Then the following Sunday is an 18 mile road race in LA.

The timing of all those events and distances are perfect for my training. The only problem is I want to bring the family for the first of the two weekends, but they want to go to LA, not Palm Springs. They are going to be in Palm Springs during spring break, which is when I'll be racing Ironman China. They don't want to O.D. on Palm Springs. I can't say that I blame them.

I'm still trying to figure out some options. Maybe do the Tour on Saturday and spend Sunday and Monday in Los Angeles. That might work out well because Monday is a school holiday. What to do? What to do? But before I decide, I first have to see if I have enough Air Miles to fly them down with me.

Even though I'm eating close to 4000 calories a day, I'm starting to lose a LITTLE bit of weight. This morning I weighed in at 182.4 lbs. The lowest I've been in months. So far I've lost a whopping 2.6 lbs since Christmas.

I've included a video that @ree_ti_ree posted on twitter. It takes a while to watch, but it's worth it. Interesting perspective. Do you think there is other forms of life out there?

Long Swim - 50:02 / 3000 meters

Speed Bike - 1:13:10 / 36.53 km / 29.95 kph

182.4 / 21.4 % bmi

Constant monitoring...

Last night I was close to burnout, but averted disaster. After I got off the bike it was close to 11 pm, my bed time. I still had to blog and I almost didn't, I was tired. Instead I blogged as quickly as possible and got into bed to watch TV and tried to relax. It was tough, Alice kept wanting me to turn the TV off.

I just barely pulled it off and avoided burnt out feelings. It was like a teeter totter. I could have went either way. Today I was feeling a little tired and decided to move my swim to tomorrow and come home early and nap before my moderate run. I needed the rest bad.

After eating a large banana pancake and 4 bowls of cereal for dinner, I slept for a couple of hours. When I woke up I felt much better and went for my moderate run. I actually don't mind doing moderate paced runs. They are slow and I focus on enjoying the run and nothing else, I don't care about my pace. I've started to use my moderate runs as quasi recovery runs and I'm doing the same with my moderate bike rides.

For the past week, I've been contemplating doing an 11 day training camp near the end of February in Los Angeles. I need to go to LA for an industry trade show and I'm in the process of deciding how long I should stay before and after the show to train. If I can fit two weekends into the trip, I can get two long bikes and two long runs in, as well as lots of swimming and a strict diet.

I can see so many benefits of doing a training camp in LA. I like the fact it will allow me to ride and run outside and acclimatize to warmer weather. It's also so much more enjoyable doing long training rides outside. The only downside is being away from the family for so long. What to do? What to do?

Mod Run - 1:30:03 / 16.55 km / 5:25 pace / 127 avg hr

184.0 / 22.1 bmi

Zen and the art of indoor riding...

Busy day with meetings. I was barely able to fit weights in at lunch time. On the way home from work I was a little depressed about having to do my bike ride indoors tonight. Even though it was a little wet out, it was a fairly nice 6 C. I was seriously contemplating doing my ride outside in the dark.

One option I thought of was making a loop through the neighbourhood and riding it over and over again. The downsides would have been me having to be extra cautious because of stop signs and people pulling out of their driveways and I also thought going in circles may be boring.

Instead, I changed my rear tire and sadly put my bike back on the trainer. On the weekend I had a taste of freedom and now I was back in the proverbial "prison". I had a 3:15 bike scheduled and truthfully, I didn't know how I was going to get through it and keep my sanity.

Then I decided to empty my head. Not to think about time, not to think about anything. It was a moderate ride, which means it was a relaxed pace, and I decided to ride to enjoy. As if it was a Sunday drive.

Before I started riding I upgraded our TV cable package and added the movie channels and some other specialty stations. I did it because Reid wanted the movie package and was prepared to pay half of the increased cost out of his allowance. I'd pay the other half.

Yes, you did read correctly, I did charge my 13 year old for half the cost of the movie channels. Reid says he's going to charge Alyssa money if he catches her watching any of his stations. This should should be fun to watch.

Truth be told, it was nice having the movie channels during tonight's ride. I tried to watch the movie and forget that I was on my bike, as if I was watching it as I would lying on the couch. I tried to turn my mind off from all thinking and emotions. I did a Forest Gump and "just rode". I only got off the bike once for a quick bathroom break.

My Zen approach worked, or at least for tonights ride.

Weights - 55 minutes / Power A

Mod Bike - 3:15:15 / 96.5 km / 29.65 kph / 125 avg hr

183 lbs / 21.0 bmi

Maybe it was the beard...

I had a great long run today. Speed wise, it was one of my best. It was comparable to a couple of long runs I did last spring when I was running my best.

Considering I did 7.5 hours of training yesterday, it made this run all the sweeter. It's amazing the difference a week can make. Taking Monday and Tuesday off due to fatigue, proved to be the right thing to do.

There was a few differences on this run than the past couple. I didn't do the run/walk, I ran it all, and I did it with my week long beard growth while listening to music and not my regular Podcasts. Also my Garmin heart rate monitor finally worked, 95% of the time. I think it was because I had my jacket open. Maybe a closed jacket is the problem?

After the run I made a big mistake. I took a hot Epsom salt bath without eating after my run. I lost more fluid and by the time I got out I was weak and in a mini bonk. It took my 45 minutes of lying on the bed to cool down. Once I had a bowl of cereal and some water I bounced back quickly. Thankfully.

I didn't shave for a week because Reid wanted to see what I'd look like with a beard. The first thing I noticed was I have lots of grey facial hair, which was surprising because I only have about 5 or 6 grey hairs on my head. I also noticed I don't look good in a beard, unless I decide to push a shopping cart around the streets and live in a cardboard box. I told some of the folks at work I was growing it because I wanted to look like G.I. Joe. and I told others I was going into the witness protection program. I'm waiting for Barclay to tell me it's a sign I'm old.

Not a lot to blog about today, except that I'm really trying to eat healthy and lose weight. I've realized my problem is that I don't like hunger pangs. To lose weight you need to overcome the feeling of hunger. If I can get down to 181 lbs before the end of the month, I still be on track to hit my Ironman China goal weight.

Earlier in the month, fellow PFG Johan from Tri-Stemmet left me a comment on the diet plan he follows to lose weight. I thought is was an excellent approach and wanted to include it in today's post.

Here is how I did it and what made me lose plenty of pounds. Don't know if it is 100% correct and maybe a dietitian can help but it worked for me and I haven't fallen over instead I've done a few IM's.

First you need to determine your BMR( Base metabolic rate), that is how many calories you need to maintain(survive) in a day. There is websites that help you determine it. Just google "Determine Base Metabolic Rate"

Mine is 2107 kcal.
Then you need to write down how many calories you burn during your training for the day. No day is the same as some days the training is more intense and longer than others.

For example I've done an one hour bike session in the morning and the calories burned were 818kcal.

In the afternoon I did a one hour run and I burned 841 kcal

so in total I've burned 3766 Kcal for the day.

Now you need to subtract 100 kcal for every hour of training as you used that hour and it is part of the daily BMR. It is not exactly 100 but actually 87 for me but I just use 100 to make it easy.

so the nett total for the day is 3566.

Now I write done all the food I eat during the day and don't exceed 3566 but to lose weight I try to eat between 500-1000 Kcal less than the 3566, thus 2566.

What I do is just after lunch time I add the totals up to see how close I am at my maximum and to see if I need more protein/less fat or more Carbs for snack and dinner time.

Over time I've learned which days are my heavy training days and which are my easy/recovery days and I eat according to that.

Now for Ironman racing you need to eat at a ratio of 60% carbs, 20% protein and 20% fat.

But remember carbs and Protein needs to be divided by 4 and Fat by 9 per gram.

So in my case of the 3566 Calories in a day 60% Carbs is 534.9gram( 3566*60% div by 4). 20% must be Protein 178.3g(3566*20%/4) and 20%must be Fat 79.2g(3566*20%/9). I will then not exceed the above.

I know it looks very complicated but as you learn your body it become so easy and you learn how to determine what to eat on what days very quickly.

Remember Ironman racing has four disciplines and most people only train for three of them(swim/bike/run) and don't train for the fourth(Nutrition)

If you want to qualify for Hawaii you need to train your nutrition also.
As with the other three, some days it really hurts doing them, Nutrition and working out what to eat in a day also hurts some days.

Sorry for the lengthy comment but I needed to share it with you as you need to get your nutrition right when you are training to qualify for Hawaii.

Cheers
J

Long Run - 2:10:10 / 26.49 km / 4:55 pkm / 7:55 p/mile / avg hr 141 / elevation 1969 ft

183.6 / 21.8 bmi

Riding outside is the truth...

First off, today's long ride sucked because it was slow, and strangely, my brick run was one of the best I've ever had. Go figure.

The ride was tough, at least up until hour five. I decided to ride outside in the cold today. I got the idea from Doru earlier this week. He said Sunday was going to be warmer. Just that suggestion, opened my mind to the forgotten possibility of riding outside. If I dress for it, "can I ride outside in January weather?".

I bundled up and wore chemical toe and hand warmers that I picked up at Home Depot. I also brought some extras with me. It was about -4 C with windchill and probably a little colder if you factor in the bike speed. I was curious about a few things. Would I be warm? Would my speeds be similar to my indoor trainer? and would my new seat be comfortable?

The ride started off a little rocky. I replaced my wind trainer tire with my racing wheel. Twenty minutes into the ride I heard a squeaking at the back wheel. I thought it may be the skewer not being lubricated properly and decided to ride back home to fix it. When I got home I realized it wasn't the skewer, it was the cable from my gears rubbing between the tire and frame. Simple fix, but disheartening because I had to start over and ride the most difficult set of hills for a second time.

Here's how the ride went. First hour tough. Second hour tougher. Third hour really tough. Fourth hour toughest and I was very close to a bonk of no return. Fifth hour feeling better. Sixth hour feeling much better. Seventh hour feeling normal and during my brick run, I felt Fantastic. Afterwards, I stretched, showered, went out for dinner and my legs felt great. Relatively speaking.

I don't know if I could have finished this ride indoors. It was tough enough to get over the 3 hour hump on the road. Just getting to hour three was a mental and physical struggle. The good thing about riding on the road is that quitting is not an option. On the trainer, you can always get off at any time and your at home. On the road, to get home from the 3 hour mark, your forced to ride back 3 hours.

For the first 3:40 of the ride I had the wind at my back. It was nice. I then turned around and had to cycle the entire way home into a direct head wind. At times, on slight uphills, my pace was only 12 kph. At exactly 4:11 I was fading fast and pulled into a gas station with convenience store. My toes and hands were also cold. The warmers were no longer throwing heat.

A really nice East Indian couple that owned the store. They were very welcoming. It's like he knew I was tired and what I needed. Without me saying a word, but thinking it, he pointed me to the sandwiches. I had a chicken sub and chocolate milk. I also decided to try a Mars and Snickers bar for energy for the rest of the ride. I decided to try Tri-Stemmets long ride diet plan.

Before I got back on the road, I sat on the floor in the store. I took off my shoes, Bootes and wind protection covers. I then put on new toe and hand warmers. I had a nice conversation with the owners and asked "where am I?". They told me "in the middle of nowhere". It was well past Guelph and they couldn't believe I came from Burlington on a bike. As I left, I thanked them and told them I'll be back again. They were awesome and so friendly to everyone that walked into their store.

It took an hour of riding after my pit stop before my toes started to feel warm again. I saw only one other cyclist on the road today. He had a balaclava and ski goggles on, all he was missing was skis and poles. He probably thought "I" was nuts with just a toque on. I grew up in Winnipeg were -30C is a normal winters day, today I considered balmy warm.

I learnt some tips about cold weather riding today. First, regular power bars freeze quickly and are impossible to eat. Second, regular water freezes quicker than Gatorade. Third, Mars bars are the least freezing bar and are great for cold weather riding. Snickers bars are my favourite, but freeze quickly.

My ride was scheduled for 6:45, but I miscalculated the strength of the wind. It was a slow ride back. Overall, it was a slow ride. I normally average 30 kph plus for long rides. This one I could only average 27.5 kph. It was a real wake up call. I don't care what anyone says, I've realized that outdoor riding is harder than indoor riding.

Before today, I though my riding was pretty strong. Wrong. Before China I need to get outside as much as possible for my long rides. The upside on today's ride was my new seat. It didn't hurt me. Although, I did have underwear, tights and cycling shorts on. Lots of padding. The final test will be wearing tri-shorts only.

Just before I got home from the ride, I changed my iPhone from a Podcast to Music. I wanted motivating music. I transitioned in 3:50 and was out the door. My run was awesome, I felt fresh and my heart rate stayed low for the entire run. I got to the turnaround averaging 4:50 and finished at 4:54 per km/ 7:54 per mile pace. I think today was my easiest brick run ever.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm made for long distance. I get stronger as time goes on. Every hour after the 5 hour mark, I felt stronger and stronger. My brick run proves my theory. I could easily have run another hour. I've never felt so fresh after a long training session. When I wake up tomorrow, it may be a different story.

I only lost 0.5 lbs during today's session. Normally it's 5 - 10 lbs of water weight. I think it was due to the cold weather cooling. I only drank 2.75 water bottles, 1 chocolate milk and 1 glass of water when I finished over then entire time. That's it. I don't think the .5lbs was water, I think it was mucus. My nose was running the entire day.

Final winter riding tip, if you see my gloves, I wouldn't touch them.

Long Run - 7:00:35 / 193.36 km / 27.59 kph / avg hr 127 / 5220 ft climbing

Brick Run - 30:26 / 6.20 km / 4:54 pkm / 142 avg hr

183.2 / 22.1 bmi

Some weeks are better than others...

I could definitely tell I did weights and speed work yesterday. All day I've been a little sore. Easily manageable, but sore nonetheless. I could really feel it in my legs and buttocks, especially the buttocks. I was glad I only had a swim scheduled for today. I've convinced myself that the cool water helps aid muscle recovery.

This week, for some reason, I've been mega productive. I had a lot of major projects that needed to be dealt with and I happily ate through all of them. It's not normal to be "happy" or "eat" through projects or get them "all" done.

Yesterday, I was so pumped about some of the exciting possibilities of a couple of the projects, that my back was actually getting tensed up as my mind was racing. I could feel it and knew if I didn't stop thinking, I'd throw my back out.

Training is the greatest cure for tension and racing thoughts. I couldn't imagine how I'd cope without exercise. After I train, no matter how I felt before hand, I'm in a much more relaxed and positive state afterwards. That's what happened yesterday, I was tensed before my run and came back "chill-axed".

Today, I worked through lunch and couldn't get to the pool until late afternoon. It was my first swim in a week and I wasn't sure what to expect. Before I got started, I tried the swiMP3 for the second time and it didn't work, I think the battery may have drained. Ugh!!! I am going to take it back and get an H20 brand and see if that works better.

Anyways, I keep reading about all these great times that my fellow P.F.G's are setting in the pool and was feeling the pressure to keep up with the team. Swimming is odd. You could have a fast swim on Monday and with the same effort, have a slow swim on Friday. Before every swim lately, I keep my fingers crossed that my body and mind remember how to swim properly. I also find myself constantly monitoring and adjusting my technique throughout my swim.

My warm-up was nice and easy. After about 700 meters I felt like quitting, but I couldn't. Having to post on the blog, and knowing people read it, provides added motivation to push through. When I want to quit, I ask myself "how am I going to explain my quitting in the blog?". Then I thought "you also need this swim, you've got Ironman China in just over 7 weeks, you can't afford to cut or miss swims".

That snapped me out of my negative thoughts and I said "quitting is not an option, so lets just try to enjoy it". I started my main set with a 6 x 300 meters. I was like a machine, every set was either 1:39 or 1:40 per 100. I then did 5 x 100's and my slowest was 1:40 and my fastest, which was my last, was 1:34. The great part was that I didn't go so hard that I'd lose my form. I pushed at about 80% effort. It was slightly more of an effort than I could sustain during a full Ironman swim.

It felt GREAT when I finished. For some reason, finishing a Friday night workout is the best. It's like a mental portal from the week into the weekend. It makes the week feel like a distant memory and sucks you right into the weekend.

Congrats to TriJackal who has lost 6.8 kg / 15 lbs in the past two or three weeks. I'm extremely jealous and happy for him. It just shows how quickly you can lose weight with calorie counting discipline. The only thing that kept me from not overeating tonight was calorie counting using the Daily Burn.

I was in one of those eating moods and started down the path of no return. Alice made pizza. I was able to stop myself by logging my current calories before I started eating more. When I saw where the day's numbers were already, it stopped me in my tracks.

Speed Swim - 1:05:57 /3000 meters

183.2 lbs / 22.7 BMI

I'm a new man, I think..

I still can't believe what a difference 48 hours of rest makes. I feel 100% better than I did on Monday. My energy and spirits are high again. It's like I filled up the gas tank to 80% full.

I was reading in "The Triathletes Training Bible" about over-training. It said that performance will actually start to decline if you over-train. It looked like a bell curve. That decline is where I'm feeling I'm at. From last year to this year, my long runs and tempo runs are a little slower. At first I thought it might be an extra 3 - 5 lbs of body weight, but now really thinking it's over-training. Actually, I'm certain it's over-training.

I learnt an important lesson this week. "Rest is not failure. Failure comes from not knowing when to rest". For the first time, I've noticed I've become stronger by resting. I also know that I was on the verge of getting injured and taking the 48 hours off, helped me avert disaster. I no longer have any Planters Fasciitis phantom pains.

I did weights at lunch and my running speed work after dinner. I ran around a high school track in complete darkness. I was a little nervous about the run. I tend to go harder than I should when I do speed work and become vulnerable to injury. I always think that if I don't go 100% I'm not got to gain. The risk of going 100% all the time, is you are much more likely to get injured.

For this session, I started the intervals slower than normal. I did 8 x 400's and the first was around 1:36. I kept it at that level for most of the run. Of course I had to open it up a little on the last 400 and I focused on leg turnover and running light. I was shocked to see the final lap at 1:23, that's a 5:24 per mile / 3:21 per km pace. The highest my heart rate got up to was 169 bpm. I was pretty happy with that.

I was running so smooth and light, I felt like "Steve Austin - The six million dollar man". Not Steve Austin "the wrestler" - for those young ones who read the blog. "The Six Million Dollar Man" is a 70's T.V. show. It's what a real TV series should be like. It even has theme music that sets up the story before every episode. You can check it out here. Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woOLEEu8RLI

Weights - 45 minutes

Speed Run - 50:24 / 10.25 km / 4:55 pkm / 169 max hr.

183.2 lbs / 22.6 BMI

P.F.G., the toughest triathlon club to join...

There are a few tell tale signs I know it's winter. First, I start craving and eating more Carbs. Second, I want to sleep more. Third, I get hairy legs.

With no racing or outdoor cycling, there's no need to shave. At the rate my leg hair is growing, by the time I need to shave for China, they are going to look like a Sasquatch.

It was nice to get back to training today. It's amazing how only two days of rest can make such a big difference physically and mentally. This morning, my legs felt much stronger and my shuffle downstairs to the breakfast table was improved.

Tonight I started my next phase of training, which started with biking speedwork. I enjoyed the 15 minute warm up and I really enjoyed the 15 minute easy spinning cool down, but the intervals were tough. I'm not sure if it was getting back at it after 2 days rest or doing speedwork for the first time since October.

The new trainer is definitely great for intervals. The resistance increases as you go faster and I found the top end speeds were consistent with what I do outside on the road. I was able to push 1 minute x 15 intervals at around the 450 watt range. The last 10 seconds of each interval were real "leg burners". I pushed 90%, but didn't want to go 100%. I still wanted to rest my legs a little.

All went well, I had a complete stretch afterwards and was feeling great until I stubbed my toes on the stairs. About 10 minutes later they felt like they got hit with a hammer. What dumb luck. Tomorrows track speedwork may be a little uncomfortable.

Today I set up the P.F.G. Triathlon Club merchandise on CafePress at http://www.cafepress.ca/pfgtriclub. All the merchandise is shown printed with the black and white logo version only. I'll be posting the same merchandise with the color logo soon. I've also got some requests for cycling jerseys and swim caps. I'm looking into finding someone who makes them on demand in quantities of one and can be ordered by members online. I'll keep everyone posted.

Due to popular female requests, I'm going to create a second P.F.G logo for the gals. It will still be the same P.F.G. Triathlon Club graphic, but instead of Guys, it will be modified to say Gals and I may add some "boobies". Also, In keeping with my "take things to the extreme personality", I registered the domain pfgtriathlonclub.com and set up www.pfgtriathlonclub.blogspot.com. The site will explain how to become a P.F.G. member and order merchandise online.

My vision for P.F.G. Triathlon Club is as follows. There's no meetings, no structure, no dues, no nothing. P.F.G Triathlon Club is a movement. I envision people who have lost weight and got in shape by doing triathlons, proudly wearing their P.F.G Triathlon Club T-Shirt at races or around town. The concept is that if your a P.F.G. and you see someone else wearing P.F.G. clothing, you automatically recognize them as a "brother from another mother" or a "sister from another mister", and of course, say hi!

I see the P.F.G Triathlon Club as globally grassroots. Just in my little corner of the world of Burlington, Ontario, Canada, I've met many other P.F.G's I never knew existed and in many cases we've become occasional training buddies. Nothing structured or formal. Just a, "what are you doing this weekend?".

Not to mention the other P.F.G.'s I've met from around the world through blogs and twitter. It seems there is lots of P.F.G's and lots of people on their way to being P.F.G's. Each of us have pretty much the same story and we motivate and inspire each other without even knowing it.

On the website, people could register as a member. They don't have to pay or buy anything. Although money is not required, it could be successfully argued that P.F.G Triathlon Club is one of the hardest clubs in the world to join. It takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears and self discipline, self control and self abuse to qualify for membership.

I think it would be really cool, as part of the registration process, that a member would enter the amount of weight they lost due in part to their triathlon journey . I'd then have the site keep a running total of the amount of weight lost by P.F.G members. If anyone else has any ideas or suggestions, don't hesitate to post a comment.

Speed Bike - 57:23 / 27.24 km / 28.48 kph / Max hr 158

Time will tell...

I did it. I took 48 hours of unscheduled rest. I've never done that before and I'm not feeling guilty about it. Physically and mentally I was feeling over-trained and getting burnt out.

Tomorrow I start 6 weeks of speedwork and today I decided to go for a massage. The main reason was my legs are tight and I'm feeling Planters Fascias coming on. I'm not sure if it is for certain or just phantom pains. In either event, I figured a massage wouldn't hurt.

In retrospect, it wouldn't surprise me if it was Planters Fascias. Even though I haven't had it in years because I stretch regularly, last week, over an 8 day period, I ran 97 kms. The week prior I didn't run as much because of a sore hamstring. Essentially, I went from 29 kms one week to 97 kms the following week. I didn't realize that until after the fact, when I was trying to figure out why my legs were so tight with a hot spot under my left foot. I also did 800 km of training in only 17 days, which also probably didn't help.

During the massage, I had no knots in my leg or calve muscles, but they were tight and my quads were tender when she did some deep tissue work. I was grimacing big time. Between yesterday's hot bath and today's massage I hope they do the recovery trick. I'll know tomorrow when I do my bike speedwork. Although the real test will be during Thursday's running speedwork. I'm mentally looking forward to getting back to training tomorrow.

Changing gears, I got the final black and white design for the P.F.G. Triathlon Club (Previously Fat Guys Triathlon Club). It has some subtleties built into it. I told the designer I wanted the logo to tell a story of transformation. If you look closely, the swimmer starts fat, you see some of the weight loss on the bike and on the run he is one lean triathlon machine.

A full color version is being worked on. My plan is to put the colour logo on shirts and gifts and allow people to buy them off Cafepress under http://www.cafepress.ca/pfgtriclub. I believe they print and ship all over the world. The only membership requirement to join the PFG Triathlon Club is to have been a previous fat guy. I put a black and white one up as a test, but wait for the color versions and more products.

Rest Day - Massage

183.6 lbs

The calm before the storm...

After only two days of eating healthy, I can already tell the difference. This morning, for the first time in a long time, I broke 183 and weighed in at 182.8lbs. I'm still snacking, but not on junk food. Instead it's grapes, apples and yogurt.

Later this week I begin my speedwork phase of training and this weekend is a big bike ride, 6 hours 45 minutes, followed by a 30 minute brick run. My plan was to rest today and tomorrow to recover from the over-training and prepare for the increased workload. I wasn't too worried because today and tomorrow are moderate workouts of medium importance. My focus would be to let my legs recover and increase my energy with healthy eating.

Even though I intuitively felt this was the right thing to do, I still checked with MAO. I explained the situation and Mark came back with the exact same approach I thought I should take. He added that once I start my speedwork mid-week, to monitor how I feel on a day to day basis. In the meantime, he suggested I may want to do a short recovery swim, which is scheduled for tomorrow.

On the training gear front, I'm not happy with heart rate monitor on my Garmin 310 xt. It works accurately for only 25 minutes and then I get major erratic readings. Much, much worse than my 305. I've even used EKG gel and it doesn't help. The GPS and computer functions are great, but not the heart rate monitor.

It looks like I'm going to have to wear both my Garmin and Polar during training. I've resigned myself to accepting the Garmin's short coming and I'm not going to bother returning it. I sure hope, at some point, someone makes a heart rate monitor that works well with a GPS. I'll be the first in line to buy it.

Rest Day

182.8 lbs / 22.4 BMI

Iron pain long run...

First the good news. I ate perfectly yesterday. I slept 9.5 hours last night and I weighed in at 183 lbs this morning. The lowest in a long time. I was also feeling much better physically and mentally.

The real test was going to be on today's 3 hour long run. Before I left, I did something I rarely do. I brought a Powerbar and wore a fuel belt with Gatorade. I'm glad I did.

All was going fairly well up until the 20 km point. I took my hilliest route and at the half way point I was averaging a 5:16 pace, only 1 second slower than last week. Then my body and mind fell apart. The only thing I can describe it to is finishing the last half of the marathon during an Ironman. I can't remember having such a difficult long training run, ever.

With 15 km to go, I wanted to "dial a friend", a.k.a Alice, to pick me up. Even though I was using my run 10 minutes and walk 35 - 45 seconds technique, it wasn't making it any easier. I could feel my "heart light" fading. I was becoming physically weaker. It confirmed to me that my body and mind is over-trained and it's not from lack of motivation. The Gatorade and Powerbar helped big time.

I did the Ironman shuffle for the last 15 km. At one point my water bottle fell and it was tough for me to bend down to pick it up. That never happens to me. Last week I did a 30 km run and it felt effortless and my legs had no fatigue. It's amazing the difference a week makes. What kept me going was the mental game I played with myself and that it was a workout I can draw from if it get's ugly in China. I also switched from Podcasts to music for the last 30 minutes and some good, inspiring songs started playing. That also helped.

I managed to finish and was relieved when I pulled into my driveway. My body and mind didn't feel this bad after Ironman Louisville. During those painful last 15 km's, I mentally adjusted next week's training schedule with the objective of getting back to normal and out of my burnout over-training phase. I appreciated all the advice and encouragement I got from yesterday's comments on my blog. I drew from them.

When I got home, I stretched, had a cool bath (someone used most of the hot water), changed into pajama's, laid down on the couch and started watching TV. My plan is not to move from the couch for the rest of the evening. Alice looked at me and said she hasn't seen me look so bad.

Long Run - 3:04:01 / 34.37 km / 5:20 pace

183.0 lbs / 22.5 BMI

I had a come to Jesus talk with myself...

I'm in burnout mode. It started to hit me yesterday and carried forward into today. The minute I got on the bike today I knew I was not feeling good. It felt like a horse kicked me in the chest. All the energy was gone and my legs were flat. However, the worst part was my mental state, every minute of training felt like 5 minutes.

I was expecting the new trainer to be tougher than my old one, but it wasn't much different. Other than it is smoother and noisier. I had a 6 hour ride scheduled for today. My plan was to do three hours straight and then take a 5 minute break on each hour after than.

I couldn't last more than an hour without a break. I had no energy in the tank. I felt so weak and mentally fatigued. All I could think about was my diet and that my poor dietary habits are catching up to me. Yesterday I ate almost as bad as the day before. Having Ice Cream cones for dinner isn't a wise and healthy food choice.

Yesterday I ate about 3000 calories and the only thing I ate that was healthy was a 6 inch Subway chicken breast sub. The rest was junk food. I'm not sure if it was from just having no will power or from getting burnt out.

The burnout isn't surprising me. I've had similar burnout moments during my 2008 training program. What makes this program tougher is the indoor cycling and lack of sunlight.

Normally, in the past, the way I got through my burnout was to have some beers and let loose. And when I say "some", I mean 18 plus. It was a mental reset button and I'd be good for another two or three weeks and then I'd have to reset again. Now that I've sworn off the beer until after race day, it's a whole new experience, trying to fight through burnout without beer.

In order to qualify for Kona I know I'm going to have to do a 10:15 or less in China. On my BEST day, I know I have it in me. Just by stating that 10:15 or less is my goal, I'm putting more pressure on myself. It's actually the first time I've ever actually told others what I REALLY want to do. Normally, I would have said that I wanted to do a 10:45 or less, putting less pressure on myself.

I had a deep conversation with myself. I realized if I want to do 10:15 I need to get my diet under control, not just for weight loss but for nutrition to fuel my energy and recovery. I ate crap for two days and today I had no energy. I need to get super disciplined and focused or I'm wasting my time trying to qualify. With no energy and being mentally pissed off that I'm not losing weight, it's a recipe for disaster. I have nothing to draw from. If I had energy today, I could have overcome the mental state and had I had a strong mental state, I may have been able to overcome the lack of energy.

I've decided I need to make changes. Immediately. I need to do something to get out of my burnt out state without resting too much and losing my current fitness. The only way I can see myself doing it, is to force myself to eat well and to simply my life. I need to spend time eating healthy, training and recovering. I've got to eliminate anything that are not "A" priorities.

Back to my training day. I got off the bike after the first hour and took a 10 minute break. I got on the bike for the next hour and lasted only 35 minutes. I was baked. I was so tired. I decided I'd eat some healthy food and fall asleep on the couch for a while. Hoping when I woke up I'd feel good enough to finish the workout.

I couldn't fall asleep. I was shivering from being sweaty, even with a blanket on. I decided to have a hot bath. When I got out, rather than sleep I decided to go with Alice grocery shopping. I figured we haven't spent much weekend time together in a long time and it might do me good to get some fresh air. Hoping it would help get me out of my funk. It did help a little.

When I got home I ate and was feeling a little better and tried to finish the session. I had enough energy in the tank to last a little more than two hours. I also felt a lot stronger. For the first 1:30 of the ride, I only could average 30 kph and for the second 2:10 I averaged just under 32 kph and 250 watts. Which isn't bad considering I felt so crappy. I've never had a wattage meter before so I tried a couple of intervals under 143 bpm and got it up to 595 watts. I know absolutely nothing about wattage and whether the numbers are good or bad.

After the second round of biking, I couldn't ride anymore. I was too mentally fatigued. I barbecued up some steaks, hoping that after dinner and a nap I'd have enough energy to finish. Wrong. I tried but just couldn't do it. I've never had this feeling without being severely hungover. I couldn't even look at my computer or do anything other than lie down and watch TV. Just blogging has taken a lot out of me. I have a feeling my upcoming entries will probably need to be shorter than normal.

Long Bike - 3:41:18 / 113.80 km / 30.85 kph / avg hr 125

184.6/ 22.3 BMI

How come I always spend more...

I'm excited. I bought my new Kurt Kinetic Indoor Bike Trainer today. It is built like a tank. Big, heavy and strong. I'm looking forward to using it on tomorrows long ride. Kinda.

I've been told, they provide more resistance than the road and my kph pace should be slower than normal. The harder you push, the harder it gets. Not good for the ego. Although, it is better that way. I'd rather train harder and slower and race easier and faster.

While I was at the shop I had them put on a Kurt Kinetic Wired Power Computer. The upside is that I can also use it on outside rides with everything but the wattage feature. While I was there, two of the guys up sold me on getting a trainer tire. They said it makes for a smoother and quieter ride. My final, unexpected purchase, was lace locks for my shoes. I went in thinking I'd spend about $500 and left spending $655.

During the computer install, the mechanic pointed out a lot of what looked like stone chips on the cut out on the back of my bike frame. Where the rear wheel is recessed into it. I never noticed them before and they were major. I then realized that I had the bike leaning on something in the back of my truck and sure enough, from the bike bouncing on top of it, that's what did it. I'm not worrying about it rusting because the frame is carbon fibre, but it sure doesn't look good. I'm going to need to find some red paint or nail polish to tidy it up.

Just before I left the shop, a couple of fit looking triathlon women came in and started looking at my new bike seat and earlier the mechanic was asking me about it as well. It's so odd and uncomfortable looking that it's attracting attention. So far, and this weekend will be the real test, my butt likes it. Which is all that matters.

On the diet front, even though I ate like a little piggy for 15 minutes last night, I still managed to lose .2lb. That brings my total for 8 days, up to a whopping 1 lb of weight loss. Not a lot for all the training I do, but I'll take it. I know I'm also gaining muscle as well, which skews the final number.

My mantra right now is "patience, patience and patience" and "if I fall off that horse, get back on". It could be worse, I could be drinking beer. I haven't had a beer since January 1st. That's a win. The only use my Beer Boot Glass is getting is from Reid using it for soft drinks.

I decided not to do a swim today. I could tell my body needed a rest. It's been 12 straight days of training without one and missing a swim is no big deal. I need to build some energy stores and give my legs a rest, I have a 6 hour bike and 3 hour run planned for this weekend.

My biggest challenge this weekend won't be the training, it will be trying to resist eating. Especially since Alice just loaded up the cupboards with all sorts of junk food and the fridge with ice cream. Ugh...

Rest Day - No training / Just spending

183.6 / 23.2 BMI

Emotion Lotion...

I decided I'm going to buy a Kurt Kinetic Indoor Bike Trainer. The reviews are positive and all the people I know who have them, love them. I really like the warranty, it's lifetime with no conditions. It doesn't get any better than that.

Right now they're on sale for $387 and for an extra $117 I can get a speedometer that also shows wattage and cadence. Apparently when tested against a power tap there was only a 2% variance. I'm also told that when you switch into larger gears, the trainer simulates the added wind resistance and makes it tougher to pedal. It sounds like a pretty good deal for only $500.

I was going to pick it up today but decided to do weights instead. I figured I'd do the toughest thing first and I didn't want to be doing weights at night. My next ride is Saturday and so long as I pick up the trainer tomorrow, I knew I'd be okay. I spoke to the guys at the bike shop and their going to put on all the electronics and assemble the trainer while I wait.

During my weight training session I ran into Steve and he introduced me to his wife. I can see that Steve is right on the edge of getting back into triathlons and his wife is encouraging him. Steve did the Hawaiian Ironman back in 1988 and like me, quit for 20 years. I told him that he "should just pull the trigger" and sign up for the Syracuse 70.3 Ironman in September. There's nothing more motivating than FEAR.

Speaking about fear, I got an email from John Barclay. Yesterday he officially got his flight booked for Ironman China and today he did a 4 hour bike ride on his trainer. John is definitely motivated by FEAR right now. In 2008, we did Ironman Louisville together. It was John's first Ironman and my first in 17 years. I was definitely motivated by FEAR. The fear of knowing from experience how painful an Ironman could be if you don't train enough.

John on the other hand, didn't have the experience to fully understand how painful Ironmans can be and didn't train enough on the bike. I think he only did two long rides and the longest was 100 miles. Needless to say, John went into the black hole of pain and suffering halfway through the bike. To his credit, in all his hurting glory, he didn't give up and finished. It took every ounce of will and determination he had to do it.

Now with that first race behind him, the FEAR of pain has gripped him and I can already tell he wants to make sure he's bike ready. For John to do 4 hours on the trainer is a big deal. And for him to do 4 hours on a trainer during a week day is a really really big deal. That's what happens when you pull the trigger, "Fear gets your ass in gear".

I had a tough time getting out on my run tonight. I was looking forward to my run because the weather was great at 3 C. The mistake I made was to try and install some new technology before hand. Of course I ran into trouble and had to contact tech support and what I though was going to take 15 minutes took 2 hours and in the process I got mentally frustrated and the last thing I wanted to do was go for a run.

I know better. I should have ran first. I finally got "Magic Jack" installed and working but I was mentally fried. As sick as this sounds I knew if I started eating some junk food it would force me out the door. It's the way I'm wired. I couldn't eat poorly without trying to burn it off out of guilt. I started with one Wagon Wheel and ended up eating 5, plus 3 Twinkies and 1 Rice Krispie square. I ate 1100 calories of junk food in less than 15 minutes. The only upside was it got me out of my funk and easily motivated me to get out the door.

The downside was that I sabotaged my diet. Had I done my run first, I would have been much more relaxed afterwards and I wouldn't have even considered eating comfort junk food. Live and learn. Although, even with a diet that needs to be improved, I did manage to lose .8lb from last week. Plus, by installing Magic Jack I'm not going to be paying monthly phone bills anymore. This year I'll save close to $500, almost enough to pay for my new indoor bike trainer.

Weights - 45 minutes

Tempo Run - 55:15 / 11.49 km / 4:47 pace / hr monitor not working properly. Ugh.

183.8 / 22.1 BMI

We're in the 50's...

Ironman China is not far away, 59 days and 7 more long rides and runs to be exact. At first when I started this journey I chose China because I thought I'd have a good chance to qualify for Hawaii.

Last year, the fastest qualifing time in the 44-49 AG was a 10:51 and the slowest was a 12:19. Mind you it was 43 C. I know I have a sub 11 hour race in me and figured I'd have a good shot to qualify. Now I'm not so sure. I have a feeling that a lot of guys saw the same results, and like me, looked at China as a good place to qualify for Kona. I think the competition is going to be much tougher than last year and I'll have to be a 10:15 or less to qualify. It's just a gut feel.

My experience is nothing happens like you predict it. In 2008, Muskoka was a sleeper and I could have qualified for Clearwater if I was at the roll down. In 2009, my goal was to qualify at Muskoka for Clearwater based on the times being the same as 2008. Turns out that had I not qualified at Steelhead, I wouldn't have qualified for Clearwater as per my original plan, Muskoka had a much deeper field and faster times than 2008.

I have a feeling China is going to be the same as Muskoka. I've already been bold in my VLOG by naming it "Journey to Kona", but I can't take anything for granted. As a matter of fact, I think I need to err to assuming the competition is going to be TOUGH and getting a spot is going to be VERY difficult.

NOTHING GREAT IS EVER EASY! This is a direct message I got from Jevon @ironmanj on Twitter. It resonated with me. Getting to Kona is NOT going to be easy and I've got to treat it as such. For the next 7 weeks I need to be as focused as I can be on completing all my training and eating healthy to lose weight. I'd hate to go to China and not qualify with regrets.

If I go ready and don't qualify, I'll know I did the best I could. With that said, I won't give up on my dream. I could still try to qualify at Lake Placid and if that doesn't work I could try to get into Ironman Canada with a community slot and try to qualify there as well. For some reason I just want to get to Hawaii this year. I think I know why, but that's a blog post unto itself.

On the training side, I finally got my underwater swiMP3 to work. Unfortunately it's not as loud as I thought it would be. I was expecting clear orchestra level sound and it is more like light elevator music. Hear-able, but not loud enough to be motivational.

I did have a decent swim and was happy with one 600 meter interval that I did in 10:17, which is a 1:42 per 100 pace and a PB by 5 seconds. The guy in the next lane was fast and my competitive juices kept me working hard for that 600. The other 3 x 600's were fairly mediocre.

Tonight I had to draw on that "if you want to make it to Kona, get your ass off the couch and force yourself onto that trainer". My legs were fatigued from this weeks training and tonight was an interval tempo ride. I knew it was going to hurt, especially since I was going to do low cadence intervals as per Simon at TriTwins suggestion.

I put the trainer to its hardest resistance and I put my gearing at the highest level. In the beginning it was hard to get up to 26 kph. As I loosened up I was able to overpower and push through it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to put enough resistance on the unit to keep me under 60 rpm. My goal was to keep it in the 50's.

My session went like this, one minute rest and then go as hard as I could for two minutes or until I hit 143 bpm. For most of the ride I'd max out at 36 - 42 kph, then at one point I gaver and got it up to 60 kph and then all hell broke loose. It started with a squeak and then turned into a buzz saw sound with no fluid resistance. It was like the unit had no grease in it. It was hot to the touch and started to smell. Eventually it got so bad I couldn't ride anymore.

The good news was that I was able to cut my session short by 21 minutes. It's like getting let out of school early. It was the PERFECT excuse for not finishing and now I can proudly say I "destroyed my indoor bike trainer. I rode it to it's death".

After I officially finished the session, I tried to really fry it and got it up to 70 kph and was hoping it would explode, but it didn't. Dang. I had the video ready to capture the moment and everything. Anyways, I'm glad it happened tonight and not during Saturdays long ride.

Does anyone have a suggestion of what brand of trainer I should buy? Quality and quiet is what I'm looking for, need to buy one by Friday. Something that works well with a future Compu-trainer is another consideration.

184.0 / 21.6 BMI

Long Swim - 1:04:55 / 3050 meters

Tempo Ride - 1:08:14 / 35.92 km / 31.59 kph / 138 avg hr

All that's left is the training...

I started the day off lighter than yesterday, 3.2 lbs to be exact. All water loss. It felt good to look at the scale and see 184 lbs again. I also started the day off with my Chinese Visa arriving.

My arrangements are officially all set. I'm registered for the race and I've got my flight, hotel and Visa in place. Now all I have to do is finish the next 8.5 weeks of training injury free. I also found out that my "Brother in Arms", John Barclay, has decided to join me and do the race. It will be our second Ironman together. I'm looking forward to it.

Today was a tough day for training. It started off all wrong. I got to the pool at lunch time, all excited about finally getting to use my underwater swiMP3. I remembered the cap this time. I went to turn it on and "nothing". Notta. It didn't turn on. I was so mad and disappointed. I tried and tried and it still didn't work. I figured it must have lost it's charge, I think, I hope. I've tried to get it to work in the pool since Christmas with no luck. I feel like I'm cursed.

I swam 15 minutes and quit. I had visualized myself using the MP3 for the entire swim and now that it didn't work I was deflated and just gave up. I figured I'd charge it and comeback and finish tomorrow. I had no energy to persevere, which is highly unusual. I just wanted to get in my truck, drive back to work and try to get my head in a better place.

Once I got to my locker, I started talking to myself and telling myself that it was not having the MP3 player working that caused me to cut the swim short, why don't I do weights instead. After all, it would be the perfect time to make up yesterday's session. My head space wasn't excited about doing it, but I did it anyways. There was no good excuse not to do it and if I didn't, I'd just regret it later.

The best way to get out of a funk is to nap and that's what I did after dinner. When I woke up I felt better and was out the door by 8 pm to do my moderate paced run. I love doing moderate runs. They are to be done at a low heart rate and to me they are leisure runs. I don't care about pace at all. Moderate runs allow me to enjoy the joy of running. Tonight was no different. I took it nice and easy.

I'm still having problems with my heart rate monitor. I tried wearing layered cotton shirts today and it didn't help. Up until the 1 hour point it works perfectly, then it becomes erratic. I even stopped and wet it again with snow to no avail. I'm not sure if the problem is me or the weather. Tonight was - 11 C. In either event, I need to turn the alerts off because they are driving me crazy. At least I did enough distance tonight to surpass 600 km's of training for first 12 days of this month and had my second day of perfect eating.

Swim - 15:15 / 700 meters

Weights - 45 minutes

Mod Run - 1:45:15 / 20.0 km / 5:15 pace / 131 avg heart rate

184 lbs / 23.0 BMI

Running out of hours...

Today I have proven that you can train over 8 hours on a weekend and still gain weight. I gained 4 lbs since Friday. This morning I was 187.2 lbs and I didn't even drink beer this weekend. Although, I did eat a lot. It just goes to show that eating less is more important than exercising when trying to lose weight.

I went to the bike store at lunch time to replace my seat. I tried the Amado for about 12 hours and it wasn't working for me. It was better than the seat before it, but I think it was too wide for me. It was causing chaffing and made my butt sore. My legs had already started to wear off the silk screening on the sides. I didn't want to wait any longer to replace it because I didn't want it to look too worn and risk the store not wanting to take it back.

The only seat that worked well for me was a stock Quintana Roo seat that I had on my old Seduza. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier, but I should have just ordered one of those seats. I'm sure they'd be under $100. In any event, I bought the Adamo and felt obligated to work through any issues with the bike store.

I looked at a picture of the Seduza seat and it had a narrow nose and was shorter in length. At the store I tried to find one like that. I looked at a lot and they showed me a Selle Italia Optima. It was full carbon, including the rails and was areo dynamically designed for Triathlon and Time Trials. It's only 130 grams and the price was $550. It was a beautiful seat and it looked very similar to my Seduza seat in size and shape.

The Adamo seat I bought was $300, taxes in, and that was more than I wanted to spend at the time. Coming up with another $250 plus taxes was out of the question. I found another seat and it was only $200, which meant I could try that and they would have to give me $100 back.

The guy I was dealing with went into the back office and spoke to the owner and because the Optima was the last one they had and he wanted to get rid of it, he was prepared to give it to me for the same price as the Adamo. Without hesitation I took the deal. I had them install it and tried it at the store and I liked it. Although, the real test is to do a long bike ride.

I had to replace the seat TODAY because I had a 3 hour plus ride scheduled for tonight and using the Adamo was out of the question. To find the time to get the new seat I had to miss my weight training session at lunch time.

I almost did the weights after work, but once I started doing the math, I wouldn't be able to finish the weights, eat dinner and finish the bike ride before 11 pm. I need my beauty rest. I justified not doing the weights because they are only of medium importance on the MAO program and who knows, depending how the week goes I may be able to fit that session back in.

By the time I finished eating dinner and napping, I got on the bike by 6:45 pm. The seat felt okay, better than the Adamo. For me I have big thighs and I think the narrow nose is better. I also noticed that the seat is designed a little different and in the aero position the sit bones actually sit on the backside of the seat. I watched the demo video at Selle Italia's website and it was intentionally designed that way.

I ended up riding the entire time. No scheduled rests stops, other than stopping once to lower the seat height just slightly and to take a quick bathroom break. The real seat test is going to be on Saturday's long ride, but I'm feeling cautiously optimistic.

Tonight's ride was hard. My legs were flat. Within the first 5 minutes on the bike I couldn't push hard enough to get my heart rate up to my minimum 118 beats per minute. This past weekends training took it's toll on my legs. I thought of quitting or cutting tonights ride short and decided against it. I figured that it's days like this that major gains are made if I work through it.

To help get the heart rate up I put the trainer resistance on the highest level. I used a lower gear and even then I struggled to maintain 85 rpm for the entire ride. Tonight's ride was tough physically and mentally, although I felt good knowing I did it and didn't cut any corners.

I got a real lesson seeing how hard it is to burn 2800 calories on tonights ride, versus, how easy it is to eat 2800 calories. When I finished, I opted for fruit as my recovery snack. It would have been too painful to eat 900 calories of junk. All I would have thought about was the pain I went through to burn those 900 calories.

Mod Bike - 3:15:11 / 95.93 km / 29.49 kph / 122 bpm avg hr

187.2 lbs / 22.5 BMI

Walking the long run...

This weekend, for some reason, I was looking forward to my long training sessions. Especially my long run. I've been letting my hamstring heal and this would be my first long run in 12 days. I was anxious to see if my hamstring was okay. It was. I also needed to burn off the 4700 calories I ended up eating yesterday. We went out for dinner with the Barclay's and of course I had to order desserts.

After the first 20 minutes of running, my hamstring felt a little tender and I was at a crossroads, literally. Do I take the easier route or the hilly route? I ended up taking the hilly route. I also tried something new today. After every 10 minutes of running, I'd stop and walk briskly for 35 - 45 seconds. Mentally it was hard to do, it seems so counter intuitive. Walk to go faster. It's a theory being promoted by triathlon Coach Bobby McGee.

I committed to do it, not only to try it, but because it would make the run easier on my hamstring. After 30 minutes, my hamstring loosened up and it didn't bother me at all. Thank goodness. Not only are the long runs critical to my training, but most of the time I enjoy doing them. I'd rather do a 3 hour run over a 3 hour bike ride any day.

For the first 1:20 of the run I walked for 35 seconds every 10 minutes. Then for the balance of the run I walked 45 seconds every 10 minutes. In total I walked about 11 minutes and still finished with a 5:08 per km average pace (8:17 per mile pace). At the turnaround I was averaging 5:15 per kilometer and the last half I averaged a 5:00 pace. Last half was more downhill with a slight wind at my back.

I'm torn, did the walking make me go faster? or had I not walked would my average speed have been much better? I will say that my legs didn't feel very tired or sore after the run. I'm not sure if that is from the walk / run or just because my legs are getting stronger. Either way, it was the easiest 30 km run I've ever had. It felt like I ran 15 km / 10 miles.

I was determined to get my run done in the morning. My business partner's Dad's funeral was in the afternoon. I also wanted to run in the Escarpment and I can only do that in the day time. Night time is much too dangerous.

The only problem on my run was that my Garmin 310xt heart rate monitor wasn't working consistently. It worked great for the first 90 minutes and then it was erratic for the balance of the run. I even rubbed EKG gel on it before I left. I'm not sure what the problem is. I did read in the manual that if you wear a synthetic fabric, which I do, it could rub and the static energy generated will cause problems. They suggest you wear cotton. Maybe that's it. Who knows?

I'm starting to think it is my body and not the watch. I will say that while it was working, it was near impossible for me to get the heart rate over 140 bpm, even on steep uphills. For most of the run it was under 134 bpm, I was having a good day. It was also my first long run weekend without beer. That may be the reason. Less stress on the system.

Long Run - 2:35:34 / 30.23 km / 5:08 pace (8:17 per mile) / 1719 ft climbing / 137 avg hr.

185.6 / 21.8 BMI

Man am I full after that long ride...

I gained two lbs of water from last night. There must have been lots of salt in the 3894 calories I ate. I justified eating so much as part of my Carbo-loading for today's long ride and brick run. Plus, it was my one day a week I don't care about calorie counts.

In a sick twisted way, I kinda look forward to these long bike trainer sessions. I just want to prove to myself that I can do them. I try to assume that my Saturday long bike ride is no different than another Fathers Saturday, except he uses the time to work around the house. I do over 100 miles of biking and he builds a tool shed or something else that he can be proud of for years to come.

Today's ride was mentally tough. My workout strategy was gear down in order to keep my cadence higher at 93 rpm's. I didn't want to push a harder gear and jeopardise the healing of my hamstring. Although I must say, keeping it at 93 rpm's was not as easy as I thought it would be. I got off the bike every hour and had some water and food. Most of the breaks were under 10 minutes, except my lunch break, which was 20 minutes.

I ate a lot of food during the ride. Just to give you an idea, including breakfast, I had the following: Bagel, butter, 2 rye toast, chicken noodle soup, yogurt, Protein Smoothie, banana, Power Bar, Turkey Sandwich with cheddar cheese, bowl of raisin bran, 1.5 cups of water, and a whey protein drink. It was a total of 2165 calories. Needless to say, I didn't bonk due to lack of food. Heck, I may have even gained weight on today's ride.

It took everything I had not to cut the ride short. My butt was killing me. Also, my thighs seemed to be rubbing on the wide nose of the seat. I stopped a couple of times to adjust the seat height and the seat angle. I can't say enough how mentally tough and uncomfortable today's ride was. I could hardly wait to get off that bike and do my brick run.

I had all the clothes laid out. Winter brick workouts require a much longer transition that Summer brick workouts. Summer transitions are 4 minutes or less. Today's transition was just over 8 minutes. The reason it's longer is that I need to strip down completely and towel myself dry. Then I have to put on all my Winter running gear and that takes time.

As sick as this sounds, I love brick workouts. I used to hate them. They used to hurt. I remember my first few years of triathlons and the transitions always hurt. Your legs feel like spaghetti and many people start running like a duck off the bike. It's dis-comfortable. My daughter did one triathlon and hated that transition feeling so much, she won't do another. Me on the other hand, I love that feeling. My body responds well to pain.

I actually run relatively fast off the bike. I think it's from the higher cadence on the bike that carries over to the run. For the first kilometer of today's run, I was at a 4:50 pace and under a 140 bpm heart rate. After 5 hours on the bike with a sore butt, it was nice to run and give my butt a break. As weird as it sounds, during the Ironman, near the end of the bike, I look forward to the marathon so I can get off my bike seat.

I decided not to listen to any podcasts on today's run. It was all music and it was an awesome run!!! It was a nice crisp -14 C and I was able to get back home just before Sundown. At one point "The Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy" started playing. I remembered listening to that song 20 years ago during my training.

It brought me back to that moment in time and I was thinking that 20 years ago I would never have predicted this moment. That I'd be in Ironman shape and living in a beautiful neighbourhood in Ontario. Or that they would have this devise called an iPod and I wouldn't be listening to my Sony Walkman Cassette Player. Truth be told, I still refer to my iPod as a Walkman. When I can't find it, I'll go around the house asking "has anyone seen my Walkman" and the kids give me that German Sheppard look, "what's a Walkman?".

My legs felt good after the run. The only pain I have is from chaffing in the groin area from the bike seat. I put some glide on it, which should help. If my body doesn't adjust to the seat in the next couple of rides, I'm going to take it back and try a position adjustment or another seat. Tonight it's R & R. Alice and I are going to go out for a casual dinner with John and Heather Barclay. Should be fun and cheaper since I'm on the wagon. Oh, one other highlight, I surpassed 1100 km on my trainer so far this year.

Long Bike Ride - 5:15:13 / 168.40 km / 32.05 kph / 136 avg hr

Brick Run - 30:30 / 6.04 km / 5.02 pace / 142 avg hr

185.8 lbs 22.4 BMI