Refocus time ...

I don't know if I was coming or going today. The only thing I knew was I was tired both mentally and physically.

The month of May had thrown me for a loop, lots had happened. I'm not one that complains or even recognizes that I have stress, but I completely acknowledge the last 6 weeks has been tough on me.

Selling a business and dealing with all the dynamics involved was more difficult than I would have imagined. Especially when your selling two at the same time and you have to have them both close on the same date and either deal can potentially fall apart at anytime. Not easy.

Then there is the transition afterwards of setting up a new routine. I'm under consulting agreements with the two purchasers and my roles and responsibilities have changed. I'm not complaining, it's just different and I haven't yet mastered the transition and who knows what I'll be doing to earn a living a year from now. It's the stress of the unknown.

Also, having a investment partner problem with some people I thought I had a good relationship with probably took the biggest toll on me. It's still troubling me. Hopefully in another week I can get it out of my head.

During the process I've also been working hard in helping to successfully transition the businesses to the new owners and I've been working to close new business, which I have and I'm planning on more to come.

Essentially, if I was to describe my past month, I'd use the word "tailspin".

By and large, even though I'm an entrepreneurial kind of guy, I need "routine". It keeps me balanced and I find a certain level of comfort following a regular path, for both work and training. I had it down to a science. Based on what I was doing training wise, I knew what day it was. In the last 30 days, I've lost my routine and I don't like it.

Today I was still feeling the physical and mental effects of the weekend. I was physically a little shaky and mentally a little dull. I almost got into two accidents on a busy highway because I didn't see another car over my shoulder. This feeling lasted all day.

I was also in meetings for most of the day. By the time I got home I was spent, just exhausted, and I still had about 4.5 hours of training scheduled. I was going to do my bike when it started to rain and I've vowed that for the rest of this year I'm becoming a fair weather rider. I've earned it by riding through this years miserable winter weather.

Truth be told, I was glad it started to rain. It gave me an out. The reality was I had no mental strength to push myself out the door. I ended up eating and then driving Reid to do his weights at swim club. After I brought him home, I passed out on the sofa and didn't wake up until 11 pm.

I had no energy to do anything. Forget about blogging. Walking up the stairs to bed and taking off my clothes was tough enough. I figured, it'd be another early morning blogging session about yesterday.

All night I was dreaming about my situation. The thing that kept coming back to me was REFOCUS and figure out a "new routine". FORCE YOURSELF to make training your constant, don't let it suffer. SLOW DOWN on the beers until you level out the plane.

The last time I felt this way was when the business had just started in 1990. I decided to immerse myself in my work and my family and fitness took a back seat and suffered. It took me just over 15 years to get out of that "tailspin".

Whenever I look back, my biggest regret was giving up training for triathlons. I've since realized that I need triathlons to balance my "all or nothing" personality. Which it did when I got back into them.

This time I'm going to learn from my past mistakes and not have to start over after a 15 year layoff, like I did in May 2007. It's only been one month of feeling like I'm free-falling, but I've got to nip this thing in the bud.

I CAN DO ANYTHING I SET MY MIND TOO!!!

May Totals

Swim - 11.9 kms / 7.38 miles

Bike - 818.63 kms / 507.55 miles

Run - 191.25 kms / 118.58 miles

Gym - 2

Totals - 1021.78 kms / 633.50 miles

Calories - 44,443

225

The incredible shrinking boy...

Reid's been faithfully attending his swim club for the past month and it shows. He's dropping weight and everyone is noticing. Even his friends at school are commenting. Alice has even had to buy him smaller summer shorts.

Although he's down only about 3 lbs to 186 lbs, he's down from 40% body fat to 24%. For the first time, his arms feel solid when he flexes his muscle.

The best part is he loves swim club. Near the end of June, he has his first Time Trial. I think it's some sort of semi-competition, we had to pay extra for it anyway. He's doing 50 free and 100 free.

Swim wise everything is going well, except his coach called me the other day after he found Reid's swim video's on my You Tube Channel. I guess that's a no no and I took them down. The last thing I want to do is screw anything up for Reid.

Although, it did give me an opportunity to ask the coach if he could give Reid another day of swim training during the week. Reid's enjoying it so much, I'm sure he'd like the extra day and more importantly, I want to turn up the heat and make it harder on him. Heck, if I had my way, Reid would be swimming twice daily.

I didn't feel well today. This past week has been a bit of a "beer-fest" and after yesterdays long beer run, I was officially spent. Even though I was "hurting", it was another sunny and warm day and it by 10 am I was on my bike for a tempo ride.

As strange as this sounds, after a night of debauchery, I tend to have strong rides and today was no different, it was one of my fastest in a long time. I was a little shaky and my hearing was amplified. When a car would drive by, the noise would startle me and that's even with music playing in my ears.

A couple hours after I got home, I started feeling worse. I just wanted to sleep, but couldn't, I had to drive Reid to swim club. I also decided to do a run while Reid swam. Halfway through the run, I saw a hot dog cart and the smokey smell stopped me in my tracks. A nice big sausage was calling my name and I always train with money tucked in my iPhone case.

It hit the spot. I was having some hunger pains and my body was craving that little bit of grease. I didn't even bother washing it down with the Powerade they were selling, I went for the Fruitopia. If I never have to eat another Powerbar or drink Gatorade or Powerade ever again, I'd die a happy man.

During my long ride earlier this week, I made "peanut butter and jelly bagels". They worked great at about 500 calories each. I'm now doing all sorts of energy experimenting. As much as possible I'm trying to eat regular food while training and racing. Actually, come to think of it, hot dogs would fit well in the back of my jersey.

It was another warm day and I think I'm finally starting to get acclimatized. The heat has really slowed me down on my runs this week. Once we start getting summer heat, I like to take the family to Dairy Queen on Sunday nights for ice cream. We went tonight after dinner and I don't know what it is about ice cream, but after I ate it, I felt 100% healthy again.

This week I'm going to have to juggle the training a bit, I think I'll be in North Carolina on Thursday to start the integration process with the large account I just landed. I'm not too worried, I've got to say I feel pretty good training wise, especially after doing IMSG only 30 days ago. Even with 15 days of rest days during May, I'm still going to finish the month with over 1100 km's of training.

I don't want to know the beer count. It's probably a PB.

Tempo Bike - 1:32:10 / 50.03 km / 32.6 kph / 141 avg hr

Tempo Run - 56:29 / 11.06 km / 5:05 / 141 avg hr

I need a new route...

If I don't find a new long run route, I'm going to need a new liver in the not to distant future.

For the second week in a row, I did my long run and stopped for a beer at the Hidden Valley Golf Club. Today's stop was just by "chance".

It was a hot day, around 26C and I made sure I ran with my "fuel belt" filled with water and Gatorade. When I got to the golf club entrance, I fired up my iPhone "coin flip" app and if it was "heads", I keep running and "tails", I go in for a beer.

The rest was all a blur. I remember meeting Nancy, the bartender that has been there 5 years and all the other girls and at one point saw Eliot again. I twittered, I talked it up with the waitresses and I sat down and chatted with people at their tables. I was out of control, in a good way. I think.

One conversation was with a couple of know it all 28 year olds. I stayed reserved and calm as they made fun of me and was just thinking, "these guys are the two biggest losers I've ever met". It's one of those circumstances where I hope I run into them in a business setting and I'm on the buying or investing side of the table. Payback would be so sweet.

I remember paying my $47 bill and then starting it up again. I think it was the, "just one more for the road" drink. The next thing I know, Alice is standing beside me at the bar. Where did she come from? How did she know I was here? Do we have to leave now? Can't we stay? Please? Please? Please?

When Alice walked in, my stock went up. I like when that happens. She looks "so together" and then they realize that "maybe" I have it together too. They start asking themselves, "How can this guy be married to someone like her?

The best is that, unlike most relationships in a similar circumstance, Alice doesn't give me sh*t. She's a good sport about it. Heck, I even forced her to have a drink and meet everyone before we left. Most wives would be pulling their husbands out by the ear and scolding them along the way. Not my Alice, she knows how to roll with it in a fun way.

I wanted to run the final 10 km home, but Alice said wasn't in any condition to walk, let alone run. I got home, had some potato chips and passed out on the couch for the rest of the night, still in my running gear. What a beautiful way to spend a Saturday.

Long Run - 2:24:12 / 25.79 km / 5:35 pace / 144 avg hr

19

It's been a while...

I did no training today. I couldn't, I was in a holding pattern. For most of the day, I couldn't even force myself to train if I wanted to.

I'm like everyone else, there is some days when training is easy and there is other days when it's hard. On the hard day's, I've always been able to conjure up some sort of mental head game that pushes me out the door and once I get started, I'm fine. Today, I didn't have the head game in me, it was a weird circumstance. I didn't want to be very far away from my computer.

Last night, after a long training and emotional day, Alice and I went to Barb and Jamie's place for beer and cigars. It was a beautiful night with lots of laughter, as always. If their new neighbours looked over the fence, it would have been quite a sight. Drinking cocktails, smoking cigars and passing around the blood pressure machine. I'm sure they would have said, "Our neighbours are HARD CORE, what did we get ourselves into?".

Alice, the only diabetic among us, had the best blood pressure out of the group. I'm not sure if that's a "good for you Alice", or it just shows how "bad" the rest of us are. In fact, Alice put us all to shame, she was "100% perfect". I was just impressed that I had a 45 bpm resting heart rate and only needed a little help to put the arm band on properly. When we got home I had a bit of a "buzz on" and wrote my blog post, then fell asleep and woke up in the morning unsure of when I was going to be able to train.

Today, was THE DAY I'm supposed to finalize the paperwork for this VERY LARGE deal I've been working on, potentially the biggest in my career. I needed to put it all together, get the final contract signed by my new boss and email it all back to the customer. I was waiting on different sections to be returned from different people within our organization and I didn't feel comfortable training until I knew it was DONE!!!

Alice and I also had a "lunch play date" with Barb and Jamie, so I didn't have time to do my long run before lunch and without my deal put to bed, I wasn't doing it until after that email was sent, which I thought would be around 5 pm.

The one thing I don't recommend is going for lunch with Jamie and parking your rarely washed 2007 Toyota 4runner beside his 2010 Ferrari. It's very dangerous. There is so many Ferrari gawkers, young and old alike, that I was concerned they were going to bump into my 4runner and rub off the dirt. I hate when my dirt is not consistent or when the kids, or Alice, write "wash me" into it. I've now learnt my lesson, next time I'm parking on the other side of the lot.

Driving to "the play date" was weird. It was the first time Alice and I ever had a non business lunch with another couple during the week. Driving over to the restaurant, I said to myself, "so this is what it must feel like to be retired" and then as we passed by the Lincoln Dealer, I found myself eye-balling one of the new Crown Victoria's and wondered if I'd look good wearing white shoes and a white belt with shorts and knee high socks.

I also learnt that if you pull up in a Ferrari, the chef is prepared to pull out the "special" menu. When the "special menu" was asked for pre-Ferrari sighting, it was unavailable, then post-Ferrari sighting, it magically appeared. I knew Ferrari's had power, but I didn't realize they has that level of persuasive power. I've got to ask Jamie if they give him a "free super-sizing" when he goes through the McDonald's drive thru? If they do, I'm selling the house and the four of us are moving into a Ferrari.

After lunch, I spent most of the day, on my deck, with my computer and working. I was very anxious for three reasons. The first is, the day after drinking I'm naturally always anxious and the only thing that removes my anxiety is training. The second, is I've worked to hard for this deal and wanted to make sure "it was put to bed". And the third, was I need to train, it's the only thing that puts me in a Zen like state, it essentially "strokes my head and tells me everything's going to be alright".

I was working and sipping beers throughout the afternoon and by 5 pm turned up the heat a bit. Before I did that, I made sure my final email to the customer was written, I had all the supporting documents attached and I was just waiting for the signature page. So other than attaching the signature document, I pretty much couldn't screw anything up. I AM responsible with my drinking that way.

Turns out the signature page was scanned and sent to me at 6 pm, but because the file was so big, it didn't get to me until 8:48 pm. In that time, I had lots of beers and at least one whole large Domino's pizza to myself (I knew I should have fought Alice on getting the three large pizza special). I even passed out and had a nap. When I woke up in a pool of sweat, the file arrived, I adjusted the scan to make the file smaller and sent it off to my customer.

It was now 9:30 pm and I had nothing left in me to "push" the start button and get training. I didn't even have it in me to write my blog or get off the sofa. All I could think about was, "forget about it and get back at it tomorrow".

Rest Day

17

IRON-ALYSSA...

I often write about Reid, he's my little brother, it's fun to post about our constant battles and duals.

Heck, less than a month ago he was 40% body fat, and now, after swim club and my constant abuse, he's 24% body fat and even his friends at school are commenting that he's lost weight. He's looking real good.

The person I haven't written much about is my daughter Alyssa.

Tonight's blog is all about Alyssa.

There's something about the relationship between a mother and son that can't be described. It's the same for a father and daughter.

Alyssa is my "little girl" and I feel like she's the best of me. As a little girl, I remember her so glad to see me when I came home from work and she "loved her daddy". Mom could do everything for her, but she wanted "her daddy".

Alyssa was the dream little girl. I remember thinking at the time that I was so lucky to have her as a daughter. I was blessed. She was so cute and smart and had the world by the tail. I NEVER thought I'd have to worry about her, she was a "star" and was going to make my life easy. I'd just have to sit back and glow in her glory.

We moved to Ontario when she was 13 years old. Her and I were the only ones that wanted to move to Ontario, she was so ambitious. Alice wasn't keen about moving to Ontario and Reid was too young to know better.

After we moved here, Alyssa came down with a serious medical condition. She went from the happy go lucky girl that thought the world was her oyster, to someone that struggled just to get out of bed.

She went from being outgoing and involved to reserved and withdrawn. I didn't even recognize her anymore. It was something that was completely unexpected. Here was "my little girl" that I figured was going to conquer the world, to someone that I thought may never be able to live on her own.

It was beyond heartbreaking. It was devastating.

Alyssa now had trouble going to school. She ended up falling back two years. The illness was so severe she couldn't attend classes and essentially failed.

She moved from school to school. For the first three years, she attended a different school every year. It was tough for her to make new friends, especially when she was "the new girl" and when "she wasn't there regularly".

During that period, I saw "my little girl" drift way. It broke my heart to a level I can't even explain.

Then something "miraculous" happened. She came back.

Of her own free will and strength, she fought her demons. I like to think I had something to do with it, she may have hated my tough love, but it was 99% her. Not only did she "fight back", she came back stronger than she was before.

Alyssa's battles took two years to over come. It set her back two high school years. For most people it takes four years to complete high school. I'm proud to say, for her it took six. The reason I'm proud to say that is that this year she is going to graduate.

I feel so happy for her. With all the bouncing around from school to school, Alyssa has never even gotten a yearbook. She has no printed record of her high school years.

This year she attended high school as a 19 year old. It was her last "kick at the can". Schools don't allow anyone over the age of 19 to attend. If she didn't do it this year, it was GED time. It was "make or break".

Truth be told, I wasn't hopeful. If Alyssa attended one week of school, without missing a day, I was "proud". Truthfully, as bad is this may sound, I didn't think she was going to make it.

I was wrong.

Not only did Alyssa do it, she did it with a IN YOUR FACE!!! Not only did she battle her demons, she "kicked their asses". I'd like to say "my little girl was back", but she wasn't. My "little girl" bloomed. She was better than back. She was on the attack.

This is what she accomplished this year:

Grades:

90% in English

90% in Economics

88% in Accounting

91% in History

91% in Law

94% in Sociology

83% in Exercise Science

83% in Math

Overall she averaged 90% in all subjects.

Other:

She won 2nd place in apparel / accessories in sales and marketing at the DECA regionals and made it to the Provincials.

She created the Constitution for her High Schools first Student Council.

She received a certificate of recognition for details in all your work and thoroughness in preparing.

She received an Excellence award for the "highest mark in Media Arts".

She was the Assistant Manager of Sales and Marketing for Donum, a Junior Achievement project, which turned a profit.

She was accepted to Ryerson and York University for Psychology. She chose Ryerson.

Non School Accomplishments

She trained hard for her first 5 km run and finished in 28:13

She's now training for UFE Halloween Mayhem on October 23rd. (I'm not sure what it is, but it's a combination of body building with fitness and essentially you have to be in AWESOME SHAPE. I've been seeing her working out on the weight machine and with dumbells all the time lately).

The Fatherly Result

I can't say how proud I am of Alyssa. She's the perfect daughter. She's battled illness and has never been a problem child. This may be hard to believe, especially with me as her father, but I've never seen her drunk, or even have more than a few drinks. She's more than responsible. I would allow her to baby sit me anytime.

What makes me most proud is the adversity she has overcome. She never gave up. I may have come close to thinking the worst, but she didn't. She didn't just overcome, she "knocked it out of the ball park".

This year is Alyssa's graduation, it's going to be special. I can hardly wait for "my little girl" who never had a yearbook or was even around to pick up her class photo, to walk up on that stage and pick up that diploma. No one has earned that moment more than Alyssa.

Rest day.

14

The soap opera's over, hopefully...

I thought today's post was going to be boring.

I was hoping that I was going to be able to bring one of my investment partnerships to a conclusion and say it ended gentlemanly. Then the rest of the post would have been training related.

Unfortunately it didn't end up that way. It started that way. We came to an agreement with an cordial conclusion, and then 2 hours later the wheels fell off.

It started with a final deal that was not exactly what I was looking for, but I was prepared to accept it to put this situation behind me. The deal wasn't worth a lot of money.

I've got to say, in all the years I've been in business and although this is not a big investment, it's the only one I've had a major difference of option with the other party. I've never felt so strongly certain on my position. I could feel it in my bones and was fighting the situation from a position of "Justice".

Essentially, in my opinion, the other side was being unreasonable and disrespectful to me personally. The "lack of respect" was my number one issue, especially after I significantly helped them out recently. I can deal with differences in opinions and difficult negotiations, that's business, but I can't deal with people who don't take seriously a matter that they knew was very important to me and then drag on negotiations based solely on their timetable and total disregard for mine.

Anyways, the early part of the day was uneventful, a deal was made and I thought it was behind me. THEN I received this email from one the other party's "advisors". These guys are joined at the hip on their opinions and decisions.

The email read:

Just thought I'd tell you that someone with balls wouldn't put that kind of sh*t on a blog

You f#cking crybaby

My reply was

"F#ck yourself".

After reading the email, I had the following thoughts. The first was, "obviously they haven't ever read my blog, I'm not selective. I let it all hang out there, warts and all." Heck, just ask John Barclay, when I put my "I need new friends", which was a stupid post and I later apologized for and felt bad about.

The second was "the final result of the deal could have been made 30 days ago, it wasn't rocket science, it was pretty simple. Had it come to a conclusion back then, it wouldn't have been blog worthy. Heck, even last week it wouldn't have been blog worthy".

The final thought was, "why couldn't they let sleeping dogs lie? It was a small amount of money and we both compromised. Why take it to a personal level? There was no detail in yesterday's blog post".

The irony is that I was going to send a "poison pill" email before I was contacted with their offer. I was on my bike and severely ruminating. I stopped and started typing the email.

Then a strong cyclist passed by me. I took it as a sign to abort the email, it wasn't meant to be. It's rare I find someone who can ride at my speed and who I can talk with. I didn't want to pass it up, especially on a long ride.

The guy I started riding with was Tibor. His picture is above. He is exactly 1 month older than me, immigrated from Hungary, is a semi-truck driver and just got back into bike racing after 15 years.

We rode together for about 40 minutes and after we parted, I received an email from the other party with an acceptable compromise. I called the key guy and talked it through and personal disaster was averted. It seemed like a cordial relationship was going to be possible again.

Then "The Advisors" email arrived. It wasn't gas on an open wound, it was Napalm.

In my mind, it was just another reflection of how the other side has digressed and it was the final straw on trying to salvage any sort business or personal relationship. The only fortunate side of this whole mess, is that I'll never have to do business or spend time with any of these guys ever again.

If "Mr Napalm" or "Mr Turtle" want to reply to THIS post (actually, I didn't realize either of them even read the blog) send me another email, go for it. Maybe it will be so interesting that it will generate some more donations to the TPPF and make up for the financial compromise I made, that would at least be a positive out of this mess.

Truthfully, I was surprised how fast they could respond to something when they want to.

Life is too short, I don't need people like them in my life, it's all negative energy. For every door that closes another one opens. Although it was unsettling. We used to have a good relationship.

Si La Vie.

On the training front, I went LONG and it was HOT. With humidex, it was 38 C / 100 F. I didn't know the temperature as I was riding, but it felt a few degrees away from Ironman China, without the strong wind. Today's wind was only 6 kph.

I was really happy with today's training sessions. I was able to maintain a decent speed, both on the bike and on my brick run. The heat didn't bother me at all, other than stopping twice for fluids and for the first time ever, I had a Coke. It tasted SO good. I was loving it so much that if that moment was filmed, it would have been commercial worthy.

The beautiful part was that I did all my days business of the Carbon Horse. Throughout the ride I had to stop, email and make phone calls. It was so cool. It was the modern day approach to doing business on the golf course. I actually accomplished a great deal today.

The best call of the day was from a very large customer that has decided to use us to produce their work. The buyer was VERY thorough and pragmatic during his evaluation and it wasn't an easy deal to get. I think it may work out to the the largest account I've ever sold.

Aside from the business speed bump along the way and some unnecessary rumination, today was a very productive day. What made it even more lucrative was a new $30 donation from David O'Sullivan @sully1969 on twitter. He's from Nashville and I eventually will end up visiting there for some reason, and when I do, I'm going to look him up and we'll have beers. I GUARANTEE IT!!!

That's the other "Training Payne Guarantee". If you donate money and I come to your City, I'm looking you up and we're going for beers.

Long Bike - 6:26:14 / 193.22 km / 30.0 kph avg / 138 avg hr

Brick Run - 30:31 / 5.95 km / 5:07 pace / 144 avg hr

32 C with Humidex 38 C

Training versus racing...

What I like about triathlons is the "physical and non-physical" benefits you get from training and the "moments of Zen" you get from racing.

Training is so much more than building fitness in order to compete. I find the most important benefits I get from training is it keeps me mentally grounded, it gives me a comforting routine, it gives me time to think, and it relieves stress and mania.

For example, today was a tough day for me, I have one very important financial issue that I've been dealing with for over a month. Today it has caused me to ruminate to the extreme. I'm officially at the "end of my rope" with the situation. It's one of those things that I haven't been able to get out of my mind until there is a resolution.

Unfortunately the other party, for whatever reason, is not dealing with it in a professional manner and working toward a timely resolution. With my personality, I have trouble dealing with people that say one thing and do another. I think I need to buy the person I'm dealing with a "double billed" hat to cover his two faces and some "balls" to deal with it head on.

Before I left on my run, I was "seeing red". I was furious about the situation and near "the point of no return". I had thought of a potential next step, which is very drastic and will change my relationship with the other party forever. I was manic.

Going on my run was just what the doctor ordered. It gave me some time to think and gain some perspective. I was able to think through the "drastic" decision I was thinking of making and its repercussions. The run gave me time to think if I really want to "pull that trigger".

In the end, answer was "yes". I'm going to do it if things aren't resolved within the next day or two, but the best part is that I was able to think it through fully and feel comfortable with my decision with no regrets.

By the time I got home, I felt at peace. The run allowed me to blow off steam and think deeply about the situation. I finished a new person. I even had time to think of how I was going to do it. Before I left on my run I was thinking "emotionally", by the time I returned from my run I was thinking "logically".

The other great thing about training with a problem or emotional situation is that the training time goes by much quicker. You tend to think so deeply that you lose all your senses. On tonight's run, I actually overshot the turnaround point by a few minutes. I think I only looked at my watch once. I was also listening to a podcast and can't remember hearing one word spoken.

Racing is the opposite. It keeps you in the moment. For example, I was dealing with same situation during IMSG. The day before the race and the morning of the race, I was ruminating on this very problem. Like I said, it's been going on for a while. As I was waiting on the shore to get into the water, this problem was the only thing on my mind.

Then it all changed. The minute the gun went off I had no time to think about this problem. All I could think about was racing in the moment. For a very brief moment on the bike, the problem started to creep back into my mind and I naturally "snapped myself out of it" right away. To race well, you have to be in the moment.

I love the mental benefits I get from training and I love the moments of Zen I get from racing. In a practical sense I prefer training because life is primarily full of problems, decision making and internal retrospection and training is the best remedy to deal with those challenges.

On the other hand, racing is a nice break from real world challenges, it puts me in the moment and I feel like a kid without a care in the world.

The bigger the race, the longer my "in the moment" will last. The moment could also include the pre and post race festivities. Who isn't in the moment when crossing that finish line and hugging your loved ones, or looking at finisher's clothing or waiting to see if your name will be called at the Kona roll down?

Today was a hot one. I loved it. I swam before work and I ran in the early evening. In both cases, for the above mentioned reasons, the time flew by. On the run, I didn't bring water. By the time I got home I was so thirsty and water never tasted better. It tasted so good, I didn't mind suffering to experience that sensation.

Even though it was a slow run due to the heat and humidity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. It was my first run of the year in Ontario's warm weather. I love heat and humidity, it makes the air feel "like it's giving me one big hug".

Long Swim - 1:00:31 / 3000 meters

Mod Run - 1:47:48 / 19.70 km / 5.28

I'm starting to believe it's coming...

I FINALLY had my first warm weather ride in Ontario this year. I've been riding indoors and in the cold outdoors for almost 6 months now. I almost forgot what it was like to ride in the heat, I'm still "pinching myself", I want to believe it's here to stay.

It didn't start off well. I flatted 30 seconds into the ride. It worked out okay, it gave me the "push" I needed to take off my race wheels and put my training wheels back on. I immediately noticed the difference, the training wheels are stiffer. I actually prefer their stiffness over the carbon fibre race wheels.

Taking the day off yesterday to rest my legs did wonders, they felt much stronger. I also wore my compression tights last night around a backyard bonfire. Alice and kids don't like the look, especially with my shorts over top. I look more like a burn victim than an athlete.

We're not allowed to have bonfires in our backyard, it's against city bi-laws. Luckily no one called the fire department. I'm sure if firefighters showed up, they'd take one look at my compression tights and lecture me saying, "What going through your head by thinking it's okay to have a backyard blaze? It's obvious you understand the danger and pain of fire, haven't you learnt your lesson yet? You of all people should know better."

It was a beautiful day and with the humidex it was 32 C. It also felt great riding with a sleeveless jersey again. For the first 2:30 of the ride I felt very strong and was averaging 31.3 kph and then "Bam", my energy level dropped and it was tough to keep my heart rate aerobic.

For the last hour, I rode into a head wind and when I got home I was wasn't feeling well. I was suffering from a mild "heat stroke". I could hardly eat, I had no appetite. The only thing I knew that would help was taking a nap, which I did. When I woke up I felt much better, I was back to 100% and was good enough to do a weight training session after dinner.

I fought the urge to have a beer today. I've been overdoing the beer consumption and noticed a little beer belly forming. It's not so much the beer that causes it, it's the lack of self-control that comes with drinking beer. After having a few, I start eating "junk food" and then viola, my mid-section starts to grow.

As a PFG (Previous Fat Guy), I NEVER want to go back to my "fat guy" days. When I gain a little weight, I "sober up" pretty quickly and become motivated to start eating well and lose weight.

I've been partying a little too much for a variety of reasons. The first was post IMSG celebration. The second was the "disorientation" of selling my business and not having my full bearings or routine. The third was the "stress" of the unknown from a personal financial matter that needs to be resolved, hopefully soon. And lastly, it's getting warm outside. For a large part of the winter, I abstained from beer and made it through by "visualizing" my sitting on my deck having cold ones when it got warm.

On my ride today, I realized that I'm not a triathlete with a beer problem. I'm a beer drinker with a triathlon problem.

I say that in jest. I think the problem would be if I didn't do both together. If I just drank beer, I'd get fat and lazy and if I just did triathlons, I'd be in great shape and "others wouldn't be as interesting and I wouldn't be so smart".

If either "beer" or "triathlons" is taking too much control of my life, I can dial either one or both, up or down accordingly. Today, I decided to dial down the "beer" a bit. It feels like the right thing to do at this time.

It never fails, yesterday I opened up the 5 L can of beer that Doru gave me for my birthday, I have one glass from it and then decide to reduce my beer intake. The good thing is the beer will last for 30 days, the bad thing is that every time I open my fridge I'll see it "taunting" me. I think I'm going to have to tape a skinny picture of me on it as a counter-balance.

I've been getting a couple emails from Matty O and Corey Philip telling me that they are starting to follow my beer program and they are getting better results. Corey had a fat foot-long hotdog and a beer at Canada's Wonderland and then has one of his best runs that night.

It may sound strange, but it doesn't surprise me. For eons, beer has been consumed in large quantities by soldiers and professional athletes. In excessive moderation it has it's place, just ask Babe Ruth.

On the TPPF, things are going well. I recently added the dollar amounts contributed by the Top 10 Contributors and an interesting thing happened. The competitive nature of the people that read my blog kicked in. Everyone wants to move up the list.

Simon donated $5.01, which creatively put him above the average beer donation of $5. Then Doru decides to end his Triathlete Magazine subscription and uses that money to donate to Training Payne, which puts him firmly in 2nd place. He thought my blog was more interesting to read than Triathlete Magazine. I agree, and encourage others to do the same.

For those that may have been bumped down and you don't like it one bit, I understand completely. Don't despair, I'm keeping track of all the donations and if you keep sending more, I'll add it to your total and you'll be able to earn your way to the top. If it makes it easier, I can also accept post-dated cheques or can accept automated deposits if you want to tie it into direct deposit from your wage.

It's important you don't get down, if you see someone take the lead, take a deep breath, regroup, and keep positive. Then, go get your credit card and enter more money. The results will be immediate. I GUARANTEE IT!!!

Training Payne's 200% Money Back Guarantee: If you enjoy or hate my blog, please donate money, I guarantee you'll be moved up if your on the Top 10 list. If I forget to move you up the list, I'll refund double your money. With an ofter like that, you have nothing to lose.

As an added benefit, when you donate money, "I love you long time".

Moderate Bike - 3:31:30 / 107.94 km / 30.64 kph / 136 avg hr

Weights - 45 minutes

Do you mind passing the Grey Poupon...

I had a really nice time last night. Alice and I were invited for a cocktails at a friend's house. It was Alice and myself and two other couples. Really nice people and easy, cordial conversation.

There was wine, premium dark beer, cheese and crackers and some h'orderves. It was a U-shape seating arrangement of comfortable dark leather chairs and a sofa with subtle music playing in the background.

It was very civilized and classy. I was very proud of myself. For the most part, I behaved like an adult and didn't take the evening down to a high school level. I also kept my mouth shut and listened as much as I talked. It wasn't easy, but I proved to myself I could act my age.

Don't want to do that again. To much like church.

I'd love to hang out with the same people again, but next time at a tequila bar or some low brow establishment, like my basement. I could tell deep down "they like to party". Tony's the consume Italian, he's a good looking, very athletic guy who likes planting the double kisses.

If Tony wasn't a friend, I'd think he was trying to pick Alice up. I got a charge watching him work his charm. He's the Italian Stallion, very "touchy feely". Alice is the opposite.

We left around midnight, I could tell they were getting tired and it looks like it was a long day for them. It's an obvious sign when Tony's wife has the hiccups and was drinking water. Tony also had to get up at 6 am for a golf game. With that said, they were still very gracious hosts.

When we got home, it was down to the bar and Alice and I hung out until 3 am, having cocktails, listening to 70's music and I was twittering under the influence. The night lasted long enough to cause a slight hangover this am.

Sitting at the bar, I made a couple of major decisions. The first was that I'm going to start wearing the captains hat on my training runs. Essentially, I'm making the full commitment to being the Captain. I figured I should train as I race. The second decision was that I'm going to try and get a reality show.

In terms of training, I took the day off. I can hardly walk and I start a very different training schedule tomorrow. My long rides and runs are now going to be during the week. I'm trying to free up my weekends to spend more time around the family and on the deck.

In keeping with my second major decision, this morning I wrote an outline of what my TRAINING PAYNE REALITY SHOW would be about and I've already sent it to TLC, MTV and Spike TV. Let me know what you think and if you think it will work or not and any suggestions.

Also, if you know someone in the Industry who may be able to help get it produced, pass my info along.

Training Payne – Reality TV Series.

Cameras follow “The Captain” (Bryan Payne), an ex-fattie, Ironman Triathlete, as he swims, bikes, runs, races, and parties and interacts with interesting people, as he serendipitously crosses the Globe.

By Day, he trains and by night, he drinks lots of beer and parties just as hard. Along the way he brings out the individual stories of everyday people who have overcome great odds to become athletes or he blends into everyday situations and shows extreme athletes don’t have to be one-dimensional and boring.

The “Captain” makes it work with his likeable personality, above average people skills and years of “rain making” in sales.

Side stories may include:

Preparing for weekend races and travelling to get there, showing the preparation and all sorts of weird adventures along the way

Finding other extreme endurance athletes and supporting or joining them in their quest to accomplish a goal. Like swimming the English Channel or running 100 miles.

Showing the fun and unique relationship he has with his family, such as betting his overweight son $1000 that he can't do swim club for 3 months without missing a session, or helping his daughters boyfriend get a job without being gentle.

Doing large volumes of training in pain after many night of debauchery.

Showing the mental toughness and mind games it takes to train for extreme endurance events.

Showing the differences in global cultures and yet the common bond that naturally exists between endurance athletes.

Highlighting extreme endurance events and brings them to the public consciousness, as he completes them.

Highlighting the extreme personality and “all or nothing” approach to living ones life.

Every once in a while, showing the “ugly side” of partying and pushing other people to their maximum tolerance level.

Not being afraid to let it all “hang out there”.

Showing a 44 year old can have the mentality of a “mature 17 year old”.

The “unwavering, loving and patient support of his wife Alice”.

Trying to stay at people’s homes and find training partners along the way through blogging and twittering for assistance.

Everyday blogging his adventures so people can follow daily.

Rest Day - Recovery

20

Updates...

What's happening with Reid? What's happening with Nazaire? These are questions that I've been getting asked lately.

I've got good news, yesterday Nazaire got a job! It's in the fish department of Fortino's supermarket. It's part time, but it's a start. Maybe if he "puts his nose to the grindstone" and "works hard" he might one day become the "big Tuna".

I'm glad Naziare got a job, if he didn't, I figured we'd have to alter his resume. The format was GREAT, the content was "not so great".

Nazaire spent the last three years as a male model. He's done some pretty impressive gigs for clients like Samsung, Sony, Kohls, Harlequin, FCUK, RW&CO, Rudsak, Le Chateau, Gsus, Mexx, The Bay and Bell. My concern was that companies may read the resume and think they are hiring "Derek Zoolander" (Video Below).

On one of my runs this week, I came up with a BRILLIANT plan. Now, I don't recommend this, but if I was desperate, this is what I'd do if I was Nazaire. I'd lie on my resume.

I'd put down a fictitious job and say I started three years ago until current day. I'd say I still work there and I wouldn't feel comfortable if you called my current boss. Who wouldn't understand that? Then, to keep the charade going, when you get hired, you tell your new employer you'll have to give your old employer a couple weeks notice.

I don't know how I got so smart. I should be a career counsellor. If I was a career counsellor and you measured my agency by results, I guarantee I'd have the best agency. My corporate motto would be, "Do you want to play fair, or do you want to eat".

On a different note, Reid's doing swimmingly. He's made every workout and the one he missed due to illness, he made up with an extra run. I can really see he's slimmed down. Even his coach told him that he noticed the difference. Reid's also excited, he found out this week that he has his first ever swim meet on June 26th.

He was a little nervous, so I gave him some comforting "fatherly" advice. I gently said, "son, if your not first, your last".

I picked Reid up from weights this morning and he had Deja Vu. He asked me, "what kind of car are you getting next". I told him that I was going to get a "kick ass Land Cruiser from Afghanistan or Iraq. One that would have had all those guys hanging from all over it". He looked at me with a deer in the headlights look and said, "Dad, I just had Deja Vu".

I was going to ride today, but it was cool and raining. I decided to run instead, even though my legs were still sore. It was a weird and great day to run. The sky was grey, it was raining and all my senses seemed to be heightened. I was one of those day's were the music on the iPhone just seemed to be inspirationally perfect.

I didn't take any water with me and by the 20 km mark I was starting to get thirsty. At one point I was considering drinking out of the ditch or hoping someone had a garden hose I could drink from. Then it "hit me". I run by a golf course and they must have Powerade, so I stopped in.

I was fading and my legs were sore and I really needed something to drink. I stopped at the clubhouse and they said the Powerade was at the bar. I hobbled up the stairs and sat at the bar. I then realized I had $15 tucked in my iPhone case. I ordered a Powerade and a Coors Light draft.

The beer tasted so good and I was chatting up the ladies running the bar. Then Eliot showed up. Eliot's a young kid that works at the golf club. We hit it off. He was graduating high school this year. We had a lot in common, especially since deep down I'm a mature 17 year old.

I only had enough money for 2 beers and was getting a nice buzz on. I wanted it to continue. Then I realized that I still had my "Tim Horton's Gift Card" from my third place finish at the Mercedes 10km road race. I offered to sell the $6 left on the card to Eliot for $4. That gave me enough money for beer number three.

Eliot and I had a good talk and I was telling him about how I was making money off my blog. He got it and seemed jealous, impressed or both. He thought it was such a good idea.

I finished my third draft and wanted another, but had no money left. Eliot to the rescue. He bought me another beer. I told him and the ladies not to worry about serving me more, after all, I wasn't driving and I've never heard of anyone getting charged with "Running Under the Influence".

I would have stayed for more, but I started to get the chills. I was at the bar for about an hour and was starting to get cold and knew it was time to leave. I also knew this was going to be the easiest last 10 km's I ever ran.

I don't know what it is, but whenever I get a beer buzz on, the music gets so good. Every song playing on the iPhone kept getting better than the rest. It was the most "beautiful" run I've had in years. Not one I'll soon forget.

It was the type of run that tells you "life is good". I felt euphoric. The rain had stopped and everything smelt so clean and fresh. The world was relaxed. It was a lazy Saturday afternoon and I was on cloud nine. At one point I was thinking "who knew"? I had no idea when I pushed myself out the door for my run that it was going to have a memorable twist.

Before I left, I told Eliot and the ladies that I was going to set up a tab for future runs. The strange part is that I've run by that clubhouse for the past 3 years and never once even considered it a rest stop and after today I consider it a MUST stop.

The only downside to drinking 72 ounces of beer, is that it elevates your heart rate. I found myself having to walk a lot for the last 10 km. Not that it mattered, I was having fun. I ran by one guy who was walking his bike up a hill and we high fived as I ran by him. I had such a beautiful endorphin enhanced buzz on.

I got home about 4 hours after I left the house. I thought I'd get a "where have you been? we've been so worried about you? are you alright?" Instead, I got, "could you please stop talking we're trying to watch something interesting on TV".

It was a prime example of what my family thinks of my training. I've always maintained they don't miss me. Case and point.

I now have 90 minutes to shower and sober up, Alice and I have been invited to Tony Valentini's for cocktails with his wife and another couple. Tony lives down the street from me and I met him in the Escarpment on a bike ride. Tony's also done every House of Payne 5 km Beer run.

He emailed me on Friday and asked if Alice and I wanted to come over on Saturday, especially since I'm not training to race. I immediately replied, "we're in". He then emailed back, "causal jeans are fine".

I said to myself "they better be fine, that's all I own, other than a suit for funerals and weddings". Afterwards I was thinking, oh no, this may be too adult for me. Tony's wife and I have never met and she's some "big mucky muck" who owns her own business. I'm not sure if she's ready for me. My prediction is that this will be the last time I'm invited or the first of many times.

Today's plan was to be on my best behaviour and not drink beforehand. I wanted to show up on everyone else's level. I was so on track until I left the house for my long run and stopped at Hidden Valley Golf Club for a Powerade.

Which, in the end, I never did end up drinking.

Long Run - 2:49:51 / 30.54 km / 5:34 pace

19

Feeling the love...

I can't believe how much support the Training Payne Party Fund (TPPF) is getting. Today I had my two biggest donors to date.

The first was Adena, who gave a very significant donation, and then she was walloped by DRog. Today's other generous contributors where Judy Mac and "Bob the fireman" from Windsor, Ontario.

In only three days, since its late Tuesday night inception, the the fund has raised $165. It couldn't have come at a better time, this is a holiday long weekend in Canada.

I can now rest knowing I'll have enough beer and cigars to get me through until Tuesday. Although, it's just enough, please keep the money coming, I still have next week to worry about.

Also, for those that have given already to the TPPF are worried about being "bumped" off the Top 10 contributor list, you can send more, I'll add it to your total. Don't be shy, let the competitor in you shine through.

We are now down to only 39 remain spots for this summer's PAYNE-ABULSA bash. Be sure to make your donation, you don't want to be on the outside of my fence looking in, security WILL be instructed to remove you. Remember, only the first 50 donors are invited.

On the training side, my legs are still major sore. I'm shuffling so much, I think I may ask Alice and the kids to get me a "walker" for Christmas. Nothing special, it doesn't need it to be carbon fibre or anything, I wouldn't even bother me if it was "used".

The other night, I shuffled into Jamie's backyard and explained my sore leg woes. He knows Ironmans well and said that the race takes more of a toll on your body than you think it does. He was surprised I was ramping up the mileage and doing running races so early afterwards.

At first I didn't believe him, I figured I was just having a bad day or "Jamie's a baby". Now I'm not so sure. Just running across the parking lot at work yesterday, I looked like I had no knees. If "Herman Munster" could run, he would have looked like me. Reluctantly, I took the day off from training. I figured it's best I rest my legs for tomorrow and Sunday's long training sessions.

My personality has two speeds, on and off. Instead of training, I had to do something, so I went car shopping with Alice. We were looking at "used" cars, or as the dealers like to spin it "pre-owned" cars. Alice has no idea of what type of car she wants.

Over the past week, we've been to almost every brand of dealer. The first criteria for her in choosing a car, is to make sure she can see over the hood and out the back window. She's picky that way. The car sales people must love us because they ask what were looking for or how much we want to spend and we clearly say, "we have no idea".

We then further screw them up by test riding a 2010 vehicle, and then say, "do you mind if we give that 1986 Pinto in the corner of the lot a go as well?" We've also even went to look at some cars privately. Those are the best adventures.

Last night we drove all the way out to Niagara Falls to look at a 2001 Toyota Celica. It looked good on the web, the guy sounded good on the phone and the price was reasonable. He was selling "because it was too small for my family". Reasonable explanation.

It took us 40 minutes to get there and we met young "Ak-med" in a Leon's Furniture Store parking lot. It was a complete waste of time. The guy had removed the springs from the car and it was riding low. He reluctantly let us test drive it and told us to be careful going over bumps or small stones.

The car was essentially the ones you see young Filipino kids driving. Ak-med put on a high performance muffler, so that it would sound like it had no muffler and he had a pair of stereo speakers in the back that were each the size of a 13 inch TV. He also had an amplifier that was the size of a pizza box, screwed to the back of the seat.

If I was a young Filipino kid, I would have been "creaming my jeans" at this point.

We took it for a test drive and didn't bother leaving the parking lot. I didn't feel safe in the car one bit, I was worried if we left the parking lot we were opening ourselves up to a "drive by shooting". I didn't know what this kid was into and the windows were tinted.

We got back from our 45 second test drive. The rosary and pine air freshener hanging off the mirror was a nice touch, but I had to let him down easy, I said "Alice has trouble looking over the dash board, nice car though". He was kind of, sort of listening, as he was texting.

He was a nice enough kid and did offer to put the springs back on the car so it wouldn't ride so low. When I asked him if he could put the old muffler back on, that appeared to be a no-fly zone, it was too much work putting on the new one. He said he had to "do a lot of bending of pipes and stuff".

I could only imagine Alice dropping Reid off for school in this car and having the stereo cranked up to full volume. First off for the safety of my family, I'd have to buy the ear muffs that you see the guys at the airport wearing when they guide the planes in and out of the gate. Secondly, the neighbours would probably frown on having their windows shaken every time Alice drives by.

On the way to Niagara falls we stopped by another house to look at a Honda Accord Coupe, they wanted $12,500. Just to find the house was an exercise. They only corresponded by email and it was cryptic. The ad had no phone number or address.

So I emailed, "is the car for sale?" Returned email "yes". I emailed back, "can you send me your phone number?". Returned email with number. Then I emailed back, "can I come at 6:30 pm and what is your address?". Returned email, "call me first to discuss". What??? Call to discuss???? What is this, is Bruce Wayne selling his accord and I need to get directions to meet him at "the BAT CAVE?"

They finally gave me the address and it was actually on my street. I'm 4284 and they're 4205. I showed up, looked at the car, awesome shape, but over priced by $2,500. I told the guy I'd be interested if the price was $10,000, which is the high end of fair market price for that car.

He then proceeded to tell me that he needs more because he has to take the money to buy his kids another car and a new car is $17,000. I thought to myself "and you want ME to pay more than fair market value to subsidize your kids new car?" Good luck with that one pal.

We did take the car for a test ride and it rode perfectly, the only problem was the noise coming out of the stereo. It was an East Indian CD. It may have been modern East Indian music, I don't know, all the songs sound EXACTLY the same to me. I couldn't turn that volume down fast enough, my ears were starting to "bleed".

Then we stopped at a Lexus dealership we got some great advice. The guy found out that Alice only puts on about 5000 km per year and said "why not go for a higher mileage car?" That really seemed to make sense to us. Most people, ourselves included, go for the low mileage car because we naturally think it's a better car.

For the amount of distance Alice drives, she could take a high mileage car and make it into a low mileage car within 4 or 5 years. She doesn't go far, it's usually to the grocery store, the beer store, to Reid's school and back to the beer store.

That high mileage tip the sales guy gave us, changed our perspective and focus entirely. We set our sights on cars over 160,00 kms. It's amazing the deals you can get on a 2005 or 2006 with high mileage. It's also amazing to see that some cars are still running with over 380,000 kms on them, mostly Japanese cars. It just shows that cars can last a long time.

I could have gotten a great deal on 1999 Volkswagon Jetta TDI with only 377,531 kms on it for only $1895. Unfortunately, Alice is picky, she isn't big on German engineering and I'd always feel people would expect me to be wearing sandals and knee high black socks every time I got out of it. It's just not a look I'm not completely comfortable with.

At least now we have it narrowed down. We're looking for new to old cars, between $3,000 - $25,000 with low or high miles and we'll buy private or through a dealer and were ready to buy now or wait until the end of the summer. However, we are firm on one thing, no domestic brands, unless it's a Cadillac.

Actually, after my private sale adventures, we'll probably buy through a dealer, but I'm not closing the private door yet. There's definitely more entertainment value with the private sale. but they all want way more money than the car is worth.

Tonight, Reid pulled off the label from one of my Amstel light beer bottles and put it on my chest. If you've seen the movie Ironman, he has his power source coming from a devise lodged in his chest. Reid thought this was my equivalent power source. Good call "little buddy".

Talking about my power source, I've been asked by Matty O to share some of my Training Payne training secrets. It turns out that Matty is trying to "drink lots of beer and train the next day". He posted this comment/question.

On another note, I have been practicing the TRAINING PAYNE workout regime. I have never had a hangover in my life (dead serious) so I figured it couldn't hurt to try this out. But when I get up at 5 to go swimming I feel dehydrated... how much water do you ingest daily to compensate the beer? Do you drink light beer? Please embellish your secrets so that I know I am not straying from the core beliefs of your program.

My Response:

Dear Matty, I'm so glad to hear you have decided to try the "Training Payne Challenge". Here at headquarters, we don't like to call it a "regime", we prefer to call it a "lifestyle". The core belief of the TPL (Training Payne Lifestyle) is that you can train hard and party hard without compromise.

As you know, the problem with most any program, is they can be unbalanced. Many people live their lives in the extreme, like a pendulum. They are either training too hard and living like a monk or they are partying too hard and living like a sailor. After years of swinging back and forth, I realized it was unhealthy.

I realized that you need balance in your life. If your going to train hard, you need to party hard, and if you party hard, you need to train hard. When I started thinking "outside the bottle", a whole new world of possibilities opened up to me. I saw the light and was magically transformed into "the Captain".

Now Matty, I can't explain all my secrets in just this one post, it would "blow your mind" if unleashed all at once. But I will feed you measured bits. First off, if you really want to learn my secrets, DO NOT CHECK WITH A DOCTOR BEFOREHAND!!! They'll just be negative and try to deter you. Believe it or not, there is still levels of "quackery" in medicine.

In response to your question about regular or light beer, I've learnt light beer is best. My house beer is Amstel light, "the beer drinkers light beer". It still gives you a nice glow with under 100 calories per bottle, and trust me, under my TPL those regular beer extra calories can add up.

In terms of water, yes, you need to hydrate. After partying, if you have not lost complete control of your senses or bodily functions before bed, drink water. And yes, I know that it's hard and may seem like an unreasonable request.

Hopefully, you have a supportive partner who can guide you to the tap, or maybe even put a couple of water bottles beside the bed earlier in the day. Think of it as your "night-time transition zone".

Very Important Note: If a decision has to be made as to whether you take your clothes off before going to bed or drinking water, go for the water. By leaving your clothes on, it's just one less thing you have to worry about doing in the morning. Oh, and if you lie on the outside of the covers, you also won't have to make the bed. Another little advantage when living the TPL.

The biggest tip I could give you is to NOT run after a night of wild debauchery. You can bike and swim, but don't run. The first part of your body to dehydrate is the calves and running dehydrated is dangerous. Trust me. If you calves cramp, it can cause major injury.

The last point, is getting up at 5 am for swimming? I am assuming you meant 5 am? Another major benefit of the TPL is that you won't have to get up at 5 am, we encourage you just stay up that extra hour and go right to the pool from the party. No sleep is required and you eliminate that "oh, do I really have to get up?!" feeling.

Although, I always promote safety first. If you are still a little tipsy and you go swimming, don't do it without asking the life guard to keep an eye on you. They tend to be very accommodating if you explain you're swimming drunk, it makes them feel needed.

So for now Matty, those are my tips. If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to leave them in the comment box below.

Shameless Plug: If you found this post inspiring, motivating, informative, entertaining or just thought it plain SUCKED, please click the donate button at the top of the page and buy me a beer.

Recovery Day - No training.

6

Dominators, Hoarders and Losers...

There's nothing like a good night sleep to heal all. I was so tired last night and viola, one good nights sleep, and I felt like a new man. I even kind of felt like swimming today.

My number one attitude and burn-out test is swimming. If I don't look forward to swimming, all is well. If I dread wanting to swim, I'm burnt out. Other than Reid, I don't know anyone that likes swimming. I'm not even convinced Michael Phelps truly enjoys swimming.

Today was only my second swim since IMSG. I needed to get back in the pool, my speed depends on it. I was good for the first 100 meters of my drills and then I would slow down, considerably. Hopefully, it won't take more than a couple of weeks to get my speed back.

After swimming, I did weights. The people that train at the YMCA tend to be fairly regular people. Today, there was a foreigner among us and he stuck out like a sore thumb. The guy looked like a heavyweight UFC fighter or convicted felon. He was muscular, wore a wife beater shirt and roamed the floor with a scowl and stubble on his face.

He was one of those people that EXUDES negative energy. This guy had no respect for anyone else in the gym. He was doing leg curls and put his towel over the back of the chair. He would do a set and then walk away and not return for 10 minutes.

In that time, the towel was on the back of the chair and no one dared use it. This went on for close to 40 minutes. In that time, he probably only did 5 sets, but tied the machine up for the entire time.

I was getting close to finishing all my exercises and still had to do leg curls. I was getting to the point where I was just going to move his towel and start doing a set. I knew if I did it, all hell could possibly break loose. Which wasn't going to stop me.

In a way, I wanted to see what would happen. Could I diffuse it or would it get ugly. I resisted to do it until I finished all my other exercises. If I finished them and the leg machine was still tied up, I was committed to confront the guy.

Just as I was finishing my other exercises, he came back to the leg curl machine and a 30 something year old guy, nicely asked him how many sets he had left. "Mr. Muscle head" freaked. Total "roid rage" and barked out "how should I know?"

He was completely disgusted with being asked the question. He looked like he was going to explode. Then shortly afterwards, he hastily moved his towel and left to another part of the gym. The 30 something had a "whoa, what was that all about, what a psycho" look on his face.

I started thinking "Mr. Leg Curl" is dangerous and very unbalanced. He seemed like a guy you wouldn't want to look at sideways, especially at a bar. I could only imagine his personal relationships, I'm sure they'd be ugly. He looked like he could easily be a wife beater, or at least had the experience to teach a "wife beating" class.

Aside from this guy, the only other problem I've had at the YMCA is with the "ball hoarders". These are women that take one of the big exercise balls and won't let it go. I've seen them use other machines and keep the balls by their sides so no one else can use them. It's like they think it's THEIR ball.

I could only imagine the "ball hoarder" getting married to the "leg curl machine dominator". The best gift to get them for their wedding would be a self labelling gun so they could mark their personal items. Frankly, I couldn't even see them sharing air. It would be ugly.

Around dinner time I got a call from an old industry buddy, Dave Kew. Dave heard I sold the business and called to touch base. He then told me not to let this go to my head, but "I motivated him to lose weight". He saw my blog and the before and after pictures. Dave lost close to 50 lbs. He went from 268 lbs to 217 lbs and feels great. Another PFG convert.

We reminisced about old times. He now lives in Florida and I said the next time he comes to Toronto he has to come to my place. The last time he was here was when it was being built and only the floor was done. He reminded me of that and I said, "I think I have a picture of you from that night and I'm going to post it along with your weight loss story".

The one thing I told him was that I too was motivated by a friend. I remember seeing skinny pictures of my fat buddy Doug Martin. The minute I saw those photo's I knew it was possible and was motivated. Dave experienced the same thing seeing my pictures.

After I lost the weight, I told Doug he was my inspiration. He had no idea, just like I had no idea I was Dave's inspiration. It's amazing how something so subtle motivates someone. I could have yelled at Dave for 30 days straight to lose weight and it wouldn't have worked, yet one look at a picture did it.

He probably thought, "if that A-hole can lose weight, why can't I?!" I know that's exactly what I thought when I saw Doug's skinny guy picture. It reminds me of the wise old saying, "when a friend succeeds, a little part of me dies".

Important note, I've decided to call my 2010 summer bash "PAYNE-ABLULSA", It's by special invitation and only for the first 50 people who donate to my blog. I only have 43 spots left after Brent Kendall from "Bean Town" bought me a beer today.

I also put a list of my "top 10 contributors" on the sidebar. (Am I taking this too far yet?). This weekend is a long weekend, I hope I have enough beers to drink (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

Long Swim - 1:03:21 / 3000 meters

Weights - 45 minutes

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