The moment of Truth...

As I write this blog, I have 9 hours left until the start of IMSG. It's going to be a cold morning. I've been told to expect around 48 F / 8 C as we get out of the water and start the bike. That doesn't include the windchill effect and there will be some, big time. There also calling for 68 F / 21 C later in the day.

I had a busy day, lots to do and it all got done. My morning started off with a pre-race ride and run. It was only 9 am and it was COOL out. I was second guessing my decision not to bring my arm warmers. I kept trying to convince myself that tomorrow morning I won't notice how cold it is once I get started on the bike.

Everything went smooth today. My bike and run was strong and I'm really happy about how I feel physically and mentally. The real test will be tomorrow, and anything can happen, but as it stands now, I don't think I could be more ready.

I'm not expecting a fast race. EVERYONE I've spoken to that has ridden this course in training says to treat the ride like a training ride. If you don't, you will pay for it on the run. It seems that most people are concerned about the ride and the run is not getting the attention it deserves.

I checked in all my gear and had a late lunch of salad with chicken breast. Today, I consciously haven't been overeating and I've tried to have vegetables at lunch and dinner. I'm hoping they will help me clean out my system when I get up in the morning. If you know what I mean.

After lunch I was talking to a competitor from Utah and he said he was doing a full change of clothes with a base layer and gloves for the bike ride. He knows the area and wouldn't do it any other way. That scared the "Sh*t" out of me and I immediately went to a bike store and bought a front full zipper bike jersey and arm coolers. They were sold out of the arm warmers, but the guy at the shop says the coolers work well at deflecting the wind and they will still provide a benefit.

I'm still going to wear my tri-shirtand when I get out of the water, I'm going to put the jersey and arm coolers on. I also found a pair of gardening gloves at K-mart that I'm going to wear. It still may not be the answer, but it's better than just wearing one layer of clothes.

With all that said, I'm HAPPY it's going to be cool. I have no heat training under my belt and not having to deal with heat, its one less thing I need to worry about.

I video taped my day today and drove the course. I was getting special requests for a VLOG and this will give my family a chance to see that I'm in a safe place. St. George is no China. In fact, I think I only saw one Chinese food restaurant in all of St. George. This is my kind of place.

The only time I got a little nervous about the race was when I was waiting for my take out pasta from "The Pasta Factory". I was killing time by reading the race program and I got a little lump in my throat. I also got a little tear in my eye, I'm looking forward to having an Ironman experience.

When I say "I'm looking forward to having an Ironman experience", that means, I have no idea what is going to happen, good or bad, and whatever it is, I have to deal with it and preserver. I've already made up my mind that if I had a catastrophic breakdown on the bike, I'm running the rest of the bike course. Even if I have 50 miles left and it's physically not possible to finish before the time cut-off, I'll still be going. They'll have to drag me off the course before I quit.

Physically and mentally, no problem, I'm ready. The only thing that can screw me up is something unexpected. I'm hoping the odds are in my favour that I won't experience any major problems tomorrow. I've had my share already.

It's going to be an early morning. I have a 3:50 am wake up call. I've set my alarm for 3:50 and I've set my iPhone alarm for 3:50. The last bus leaves at 5:30 am to the swim start and I need to make sure I have time to get my coffee and bagel.

You can track me tomorrow at www.ironman.com or specifically http://live.ironmanlive.com/events/ironman/st.george/?show=tracker You can enter my last name PAYNE or bib# 1960. I love that number. Easy to remember.

There is also going to be 18 hours of live video broadcast via the internet with Universal Sports at http://www.universalsports.com/triathlon/: Also, I'm told, somewhere on Ironman.com they have live video of people crossing the finish line. Maybe you'll see me. Look for the Captain's hat!!!

Also, last but not least. THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT AND WELL WISHES. It's humbling to think all these people are watching you, from all over the world, and wanting you to do well. I'll be drawing energy from all of you while I'm out there, especially when it gets hard. Thanks again.

Pre-race Run - 16:06 /3.23 km / 4:58 pace

Pre- race Bike - 16:09 / 8.32 km / 30.92 kph

I'm going to need to call Jenny soon...

I can hardly wait until this race is over, I've been carbo-loading so much, that I may be 200 lbs by race morning. Today at least, I tried to pull back on the amount of time I had the food bag around my neck. That's also going to be the plan for tomorrow.

I spent most of the day driving the course. I first went to the swim start. It's in a big water reservoir and the water temperature is around 58 - 60 F. I was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't ICE cold. I met another guy from Edmonton there and he was standing in the water and saying, "this ain't that bad". It's definitely not near as cold as Ironman Canada.

Then I drove the bike course and only got lost about 10 times. It was my own fault. I was talking on the phone and trying to read the map and drive. The first part of the course looks a little civilized and then it gets tougher. There is one switch back that is an incredibly tough looking climb. I'm glad I got a 27 gearing on my bike.

At one point, I went off course and was on a stretch of road that seemed to go downhill forever. I was getting tired just driving downhill that long. I was thinking this is going to be nice to coast down on the bike. That was before I realized I was off course. As I got down to the bottom, my ears were plugged from the altitude. I've had that happen to me on airplanes, but never on land.

When I got back to the hotel, I closed the drapes, had a Hersey Bar, and put myself in a sugar induced coma for 2.5 hours. It felt good catching up on some sleep. Afterwards, I hooked up with Martin Paul from the UK, he's a friend of my twitter buddy Jevon. We met up at the buffet, just before the pre-race meeting.

I don't know what it is about Jevon's friends, but the two he has hooked me up with, don't drink. Unlike Jevon, who, according to Martin, "can drink a lot of beer". Martin had some nice things to say about Jevon. I think I may have brought Martin over to the dark side, we're going to hook up after the race at the finish area, have beers and cheer on the others. Assuming, him or I are not one of the others.

I didn't eat any pasta or sauce at the pre-race buffet. While I was waiting for the pre-race meeting to start, I had a salad with no dressing and an apple as a snack. The pre-race meeting was different and cool. They had all the information in a video with the commentators out on the course as they spoke.

It was important to go to the pre-race meeting because it's not a normal Ironman set up course. There is two transition zones. One at the swim and another in downtown St. George. It was important for me to go to figure out the logistics of how to get where I need to go. Once I understood it all, I liked it. I think this is a pretty cool setup. Very different. The only downside is the LAST bus leaves to the swim area at 5:30 am. It's going to be a VERY early morning.

The town of St. George is 1000% behind this event. Throughout the city, there is banners on all the street light posts. The people in St. George are also very friendly. Where ever you go they seem to be outgoing and personable. With the great people, the spectacular scenery and a challenging course, I think St. George is going to become a popular race.

The energy of the event is also fantastic. Unlike China, where the athletes were impersonal and distant, the athletes here seem to be talkative and supportive. I've had lots of great elevator conversations already. I just can't say enough about the event. It feels like an Ironman should.

When I drove the bike course, I kept thinking "Pentiction". This course reminds me a little of Ironman Canada. There is large vast areas of land, hills and valleys and no homes. For most of the course, I couldn't even get a cellular phone signal. The roads are also not very busy with traffic. St. George seems like a perfect place to live and train for triathlons.

And if your a triathlete that likes to drink and party, it's even better. You're only 90 minutes from Vegas.

No Training - Taper Day

Getting down to business...

I made one slight error of judgement in my travel plans, I left Toronto too late at night and didn't fully think through the time zone repercussions. By the time I flew into Vegas and drove to St. George it was 4:30 am Toronto time.

The drive from Vegas to St. George was brutal. I was so tired I could hardly stay awake. I was pulling out every trick in the book to try and stay away. I had the window rolled down and my arm catching the wind, I was singing, I was yelling military marching orders, I was blasting the music on the radio, I was slapping my face, and even then, it was tough to stay awake. I was so relieved when I arrived.

I ended up getting only 5 hours of sleep. Not good. I wanted to sleep longer, but wasn't in the zone. I figured I better get up and hopefully over the next two days I can catch up on that missed sleep.

I went to the expo, bought some shirts, a scale and compression socks. First off, I want to talk about the socks. You will NEVER see me race in them or where them around with shorts on. I see people that wear them that way and they look so "dorky". Last year, I asked my family to "put a bullet in my head" if they see me wearing compression socks in public. I'm just going to wear them to bed or under my pants "as a work sock".

I also bought one of those Tanita Scales, they're amazing. Not only do they measure weight, but they do body fat, % of total body water, muscle mass, physique rating, basic metabolic rate, metabolic age, bone mass and visceral fat rating. The scale I have from Wal-Mart tells me weight and BMI, which is usually 20 - 22%.

As the guy was demonstrating the scale, he wanted me to stand on it. I wouldn't. I knew I'd been eating and drinking a lot over the past couple days and didn't want to see it. So he used himself as the subject. After he showed me his stats, one in particular stood out, physique rating. He was an 8 out of 9 and said he was trying to build more muscle to be come a 9 out of 9. I was surprised because he was young and lean looking.

That put me over the edge. I was prepared to see my weight just to see my physique rating. I knew it was good when the guy said, "oh, wow, great numbers". I was a 9 on 9. Although my weight was 190 lbs, 10 lbs more than normal, my body fat was 8.6% and I had the metabolic level of a 29 year old. Not bad for a PFG.

After spending the afternoon on work stuff, I took off to do a training ride on the course. I had no idea where I was going. Thank goodness for the GPS and intersection search. I eventually found the bike course.

It was a windy day, 63 kph winds. The first part of the course was uphill with the wind was to my side or back. It still didn't help much, I was only going around 16 kph most of the time. As I was riding I was thinking, "Johan said he averaged 31 kph on this course on the compu-trainer. What am I doing wrong, there's NO WAY I'm going to average 31 kph on this course.

It seemed like I was climbing for 55 minutes straight before turning around. My average speed was only 21.8 kph, and that was with the wind at my back. I must say, the scenery is SPECTACULAR. At certain points, I felt like I was riding on Mars. The red rock and all the different formations and terrain were simply beautiful.

As I was riding, I had some deep thoughts. The first was, "I'm so glad to be here and I'm so looking forward to doing Ironman St. George". It has nothing to do with speed or qualifying for Kona. It's all about enjoying the Ironman experience with no pressure, other than to finish. I felt like I had my Ironman Mojo back and all was good in "TrainingPayneVille".

My second thought was, "there is no way I'm going to have a fast bike ride. This course is "beauty and the beast". The course is the "beast" and the scenery is the "beauty". Going out to hard on this course is suicide.

From the turnaround back, into a viscous head and side wind, I was flying. It only took me 35 minutes to get back. The wind was so bad, that at times, I was so scared that I was going to be blown into traffic. Again, I was thinking of Johan at IMSA last weekend and the winds he faced on the bike during a training ride. I was riding diagonally into the wind, with my hand on the outside handlebars, just so I wouldn't get blown off and even then it was tough to stay the course.

St. George is DRY, I was constantly thirsty. I've never seen a real tumbleweed, only in the movies. Today, I saw at least three going across my path. Other than the altitude, the heat, the wind, the hills and the dryness, this is one EASY course. Hydration and proper pacing is going to be the key to finishing this race in one piece.

Saturday is calling for 21 C and rain. Never before in my life have I been praying for cool weather and rain. On last weeks ride, I realized I've done "no" training in the heat. Most of my training has been in 12 - 16 C weather. Although, I did hear the wind may die down by Saturday.

I was debating if I should do my run today or tomorrow. I flipped a coin and it said to run. I'm glad I did. It was tougher than the bike. I was so thirsty and felt weaker than normal. I'm glad I got to experience what to expect during the race. Again, proper pacing and hydration is going to be the key.

I did notice that the run is through town and goes past many restaurants and bars. I'm definitely going to put some money under my hat so I can stop and buy a beer if I get really exhausted.

Tonight, I walked across the street to a sports bar for dinner. I had a major pig out session, prime rib, mash potatoes, soup and 78 ounces of beer. I was eating at the bar and started talking to the guy beside me. His name was Mark and he owns TriBike Transport. He was with Taylor, one of the guys that worked for him.

They both looked pretty tired. I should have known Mark grew up in Canada as he was watching the NHL playoff game and cheering loudly for the Habs. Mark was a great guy and when I asked him how he started the company, he had a great story of how the business evolved. After learning more about what he does, I became convinced I should use them.

On the home front, Alice told me a funny story about Reid's swimming. Last night she took him to the pool. When she picked him up, he said to her,"mom, I was told something I'll never get sick of hearing". Alice asked him what it was and he explained that a woman at the pool told him to move out of her lane. She said that he was in the wrong lane and "belongs in the fast lane". He loved hearing "he belongs in the fast lane".

I bailed from the bar just after 10 pm to get my blog done and try and catch up on my sleep. Of course on the way to the room I picked up some salty pretzels, popcorn and lots of water. My lips still feel dry from today's training.

I will say though, all things considered, I feel as strong as I ever have before a major race. I'll also say, I've never been more conscious of what I'm putting in my mouth. I'm food poisoning adverse and paranoid right now. Big time!

Mod bike - 1:30:45 / 42.98 km / 28.42 kph

Mod Run - 30:47 / 5.98 km / 5:07

6

Things are flowing…

I can’t remember the last time I had a day like today. It unfolded beautifully. Frankly, last night I was thinking it would be just the opposite. I thought it was going to be all rush, pressure and stress.

First off, I hadn’t done any packing or preparation for IMSG prior to waking up this morning. The strange part was I wasn’t worried about it. China was the opposite, I was stressed and was preparing a day or two in advance and was nervous about forgetting something.

I had a “really” good night sleep and woke up rested. In less than 90 minutes, with no rushing or panic, I had my bike boxed, my suitcase packed and everything was sitting, waiting at the back door, ready to be loaded into the truck when I got home from work. Even Alice couldn’t believe how easy it all came together.

I thought I was going to be late for conference call and magically arrived at work two minutes before it started. The call took up two hours and I had lots of stuff to do before I could leave for the day. I put my head down and worked. I finished EVERYTHING I needed to do by 2:30 pm. I was amazed.

Then it was off to the pool. It was near empty, I had the lane to myself and for the next 90 minutes did my last swim before IMSG. It was a solid swim, my fastest 100 meters was 1:28 and my slowest 1:34. Most were 1:29-1:31. I was shocked how well I did, especially when I consider I swam less this month than normal.

For the first time during a swim, I noticed my left shoulder was hurting. I also noticed my left calve was tight. By the end of the swim, my calve was fine, and the shoulder had reduced to an annoyance. I’ve always believed cool water does the body good.

On the way home I lucked out, there was very little traffic and it was the one night my optometrist was open pass 5 pm. I needed a back-up pair of contacts; I only had one set left for IMSG.

I also ate like a King today. I went to Subway and ordered a foot-long chicken breast sub. Normally, I’m a half-sub guy. I also DID NOT order any seafood or meatballs or anything that I thought could carry food poisoning. I made the conscious decision that my pre-race, safe eating, starts today.

I also upped my food volume. My plan is to do most of my carbo-loading from today until Thursday. I had a big sub for lunch, pasta for dinner, protein shake, peanuts, wagon wheel and some airport food, which included, pretzels, corn nuts, turkey sandwich and a beer.

There’s nothing like snacks to naturally get the salt levels up in the body and beer is my “spinach”. If there’s any little “bugs” in my belly, the beer will take care of them.

Reid is still showing an unwavering commitment to his swim club training. Today, he did a 20-minute run with Alyssa and only had to stop running three times. Alyssa was impressed. His cheeks were big time “red” when he finished. After Alice dropped me off at the airport, she was taking him to our local pool. He wanted to practice “flip turns” on his own.

Also, he LOVES the supportive blog comments. I read them to him everyday and he laps them up, no pun intended. If I hear, “you’re going down” one more time, I think he may not live long enough to collect his money.

To round out the day, I made it to the airport on time, got my ticket, got through customs and boarded the plane with no rush and very little waiting. Like I said, this was a beautiful day. Very Zen.

I hope Saturday’s the same.

Speed swim – 1:32:34 / 4000 meters

2

Lots to do...

Only 5 days until Ironman St. George. My training is essentially done and now I need to get my gear ready. I'm leaving tomorrow night and haven't yet started packing. I should be doing it now but I'm too tired.

Today was a rest day and I'm glad, I was mentally too fatigued to do anything today. By the end of the day, checking emails and answering my phone was difficult. My legs also needed a break after the last 5 days of heavy training, which included a 10 km running race.

So far everything is going according to plan. I exhausted my legs to the max and can feel the muscle is now rebuilding and strengthening. I'm taking in lots of protein to help repair muscle and my calves seem to be okay. Touch wood.

Not a lot to report today, other than I'm busy trying to get caught up on all my work stuff before I leave. I'm also focusing on building my mental strength and getting rest. Now that I've officially started my taper, I've decided to cut down on my beer and cigar consumption.

On the home front, I've created a "monster". Reid is so into swimming he asked me to take him to the pool tonight so he can practice his "flip turns" on his own time. I'd say that's a sign that he's now officially addicted to swimming and it only took two days.

Reid never says he "loves" anything. I know he really likes something if he says, "yeah, it was fun" or "yeah, okay I'll go". But after yesterdays swim session, as we were walking to the truck he told me, "he LOVES swimming". I even captured part of the conversation on video and posted it below.

Tonight, I was so tired, but had to drive him to and from the swim clubs gym for his weight training session. I'm realizing that his swimming is going to be harder on me than him. To keep him motivated, I printed out a calendar training schedule for him and as he completes each days workout I put a "gold star" on the calendar. He loves it.

Now I need to find out a way to motivate me to drive him.

I've already accepted that I'm out a grand. It's now just a matter of time until I have to hand it over. Alyssa reminded me that I made a similar bet with her when she was 13 years old. I had forgotten all about it. I bet her that she couldn't get an 80% average in school. I lost that bet too.

Rest Day - no training.

182.2 lbs / 21.4 bmi

Mercedes 10 KM road race...

Before I go any further, I want to give a big congratulations to Johan Stemmet, a PFG, who just completed IMSA and set a PB of 10:10:13. Johan used to be 83 lbs heavier.

Yes, you read correctly, 10:10:13. His bib was 1304. Thirteen is my favourite number and now it may be his. I've always found the number 13 a good omen. His bike average was 34.8 kph, crazy fast for an Ironman, and he finished 8th in his age group. Hopefully he's Kona bound.

I had a race of my own today, but nothing as big and as important as IMSA. I ran the Oakville Mercedes 10 km road race, it was my first 10 km road race in 2 years. The last one I did, I finished in 41:12 and it became my post 40 years old PB.

I finished in 41:21 and was 3/85 in my age group and 36/560 of overall males. The age group podium finishers all got a Tim Horton's Gift Card. Essentially, I won donuts and coffee. I might save the card until when Johan comes to visit next year, we all know he "loves" his donuts.

Nazaire also did the race and finished with a 46:19. He was 18/51 in his age group and 106/560 of overall males. It was his first ever 10 km road race and I think he pulled off a pretty respectable time.

It was a cold and rainy day. The worst part of racing in those conditions is the waiting outside before and after, lots of shivering. Once you get started, the body heats up and everything is good.

Nazaire and I were up in the front for the start. Beside me was a decked out, lean and mean looking triathlete. He had the tight jersey, compression tights, fuel belt and Newton Runners. If you look at the picture above, he's to the right of me in the red and black with white sleeves.

When I noticed his Foster Grant Ironman World Championships hat, I introduced myself and asked him when he did it. He said a couple years ago and I said I did it last year. I wished him well and the gun went off.

My plan was to run relaxed and not over do it in the beginning. For the first km, I was surprised to see a 6:20 pace with a 151 heart rate. Nazaire stayed with me for the first 1.5 km and at the 2.5 km mark, I caught and passed my triathlete buddy. Which caught me off guard.

I ran relaxed the entire time and didn't over push myself. My plan was to treat the first 5 km as a racing warm up, I wanted to go fast, but not to the point where I'm dying and the last 5 km's feels like 10 km's. At the 4.5 km mark, my triathlete buddy passed me and pulled out in front of me by 10 - 15 seconds.

The last 5 km was mostly into the wind. I don't mind running into the wind and it doesn't slow me down. My plan was to try and get to the 7 km mark feeling good and then open it up, which I did. I started gaining on my buddy. I ran 4 seconds behind him for about 1 km and with 1.5 km's left I pulled up beside him. I figured the "race was on" and both of us would push each other hard to the finish.

I stayed beside him for about 10 seconds and then he seemed to go behind me. I was thinking he was drafting me. I didn't care, I kept pushing it and tried to catch another guy in front of me, which I did, and then another. Not until I rounded the corner and was 20 meters to the finish did I look over my shoulder and I didn't see him. I must have dropped him. Cool.

When I crossed the line, I saw a very familiar face. It was John Fortin, he was putting the medals on around finishers necks and he put mine on. He is such a giving guy. Yesterday he rode his bike in a window for 8 hours to help bring awareness for "The Ride to Conquer Cancer".

John always helps so many people by volunteering his time to support others and causes, I'm just in awe. No one I know is more positive with a warmer smile than John. His tag-line is LIVING THE DREAM. For his tombstone, I'd suggest "LIVED THE DREAM".

As I was walking away I saw my triathlon buddy, he was hunched over and gasping. I was a little surprised, I felt like I still had lots in the tank. I went over and shook his hand and said "good race". He did me a favour by pushing me and helped make my race sweeter. Today was my race, tomorrow may be his and I'll be returning the favour

It's great having a carrot to chase and it's even sweeter to catch and eat that carrot. I think one of the secrets to my good race was the 4 beers I had before bed last night. My philosophy is "drink beer the night before and chase it down with a carrot the next day".

It turns out that I beat him by 8.8 seconds. I finished 3rd and he finished 4th. Pushing that pace was worth it. I much prefer going to St. George on a positive note.

After the race, both my Achilles seemed okay, but my right calve started cramping. I think I have it under control. I'm always worried about my calves. Up until 3 years ago they would cramp so bad that I'd have to take weeks off from running to let them heal.

I bumped into Rodney Buike after the race. We hung out as they were giving out prizes and awards. As we stood waiting, we were both constantly checking our iPhones to see where Johan was in the race. It seemed that that last 1.4 miles took forever to get results from.

On the Reid front, Alyssa came downstairs late last night and caught Reid doing sit-ups in front of the T.V. This afternoon I watched him getting his swim gear ready 4 hours before his training session. By 1 pm he did his 20 minutes on the elliptical, I told him he didn't have to run in the crappy weather.

I also shared the new blog comments of support for him. He just loves that stuff. I'm not always the "sharpest knife in the drawer", but I think he's into this swim thing. Especially when he's telling Alice to pick up lots of vegetables when she goes grocery shopping.

Although, Reid is having trouble walking. His thighs are sore. He said he'd go shopping with us, but wanted to know if he could use one of the wheelchair's the stores provide.

Oakville Mercedes 10 km race - 41:21 / 4:09 pace / 158 Avg hr / 3 out of 85 AG / 36 out of 560 males

182.0 lbs / 21.9 bmi

10

Different kind of training day...

Today was a train and watch Reid train day. It didn't help that I had one or four more beers than I should have last night. I wasn't close to hungover, just really really tired all day long.

I would have been fine had I been able to sleep an extra couple of hours this morning. Unfortunately, I had to be up early to get Reid to his 9 am weight training session. According to his swim club training schedule, I'll be doing this for the next 3 months.

I learnt an important lesson today, no more than a few beers on Friday night if I want to have any energy to get up early on Saturday morning. Saturday night will have to become my beer night.

As Reid did weights, I went and had a slow tire leak repaired. When I picked him up he already had a couple of new friends. One yelled, "See ya Reid". It sounded like he was someone Reid already knew. I asked Reid who that was and he said, "a kid I met, we were weight training partners". His name was Markus.

We got home and I just wanted to nap, but time wouldn't allow it. I only had enough time to get my tempo ride in before I had to drive Reid to the pool for his second training session of the day. My legs were still sore from yesterday's run and I knew I wasn't going to "mail" this ride in. I was committed to go as hard as I could without going anaerobic. Which I executed to plan perfectly.

It was a little windy and cool. I'll take the wind over a cool day any day. I took a hilly route and my entire plan was to have a HIGH QUALITY training session. My legs were exhaustedly sore. Yesterday's run hurt, so today's bike was going to be somewhat painful.

I was so tired, it was cold, it was windy and I knew it was going to hurt, I really didn't want to do today's ride. But I had no choice, I NEEDED this muscle tearing ride as part of my preparation for next Saturdays IMSG. A tempo ride was the second last ingredient to a set of fully shredded leg muscles.

The last part of the recipe is to do a 10 km road race tomorrow. After that, my legs should be completely spent and my body fully exhausted. So far I'm on track, except I need to be careful about my right Achilles, it's a little sore to the touch right now. If I wasn't already registered, I'm not sure if I'd do a race day sign up.

With that said, I'm still going to do it, I just don't know how hard I'm going to go. I want to go hard, but I don't want to injure myself 6 days before IMSG. My plan is to come up with a race day plan at the start line or shortly thereafter. I'll do a 10 minute warm up before the start and depending on how it feels will determine how fast I want to go.

I'm also not sure how much my legs have in them to race. They are currently close to full depletion. I want to go fast if I can, but I'd happy with a slower pace if it fully empties my muscles. If I start fast and feel ANY problems with the Achilles it will be immediate slowdown, even if it becomes a 10 km walk. I hope everything goes according to plan because I'm looking forward to a relaxing muscle rebuilding taper.

My ride was strong, one of the strongest that I can remember having in the Escarpment in a long time. During the ride, I didn't eat anything and only drank 1.5 bottles of water. When I got home I had to get Reid to swim club and barely had something to eat. I would have much preferred to eat and nap. I was so tired and was working my way to a semi-bonk state without much food.

As I was driving Reid to the pool, I was thinking, "this is all good. Training hard all week, not taking care of myself last night, getting up early and training sore and tired is a great way to prepare for the Ironman. Next week's rest days are going to be so well deserved and beneficial. If everything goes according to plan, my muscles will be rebuilt and be I'll be standing at the IMSG waters edge ready to go".

It turns out Reid's swim club session ran long. It was supposed to be 1:15 and it lasted 2 hours. The kids were doing a 5 km swim-athon. What a great day for Reid to start, he hasn't swam laps in a couple years and WHAM, he gets two hours of lane time right out of the gate.

He did luck out in one respect, they didn't have the right training swimsuit for him, so they gave him a racing speed suit instead. Of course, if he quits after three months, I've already taken "dibs" on the suit.

However, they forgot his swim cap and he had to wear one of mine. He was a little disappointed, he wanted a club cap. The coach said he'll get Reid one, that picked him up a bit. Turns out he'd rather wear a team cap than an Ironman China cap.

I forgot to show him how to put the cap on. Rather than the logo's on the sides, he had them on the front and back. I've captured it on video. If he ever gets good, this will be good video of how "little he knew".

In the pool, his swimming looked good. He may not be fastest, but he's not the slowest and he has a decent stroke. It still needs work, he's not reaching enough, but it's decent. He was even swimming faster than some of the people in his lane and his coach was yelling at him to pass the slow people. He definitely doesn't look out of place.

For some reason, it was unusually "hot and humid" in the pool area. I was just watching him and was fading from the heat. He didn't even have any water. When one of the mothers beside me "suggested" I get my son some water or Gatorade, I realized that probably wasn't a bad idea and I got some Gatorade for him. When he saw it, I could tell he appreciated it. He probably thought I'm such a loving and caring father.

Truth be told, as a father, I just don't have those motherly instincts. Had the women beside me not said anything, I probably wouldn't even have considered getting him something to drink. Afterwards, if he would have asked for some, I would have told him, "don't worry, we'll be home soon, I'm not paying $2 for a Gatorade, suck it up and just drink your spit".

I also come by it honestly for two reasons. First, I had similar fatherly upbringing, and two, I don't normally think of drinking water when I swim. My philosophy is, "Why drink water, when your in water?"

All in all, Reid did AWESOME!!! As we were walking to the car, he looked at me and said, "your going down, that money is mine". The non verbal energy he had when he said it was, "I have no problem doing this!!!" On the car ride home, I captured some of his "cockiness" on video.

On a different note, Johan Stemmet is racing IMSA today. You can track him at Ironman.com he's in great shape, trained hard and should do well. Hopefully Kona bound. Send him your karmic cheers and vibes.

Tempo Bike - 2:30:22 / 81.12 km / 32.37 kph / 135 avg hr /1407 ft elevation gain

180.2 lbs / 21.4 BMI

4

Making it happen...

First off, I want to say, based on the way my stomach looks, I think I could be in one of those fund raising commercials where the African kid looks pregnant.

I'd probably even get the most sympathy and raise the most money for the cause. Around the house I'm calling myself the "boy from Cambodia".

It's the weirdest thing, my stomach looks inflated and Reid was giving me a bad time about it last night. He was laughing and calling it gross. I looked like the king of the "trailer park".

I'm only 181 lbs, yet my BMI reading is 22.5%. Normally at 181, I'd be around 20.5%. I'm not sure why my stomach looks the way it does, but something weird is going on inside. Maybe it's my liver and kidneys detoxing from the last 4 weeks of beer therapy. They may be trying to find a way to get out, it wouldn't surprise me.

Changing subjects, I've got to talk about my kids. On one hand, I got Reid, who I kick in the ass, and on the other hand, I've got Alyssa, who is kicking ass. She brought home her report card and it was unbelievable. She averaged 90% over all her subjects. Alice and I were talking about it and know how hard it is to average 80%. Getting 90% is near impossible unless you're Chinese.

She doesn't take after me because I didn't see one "Alyssa could do so much better if she applied herself" comment.

Tomorrow, Reid starts his swim club training. It's a double workout. At 9:15 am it's weights and 3 pm it's pool time. He was pumped this morning, he was down 5 lbs. In only a few days of eating healthy, he went from 192lbs to 187lbs. I was so happy for him, we high five'd before he skipped school.

I've never been more motivated to not over drink beer than I was tonight. Normally, I'll drink how ever much I want and train the next day. Tomorrow, I have to have him at the gym early. Which means we need to be up by 8 am, which means I need to get to bed early, which means I need to stop after only about 10 beers, which I did. It's amazing what parents will do to torture their children.

I swam and ran today. In the past 3 days I've done 4 hours of running. Within only 10 minutes of today's run, my legs felt like I just finished a 10 km race after running full out. They were sorely pumped.

Undeterred, I ran through the pain. I also ran number one side road, a very hilly course. The entire time, it felt like "razor blades" were cutting into my thighs. I didn't care, I embraced the pain and went as hard as I could within my heart rate range. In the end, I was happy with my run. No surrender.

The rest of the night was me being the romantic person I am. I took Alice out to the Keg Steakhouse, I was "craving" bloody red meat. I ate my big steak and then the rest of the prime rib she couldn't finish. I was following my bodies nutritional intuition. Steak and beer, it doesn't get any more manly than that.

Afterwards, it was home to the downstairs bar and good conversation and fun. Alice and I have decided to tape record some of our conversations that we have together and put them into a "time capsule". We thought it would be really cool to listen to them 20 years from now.

Tomorrow I'm setting up our digital tape recorder at the bar. The next time we start "chatting" and figuring out what's wrong with everyone else and why we are so smart, I'm going to turn it on and record our semi-drunken brilliance.

Mod Swim - 43:10 / 2000 meters

Tempo Run - 1:15:30 / 15.56 km / 4:50 pace / 147 avg hr.

10

Feeling it...

It wasn't the nicest day for a long ride, it was about 13 C at best, but it had to be done.

All morning at work I was watching the clock, trying to get all my stuff done and calculating the latest I could get on my bike and finish before my haircut appointment at 6:20 pm.

I was on schedule until I got on my bike and my shoes wouldn't clip into my new pedals. The guy at the store thought my old cleats would work. Wrong. For the next 30 minutes I struggled to change the old cleats with the new. One of the screw heads on one of the shoes was stripped.

Although it threw me off schedule, in the end it may be for the best. At least I'll be going into IMSG with new cleats and pedals and hopefully one less thing to worry about. On the Achilles front, I'm now fairly certain my problems have been caused by tightness in my body. They seem to be getting better since I've been using relaxation techniques.

The stress is definitely still there, but now moving from my Achilles to my lower back. It was tightening all morning. I was so glad to finally get on my bike, there's nothing like exercise to relax my back. I was telling Alice about my back and she said, "you probably shouldn't have signed up for St. George". I told her, "I'm actually looking forward to St. George, the stress is from other stuff".

About 90 km into the ride, I saw a cyclist in front of me and rode up beside him. His name was Shaw and does cycling races. During peak weeks he'll do over 20 hours on the bike. I was amazed when he told me he's never done a century ride, ever. He had one of the "nicest" and most "unique" and "cleanest" bikes I've ever seen. Fully loaded, it's $10,000. He was a good cyclist, which was nice, we were able to ride side by side and talk at a good workout speed.

Shaw fully convinced me I should be wearing compression tights when I sleep. He said it's amazing how they help with recovery and his legs feel "fresh" afterwards. I'm definitely going to try them. I'm hoping they work for me, I'd love to be able to walk, rather than shuffle, down the stairs in the morning.

I had to do my ride in two parts. The first was pre-haircut and the second was post-haircut. While I was at the shop, I rushed Carmen, my hair guy. He normally likes to talk. I told him, "I don't mean to be rude, but I need you to hurry up so I get my ride finished and be back before dark. Please don't take it the wrong way".

I finished the ride, but not before dark. I was about 30 minutes to late. When I got home I was debating if I should do a brick run. I felt good, good enough to get back on the full MAO program. Today he had me scheduled for long bike and run, so I went for a run. I was paranoid about the Achilles, but kept visualizing of relaxed periods of my life whenever it got tight. It worked.

I finished about 100 meters from home, my time was up. I felt so POSITIVE and STRONG. I felt like I was back on track. As I started walking, it wasn't a normal walk, it was the same type of walk that the movie character IRONMAN does. I was walking confidently, my chest was out, my arms were swinging and my hands were clenched into fits.

I was a little euphoric and "choked up" as I walked. I was thinking, St. George, here I come.

Can you spell "endorphin rush". I felt so damn good and invincible. It could be fleeting, but at least for today, it was a great day of training. It felt like "old times". I really hope it lasts

Long Bike - 5:35:57 / 166.20 km / 29.68 kph / 131 avg hr

Brick Run - 41:32 / 8.02 km / 5:10 pace / 143 avg hr

180.6 lbs / 21.5 BMI

About 2:17 into this video, you'll see how I was walking. haha.

Trying to loosen up...

It was another expensive day in triathlon-land. I had to buy new speedplay pedals, they couldn't fix my old ones. With pedals and a couple other little items, I left the shop with my wallet $240 lighter.

The good news was they were able to fit my bike in for a tune-up and it didn't cost me anything. I told them my gears weren't changing smoothly and they found my rear derailleur was bent. I'm sure it must have happened in transport from China back to Toronto.

All day I've been thinking about my Achilles. The more I think about it, the more I think it's stress related. I think my bodies muscles tightness is effecting it. Right now I have a lot of important time-sensitive projects I'm working on and I think that's the cause. Even my upper back and neck has been tense for some time.

Building on the theory that's it's stress, I know the only way to improve is to relax and not let it bother me. I decided to try a long run again tonight, this time with a different attitude. Once I started thinking of work, I took a deep breath and tried to let it go. I also tried to run as "laissez-faire" as possible.

When my Achilles started bothering me during the run, I tried to loosen up and clear my head. It helped. I was able to complete the run and was still able to walk afterwards. The run wasn't easy, especially the first 35 minutes. My lungs and legs weren't as strong as I'm used to, although, with all things considered I was pleased with my overall pace and heart rate on a very hilly course.

When I got home, I stretched, massaged my legs with "the stick" and have forced myself to lie down with my legs bent. I'm forcing myself to try and "hang loose". I don't know if it's going to work, but I figure I have nothing to lose.

Today was my second day of clean eating. Last night my body was burning up. I'm sure it was working on getting all the bad stuff out of my system. I also been tired for the past two days and have needed naps.

This week, for the first time since China, I feel like I'm getting back to my normal training routine and state of mind. It's a good feeling.

Long Run - 2:00:01 / 23.46 km / 5:06 pace / 140 avg hr.

183.6 lbs / 22.5 BMI

Good luck...

Forty-seven kilometers into my long bike ride, my right pedal broke. I have speedplay pedals and the footpad seized. No longer spinning, it was causing the pedal to unscrew from the crank and fall off.

I'd screw it back in, ride 2 minutes and it'd be off again. I had no choice but to call Alice to pick me up. I was 47 km north of our house and Alice doesn't know the area.

It was a "Marco Polo" pick up. I'd tell her to get to one point, then call my cell and I'd give her the next set of directions. It took a few calls for her to find me. While she was on her way, I started cycling towards her with my left foot. I ended up riding 10 km on one foot, climbing up some pretty steep hills.

It was a good news, bad news ride. The good news is my pedal broke, the bad news is I had to cut my long ride short in great weather. The reason I say the pedal breaking is great news is because I'd rather have it happen on a training ride than at IMSG. If it happened during the race, my day would have been over and I would have been devastated.

Come to think of it, I've had some pretty bad luck during my last three races. In Muskoka I forgot to put on my timing chip, in Clearwater my chain broke and in China my front tire flatted twice and I got food poisoning beforehand. It would sure be nice for IMSG to be a trouble free race.

You'd think for all the money us triathletes spend on high priced gear, nothing would go wrong. That's the irony. The "cheap" bikes I've bought over the years have never had a problem. Even my 25 year old "Dave Scott" Centurion bike has only been in the shop for spring tune-ups. Both of my high priced carbon fibre triathlon bikes have had ongoing and expensive mechanical issues.

When I got home, I decided to do a long run. Why not? I planned on spending 5 hours on the bike and it got cut short, so I had the time. For this run, I put on my old shoes. I thought my current shoes may be worn out, they have 700 kms on them and thought that might be the cause of my Achilles problems. Wrong.

The old shoes were just as bad, if not worse. I started running and after two minutes my Achilles was hurting and I had to stop and walk back home. The strange part is that my Achilles problem started with my left foot, then moved to my right foot and now it's back to my left. It's got to be some sort of alignment problem.

This morning my scale gave me some bad news. I hit 184.2 lbs. Ugh, I thought yesterday was the high limit. That means I've gained 7 lbs since returning from China. In all fairness, I left to China at about 181-182 lbs. I was telling Alice my terrible weight gain news at the breakfast table, like she cares to hear it, when Reid gave me a shot and said, "I thought you looked like your gaining weight".

Like I said yesterday, my primary training motivation is to keep my weight down. I was looking forward to today's high calorie burn ride. Today was also the first day that I've eaten 100% clean food and my body can tell. When I start eating clean, all I want to do is nap. I think its my body wanting to be spend all its energy on detoxing all the "crap" out of my system.

Today was also Reid's swim club tryout. We met the self-proclaimed "old school" coach on deck. He took one look at Reid and said, "what have you been eating? Looking at you, your probably have 45% body fat. If you join this club, that needs to come down. Now hop in the pool and lets see what you can do".

It took a total of about 90 seconds of pool time. He then talked with Reid and I. He explained that Reid needs lots of work and he needs to get fit. That this club is ranked number one in Ontario and number five in Canada and the training is intense. One team member even swam for Canada at the Beijing Olympics.

He wanted Reid to think "hard" about whether or not he wanted to do this for three months because it won't be easy. If Reid goes for it, he'd have to swim at least two times a week, dry-land train three days a week and run on his own three times a week for at least 20 minutes, and eat NO BREAD, NO BUTTER AND NO SUGAR.

Reid committed right away, but the coach wanted him to go home and "think about it" and then have me email him if Reid was 100% sure he could do it. The entire ride home Reid told me he was in and I emailed the coach, "it's a go".

Later tonight, Reid was second guessing, wondering if there was something else he could do for the $1000. I told him, "too late, you've committed, I wouldn't bet you $1000 if it was going to be easy". I'm loving it already, the torture, er, I mean character building has already begun. This is going to be worth every penny.

Long Bike - 1:38:10 / 47.68 km / 29.14 kph

Bike 1 leg - approx. 30 minutes / 10 km

184.2 lbs / 22.8 BMI

Ice is your friend...

Since I've been following Johan's blog at www.tri-stemmet.blogspot.com I've never seen the Previous Fat Guy pictures of him. As a matter of fact, I was reading his blog for a long time before I even knew he was a PFG.

Today he posted his PFG pictures. They show an amazing transformation. Not only did Johan lose 83.7 lbs / 38 kgs, but in a relatively short period of time, he became an elite age grouper and Kona qualifier in the process.

I love his story. It shows you can go from Previous Fat Guy to Skinny Fast Guy (SFG). Johan also shows it doesn't have to end at just "losing weight", he shows getting "good" is also possible. In his first sprint triathlon, he breast stroked the entire 600 meters and even had to stop and rest on the lifeguards surf boards. Other than "drowning", it does start any worse than that.

Talking about weight, I've gained a little. I came back from China at 177 lbs and now I'm back up to 183.4 lbs. Even though I'm heavier, I feel much better and stronger. I'm surprised I'm not heavier with all the beer and "crap" food I've eaten over the last 4 weeks. It was salad at lunch for me today.

Mentally I'm back motivated to train. I'm not sure if it's the 3 days I took off last week or my desire to stay thin, 183.4 lbs is the most I want to weigh. Truth be told, my number one motivation to train has always been to keep my weight down. It's not to improve my times. Getting better is just an added bonus.

I went for a short run today. I wanted to test out my Achilles, but not overdo it. It was tough to keep the run short. The Achilles felt better and when I got home, I stretched and iced it. I didn't want to go overboard because I still have a long ride and run this week and a 10 km running race on Sunday.

I'm feeling good about my fitness level. In 3 weeks, I've went from feeling like I just started training, to getting my full mojo back. Today I hardly felt any soreness from doing lunges yesterday. If you can do lunges and not feel it the next day, that's a sign your in shape. Three weeks ago, I was painfully sore for days after doing lunges.

I got an email from Doru today. I think he enjoys scaring the crap out of me. He sent me this link to a forum page. Essentially, it's about a guy who did a 5:40 bike at Ironman Florida and that translated into a 7 hour plus race rehearsal ride on the Ironman St. George Course. It sure doesn't sound like it will be a fast course.

Mod Run - 34:26 / 7.0 km / 4:55 pace / 131 avg hr

183.4 lbs / 22.8 % BMI

3

Using training intuition...

My Achilles is feeling slightly better. It's still sore, but no longer as sensitive to the touch.

My training schedule has been turned upside down. I'm moving workouts around based on my injury, burnout and even the weather. No more cold weather rides for me, I've surpassed my yearly quota already.

My objective is to get in all my necessary workouts and show up to IMSG ready to do the race. I'm still following the MAO program, but making my own adjustments; like doing my long bike and run during the week.

I felt this past week of training was successful. I can feel my mental and body strength returning. Since China, I've been on a real roller coaster and things are seeming to level out to pre-China levels.

If I look forward to swimming, or at least not dreading it, it's a sign I'm not burnt out. Yesterday was the first time in a long time that I was wanting to hit the pool. Today I decided to swim again. My plan has always been to "cram" most of my swims into the last two weeks before IMSG.

I had another good swim. I was consistently in the 1:35 - 1:41 per 100's. My original plan was to do 4000 meters. It took me until the 1 hour mark to commit to doing the full 4000 meters. That "little devil" was telling me it wasn't necessary to do the full 4000 meters. Heck, I had done 3000 yesterday.

My Achilles was hurting a lot less during today's swim. Which is a good sign. After the swim, I pushed myself to do weights. With less running and biking, I "felt" I needed to do weights to keep my leg strength up. Building my upper body strength also helps with my swimming power.

Right now I'm navigating through a training quagmire. I took no off-season break from last year to this year and China was mentally and physically debilitating. Due to lack of time, I wasn't able to follow a complete program for IMSG and it will be the same for IMLP. My goal is to get through this year injury and burnout free. The only way I see being able to it, is to add some FUN into my training.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with Kevin at the pool. He said not to overdue it at IMSG and I agreed. Then he made a interesting comment, he said, "it's not like you do Ironman's for a living". For some reason those words resonated. It got me remembering that Ironman is a lifestyle, not a destination and I need to keep my training as enjoyable as possible.

For the rest of the season, I'm not going to be afraid to make changes to my training schedule based on how I feel. A little experimentation doesn't hurt. I'm also going to go off the program slightly and add a fun training weekend. I've already committed to go with Doru and do the Epic Man Training Camp at Lake Placid on June 10th.

The camp is free, anyone can just show up. It is a 3 km swim, 180 km bike and a 21 km run. It's the entire route of the IMLP course. I'm doing it for two reasons, it's a great social event, which I haven't done many over the last three years, and it will give me a great feel for the course.

Reid also got some more exercise today. He rode his bike beside Nazaire as he did an 11 km run. The route was through the hilly escarpment and Reid had to stop a few times, then catch back up to Nazaire. Reid was dead when he got home and was ready to bonk. As his eyes were rolling into the back of his head from exhaustion, I told him all he needs to do is a run and he's just done a triathlon. He was too tired to even respond.

Mod Swim - 1:31:02 / 4000 meters

Weights Chisel - 30 minutes

10

Family time...

After jumping off the beer wagon with a "thump" last night, my head was hurting today.

The one advantage of doing my long ride and run on Wednesday and Thursday was that I didn't have do one of them hungover today. Not that I could of, my right Achilles is still very sore.

I really like the idea of doing my long training sessions during the week. It sure frees up the weekend to spend more time with family.

This afternoon, Alice, Reid and I went to the movie "Kick-Ass". I thought it was a great movie. A good 8.5 out of 10. I really enjoyed it, it's definitely not what I expected. I loved the writing, directing, acting and cinematography. You can now call me "Bryan Ebert".

After the movie, Reid and I went to the YMCA pool. He wanted to practice before his swim club tryout on Tuesday and I had a speed swim session. I was a little nervous for him, it's been a while since I last saw him swim and wasn't sure how good he'd be. As I was getting ready, I told him to start swimming and I'd watch.

He was slow, about a 2:25 per 100 meter pace, but he had the general stroke idea. It was smooth. It didn't look like he needed to go back for swim lessons. Generally, he looks like one of the kids I've seen at the pool hundreds of times; they are overweight and like swimming and playing in the water.

I was also very proud of Reid. I introduced him to my pool buddy Kevin and without prompting, he confidently stuck out his hand and shook Kevin's hand.

The pool lanes were full. At least 3 people to a lane. I was in the fast lane with Rob Kent who is training to swim around Manhatten Island, it's a 28.5 mile swim. The guy is a machine, he just goes and goes and goes, none stop, at about a 1:30 pace. Every once in a while, he'll stop for water and gel and swims on his back as he eats and drinks.

Swimming with him was good for me. I used him to push me faster during my intervals. I've only been in the pool twice this month and I haven't lost a thing. I actually think I may be faster. Most of what I was doing was 50's at an average pace of 45 seconds, 25's at an average pace of 21 seconds, and 100's at an average pace of 1:33.

Reid was pushing me to get home, he had a community club dance and his friend Ryan was waiting for him. Earlier in the day, Ryan called to ask Reid if he wanted to go, I overheard the conversation and the funniest part was when Ryan said, "Reid, it's a little different, they allow you to have Pop and Shit". That was his closing line and Reid, nonchalantly said, "yah okay, I'll go".

When we got back, Reid went to the dance, Alyssa and Nazaire where making themselves a gourmet meal and Alice and I decided to go to Yuk Yuks Comedy Club for some laughs and pub grub. I'm glad Alice wanted to go out, the house smelt like we were in an Indian restaurant. I'm surprised the cook book didn't request they had to wear turbans during the food preparation.

Their gourmet Chicken and sweet potatoes had all types of spices on it. Even when we got back from the Comedy Club, the house stunk. It's a good thing the house wasn't up for sale, we would have had to fumigate it or sell it to an Indian family.

We lucked out at the Comedy Club, two of the three comedians were entertaining. One 24 year old kid bombed. It's so uncomfortable watching someone who is not funny. He sets up his jokes and it's like watching a train crash. At least the headliner, Aaron Berg, a 2007 COCA comedian of the year winner was funny. It's been a long time since I've been to a comedy club and had a really good laugh and he was filthy dirty, I loved it.

When I got home I noticed my dad had called. As I was sitting downstairs at the bar I called him back. I could tell he had a few drinks himself, he had that "life is wonderful" timing in his voice. He told me it was a beautiful day in Winnipeg, my mom got a golf membership at Rossmere Country Club, he had a couple of cocktails and he just want to call me to tell me, "I love you". How nice.

I responded by saying, "dad, thanks, and I really, really, really, LIKE you a lot". He got a good laugh. When I hung up I said, "I love you too dad".

The rest of the night was Alice and I sitting around the bar. Yesterday, I figured I have a good book in me, nothing long. Tonight, I figured out the title and I mentally outlined the format and tense. I figured if I can't do it in my mind and remember it, then it's not a book that is really in me, and it would be torture to try and write.

Once I figured everything out, which took about 15 minutes, I came up with the title, "Turning Back Time", with the sub caption, "A Salesman's Story". As you can tell, it's a book about sales and selling that is geared towards people my age.

My plan is to make it an entertaining read, all while providing "perils of wisdom". Even if your not in sales, my hope is to write it in such a way that it still is a good read. If it takes more than a week to get the basic draft on paper then it's not from my heart and I'll scrap it. I think I'll set aside some time after Ironman St. George to write it.

Speed Swim - 1:07:19 / 3000 meters

14

University bound with wheels...

Not much to report, other than it seems my right Achilles is now bothering me more than the left one. It's sore to the touch and the only thing I could do today was ice it. It's amazing how good it feels after icing.

My plan was to swim today and ride and run on the weekend. I don't see the ride and run on the weekend happening with my sore Achilles. Even though it was caused from yesterday's run, I'm glad I did it anyway. I can feel my legs and quads got a good workout and are getting stronger. I'm much more confident about my strength.

My original plan was to swim today, until Reid told me he wanted me to take him swimming on the weekend. He wants to to get in some "pool time" before his swim club tryout on Tuesday. So rather than swim today, I postponed it until tomorrow. The plan is to go to the afternoon showing of the movie "Kick-Ass" and then swim. I'm looking forward to it, both for me, and to see how he does.

I also found out that Alyssa decided to go to Ryerson University and is going to be taking the Psychology Degree program. On Thursday, she attended a "mock class" at the University. It was to help give the prospective students an idea of what to expect if they attended Ryerson. She said she really enjoyed it.

I'm happy for her, she's very smart and has the ability to do well. She's definitely University material. She'll also be one of the few people in our "family tree" to get a University degree. I think only my Grandfather, two of my Uncles and my Sister got University degrees and a few others got community college diploma's.

At our family get togethers do not have a lot of high brow academic talk. They're fun events, we just don't go too deep. You'll hear a fart before you hear someone talk about Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. Actually you'll hear a lot of farts before you hear someone talking about that.

In school, most of the "males in our tribe" were class clowns, in trouble, or both. For most of us, we would have considered joining the Circus before we even entertained thinking of going to University. I know I thought of joining the Circus more than once over the years.

I considered school a necessary evil. To me, it was like a prison. It was tough enough for me to even finish high school. I couldn't even imagine wanting to subject myself to four more years of pain and suffering. I just wanted to "do my time" and get out and make a life for myself.

With that said, I'm glad Alyssa's decided to go. It will definitely broaden her horizons and open doors to a world of possibilities. Also, in today's world, having a degree is the "price of admission" when looking for a job. Unless you have years of working experience, you need a degree of some sort or your resume goes in the garbage.

With a psychology degree I've started to learn there is lots of potential job opportunities in the medical field and in the corporate world. I was googling careers you can get with a Psychology degree and I was amazed how many came up, much more than I would have thought.

The Ryerson campus is in the heart of Downtown Toronto and she's decided she wants to live at home and commute on the Go Train. Which I don't mind, it saves me money and she's not one who wants to be part of the University "Animal House" lifestyle or have room mates. Me on the other hand, the ONLY reason I'd go to University is for the "Animal House" lifestyle. Come to think of it, I really should get a paternity test done on Alyssa.

In order to help Alyssa out in her commute from home to the Go Station and back, I told her she could have Alice's car and Alice can get a new car. Alyssa was pretty happy when she heard that. Alice, jokingly, not so much. She likes her car.

Alice has never had a newer car of her choice, so this will be the first. She's wanting a Honda coupe and I'm trying to push her into a BMW 325i convertible. I told her I could probably find a great deal on one from the US. Reid wants her to get a new Camero. I'd be cool with that. In the end, it will be Alice's choice.

For the rest of the night, it was rest and relaxation and I fell off the beer wagon, hard. By the end of the night I got so hungry that I bet Reid $10 that he couldn't make the "perfect pancake". He was working away like the "swedish chef on the muppets" and I think he spoiled a couple and the kitchen was a mess, but he did it and I'm 1lbs heavier and $10 lighter.

Rest Day

19

Decisions, decisions..

I woke up this morning tired and my legs felt sore, in a good way. I could feel them getting stronger. Yesterday's bike and brick run was just what "the doctor ordered". I needed that, physically and mentally.

I had a downtown meeting this morning and as I parked my truck and walked from the parkade into the building, my legs felt tingly strong. I felt superhuman, wearing normal clothes, yet no one knows that underneath, I'm in "Ironman" shape. There's no greater feeling.

The meeting was LONG and by the time I finished and got back to the office it was 2 pm. All last night and today I was trying to decide on what workout to do. It was a toss up between a run or swim. My first choice was a run, but I was worried about my Achilles after yesterday's bike and run session.

It's physically easier to swim the day after a long bike, than it is to run. After a long ride, your legs are already sore and to run just causes more pain. Yet running after a long bike is ideal training. It stresses your legs to the max and better prepares your body for what it will experience during an Ironman.

I couldn't make up my mind, swim or run? I decided to go home, eat and go from there. I was so tired that I didn't want to do anything. I ate and was lying on the sofa and my legs were tired from yesterday and I was kind of glad my Achilles was sore, it meant I didn't have to do a long run. Although I knew a long run would be most beneficial. Especially with me trying to regain my fitness after my China virus.

I just couldn't make up my mind. Swim or run? I was so tired and being on the "beer wagon", I decided to inject myself with a sugar fix instead, I had "a wagon wheel and two chocolate chip cookies" and they put me right to sleep. When I woke up I was feeling better and continued to contemplate "swim or run?".

Even though the run was harder and put my Achilles in jeopardy, I decided to do a run. But I wasn't sure if I should go for more than an hour. I decided to monitor myself and make my decision during the run.

My Achilles was sore, but not terribly and it was constant throughout the run. Because it wasn't getting worse I decided to run longer. My ideal was to do 2 hours, but I thought "maybe I should only do 90 minutes to be safe". When I got to 90 minutes I had to decide if I should go further.

After MUCH and constant internal debate, I decided to go for the full 2 hours. My body was feeling stressed at 90 minutes but I knew it could take more. My rational is that often the most benefit of a run is in the last 15 minutes, when it starts getting tough. That last 15 minutes provides more benefit that the first 1:45.

If you saw my running route mapped out, it would look like an "etch a sketch". I normally like doing an out and back, it's easier mentally. But because I didn't know how long I was going to go for, it was a haphazard route. Lots of looking at the watch and adding more time, so it was turn here, okay I'll go farther, lets go this way, I'll go father, lets try this way, etc, etc, etc, until I got 2 hours in.

The best part of tonight's run was my heart rate. It was back to lower levels. For the entire run it averaged 138 bpm. It was one of those nice runs, I didn't care about speed and was more concerned about running relaxed and using a stride that would not put to much pressure on my Achilles.

After the run, I knew I made the right choice. However, both my Achilles are a little sore. The strange part is they hurt more when I walk than when I run. I'm hoping that me taking lots of liquids will help them loosen up and improve. My unofficial coach "Gord" called and suggested a multi-vitamin I should be taking, as well as Chromium, to help increase my testosterone. I picked both up on the way home.

Training aside, I finalized my bet with Reid. He has to join a swim club for 3 months, not miss a workout, and I'll give him $1000. I even made a video contract with him. He seems committed and cocky, as you will see on the video.

I also have a bit of a funny Reid story. This past weekend he came downstairs wearing pajamas and this was during the daytime. I asked him "why are you wearing pajamas? It's not night time and where did you get those?".

He told he that he saw them in Wal-mart and had to have them. He's only seen them in the movies and didn't realize they really sold pajamas like that. He thinks they are so cool and he's now wearing them around the house like they're regular clothes and he's "Hugh Hefner".

He's also been asking me if I know where he can get a blue leisure suit from. I'm trying to find him one because I know he'll wear it to school and around the neighbourhood and that would be so funny.

Long Run - 2:01:06 / 23.44 km / 5:10 pace / 138 avg hr