Early bird gets the pool to himself...

I knew I was going to have a busy day at work today and was not going to be home until after 7 pm, so I hit the pool at 6:00 am.

Reid was also up early. It turns out with all the snow, rain and cold weather we have been getting, a natural skating rink formed in the empty lot behind our house.

So Reid jumped the fence with his stick and skates and decided to practice his hockey skills.

While he was skating, I went to the Flambrough YMCA and to do my 3000 meter speed swim workout. For at least 1/2 hour I was the only person in the pool. It was great!

My lap times were really slow, around 2:00 per 100 meters. It was freaking me out because I was going pretty hard and I was slower than my last few swims. The entire swim took me about 75 minutes.

Then it dawned on me that the other YMCA may be in yards not meters. I hope that is not the case, but I'll find out tomorrow.

If it was in yards, then I didn't do a 4000 meter swim this week, but a 4000 yard swim.

The lifeguard at the Flambrough Y thought the Burlington Y was in meters. I hope he's is right and I just had a slower swim today.

The one thing I find when I work out in the morning is that I'm tired until noon and more hungry and apt to eat during the day. Today I just couldn't stop yawning and eating!

When I got home I ate my cold dinner and hit the weights.

It's great having the weight machine at home. It saves me so much time. I don't have to drive to and from the Y, and I can watch TV as I work out.

It took me about a 1 hour 20 minutes to finish the workout and I got a really good workout, especially in the arms.

So far, this month, I've done 399 miles of training and have burnt 32,000 calories, with 8 days remaining in the month to add to those totals.

Biking to the oldies...

Today I woke up with slightly sore legs.

I think I'm still paying the price for having to much to drink last Friday night and Monday's heavy duty "leg blasting" weights workout.

But as the day went on, my legs loosened up and by the time I was ready to do tonight's tempo bike ride they were feeling back to normal. Maybe even better than normal, I started to feel strong again.

The plan was to do a 1 hour ride at my top 139 bpm heart rate.

Before the ride, I pumped up my tires and increased the tension on the wind trainer. This is my speed work day on the bike. I knew I was ready to giver and needed more resistance to get the heart rate up.

I pushed hard for the entire ride and I had the sweat on the mat below the bike to prove it. The ride seemed quick as I was watching American Idol contestants singing 60's music.

Today, tomorrow and Friday are my speed work days and as I'm getting in better shape, they are getting harder and harder.

I actually now look forward to the long training days over the speed work days as the intensity is actually enjoyable, even though it's long.

Now I'm off to my next session, playing hockey with Reid in the basement.

My longest pool swim ever...4000 Meters!!!

I woke up at 5:38 am and was in the pool by 6:15 am.

I did a 4000 meter long swim. It's the longest swim workout I've ever done in a pool. As a matter of fact, the only time I've done this distance is during an Ironman which is also 4000 meters.

I almost wasn't able to do it, as I didn't realize that half way through my swim the central swim club takes over the pool. The only place they don't swim is the leisure lanes, which were empty and I was able to use.

The swim went well, the only tough part was near the end, when I had to do 300 meters of kicking using the board. All in all, the total swim took just over 1 1/2 hours.

As the day went on, I could really feel muscle soreness in the hamstrings and glutes. It was from yesterdays lower body weight blasting session and today's swim kick drill. I felt really sore.

At the end of the day, after work, it was snowing and I was "pissed off". I'm sick of the snow. I just didn't want to run when it was snowing, with snow covering ice on the road.

But to my surprise, when I got home there was no snow falling in my neighborhood. The roads were clear.

But I was also really tired. On the way home I was "sleepy" as I drove home. I'm not used to getting up so early.

I wasn't sure if I should run right when I got home, or have a nap and then run later tonight. I decided to do it right away. I just didn't think, I was robot like. I changed into my running clothes and went out the door.

I started slow and my legs were tight. But I started to feel good. Before I left the house I noticed my heart rate got as low as 49 bpm just standing, which means my body was not distressed or over trained. Although mentally, I felt differently.

Just as I was 5 minutes into the run, I stopped to help a lady who's car got stuck in the snow. At first I didn't want to stop, but she looked my way and the "Winnipeg Boy" in me came out. She was quite shocked and happy that I would stop.

I couldn't get her out, but I tried.

The rest of the run felt great. My spirits became very positive and I felt really strong. I ran for 1 hour 10 minutes at a 8:30 pace at 122 - 134 bpm. For the first time in a long time, my heart rate was leaning towards going lower, where it usually wants to go higher.

It was by far my fasted moderate run since I started the program. Most of the other runs were in the 9:30 range. I also ran the last half a few seconds faster than the last half, negative splits, you gotta love it!

I think what helped me was all the sugar I've been eating. Alyssa, my baking daughter, had made a bunch of chocolate chip cookies, which I can't stop "nibbling" on. Plus the "heavenly hash" ice cream I bought on the weekend.

I ended up throwing the ice cream in the garbage this morning and Alice hid the cookies.

The temptation was just to great, especially after I weighted myself and gained 2 lbs.

100th Post on Family Day...

Today was a holiday in Ontario, it's family day.

All the stores were closed and it was a lazy day at home. I slept in until 9 am and just relaxed.

I did 1 hour and 45 minutes on the bike before noon and a hard 1 hour and 20 minute weight session at the YMCA before dinner.

I had a strong bike ride, at 126 bpm I was in the highest gear on the front small chain ring. That is a first.

Yesterday I bought a yoga mat to put under my bike when I ride. I figured getting sweat on the rug wasn't a good idea. The bath mat just wasn't "cutting" it.

At the Y, I think I may have done the legs a little to hard as my left side of my knee has a mild "burning" sensation.

I met an older women at the Y who is doing Ironman Canada this year for the first time. Last year she had her friend drive behind her and she did a full Ironman by herself, just to be sure she could do one. She did it in 15 hours.

The more I work out, the more I realize how much strength I have lost over the years. I had trouble bench pressing 85 lbs for 15 reps with Olympic weights. On the second set I had to change the weight midway through to 65 lbs just to finish.

My mind feels young, but my body is telling me something different.

I was thinking that after this triathlon season is over that I should take 6 months and really get into weight training, like 5 days a week with a very structured program to gain real muscle.

I'm just not sure how I will be able to train for both muscle building and triathlon racing. I guess when the time comes, I'll have to ask Mark Allen.

Sunday Long and Slippery

I got up at 7:30 am.

I wanted to get my workouts in early, so I could enjoy the afternoon. Reid also has a hockey game at 2 pm.

I was out the door by 8:00 am and had a 1 hour 35 minute run. About 30 minutes into the run it started to drizzle rain with a -5 c temperature outside.

The roads quickly became ice and were very slippery. At the turnaround I almost fell just by trying to stop to run in the other direction.

I tried the sidewalks but it was no better. So I figured out that the best place to run was in the part of the road where the cars tires have been driving. It was much better.

The run went well, although at the end my legs were getting sore. I figured it was the dehydration.

I ran a 8:58 pace, 30 seconds per mile better than last week. I was down to 170 lbs after the run. I lost about 4 lbs of water.

I got home, stretched and ate a bowl of cereal and then within 30 minutes was at the pool for my swim. I decided that I was going to swim with the Masters group today.

When I got to the pool there was no one there. It turned out that they were hosting a swim meet at another pool. Which was great, I had the entire pool to myself and I followed my Mark Allen Training Program instead.

Today I only had an hour time limit in the pool and couldn't finish the workout. I only got 2300 meters in, but of those meters; 650 were straight kick. For some reason my kick is the worst and somewhat painful.

My arms and shoulders also felt real sore, especially at the beginning of the swim.

At least my body is feeling somewhat back to normal and I finished all my workouts before noon.

Now all I have to do is get food and fluids in my body!

Friday Night Stupid...

Last night things got carried away.

Alice and I went downstairs to shoot some pool and have a cocktail or two, which for me turned in to over 20 beers. I counted the empties tonight.

We were having such a great time and started pulling out of storage my Ironman medal from Hawaii, newspaper articles and pictures.

All my other Ironman, triathlon and marathon medals were lost, I think when Reid was little he took them or gave them away to his friends. But at least I still have the one that matters most.

My parents also called us last night, they were having a few glasses of wine and realized that I'm "old" and they just wanted to tell me that. We had some good laughs talking on the phone.

We got to bed real late and for the first in a long time the room spun a couple of times.

Here's the stupid part, or the second stupid part...

I woke up at 8:30 to go to Reid's hockey game, but thankfully Reid was still sick and decided not to go. I ate a bowl of cereal and went back to bed.

I woke up a second time at 12:30, still feeling the alcohol's effects, not hungover, but still a little tipsy. I ate a couple of poached eggs on toast decided to start my workouts.

I started my 3.5 hour bike ride. It just so happened that the Hawaii Ironman was on TV. I didn't feel that good on the bike, I was dizzy, but I was able to still ride.

As I was doing my ride, I was thinking 3.5 hours is a long ride, especially indoors, but then I saw the pain that some of those Ironman triathletes were in, forcing them to walk or shuffle along. I thought I'd rather train hard now to avoid going through that pain.

At the 2:19:22 into the ride, the hangover started. I felt so sick and nausous and it happened so quick that I near collapsed off the bike. I was lying on the floor with a massive headache and feeling sick to my stomach. I could hardly move without pain.

It was the worst feeling. It was my 24 hour flu.

I got into bed and knew I needed to fall asleep. I had lost around 6 lbs on the bike and was really hungry. I was craving grease. I asked Alice if she could go to KFC and get me a snack pack.

When I got it I could only nibble. A few fries, some chicken, I didn't eat that much. I was also craving sugar and a super ripe banana hit the spot.

I fell asleep for 3.5 hours.

When I woke up I was feeling much better and decided to try to finish my workouts. I completed the balance of the 3.5 hour ride and then did a 30 minute brick run right after.

I actually didn't feel to bad during the training and when it was all over I was glad.

That was one STUPID thing I did last night. Something I hope not to repeat.

Although it seemed like the right thing to do at the time!

Tempo day X 2...

I was up early and at the pool by 6:30 am for a 3000 meter tempo swim.

Because of the hard weight session last night I was feeling a little sluggish in the arms and shoulders. But as I got going I loosened up and my splits surprised me.

For much of the swim I was between 1:43 - 1:50 per 100 meters. Which for me is amazing, considering I was at 2:25 per 100 when I raced last year.

Right after work I had my tempo run for 50 minutes and did 6.17 miles. I was feeling tired when I got home, but pushed myself out the door without hesitating.

I wanted to run in daylight and enjoy doing my weekly tempo run, it really gives me an indication if I'm improving.

The run was great. I kept my heart rate under 139 and ended up running an 8:10 minute mile. That time was an improvement of 20 - 30 seconds per mile faster than the last 5 weeks of tempo runs.

The whole time my legs felt real strong. It never fails, start the run somewhat tired and end the run feeling like a "million bucks"!

Now its time to have a beer, hang out with the family and rest up for tomorrow's mega workout sessions.