Party on Garth...

It's OFFICIAL. The "House of Payne 5 km Beer Run" and "Payne-a-Polooza" is scheduled for Saturday, August 28th. Mark your calendars, you don't want to miss it. Be there, or be square.

This year I'll be hosting two events on the same day. The third annual "House of Payne" beer run will begin at noon, followed by "Payne-a-Polooza" at 4 pm. For most people, I'm assuming it will be a "double header". At least for the "real men and women".

The rules of the beer run are quite simple. You bring a 6 pack of beer, no less than 4% alcohol and when the gun goes off, you drink one, run a kilometer, drink another and so on. After you finish your 5th and final kilometer, you drink your 6th beer. Once you finish that beer, the timer stops. If you throw up, or every time you throw up, you have to drink a penalty beer and run a penalty lap.

It's a prediction race, which means you don't wear a watch and you have to predict your time before the start. Whoever predicts closest, wins. Everyone has an equal chance to win. Last year, our third place finisher did the 5 km's and 6 beers in 71:38. The fastest its been done is by yours truly in 24:48 and I've finished 2nd in each year.

To get more information check out www.houseofpaynebeerrun.blogspot.com Info will be posted in the next day or two.

This is the first year I'm having "Payne-a-Polooza". It's going to be a rock'n backyard party and the only way your invited is if you contribute to the Training Payne Party Fund, unless you're a student and are granted a TPPF bursary like LHarp.

In anticipation of both events, and knowing some people may be travelling from far and abroad, I encourage people to bring air mattresses and or tents. I've got a four bedroom tent that will be set up. I've got extra bedrooms in the house and lots of floor space. I also have a tool shed and bathtubs.

I'm going to see if my neighbours have extra room as well. For those that have a "weak stomach", there's a Motel 6 about 3 miles down the road. I DO NOT want anyone drinking and driving, unless it's the mini bike in the backyard or though the house. I have to draw the line somewhere.

Training wise, I switched my sessions today. I did my bike speed work today in anticipation of doing a longer moderate ride with Rueban on Wednesday. He's is a friend of Simon's from Malaysia. He and his wife are coming over to my place for a visit. Rueban and I are going to ride for a few hours and then we'll have a barbecue and beers afterwards. I'm looking forward to it.

Them being from Malaysia, I would think their dish of choice would be "rat, snake or squirrel" . I'd like to accommodate, but Costco Canada doesn't sell any of those delicacies. I hope they like "cow" and it's not against their religion to eat it. I'll probably just tell them it's Canadian rat. Hopefully they won't know the difference.

In the last few weeks, I've put on about 3 or 4 extra pounds and now I'm focused on getting rid of them. The strange part is that in the past week my training has been strong. In the last 7 days, I've done over 400 km's of training and it's been hard for me to get my heart rate over 140 bpm. Even today, I tried something different, I pushed hard at only 70 rpm and had a tough time getting anaerobic.

I'm also very relaxed about IMLP. In my current shape, on any given weekend I could finish it respectfully. The only thing I need to do more of is swim. Last month I didn't swim much and my times reflect it. As long as I swim steady for the last 4 weeks before IMLP, I'm not worried.

To help prepare for IMLP, Doru (aka Steve) and I are doing epic camp at Lake Placid on Friday. It's informal and free. It's just a bunch of guys showing up and training together. We'll be doing a 3000 meter swim, we'll be riding the full 180 km bike course and then we'll be running one 13.1 mile loop of the marathon. Then it's Miller time afterwards. It should be fun.

Speed bike - 1:10:38 / 34.47 km / 29.3 kph