It was a busy day today. It started with an important morning meeting at work, followed by a visit to the Apple store, a haircut and back home to prepare a spreadsheet for work.
The Apple store was nuts. I ordered new phones for Alyssa and I. The only problem is there is no iPhone 4's in stock in Canada. The only way to get one is to stand in line at 7:30 am outside an Apple store, wait until they open at 10 am and then HOPE they got some in the day before.
Alyssa tried it last Thursday and when the store opened they announced they had no deliveries the day before. Today, Alyssa tried it again. This time they had new stock and we got our phones, although it still wasn't easy to get them activated.
It turned out that because my name was on the plan, I had to be there in person. I had them hold the phones and after my meeting I went to the store. Alyssa was back in the long line again. They held the phones but had her "start over" in line for the activation.
That didn't work for me, so I went and spoke to the manager, explained she was there earlier and was now being asked to "start over". He was cool about it and took us out of the line and had the next available employee activate our phones. In total, it took close to two hours of wait and activation time.
Today's scheduled training only included a speed bike session. My plan was to do it around 7 pm. Unfortunately, my plan failed. I was having problems with the settings on my iPhone, I wasn't able to send emails. I called support after dinner and it took over 90 minutes of wait and support call time.
Actually, I ended up figuring out the problem myself. Normally, Apple support is fantastic, but every once in a while you get a "new bee" and you can tell from the "long pauses" that they are reading the manual as they have you on the phone.
At one point, I got "pissed off" with the constant silence, that I asked, "are you new?". When I said that, Alice cringed. Shortly thereafter, the phone line went dead. I'm not sure if she hung up on me or we were disconnected. Either way, I was upset and called Apple back again and was put on hold while I waited for another support person. The hold waits were long, it must have been a busy night.
As I was sitting and waiting, I was playing with the settings and figured out the problem. By this point it was almost dark. I had a choice, do I set up the trainer and do my ride indoors, or do I have some more beers and do it tomorrow in the heat. I chose the beers and heat.
With 37 days left until Kona, my plan is to start my regular swim schedule this week. For the month of August, I've not swam very much. The lack of swimming started as part of my post-Ironman rest and recovery and then evolved into just plain "laziness".
I justify it to myself by saying, "the less you swim the better you've gotten". Which is true. I used to swim religiously 3 days a week totalling 10,000 meters. I then pared it down to only 2 swims a week totalling 6000 meters and got faster. Then I took it to 1 swim a week pre-IMLP and I had one of my best swims in an Ironman ever.
The problem with not swimming is I'm finding I'm losing my upper body strength and shape. I noticed it yesterday. With this past month of sporadic swimming and weight training, I've lost the firmness and roundness in my arms. It just goes to show, no matter how much you have trained in the past, if you don't continue, you lose it. It's one of natures laws.
My goals for Kona are simple, "to finish strong and enjoy the race". I don't care about time. It wouldn't even bother me if I was on the course for 16:59:59. That finish time would mean I just got to spend more time enjoying the Kona experience.
I don't see myself getting back to Kona anytime soon and I want to "savour the flavour". I don't want to be so head down that I don't take in the sights and sounds. I want it to be a similar experience to my Ironman St. George race, except without the porta-pottie stops.
Training wise, I'm comfortable with my running and biking endurance. I now need to get back in the pool. Within a week or two of swimming, I'm confident I'll be back to my normal speed. With five weeks and 3 days until Kona, there is plenty of time to get "swim ready".
My biggest challenge leading up to Kona is to get off the beer. Which is going to be tough. I've got the Sohor's coming for Ironman Syracuse 70.3 on September 19th and I'm sure there will be a "blowout post-race party". My ideal situation would be 30 days beer-free leading up to race day at Kona.
Right now the beer is killing me. It's hot out, I own a Kegerator and I can't stop romanticising about a large cold glass of beer when I get home. Mentally, I know I'm off the rails right now.
The month of August has been a big one for beer consumption and I'm in a tailspin that I need to pull myself from. As an "extremist" with no "middle switch", once I start going in a direction, it's tough for me to "release the throttle" and "turn the ship around".
The upside is it works the same way if I'm training or working. Once I get started down a path, I'm a focused machine. Right now, I'm focused, but need to change course to a healthier direction.
Even though I don't have a time goal in Kona, I do want to finish strong and enjoy. If I could muster the will-power, I'd go on a 30 day "health kick". I have 7 days to try and visualize what that would look like and make the internal commitment to do it. I hope I can, I'd love to show up in Kona as a lean, mean, fighting machine.
The other day, my buddy Rich sent me a prayer to print out and put above my bar. I included a photo of it. I don't think the timing is good for this prayer.
No Training
13
August Training Totals
Swim - 8 km
Bike - 1115.31 km
Run -161.36 km
Weights - 3
Total - 1284.67 km
Calories - 53,080
225.5
Posts
6 comments:
For as cool as the IPhone is... I don't want to deal with it haha. Have not had too many issues with the blackberry's thus far. Shitty apps is all.
Yeah, you need to raise the temp on that beer. Something that accessible and THAT cold and refreshing, that is trouble. I had a beer the other night and almost poured it out... you see, after tasting the nectar of the gods at just above freezing, my beer from the fridge was just way to warm, I almost couldn't ingest it!
Loved the prayer... actually pretty well written haha!
You, an extremist on anything in life?! Would have never guessed???
Also, I noticed you were a weakling when wrestling, I thought to myself, this puny guy is an Ironman?! What has the world come to?!? Get back in the gym will ya?
Enjoy the heat buddy.
For me, if I were in your shoes, the only way to stay away from beer would be to not refill the keg once it gets empty. There's no way for me to stay away from the "nectar" with a keg full of cold beer in the house. For this reason, I'll probably never buy a Kegerator. Or if I ever buy one, I'd have to lock it and give the key to Miha. And then beg her every evening for a cold beer. Ha-ha.
Found a solution for your problem: it is named Beer Kegerator Faucet Lock. It costs only $34 and it will save you hundreds, if not thousands, in keg refills. Ha-ha..
A particularly good and interesting post. Aside from Apple woes, your perspective on swimming was neat. Keep it up and lock that kegger next week. 7 more days!
Try replacing the current keg with a keg of Sharps, or similar NA beer. Guzzle, guzzle and enjoy! Return to the regular beer after Kona. Cheers!
M, iPhone RULES!!!!! It must be good because RIM-Blackberry is a Canadian company and I should support them but just love Apple too much. haha. I agree, I actually now think I'd stop drinking all together if I had to get it out of a "babies bottle". I'm getting thristy just thinking about it. I'm printing that prayer, laminating it and putting it in my wallet. I was actually thinking of going door to door with it like a "jehova witness" and share it with others. haha. On the wrestling front, you don't understand, I'm an Ironman, not a Minute man. If we went for 10 or 15 hours, I would eventually tap you out. hahahaha.
D, thanks for the email link for the lock, I love it, not for me so much as Reid's or Alyssa's friends when they come over. I don't have to worry about my kids, they know the "damage" beer can cause, they see it first hand on a regular basis and "which kids wants to be like their parents". haha. I will figure this out, or not. haha. I think it will continue being periods of abstience followed by periods of over-endulgance followed by abstinence. (and like shampoo, repeat). haha.
C, Thanks, yah forget about Kona, the count down to stop drinking is more important. haha.
S, are you NUTS, I only drink beer for on reason and one reason only, and it aint the taste, it's to get drunk. haha
B
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