Sorry Johan...

I can't get into a rhythm. As much as I want to get my blog posted in the evening, it looks like it's become a morning thing. The problem is I'm having too much fun in the evening to stop and write the blog while it's being lived.

Last night was no different. Alice was watching some TV and I was tweeting away.

I read an interesting quote about FaceBook versus Twitter, I don't remember the exact wording, but it said, "Facebook is for connecting with lost friends, Twitter is for making new ones". Needless to say, I'm a twitter kind of guy.

Yesterday, I did four things. I went for an easy recovery ride and averaged 33.3 kph. I returned my 20 Litre Keg and got a big boy 58 Litre Keg. I tweeted and online watched Matty O, Heather and @sdickey finish their first ever Half Ironman at the Steelhead 70.3. And finally, I hung out with Alice and we sat and talked till the wee hours of the morning. It was a fun day.

My ride was interesting. It was the first time I kind of got excited about Kona. I did my regular tough loop and it felt like a "victory lap". As I was riding, it dawned on me, "How would I feel right now if I DIDN'T make it to Kona?" It was a depressing thought and frankly, I was scared to pursue it deeply. All I know is it feels surreal that I've qualified for Kona.

I crushed it on today's recovery bike ride. If I did IMLP today, I would have beat my race time. I feel even stronger than I did last week. I went up the last hill on Number one side road before Guelph Line at 25 kph. I normally do that at 9-13 kph. The entire ride, I was looking to catch some one and hammer with them. I just wanted to race!!!!!

When I got back, I saw my late night neighbour. I asked him how he felt after our 5:15 am escapade. He said he was "a little rough and wasn't too productive at work the next day." I think I've met my match, this guy is a heavyweight. He also reminded me about taking him for a bike ride.

I had completely forgotten that I promised to take him with me for a ride in the Escarpment. Also, until Reid reminded me, I had forgotten that he was prepared to pay $300 for Jamie's old Kegerator. Jamie wants a new one like mine that holds the full Keg. Immediately after I remembered about giving him a "Tour de Escarpment", I set up a play date for tomorrow at 11 am for the two of us to ride the "carbon fiber horses". He's never ridden before and I'm going to set him up with my Trek.

I'm proud to say, I emptied my first Keg in less than 24 hours and took it back to the beer store today. Instead of getting a baby Keg, I got the real deal. A total of 58 Liters, which is the equivalent of 7.5 cases of beer. The first Keg, the beer wasn't clear, it tasted okay, but Jamie realized right away I had a bad Keg. The Beer Store gave me $50 off my new Keg for my first keg troubles. It looks like this Keg thing is already paying for itself.

I was a little worried about how I was going to get a 160 lb (80 kg) Keg of beer off my truck and downstairs all by myself. I bought a dolly last week and realized I missed my calling. I'm a master dolly puller. The hardest part, was getting it off the truck and the rest was a breeze. I figured out a way to use the dolly so I don't even need to build a ramp on the patio door.

The rest of the night was drinking and twittering. My twitter friends are used to it. I'm surprised I only lost a couple of followers and one in particular I was glad to see go. Whenever you start tweeting "politically correct" comments, you can tell who your friends are.

Recovery Ride - 1:29:34 / 49.84 km / 33.4 kph / 130 avg hr

18

Burning the candle...

It's official, I need to get back to a routine. I also need to get back to some recovery training.

I stayed up partying with the neighbour until 5:15 am last night. That's late, even for me.

When I woke up, I could feel a nice cold sore coming on and my calf's are on the verge of cramping. When my calf's want to cramp, it's a major signal that I'm dehydrated. I'm not surprised.

I got some great news today, Simon signed up for next years Ironman Lake Placid and Johan is close to registering. I'm pumped.

We're going to have a good group coming next year. Right now we have Derek, John P, Rodney, Simon, Mandy, Jamie and hopefully Johan. If I missed anyone, let me know. It should be a lot of suffering and post race partying.

Today was the first day that I looked at my race results. I also got my race pictures and tonight I put together an IMLP video of our trip.

I'm hoping I'm now back to my normal routine and can get back to not being behind on my blogging. Johan's been giving me a bad time about my blog not being up on time. It's forcing him to buy a newspaper. Poor Johan.

Oh, I also got a new donation to the TPPF. It came from a wonderful gentleman named John Fisher. Thanks John, you're now on the tote board. Also, let John be an example to all of you deadbeats that haven't donated, er, I mean fine people. Please donate now and donate often. I have a post celebration Kona party I need to pay for.

As crazy as this sounds, and it's rarely said, "I'm beer-ed out." My first Keg is pretty much empty, it look less than 24 hours. I'm back on the beer wagon, at least until we go to Jamie's to watch UFC on Sunday night.

The stats for IMLP were as follows:

45 - 49 Age Group

Swim - 1:08:44 / 1:49 per 100 meters (82 AG / 699 Overall)

Bike - 5:25:13 / 20.7 mph avg / 33.38 kph (8 AG / 86 Overall)

Run - 3:37:47 / 8:19 per mile pace (15 AG / 150 Overall)

T1 - 5:51

T2 - 2:44

Overall - 10:20:18

AG Place - 9 /370

Overall Place - 119/2611

2

Life's good...

It was back to the grind today. It started at 7 am. I had lots of catching up on work stuff. It was actually a little nice to get things back to normal, at least until around 5 pm, when I asked Jamie to come help me set up my Kegerator.

Just before he arrived, Alice and Reid put the graphic skin on the Kegerator. I don't have the patience to put it on carefully and make sure there is no air bubbles. The skin arrived today and I designed it myself and had a guy print it for $50. I think it makes the Kegerator look great and brings it to life.

I designed it with my choice domestic beer. Unfortunately, the don't sell Amstel in Kegs. And I added a Triathlon Toon of myself on it.

I'm so glad Jamie came over, he has a Kegerator and is a veteran. Had he not come, I would have been screwed. I made some mistakes and forgot to put in a washer, which caused leakage. Then he showed me about putting the tubes in the right spot and how to set up the C02 pressure. Without him, I would have failed miserably.

When all was said and done, he helped me Christen it and I shared my first Kegerator beer with him. It was great. Drinking draught beer and smoking cigars in my "man cave". Barb then came by and joined us. It's always lots of laughs with the Grants and the Paynes. Life doesn't get any better.

It looks like I may be laughing with them in Kona. They are thinking of coming for a week to watch the race and then hang out and do stuff with us afterwards. I think we'll do the Big Island until the race is over and then go to Maui. I've been there twice. If there was any other place Alice and I would want to live in this world, it would be Maui.

Jamie and Barb left around 8:30 pm and less than half an hour later, my neighbour Jeff poked his head in the basement screen door. Long story short, Jeff and I stayed up until 5:15 am. Alice had to "tap out" and went to bed earlier. It was just Jeff and near the end, we got into a deep discussion about religion. Drunken booze talk, it doesn't get any better than that.

He grew up in Sault Sainte Marie, a small hard drinking town. I was impressed with the amount of beer he can drink, not typical for an IT guy. What I like about Jeff is when you ask him if he wants another one, without hesitation he says, "SURE".

I can't even calculate how many beers I drank or cigars I smoked. I think I probably had at least 4 cigars alone yesterday and I'll take a 24 on the beer. I think I may have to start weighing the Keg before and after I drink to determine the amount of beers since I can no longer count caps.

On the training front, I had a good phone conversation with one of my coaches, Luis. He congratulated me on my Kona slot and wanted to talk about my preparation. He shocked me when he said that he's changing up my training plan. He's putting me on something new, it won't be the same workouts I've been doing for all these years.

He explained that my aerobic base is so strong that he wants to add more intensity to my workouts. From what I understand, the workouts will be a combination of aerobic and high intensity. He said my actual training hours will go down and my effort will go higher. I'm actually pretty excited to try something new.

He also asked if I could put together a video of me discussing my experience with Mark Allen Online and the heart rate system I follow. I said, "no problem". He said, "just be yourself". I then thought to myself and envisioned me sitting at my bar with a beer in my hand, discussing the advantages of the MAO program. Probably not something they would want to show. I then said something to Luis like, "no, I'll be on my best behaviour".

Recovery Day

24

Cowpoke time...

It was our second day of post-IMLP family activities. We went horse back riding with the Grants. Alice had been the only one who has done horseback riding before.

I wasn't scared until they stressed how important it is that we sign the release forms and truly understand that what we are doing is dangerous and we can get hurt. They followed up with an instructional session, and throughout, highlighted all the bad things that can happen.

All kidding aside, I was asking myself, "What have I gotten myself into?" Even the instructions were intense. It seemed like you needed a PhD to know how to "drive" the horse. I've never listened so intently in my life and actually wished I had brought a note pad. This was way more intense than I expected.

The only one more scared than me was Jamie. I could tell when I looked over at him as he was listening to the instructions. I didn't see a pee stains, but blood did seem to be drained from his face.

I got the biggest horse, his name was George. It looked like a clydesdale wanta be. I know horses can sense the type of person that rides them and I was trying to stay as calm as possible. I'm still sure George sensed my fear and was laughing about how he's going to "own me".

When we got going, I pulled the reins a little to hard and he started galloping a couple times and it freaked me out. My ass was severely smacking on the saddle, it was like George was giving me a spanking. Somehow I got him to slow down and stop. I just envisioned myself falling. Later on, he gave Jamie and Barb's daughter Jessica's horse a kick to say, "get your nose out of my ass".

By the end of the ride, I got the hang of it and it was a lot of fun. I'm so glad I went. It was a better experience than I thought it would be. I can now say, "I'm a Kona Qualifier AND I can ride a horse". I think that would look good on a tombstone.

The hardest part was getting down from George. He was so tall, the jump down was high and I forgot I still had sore legs from the Ironman. When I hit the ground my legs buckled a bit and I started falling backwards into some shrubbery. I was shocked I didn't fall down and into some horse mud pie. I'm sure George would have like to have seen that.

We finished up and went for lunch, I had a "12 oz Monster Burger", fries, onion rings and a couple beers. I couldn't even eat the entire burger. I decided today was my last day of debauchery, at least until the weekend, and I may as well make it good.

I figured it's post Ironman guilt-free calorie freedom and a bit of family vacation time, you have to let loose a little. And for those that know me, they know I tend to be tight and need to loosen up a bit more.

After lunch we drove back home. It was an easy drive. The GPS gave us a much easier and direct route. Even after stopping for dinner, we still managed to get home by 9:00 pm. It was nice arriving in daylight. It was also nice to get home and relax and I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed.

Even though I ate a salad for dinner, I asked Alyssa to pick me up some ice cream. She told me about "Stone Cold Creamery" a new ice cream shop nearby that mixes ice cream with all sorts of toppings. I told her get me large and with nuts and fudge. She came back with one that even was even better with chocolate brownies in it. I was by far the BEST ice cream I've ever eaten.

It's right around the corner from us. To keep my waistline in shape, I think I may have to burn the place down. I hope they have good insurance.

Today is my last hurray, then it's back to reality and getting my head back into what pays the bills. Which is good, the last 7 days have been a blur. It seems like it's been in one long continuous day.

Post IMLP Recovery Day - No training

2

It's been a whirlwind...

I don't remember what time we went to bed last night, and I don't know how I got up at 6 am to go white water rafting.

I do know it was a good time because I was fully clothed under the sheets when I woke up and we went through a lot of beer for such a small group.

I felt so far behind in my blogging and I knew people were excited for me and wanted to know what was going on.

I spent the next 90 minutes finishing off the race report blog post and Alice and the kids kept telling me to, "Hurry up, we're going to be late, we have to leave now, it's a 90 minute drive, lets' go". It was like listening to a broken record. I wasn't even able to proofread it.

I've been getting so many great tweets, emails and comments on the blog. Last night I'd pop up to the room and take a quick look at them and then go back to the party table. They put big smiles on my face and warmth in my heart every time I read one. I was so overwhelmed with the support and enthusiasm everyone had for me in qualifying for Kona.

I even got a phone call voicemail message from Simon in Maylasia. He was calling to congratulate me. It was great to hear his voice again. Simon was so pumped and happy for me. It was a really touching gesture.

I also got some fantastic emails. One from my mom. I could just feel her excitement, I'm surprised she was able to type it out without exploding. And another from my Uncle Neil. I was suprised he was still reading the blog. Poor guy, him and my Aunt must be really bored in their retirement.

I really aprechiated ALL the communications from everyone and I can hardly wait until my vacation ends and I can take my time to read them and reply.

Qualifying for Kona still hasn't set in. It's just been go, go, go and I haven't had ANY time to think about it. Today I had a major issue that I needed to deal with, its been on my mind for months and the river rafting was just what I needed to think it through.

River rafting was a lot of fun. We did level three rapids and early on we got some good water and got splashed wet. It lasted the entire day and covered 17 miles total. It was a beautiful day, the water was a nice temperature and for a large portion of it, we just floated and took in the great scenery and relaxed under the Sun.

The idea to go white water river rafting was Alice's, it was on her bucket list. Jamie and Barb and their kids Jessica and Alex joined us and we had a full boat all to ourselves. I'm glad we went, it was fun, exciting and relaxing all at the same time.

At one point, the guide took us to a big rock, about 10 feet high, and we climbed it and jumped off into the water. Jamie and Reid were fearless. I got up and said, "what the heck am I doing?" I then looked over and there was an 8 year old from another boat waiting her turn to jump. That's all it took, I jumped and closed my eyes on the way down.

At certain points the guide would slow down and you could jump out of the boat and go swimming. I knew Reid was going to do it for sure, but I was surprised Alyssa and Stephanie went for it as well. All day, Reid was "eyeballing me" and wanting to push me out of the boat with his oar. I eventually gave him the football tackle and the both of us when over.

It was a long day on the Hudson River. Jamie and I were talking about it, for the last 2 hours it was pretty tame, if they would have sold beers, it "would have been heaven" to relax and sip beers as the current took you down the river. With that said, even without the beers, it was an awesome experience.

After finishing the rafting we drove into Lake Placid and stopped for BBQ at "The Tail of the Pup". It's a massive outdoor picnic table seating style restaurant. There was live bands playing and I thought the food was great. Easily 3000 calories on my Meat Sampler of ribs, brisket, pulled pork and chicken. Not to mention the appetizers of chicken wings, riblets and nachos.

Then it was back to the hotel for beers and cigars. Jamie, as always, brought some great tasting cigars that put my "rolled up porch mat cigars" to shame. We actually had an early night by Training Payne standards. Jamie, Barb and Alex left after the street lights went on and Alice and I sat around until about 10:30 pm talking.

When I got to the room, I stayed up until 3:00 am writing an important email and updating my blog.

I haven't even had a chance to find out how Simon or Johan are making out in trying to get into IMLP for 2011. One thing I do know for sure, is Jamie's doing it. It didn't take that much of a "poke from me" and he was in. He signed up and paid the big bucks for a community slot. At least I know for sure I won't be doing it alone next year. I'm also not sure if Rodney or John P got in. I hope they did.

Even though it's only day two after the Ironman, I'm ready to stop drinking and eating. I've been on a tear. I'm actually looking forward to three healthy meals a day and some salads. How gay does that sound?

I'm not looking forward to another 8 weeks of heavy training, but "that's the price of admission" to get ready for Kona. My plan is to SIU and keep a smile on my face while doing it. I haven't had a chance to contact Bill Bradley yet, but with qualifying for Kona, it's at the same time as his English Channel swim and I won't be able to be part of his support crew.

I'm bummed about that, I was so looking forward to the experience of helping Bill and meeting all my UK twitter buddies.

Tomorrow is another busy day. Horseback riding in the morning and Jamie is going to take Reid and I sightseeing around Lake Placid in his plane. Then we have a 6.5 hour drive home.

When I think about it, doing the Ironman was the relaxing and easy part of this trip.

Recovery Day

10

Drum Roll Please...

Even before the alarm went off, I was wide awake. I did not want to miss the Kona slot roll down. In my age group there was 8 available slots and I was number 9 on the list. All I needed was one of those people to not take their spot and I was going to Hawaii.

Since I left home on Thursday, I have not had one available minute to catch my breath or relax for even 10 minutes. Today was no different. I was up at 6 am, worked on my race report and by 7 am I was standing in line to buy finishers clothing.

I waited in line for 2 hours and by the time I got in, pretty much everything was picked over. The upside was standing in line and meeting so many different people and comparing war stories. It was fun.

There is such a sense of camaraderie and I don't think any of us even told each other our times. It wasn't important. It was just, "How'd you do?" and the answers were, "great, or not so great". Very general. There was no measurement of each other by finishing times. That was secondary. Finishing was all that mattered.

After I got my clothing, I was off to the Kona roll down. It was somewhat anti-climatic. I've been to these before and I knew the first thing was to check the list and see how many had been taken and if anyone had already turned down there slot.

I saw the magical "x" beside one guys name. He turned it down, which means I was guaranteed to be going. I wanted to pay and take the slot right away, but they told me I had to wait and it had to be taken at the roll down.

Even though I knew I had the slot, I was still nervous. What if the guy changed his mind and had come back? What if it turns out they are all taken and I was mistaken? I didn't want to get cocky. I didn't want to assume anything until I had that qualifiers piece of paper in my hand and paid my entry fee.

My 45-49 age group is one of the largest and toughest. They also have disposable income to spend on going to Hawaii. Last year every spot was taken and there was no roll down. I was worried about the same thing this year. As luck would have it, they had a total of 4 slots available for the roll down.

As I was standing in line to pay, I met the other three guys in my age group that got spots. They looked so fit. I felt out of place. Two of them looked like they could have been the poster children for the Arian race. Both had to have been 6' 2 or more. One of the guys, I think said he qualified 6 times.

Here I was, a little Canadian beer boy in this elite group of guys. I was pinching myself and wondering, "How the hell did I pull this off?" Never in a million years did I envision qualifying at Lake Placid, the competition is just to tough. And yet, here I was.

It was anti-climatic getting the slot. I thought I'd be excited and wasn't. I kept thinking it's too bad Alyssa was in University. I don't know if she'll be able to come, or at least not for the entire time. Qualifying is one thing, but having my family enjoy the experience with me is more important.

I could also tell by Alice's face she wasn't looking forward to the added expenses. I kept telling her, don't worry, it will be fun. It's once in a lifetime. I've got enough air miles points to pay for the flight. I think here words were, "I need a new car".

With that said, there was no way I wasn't signing up. Qualifying for Kona is my "get out of Jail card". I'm a free man.

What I mean by "I'm a free man" is that is I never have to race for time again. I can now race for fun. I see an 11 - 13 hour Ironman finisher in my future. I've not got the Kona monkey off my back and out of the bucket list. If someone asks, "What's your best time?", I can say 10:20 proudly and then say, "now I just do them for fun".

Last year, I set a goal to qualify for Clearwater. I thought I'd do it at Muskoka on the roll down. The year prior, there were lots of roll down slots. It turned out, by chance I qualified at Steelhead after deciding to do the race on short notice. Had I only raced in Muskoka, as per my original plan, I wouldn't have gotten in, my time wasn't fast enough for any roll down slots.

When I set that Clearwater goal, I set it because I felt I needed a goal. In my heart I didn't expect to get it. Fast forward to this year and I needed to set another goal, it only made sense it should be to qualify for Kona and again, in my heart, I didn't think it was likely.

I found what I thought was the easiest and most likely race to qualify at, which was China and trained hard over the winter months for it. The next result was a DNF due to food poisoning. Not only didn't I qualify, I was devastated I wasn't able to finish. My confidence was completely lost. I thought I was a one hit wonder, a flash in the pan.

Although I was signed up for IMLP, I couldn't wait that long to do another Ironman. I had to get back on that Ironman horse and redeem myself. The only race I could get into was IMSG on a community slot. Which I did.

I had a good race at St. George, until the last half of the run when I had stomach issues and spent 20 minutes in the porta potties and went from a Kona qualifying 6th place in my age group, to a non-qualifying 12th place. My goal was to finish and get my confidence back, although qualifying would have been sweet, but it wasn't meant to be.

I learnt a lot from those two disappointing races. Mainly I learnt I needed to enjoy the experience and not be driven to just qualify for Kona and be majorly disappointed if I didn't. I also learnt I needed to eat right before and during a race.

I came to IMLP with one goal that I didn't share with anyone. I just wanted to break 11 hours. I wanted to know I still had it and I could beat the 11:06 PB I set in Kentucky in 2008. I wanted to know I wasn't a flash in the pan.

The rest is history and I had a great day and now I'm free to train and race to enjoy. Will I? That's yet to be seen. I just know, in my mind, I've earned the privilege to do that.

After I picked up my slot, it was off to the grocery store for beer, ice, snacks and music. I had to get a boom box. The one I brought, Alice ended up breaking by accident. She closed the patio door and cut the satellite receiver cord. Doh!!!

I bought a lot of beer, about 100 or more. The first person to show was Doru, as always. Mr. punctual and reliable. My kind of guy.

We sat outside on the patio of our hotel. It was like our own private patio with the coolers of beer in ice and the music playing. Later on Jamie and Barb stopped by, then Carlos and Fernanda and I got a surprise visit from Brent a blog follower that reads and rarely comments. In addition to that, as the beers flowed, I started recruiting anyone who walked by to come and join us.

One couple did, another didn't. Some triathletes are really focused on living the clean lifestyle. At one point, I had to find matches for a cigar and walked up and down the side of the hotel. One guy gave me a big box of water proof camping matches and as I puffed on my cigar I was trying to recruit party goers. In my book, the more the merrier.

No takers, and it wasn't from lack of trying. Here I was, a drunk triathlete with a beer in one hand and a cigar hanging out my mouth, trying to use my sales skills to bring others over to the dark side.

When I got back to the table, my new found friends were leaving. She was a veterinarian and I went to give her a hug goodbye and forgot I had a cigar in my mouth and "burnt the sh*t out of the side of her face and neck". I felt horrified and just awful. She seemed to take it in stride and brushed the read hot coals away like it was no big deal. I guess it makes sense, she is used to dealing with Animals.

For the rest of the night it was Carlos, Fernada, Alice and me just hanging out. It only took Fernada 5 hours to tell me I was mispronouncing her name and it was "Fernanda", not "Fernando".

The last two hours of the night are a blur. I do know at around 1 am the front desk called to tell us they had complains and we needed to quiet down. I was like, "not a chance". "I did the Ironman too, you can't play the "I just did the Ironman and need my sleep" card on me.

Recovery

28

BTW, thanks for all the well wishes and comments. I will be responding to the all once I can get off the Training Payne Beer Train and catch my breath.

KONA BOUND!!!

To busy drinking beer, more details to follow. I'm going to Hawaii. Yippy Yy A MoFo. haha

KONA BOUND!!!

To busy drinking beer, more details to follow. I'm going to Hawaii. Yippy Yy A MoFo. haha

KONA BOUND!!!

To busy drinking beer, more details to follow. I'm going to Hawaii. Yippy Yy A MoFo. haha

IMLP Full Race Report...

I had a feeling this was going to be my day. I took my training very seriously for the last two weeks. I stopped drinking beer, started eating better and did not self-sabotage myself. I could tell from my low heart that I was on the right track.

I also didn't follow my coaches taper program. I've learnt from experience that the more I do, the faster I get. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but it's true for me. That's why earlier this week I did a 3.5 hour long bike, a 2 hour long run, a 6000 meter swim and a fast tempo run. All the things you are definitely not supposed to do according to any coach or book.

Now, back to the race. First off, it was a great day weather wise for racing. You couldn't ask for better weather. It was overcast the entire day and it felt like it was in the low 70's F / 20's C. It was definitely an advantage to me, all my training has been in heat and humidity. It's like training with 10 lb weights and then being able to take them off for the race.

The night before the race, I had a good nights sleep, which is a rarity. I woke up feeling rested and my eggplant Parmesan dinner worked like a charm, I had a major morning download. I had some hunger pangs when I woke up, which made me nervous. In China, I had the same thing caused from food poisoning 36 hours earlier. Thankfully the pangs went away after eating something.

I was feeling good until about 25 minutes before the swim. I was chatting to Chad Holderbaum while I was putting on my wetsuit and I could feel my back tightening up. The minute I felt it, I started taking deep breaths and tried to relax.

It was a good thing our hotel was only 200 meters from the swim start. Alice and I ended up walking back to the hotel and I took some prescription anti-inflamitories I had brought. We headed back to the start, Alice gave me a kiss good luck and I entered the water. For the next 10 minutes, I treaded water with a sea of people all around me. Even then, the kicking and scratching began. Albeit, lightly.

I positioned myself about 6 rows back from the front, right in the epicenter of a straight line with the buoys. You couldn't find a more physical direction. The minute the gun went off, it was on. It was the weirdest start, you had to wait to start swimming until the person in front of you started. It was like the beginning of a marathon, where you have to walk a ways until the people in front of you start running. It probably set me back 20 - 30 seconds, just to get to the start line and start swimming.

This swim was easily the most physical swim I've ever been in. Hands down. My plan was to swim close to the buoy rope that run under the water and the distance of the swim. If I could follow the rope, I knew I was going as straight as possible and didn't need to sight. It appeared that was everyone else's plan as well.

For the first loop, I felt I delivered more blows than I received. In fact, I'm not a fast swimmer and I was passing people. I kept thinking to myself, "I started right near the front, and people that are worse swimmer than me, started in front of me? They deserve getting hit".

The second loop, I took more blows than I gave out. The best one I received was a straight on kick to my goggle. I'm surprised I don't have a black raccoon mark around my eye. It was a wickedly strong kick.

I finished the first loop in 33 minutes. I couldn't believe I was doing so well. I didn't feel like I was going very hard. I kept thinking, "damn this is a good wetsuit I rented, too bad I have to take it back".

When I finished the swim and started the long run to the transition zone, it was effortless. I've NEVER had a run like that. I was passing people while politely was yelling out "coming through". This was the moment in time that I knew I was going to have a great race. I didn't even feel like I did a swim.

The worst part was I needed to pee. I did my customary pee into the wetsuit before the start and during the race I was even able to pee as I swam. That wasn't easy. It required incredible concentration. I had to be zen. I almost got it all out of me until a guy banged into me and I was never able to get the flow going again.

As I got into the transition tent and sat down on the chair, I started peeing. I was putting on my socks and shoes and there was a huge flow of pee coming from my tri shorts. It looked like a fire hose was turned on. I was so glad there was no volunteers near me, the would have been grossed out.

In my rush, one of the plastic sides on my helmet fell off. Rather than stop and try to fix it, I opted to take the other side off too and keep going. All things considered, I felt I had a decent transition. When I grabbed my bike and left, the rack was still full. At that time, I felt confident I was doing well.

The minute I got on the bike, I felt strong. I was playing pac-man and just started passing a countless amount of people. I started to pass a lot of guys in my age group and my confidence wained. I was shocked how many guys in my age group were ahead of me. I had the swim of my life and it felt like I was still well behind.

At no time, ever, did I think of Kona or qualifying. I was thinking, "what a tough race, I guess all the fast Northern Easterners are here, this has got to be the toughest race to qualify for Kona." I didn't realize it at the time, but I was 83rd out of the water. I had my best swim ever, and I was still 83rd out of the water. I couldn't believe it. Who are these guys?

For the entire bike ride my legs felt strong and my heart rate rarely exceeded 140 bpm. I felt like a hill climbing machine. Which is rare. Normally, I get passed on the hills. I'm more of a power rider. Today, I was doing the passing. The scariest part was the downhills. For the most part, I rode the brakes. The minute it got to 60 kph, I started braking.

I need therapy for my descending. I have phycological issues and when it gets over 60 kph, my arms start shaking and I get a speed wobble. I know it's all in my head and I can't stop it. Rather than risk wiping out, I now ride the brakes. The downside is that I get passed by a lot of guys and then it takes me the next 10 - 15 minutes to catch them and pass them.

I had some misfortune early. The cadence on my speedometer stopped working and I lost my straw to my front water bottle. I went with the philosophy, "expect the unexpected" and didn't let it bother me.

At the start of the second loop, coming down a steep hill, the guy about 50 meters in front of me wiped out going about 35 kph. It was so fast. One minute he went down the hill and I couldn't see him and by the time I got to the top of the hill, he was already down on the ground. It was surreal how fast it happened.

The first half of the bike course seemed fast. Lots of downhills and a light wind at your back. The last half of the bike was uphill with the wind in your face. It's not an easy bike course. It's not as hard as St. George, but it's not easy. It's a very fair and challenging bike course.

The entire time on the bike, I still needed to pee. When I got off the bike, along the way to the transition tent, I stopped and took a pee in the porta potty. It felt so good. For the first time in the race, my bladder wasn't talking to me.

The transition was fast and I was off on the run and never felt so great. It's downhill running in the beginning and after 2 km, I was running at a 3:24 pace. I couldn't believe it. I thought my watch was broken. Seriously. I thought it was broken. My heart rate was sub 140 and I was flying.

I kept thinking to myself, take it easy on the first loop. Then I realized, "I am taking it easy, I can't take it more easy, look at my heart rate, it's in the 130's, forge on".

On the bike I passed a lot of guys in my age group. I was surprised, I didn't think I was that far from the top 10 in my age group when I got out of the water. On the run, I continued to pass guys in my age group. I just couldn't believe the calibre of athletes in my age group. I would say to myself as I ran, "who are these guys in my age group? they are animals".

At one point, I knew I was doing good. I passed so many guys in my age group I figured there couldn't be that many more in front of me. I finished the first half of the run at a 4:51 pace.

I run wearing the Captains hat and it is a lot of pressure. The minute I put it on and leave the transition zone, I get cheered. And, I cheer back with smiles and salutes. I'm not able to get into a rhythm or zone. I'm very noticeable and I easily get hundreds of people cheering me.

I'd look at the guys in front of me and they are in a zone and unnoticeable. At times, I wished I was them. Then I think that these poor spectators are standing and cheering all day and they need some cheering back. Most people, and especially the kids, get a charge out of seeing the Captain. I love when the little kids put there hands out to high five me.

The last half of the run was harder than the first. My legs were getting sore and there was moments I just wanted to stop and walk. Up until the last half, I hadn't stopped at one water station. I ran through them all and just drank water.

I learnt from Utah and didn't want to have porta potty issues. My strategy was to not stop at and drink Gatorade at every aid station. My plan was to just stick to water and have the occasional gel.

The last 6 miles was the toughest. It hurt and I was getting near empty. To help me get through it, I allowed myself to stop and load up with water and coke at the aid stations. For the last 4 miles, I stopped at three aid stations. Walking through those aid stations became my treat and motivation to continue on.

There is three hill climbs near the end and most people walk up them. On the first hill, I started walking and after 5 seconds I kicked myself in the ass and started running again. The second hill, which is the steepest, I walked about 40% of it. Again, it's hard to walk when your the Captain. There is too many people cheering you on and you don't want to look like a "wuss".

The entire last half of the run I was playing "cat and mouse" with a guy in my age group. He came up beside me with 3 miles to go and we spoke. He said, "I think we can break 10:20". I tried to stay with him, but he was able to run up the hill and I wasn't.

With the last mile to go, I tried to catch him. Somehow I got a burst of energy and was running at a sub 7 minute mile. Unfortunately, he was too far ahead to catch.

Coming into the oval to finish was awesome. I was so relieved for it to be over. This morning when I woke up, Alice looked over at me and didn't say, "good morning" or "how do you feel" or "good luck today". Instead, her first words were, "are you ready to suffer!" When I came around the corner and saw that finish line I knew my day of suffering was over.

I was relieved that it was over and the pain would end soon. As I ran in, I went from side to side and gave high fives to all the spectators. It was the fastest and easiest race of my life, at any distance. As I was finishing, I was so happy I didn't even give myself a chance to get emotional. That was my only regret on the day. I would have loved a great "Ironman finish sniffle".

The minute I finished, I did my post race VLOG race report, had a little food and was off to the hotel for some beers and relaxation.

I looked at the results and at first it had me at seventh. Then I found out the first 8 automatically qualify for Kona. After the results got adjusted, they had me in 9th place, one spot out of Kona and the first position on the roll down. Never in a million years, did I think I would be in a position to qualify for Kona and I didn't care if I got the spot or not. I just wanted to relish having the best race of my life.

In my personal record books, this was my best ever Ironman and easiest race ever. Even when I was hurting on the run, I knew I could do more because my heart rate was only 135 bpm.

Ironman Lake Placid 10:20:18

Prelim IMLP Video Race Report

For those that are in Lake Placid. Remember, beers on the deck of our hotel tomorrow at 1 pm. Best Western Adirondack Inn across from Race Finish.

It's getting real...

I missed the free pancake breakfast. I overslept. Which is a good thing, I ended up getting a solid 8.5 hours of sleep. I slept so much, I was starting to get a sore back from lying down so much.

From the moment I got up, I've been busy. First it was a light breakfast at the hotel and then I stood in line for 90 minutes to sign up for 2011 IMLP. I sure hope Simon and Johan are able to get in online, or it will be IMLP and IMKY next year.

I dropped $600 for the 2010 registration and another $50 for the wet-suit rental. Then I went for my pre-race bike ride. I felt stronger than I have in a long time. I did the climb out of Lake Placid and it was the fastest and easiest I've ever done it.

I followed up the ride with a pre-race run and I continued to feel good and strong. On the way back to the hotel, I stopped and picked up some Recoverite drink and chain lube. I've always found Recoverite to work well for me and I had none left.

It was warm today, I was soaking wet when I got back to the hotel. Someone said tomorrow may be warmer. I guess I should be careful what I wish for, I may regret it. Either way, we all have to race in the same conditions.

We went for a Din-uch (Dinner and Lunch) at 3 pm. I wanted to eat early and give my stomach a little more time to digest everything. I had eggplant Parmesan and spaghetti. Eggplant tends to empty me out if you know what I mean. Although, I'm still waiting.

The one thing about Ironman's is they are expensive. On the drive home from the restaurant I had to buy more gels and an new Bento Box and dropped another $30. Everywhere you look, everyone is buying stuff with reckless abandon.

This Ironman I've really noticed the extreme fitness of many of the women. I'm seeing tighter bodies on the women than the men and many of them are not young. I've seen some women in there late 40's, early 50's, that are ultra-fit looking. You can bounce quarters off their bellies.

Tonight, I had one last small soft ice cream cone and then we all went to the 7 pm showing of "Despicable Me". I ended up leaving after 45 minutes. I didn't feel comfortable sitting in the theatre. I needed to get back to the room and psyc myself up for tomorrows race, I wanted to pay it the mental respect it deserves.

I also wanted to get all my stuff done so I can be in bed by 10 pm. Earlier in the day, while I was training, a guy from the room next door, knocked on our door and told Alice that we were too loud last night and he couldn't sleep. It didn't bother his four kids, but it bothered him.

He's doing his first Ironman and didn't want a repeat of last night tonight. I think he felt comforted to know that someone from our room was doing the Ironman and probably wants the same thing. Little does he know.

I didn't think we were too bad. We did get to bed at 1 pm, but we were just talking, laughing and watching TV. No alcohol was involved and no small animals were injured. Actually, I'm glad the guy came over and laid down the law. Truth be told, I want to get to bed early and now I can blame it on the guy next door. This could be the first Ironman that I get a good nights sleep, which would be nice.

On the way home from the movie, I almost had another ice cream. I actually bought it, then had a little and decided to throw it in the garbage. It was a semi-overcoming of a weak moment.

For those that are wanting to track me during the race, my bib number is 1583. You can follow through a link at www.ironman.com or it may be directly at http://ironmanlive.com/updates.php?race=lakeplacid&year=2010 The race starts at 7 am, EST.

My goal for tomorrow is to finish strong. I have no time goal or goal of qualifying for Kona. I just want to enjoy myself, hopefully have no physical or mechanical issues and finish as fast as I can without being in a bonked state. Oh, and with no stomach issues. I don't want to have to have another post-race interview from the comfort of my toilet seat.

As a carrot, I keep thinking of Monday's post-race beers on the patio of our hotel. Our hotel is the Best Western Adirondack Inn (2625 Main Street), directly across from the Expo. If it's raining, they have a great indoor bar area. I should be getting started no later than 1 pm.

Our hotel doesn't have a bar, but it looks like it did once. I'm going to pick up a couple of cases of beer, a cooler and some ice and everyone is welcome to stop by for a beer or many. For music, I came prepared, I brought my Sirius Satellite stereo boom box. Who knows, maybe my next door neighbour will attend. I know for sure, we'll be keeping him up Monday night.

I decided to re-post the video I made from last years IMLP. Last July, I came down the day of the race, ran a loop of the course and took some photo's. Then the next day I stood in line for 5 hours to register.

Tomorrow's the big day. I don't think I could be more ready, but I've learnt to "expect the unexpected", this is Ironman. My hope is everything goes off without a hitch.

Pre-Race Bike - 19:33 / 9.70 km / 29.77

Pre-Race Run - 15:27 / 3.07 km / 5:01 per km

It wasn't peanuts...

My bad memory cost me today. In my haste to get out of our "crap-tastic" hotel room, I left behind my Ironman watch on the night stand. If that wasn't bad enough, I also remembered I forgot to pack my wetsuit.

Not surprisingly, I had a terrible sleep last night and started the day off tired. I wasn't the only one, for the two hour car ride to Lake Placid, Alice slept. I looked over in jealousy.

As we drove, I realized I need to rest. I have to remember I'm racing on Sunday. I also have to make up for yesterdays late night of driving and bad sleep. I kept telling myself, "rest is primary, everything else is secondary".

We lucked out getting into the Best Western hotel on short notice. It is DIRECTLY across from the race expo and finish line. You can't get a better location, unless you decide to sleep in the transition tents. Another benefit is the rooms are nice and I no longer have to sleep with my clothes on.

I was a little nervous about making sure I got to Lake Placid and registered in time. The cut-off was 4 pm and I was cutting it close getting there at 2 pm. An auto failure could have screwed things up. During the last hour of the drive to Lake Placid I was aware of the remaining distance and was calculating how long it would take me to get there on my bike if my truck broke down.

Today it dawned on me that I'm becoming an Ironman veteran. That epiphany came to me as I was selectively looking at Ironman clothing. I didn't find anything that looked great or I didn't have already with a different Ironman race logo on it. I decided not to buy anything and hoped the finishers stuff will be better.

For lunch, we ate before we got to Lake Placid. We went to an Italian restaurant and I had salad and pasta with garlic and olive oil. I'm really trying to eating clean. I keep reminding myself about China and St. George. I don't want food poisoning and I don't want to get the "sh*ts" on the run.

However, I did slip. Last night I had a small McDonald's soft ice cream cone and today I had the same. We then went shopping and I had some peanuts and pretzels. On the good side, I also ate a lot of cherries. For dinner, I really didn't know what to eat. I'm so scared of screwing up by eating the wrong thing. I don't want any regrets.

I ended up going with a meat sampler. Chicken, steak and ribs. I wasn't hungry and didn't eat much. Tomorrow, my plan is to eat very normal and as healthy as possible. I really want this race to be one without food related stomach issues.

I may go to the FREE pancake breakfast tomorrow morning. A couple of race volunteers told me about it. The second person that told me had eyes the size of "flap-jacks" and said, "Your welcome to come to our FREE pancake breakfast" and handed me a ministry leaflet.

She was so calm and all loving in her approach and looked deeply into my eyes as she spoke. I could tell she drank a keg of "Jesus juice" all by herself. I started laughing to myself, she reminded me of the "Bright and Shiny" religious cult people in the funny movie "Bubble Boy".

I have nothing against religion. Okay, I lied, I do, but that's a different story. But on the religious zealot meter, I find those in a "ministry" tend to be more enthusiastic than regular "church goers".

I know if I do go to that breakfast, those pancakes will be made from "love in their hearts". I'm sure they'll be good. Even if I have to sit through a few Psalms or hold some hands and sing kumbaya, I'm sure it'll be worth it. In terms of a pancake breakfast, I think the quality and service from a ministry will be hands down better than any other religious organization. If I don't sleep in, I'm pancake bound.

Weather wise, I'm a little worried. It's been overcast and cool lately. For Sunday's race, they say it's going to be cooler, cloudy and possible rain. I was hoping it was going to be sunny and hot. My feeling are if you're going to do an Ironman, why not make it Epic.

Plus, it helps slow those fast guys down.

Taper Rest Day - No training.

Hitting the road...

Today was my last training session before IMLP. Only time will tell if my "intuitive taper" was a good thing or a bad thing.

I could tell yesterday's swim took something out of me, my resting heart rate was much higher than normal and I decided not to push it and swim again today.

I was also completely "pissed" off that I was "UP" a pound during my morning weigh-in. How does that happen? I've been working out and eating fewer and healthier calories than normal.

It was another warm day and my 90 minute ride was strong. I could tell it was just what the doctor ordered. My legs took a while to strengthen up and for the endorphins to start masking the pain. Eventually they warmed up and I had some strong riding at a relatively low heart rate.

An hour after the ride, I did a tempo run. It was 32 C and I ran a quick and controlled pace. It felt effortless up until the last 5 minutes, and even then it wasn't too hard. I was able to max the heart rate out at 160 bpm. There's nothing like a little tempo speed work to get the body primed for racing.

After training and a good stretch, it was off to the bath tub for a full body shaving; legs, arms and chest. When I finished and drained the water, the tub was full of hair. It looked like a shag rug.

I was able to focus on keeping my body relaxed for the day. I was still "major league" irritable, and snapping at everyone, but I was a relaxed irritable snapping. I was even more impressed that I was able to keep my body relaxed while packing, loading and getting everyone into the car. Getting ready to leave are stressful moments.

Then I become the bellman and pretty much have to load the car myself and then try to rustle everyone up to get in the car. There's usually a lot of yelling at this point, "Time to go?! Where are you?! Did you take a pee?! Why didn't you pee?! What do you mean you don't know where your other shoe is?! Do you really need shoes?!" This time it was Reid, he was MIA and required a little kick in the A$$ motivation.

Just before we left, I got everyone ready and then decided to get a hair cut. Alyssa got mad because she felt she woke up early and got ready for nothing. Payback is sweet.

I normally get haircuts before big races. I joke it makes me more aero-dynamic. My regular guy was booked, so I took a chance with a new guy at the same place. He did a great job, but wanted to talk more than I did, I just wanted to get in and out and on the road.

My rush to get my hair cut over with vanished once we got onto the subject of Beer Kegs. This hair cutting kid was an expert. He had many a Keg party and knew everything about Kegs. He was a Keg-epedia and Keg-assour and was able to answer all of my questions and provide helpful tips. He knew the Keg to beer ratio like the back of his hand.

We finally got on the road around 6 pm. My plan was to drive about 4.5 hours, get across the border and find a cheap place in the U.S. to stay the night, then drive the remaining 2 hours in the morning.

It was all going according to plan until we crossed the border at midnight and couldn't find a hotel easily. There was a Comfort Inn that was booked and they recommended a motel down the road. When I got to the motel, I had a bad vibe. The motel was run down and the obese night shift guy looked right out of a horror movie.

When I walked in the door to the lobby, if you call a 10 x 10 space a lobby, it stunk. It took a while for the big guy to get up from his chair and sloth over to the "gas store" security window with the tray at the bottom. Even thought the window was open, it was unsettling.

He then started to ask me questions with no customer service angle. It was more of an interrogation. How many people? How many are kids? What are their ages? We consider a 13 year old an adult! The next thing I know he was pounding the information away on his calculator and then said, "that'll be $95". I said, "no thanks" and left.

There was no way I was paying $95 to sleep in a "garbage bin". I didn't care how tired I was.

When I got to the car, Reid was relieved we weren't staying there. He's seen too many scary movies and was getting freaked. We ended up driving 15 miles to another town and thanks to the new "piece of sh*t" Tom Tom GPS I picked up before we left, we had trouble finding anything.

We finally ended up at a Motel 8 and they had a few smoking rooms available. I said, no problem, we'll take it. I just wanted a room. Unpacking the truck and walking the bikes up three flights of stairs at 1 am was not fun. When we got to the room, it got worse.

I opened the door and it looked like someone was still staying in the room. There was two empty cases of beer and a butt out cigarette in the ashtray. The room also reeked of smoke, it was a "beyond category" smoke smell. I didn't care, I was too tired to request a room change.

The cleanest part of the room was the air mattress we brought to put on the floor for Alyssa and Stephanie to sleep on. I didn't dare take my clothes off. Reid had stripped down to his underwear and I jokingly put some doubt in his mind about "bed bugs" and "scabies". The next thing I know is he's asking Alice to get him his shirt.

Under the sheets it was clammy. I was going to sleep on top of the bed sheet until I was told the top of the bedsheets are never washed and are the most dirty part of any hotel room. I "Sucked it UP' and under the sheets I went.

Oh, one last thing, thanks to the TPPF and DROG's eBay donation, my Coors Light patio beer umbrella arrived today. Our old umbrella broke recently. Alyssa laughed when she saw it, "she wanted to know if she was living at a bar". I can hardly wait to sit on the deck drinking beers under it.

Mod Bike - 1:30:42 / 50.12 km / 33.2 km

Tempo Run - 30:02 / 6.82 km / 4:24 pace / 150 avg hr

My back's telling me IMLP is close...

I can tell Ironman Lake Placid is close, my back started tightening up this evening. It's definitely mental tension. I'm constantly reminding myself to move slow and take deep relaxing breaths.

I'm also very irritable. It started yesterday. I've been snapping at everyone, even Alyssa's Winnipeg friend Stephanie, who's staying with us.

I think I blew her hair back when she kept asking me questions as I was trying to read my emails. Eventually, I snapped at her, "why do you ask so many questions?!" She was a little gun shy after that one. I forgot she wasn't immediate family and probably isn't used to taking "a puck to the head" and being able to blow it off.

Today I did a 6 km long swim. It was 4 km longer than I was supposed to do. It wasn't an easy swim, at the 1800 meter mark, I fought the urge to quit. I preserved, I felt I needed this long swim for a variety of reasons.

I hadn't swam since last week and my arms were feeling weaker than normal. I knew if I gave them a good blast, there was still plenty of time to build strength and recover before Sunday. This swim was really a "last minute cram session". It was to make up for the last three weeks of less than normal swim training.

Other factors included, building my swim confidence. I wanted to know I wasn't going to be sore and tired during the IMLP swim. I figured if I could do 6 kms, then 3.8 kms shouldn't be a problem. I'm also concerned about my calf cramping during the race and knew it would be less likely if I gave it more pool time.

The final benefit was the cool water, it was helping my legs recover from the past couple days of longer training sessions. Swimming isn't hard on the body compared to running and biking and a long swim session is still kind of like a recovery day.

I'm glad I did the swim. At the beginning of the swim I was sore and by the 1800 meter point would have loved to have quit. I didn't. I kept thinking, "I NEED this swim, if I finish it, I'll have NO REGRETS at the start line at Lake Placid".

I just kept persevering and before I knew it, I was done. There's no greater feeling than finishing a 6 km swim. The only disadvantage of being in the pool for two hours during the YMCA kids summer camps, is the amount of pee, long hair and floating devices in the pool.

During the summer, the pool is filled with kids of all ages and you know they are peeing away. Heck, who among us didn't pee in the pool when we were kids or still do? What bothers me most is not the pee, it's when girls long hair gets caught on my hands or face as I swim. It's so annoying, it tickles and is tough to find and pull off.

Another problem is the floating noodles or kick boards that somehow make it into my lane and I end up swimming into. I have to stop, throw them out of my way and continue on. The part that bothers me most is it breaks my rhythm and spoils the interval time.

If the pee, the hair and the floating distractions weren't enough, I had one more problem today. All the lap swimmers got crammed into one lane. The problem was it was me and the other four were beginners.

It was like a traffic jam at times and often people wouldn't stop and let me pass at the wall. I was constantly have to pass in and out. The worst was the 100 year old lady in my lane. She couldn't see and kept swimming over the black line and directly into me. Or she would swim the middle and I had trouble passing her.

It also grossed me out having to look at her old body in a bathing suit. Especially when I'm swimming up from behind her and she's doing breast stroke and opening her pastie white varicose veined legs to whip kick. That's a sight that "leaves a scar".

It's too bad she still didn't have the bathing suit she wore when she was a teenager. I remember seeing old black and white photo's where they had legs on them or they were like full dresses that covered everything up.

The upside was she wasn't drenched in perfume like the other "old birds" that do water aerobics. There is nothing more foul than tasting and smelling perfume in the water when you swim. I'll take pee any day over perfume.

On my way back from the pool I picked up a couple of new batteries for my bike computer. I put them in and everything seems to be working fine again. The real test will be on tomorrows ride.

My main focus right now is to RELAX and get rid of any tension. I'm stocking up on vitamins and still eating healthy for the third day in a row. The upside is I did lose another 0.4 lbs and the scale now says 185.6 lbs. I'm not too worried, my best Ironman races, I weighed in at 190 lbs at the start from water retention.

Long Swim - 2:09:22 / 6000 meters

185.6 lbs

Gambling man...

For IMLP, I've decided to deviate from my coaches taper plan. For the final 8 days, I've been working off intuition and past experience of knowing myself and my body.

Today for instance, with only 5 days to race day, I did a 2 hour long run and the day before that, I did a 3:30 bike.

Surprisingly, this morning was one of the first days I didn't do the Training Payne Shuffle down the stairs. I'm not sure why? Although, yesterday the only thing I did differently was take some flax seed oil. Maybe that helped.

The reason I ran long today was for the following reasons, I've cut out a couple of runs last week due to a sore hip and felt I needed to make them up, I want to remain acclimatized to warm weather, I needed to boost my mental confidence and most importantly, my body seems to get stronger when I push it more and taper less.

Even though it was 32 C, I had one of my fastest long runs in a long time. I even took my hilliest and toughest route. Within the first hour, I could feel my hip bothering me, although I wasn't going to stop for any reason. I had made that decision before I left the house. There was not going to be any "pick me up" phone calls to Alice if the hip started bothering me.

The hip got sorer as the run continued on, and as per plan, I didn't stop. By the time I got home I was dripping wet. It seems every run lately my shoes have been soaking wet from sweat and today was no different. I lost at least 10 lbs of water on the run. Even after drinking close to 3 litres of water post-run, I was still only 181 lbs. I started my day at 186 lbs and that was before breakfast, coffee and pre-run water.

I'm so glad I did this long run. My legs needed it. About 30 minutes after finishing, my legs stiffened up and I was no longer walking, I was shuffling and tired. I had to run some errands and by the end of the day, all the movement helped and they felt back to a semi-normal state.

My hip is still bothering me and is much worse. It's now very noticeable with a minor discomfort when I rest. Although, I don't regret doing the run, it can only help strengthen those muscles before the race and I think it was even more important to run for all the other reasons I mentioned.

The one thing I'm noticing, is losing weight is hard. I've been eating perfectly for the past two days and have put in decent training hours, only to lose 0.4 lbs. Gaining weight is so much easier, all I have to do is hang out with my friends Adolf Coors and Colonel Sanders. With all that said, my resting heart rate and body strength is better than it's been in a long time.

This morning, after 3 big cups of coffee and post eating, I got my resting heart rate down to 40 bpm as I was sitting on the couch and watching the Tour. Even during most of my recent training sessions, it's tough to get it up past 133 bpm. Except at the end of today's run, it shot into the upper 140's and lower 150's due to the heat and not drinking or eating anything the entire time.

I've started riding Reid's ass again. It's only been two days and he hasn't trained. He just sits in his lazy boy and plays video games. I told him, "you don't want to waste all your hard work and get out of shape again do you?"

He agreed and said he was going to start riding his bike for 30 minutes and run for 10 minutes without stopping, every day. I think he should run longer and do it every second day, but anything is better than nothing. To help keep him on track I'm going to bring an extra bike with me to IMLP so he can ride it while we're there.

On the beer front, I picked up my first keg and it's in the fridge chilling. I'm waiting for the C02 tank to be filled and by Thursday I should have it ready so that when I get back I can pour myself a nice cold one.

I also found out my good buddy Rich Sohor decided to come with Davis for Ironman Syracuse. They're flying here from Winnipeg. I'm not sure if he was motivated by me telling him I got a Kegerator or that we are possibly going to get comped rooms at the Seneca casino the night after the race.

I do know for sure, it wasn't doing the race that motivated him to come. He's not yet sure if he's even going to do the race or just watch it. If he becomes "a watcher" I'll be so disappointed and unleash a can of "never ending teasing" for years to come. He'll have wished he did it, "pain is temporary, my teasing's forever".

Long Run - 2:00:06 / 23.98 km / 5:00 pace p/km

186.0

Emptying the Bucket List...

I really don't have much of a bucket list. If I want something, I "getter done". Although the one bucket list droplet I had was "to get a Kegerator".

Thanks to the support of the Training Payne Party Fund (TPPF), my "make a wish dream" was fufilled today.

The TPPF contributed $473 and I personally borrowed the fund $247. Which leads me to appeal to my blog followers to, "please donate to the TPPF".

Unfortunately the TPPF is now in a deficit position and needs your help more than ever. Please remember, for a limited time, for your generous contribution you will receive an "all access pass" to the first ever Payne-a-poolza Party, following the House of Payne Beer Run, on August 28th.

If you ever come to my house you'll see it's a haven for kids of all ages. I've made it my personal mission to have all the fun stuff I wished I had as a kid.

My collection includes a pool table, a slot machine, a bar with a TV-fridge-microwave-dishwasher, a dart board, a drum set, an electric guitar, a 500 cigar humidor, a kitchen refrigerator that dispenses ice and water in the front, a snow blower, carbon fibre bikes, a big screen TV, a huge deck, satellite radio, music speakers in the ceiling of bar area and outside on the deck, an outdoor fire pit, a cool office desk and chairs, a margarita making machine, a beer bong, quick pour tops on all our liquor bottles, naked ladies on my dart flights, great looking beer glasses, a home gym, an elliptical, a punching bag, swings in the backyard, a cigar store Indian, a bike hard shell caring case, a bike car carrying rack, a standee of a football player, an autographed NHL jersey in a case, a natural gas barbecue, an outdoor patio heater and a Weber Kettle charcoal barbecue.

What I didn't yet have was a Kegerator, a pinball machine, a jukebox, an old coke machine, a barber chair, or a dune buggy. Today I crossed the Kegerator off my list. Unfortunately, I don't think I have any room left in the house for the other stuff.

I had been spending a LOT of time thinking about my Kegerator and specifically where to put it. My "Man Cave Feng Shui" is very important to me. I had planned on building a Kegerator, but would have had to move my slot machine, until I found a Kegerator with the perfect dimensions.

I have a little alcove in the basement that is only 21 inches wide. It's were we keep a water cooler we never use. Most Kegerators are 24 inches and wouldn't fit that spot. Then lightening struck, I found one that holds full kegs and is only 20" wide.

The puzzle was solved. The Kegerator had the perfect home. There's no greater feeling than when a plan comes together, it felt like it was meant to be. The Gods were now speaking to me and saying "my son, you will suffer no more".

Having a Kegerator is going to solve SO many problems.

I will no longer have to spend time and gas money making numerous trips to and from the beer store. One Keg should last me a month. I won't have to keep storing and returning empties, I only have one Keg to worry about. I can start using my pint glasses without having to open two beers and pouring 1.5 into the glass. I also won't have to use a bottle opener anymore, or hurt my hands twisting off caps, and I won't have to remove beers from the cases and put them in the fridge and then put the bottles back in the empty cases. And it will be easier to clean up in the morning, the bar won't be riddled with empty bottles.

As you can see, having a Kegerator is a real problem solver. Aside from the practical benefits, having a Kegerator is also every man's dream. How cool is it to pour and drink draught beer in the comfort of your own home? Among your male neighbours, having a Kegerator elevates you you to the "I wish I was him" status.

My plan is to get it set up this week and let it chill until I return from IMLP. Alice and I were at Jamie and Barbs tonight and Jamie committed to helping me christen it with me when we get back from Lake Placid.

I was also a good boy at Jamie's tonight. I drank diet coke as Jamie drank beer and smoked cigars. The surprising part was watching him drink and smoke didn't bother me. I know my day will come soon enough, next Monday to be exact.

Today I did a 3:30 hour training ride. My bike speedometer broke, which is a good thing, better now than during IMLP. Luckily I also had my Garmin on and was able to track my time and mileage. I rode easy, but by the end of the ride I was in a quarter bonk state. I hadn't eaten at all on the bike.

I weighed in today down 3 lbs from yesterday. I'm very focused on eating perfectly until IMLP. As a matter of fact, on the bike, I was craving peaches and not Slurpee's. That's definitely a good sign. Another good sign is my low resting heart rate.

Long Bike - 3:28:45 / 107 km / 30.75 kph avg

186.4 lbs