Happy Valentines...oh my muscles hurt!

Today all I had to do was weights.

But the weight session was intense. It was a 2 sets of 15 reps, it's called the endurance phase.

By the end of each sets final reps, I was in pain. In retrospect, I'm glad all I had to do was weights. It took my almost 1 1/2 hours to finish and my muscles are screaming.

It's interesting, doing the endurance phase, it's painful but you can put your mind to overcoming the pain and keep going.

I was going to have a valentines cocktail with Alice, but I'm going to have to postpone it, tomorrow is an important day, I need to be up early and have a clear head.

At least she has the chocolates and bear I bought her!

Catching up wasn't that hard...

I got up at 6 am to get to the pool to do yesterdays long swim today.

I really enjoy swimming at the Burlington YMCA. For some reason it just feels good to me. Also, swimming in the early morning felt pretty good as well.

I did a 3500 meter long swim and on my long 5 x 500 meter sets I was averaging about 1:52 per hundred meters. I'm real pleased with my progress, I'm no longer the slowest person in the pool.

From the swim, I lost almost 2 lbs. It never even feels like I'm sweating when I swim.

After work and a post dinner nap, I did an 1 hour 15 minute tempo ride on the bike while I watched American Idol. I was really pushing the bigger gears in order to keep my heart rate up at 139 bpm.

The one thing I'm looking forward to is riding outside. Inside, I sweat way to much and end up getting the "chills", especially after the workout. At least outside, the wind drys the sweat off the body immediately, sans "chills".

Like swimming, when I ride outside, I don't even feel like I'm sweating.

Because I'm loosing body fat, I'm finding that I feel colder more often and have to wear layered clothes. Even when I go to bed now, I need to wear a shirt or I freeze.

I guess this is the price you pay for getting in shape!

The long Tuesday workout got shortened...

Tuesdays are pretty long workouts.

Today I was scheduled to do an hour run and a long swim of 3500 meters.

I did the run right after work. The weather was bad, blowing snow and I was forced to run on the road which was all snow. At times I was worried I'd slide into a car.

On the run I had to take my glasses off because they got fogged up. Then when I hit the turnaround point I started running directly into the wind and the snow was hard and blowing into my eyes like a sandblaster.

I had no choice but to put the glasses back on, I just couldn't open my eyes without them. I still couldn't see well, but it was the lesser of two evils.

Other than the weather, the run was good. My body felt good, my heart rate was in the 126 range for the entire run. It felt effortless and enjoyable at a 10:10 minute mile, it was like running in thick sand.

After dinner I went to the pool for my swim, but the pool wasn't open. It turned out that someone "fouled" the pool and they had to shut it down for 24 hours. They said it was not something solid. I could only imagine what it was. Yuck!

So I need to improvise and do my long swim in the early morning tomorrow. I also needed to find a different pool for tomorrows swim. I just couldn't see myself swimming in that "fouled" pool for a few days.

I know they say it will be okay to swim in the pool in 24 hours, but I need more time to feel comfortable that everything is back to normal. After all, water does get in my mouth when I swim.

So for the rest of the night I'm just going to relax and watch some TV and hang out with the family.

I'm feeling better after I hit the reset button...

Yesterday at the end of my run I was getting a little down. Life was starting to feel like "ground hog day".

Then I hit the reset button.

For last nights dinner I barbequed steaks and Alice and I had some cocktails. One beer lead to another, and before you know it I had about a dozen.

I was feeling good and we were having a good time. At around 10 pm we went to the supermarket and picked up some ice cream and cake. I had the munchies. It tasted so good.

We had a great time, but had to get to bed early because it was a "school night" and I had to get up at 6:00 am to drive Reid to hockey practice.

When I woke up, I felt like a new man. Just blowing off steam last night was all it took. This morning I was looking forward to training tonight! I had my positive attitude back.

It's funny how a few cocktails is a "reset button".

I got home from work at 6:00 pm, ate and was on the bike by 6:36 pm. I rode for 2 hours then had an 1 1/2 hour weight session.

I enjoyed the workouts. They felt good.

I told Alice that the worst is yet to come. Once I start doing the speed workouts in the next 4 - 6 weeks, my training is going to get extremely hard. I'm really curious to see what type of results I'm going to get from those workouts.

In the back of my mind I'm worried that if I don't race well, that all this training will be for nothing. I don't want to think to far ahead, but if I only do as well as I did last year or worse, I'll probably be really disappointed.

On the other hand, at least I'm training how a semi-pro would train and it is a new experience. I really do want to see what I am physically capable of with proper training.

I guess I'll find out in 99 days.

I really wasn't looking forward to my long run...

The weather today sucked!

It was - 16 C (-29 C with wind chill) and winds of up to 50 km/h.

I'm sick of the cold weather. Don't get me wrong, I like it, but not in February. By now it should be nicer.

Today was cold and real windy. My buddy John decided he was going to do his run on the treadmill rather than go with me outside.

The weather started depressing me. I usually look forward to the long run, but when it is so windy and cold I really need to force myself out the door.

I was even debating whether I should run inside on a treadmill. It has been years since I've used a treadmill and to think of doing a long run on it was not all that appealing.

I got new skates for Reid this morning and saw runner after runner, at least 10 of them. It was weird seeing so many runners on such a cold day, I think there is a half marathon coming up soon and I figured they are putting in some final weeks training.

In either event, seeing those runners motivated me to do my run outside.

I bundled up and pushed myself out the door. One foot in front of the other, listening to my ipod. The wind was over 50 km/h, at times it almost brought me to a complete standstill.

One positive was that my heart rate was well under 139 bpm for the entire run, which lasted 1 hour and 55 minutes.

Last night I got to bed by 11:30pm. I was in a mellow mood and really didn't feel like partying or having to many beers. Today I noticed my attitude changing.

I'm finding that the weekends seem to be training, training and more training. They are not as relaxing as I'd like them to be.

I feel like I'm being a little selfish and not spending enough time with my family. I've need to figure something out.

I may have to do a workout in the morning during the week, so my evening is not as full. And I think I may have to start my weekend workouts early in the morning while my family is still sleeping.

I'm not a morning person, but I think this is a sacrifice I need to make.

I don't want my racing to be a negative to my family. They haven't said anything, but I'm sure they want to get out of the house and do something as a family on the weekends.

I know I do.

The longest day so far...

Done!!!

My training schedule today consisted of a 3000 meter swim, a 3 hour bike ride and a 30 minute run following the bike ride.

To do it all and get it over with, I woke up at 6:05 am, had a good breakfast, and was in the pool by 7:05.

My swimming is really improving. It was to be a moderate effort swim and I was consistently swimming around the 1:50 - 1:55 per 100 meters.

I went to the Burlington pool for the first time. The pool is older, but I liked it, it was warm.

After the swim, I picked up a Tim Horton's coffee and bagel and watched Reid's hockey game. He's getting better every time I watch him. His team won 6 - 0 and he had a good shot on net.

When I got home I ate a waffle and prepared for my 3 hour bike ride.

I started off the ride by watching the movie "The Flying Scotsman", which is a true story about a cyclist that built a bike in his garage and even used parts from a washing machine, he set the 1 hour speed record and other world records on the track.

He was also bi-polar. Very inspirational, especially while I was riding and watching on my bike. I got "choked up " and "tingly" a few times. I love that feeling.

The ride went well. I could not believe how much I was sweating.

When the ride ended, I had to towel down my entire body. My feet looked like prunes from the sweat going into my shoes. My feet looked like they were in a bath tub for 3 hours.

I prepared my running clothes before the bike ride so I could have a quick transition. It took me 4:24 to go from getting off the bike to starting the run.

People may think I'm "sick", but I love the way my legs feel when I start running off the bike. When I first started triathlons, I hated the pain of the transition from biking to running, now I LOVE it. Maybe that is why my last name is Payne, I love Pain.

Once I got on the run I was home free. A 30 minute run is like a walk in the park.

I felt so good on the run, I didn't realize that I was out of my heart rate zone for the first 3 minutes. When I looked at my watch, I was 147 bpm. A few times I had to stop and walk a little to keep it under 139 bpm.

I ended up running at a 9:22 pace. It felt even slower.

At 2:36 pm my Saturday training journey ended and I don't even feel like I worked out all that much. My legs are pumped but not sore. There was no tension when I stretched.

My weight has been unstable.

Last night I went to bed I was 177.2, when I woke up it was 175. Then today when I got back from the pool, before my bike ride, it was 178lb. Then after my run, it was 169 lbs.

Now that I'm done training for the day, I'm going to shower and go for a burger, and maybe a beer or two.

But first I need to drink 9 lbs of water!

The start of a big weekend...

For the past few days, all I want to do is eat. I'm not craving bad foods, I just want to eat carbs.

It seems my system is asking for food all the time. I find myself snacking a lot on oatmeal cookies, fig newtons, and supplement bars.

I normally enjoy running in winter, but I've pretty much had my fill this year.

Tonight I did my 50 minute tempo run and the streets started freezing. In spots I was running on ice and even slipped a couple times.

I was a little worried running on ice, in the dark and around 9 pm on a Friday night when some people may have had a little to much to drink.

Other than that, the run felt real good. For the first time, I started to feel like an athlete.

My legs felt strong, like tightly coiled springs. It felt like I was floating, especially at the beginning of the run.

The rest of this weekend is one big training session.

I've got a 3 km swim, 3 hour bike, followed by a 30 minute brick run tomorrow, then just under a 2 hour run on Sunday.

Essentially, I'm doing more than a half Ironman in training this weekend.

My reward is that Saturday is my "eat and drink anything I want day"... Boy will that first beer taste great!