"Fouled" again...

I woke up at 5:45 am for my 3000 meter swim.

When I got to the pool, I was told it was closed because it was "fouled" the night before, it was being "shocked", and would not be open until at least noon.

So... I improvised and did my scheduled evening weight training session in the morning. It was a good thing I just happened to put my running shoes in my swim bag.

It took me 75 minutes and I really "blasted" my legs hard!

At home, I don't have a leg press, so I'm forced to do squats with lighter weights. When I do weights at the YMCA, I take advantage of the equipment and make sure I put on a lot of weight when I do squats and leg press.

I tried to find a pool that was open tonight, but couldn't find one, so I moved today's swim workout to tomorrow.

It's just as well, I was so tired when I got home, mostly due to a major customer presentation and having to "crunch" numbers for the last few days.

I know when I'm tired or stressed, I crave "sugar" and "sweets".

When I got home, Alyssa (my baking daughter) made little cup cakes, about the size of a loonie, and I ate about 10 of them. Afterwards, I went into a "sugar" induced sleep, basically a "coma", on the couch.

In the end, it turned out okay, I woke up much fresher and ended up going to Reid's hockey game.

The toughest part was standing and watching along the side lines.

My legs are so "drained" from this mornings weight training session!

Winter wonderland...

It snowed last night, so I had to clear the driveway before work.

Today's workout was pretty easy, 75 minutes on the bike at tempo speed. I did it after my dinner nap.

The ride went well, good effort and the time went by quickly while watching American Idol.

With the extra time this evening, I decided to take advantage of it and "shave" my legs like a "real" triathete, it's been over 12 years since my legs were smooth.

It was a "lot" harder and took longer than I remember. I don't know how women do it.

I'm hoping this will be a good omen and will improve my swim and bike times.

Now I'm committed, or should be!

I'm CURED....

I went to the doctor today and got some great news, I no longer have Sleep Apnea.

About 2 years ago I was tested and diagnosed with Sleep Apnea. Ever since I've had to sleep using a CPAP machine.

Sleeping with a gas mask over your face is not fun!

In the past year and a half, I've lost over 50 lbs and had my tonsils removed, so I decided to get re-tested, I had a feeling I did not have it anymore.

Low and behold, I was right, I was so happy when the doctor told me I no longer had Sleep Apnea.

On the training side, I was up at 5:45 am, let the truck warm up and drove to the YMCA to do my 4000 meter long swim.

After the swim and later in the day my shoulders were a little sore from last nights weight training and today's morning swim.

From the early morning workout, I was really hungry at lunch time, and decided to treat myself to a Chinese food buffet. I did eat fairly healthy, I stayed away from the deep fried foods and ate lots of vegetables. It hit the spot.

I was also very tired when I got home from work.

My plan was to eat, nap and then go for my 55 minute run. My plan's changed when the TV weatherman said a big rain and snow storm is going to hit our area at any time.

I figured it would be best for me to go right away, which I did. As it turned out, 5 minutes after I got home, down came "freezing" rain and snow.

Perfect timing, I love it when a plan comes together!

The run was good, I did a 9:01 pace and did not exceed 134 bpm, it was a moderate run and was an improvement over previous weeks moderate runs.

It is 7:48 pm and I'm done for the day, I can't believe it.

It has been some time since I've been able to kick back so early in the evening and just relax.

Hello "American Idol"!

Started at 6 and finished at 10...

I didn't have to drive Reid to Hockey practice this morning, so I got a well needed 9 hours of sleep last night.

I started my training early tonight, at 6:02 pm, I had a lot of training time to put in.

I rode the bike for 2 hours and 15 minutes, stretched and had a 1 hour and 20 minute weight training session.

By the time I finished it was 9:58 pm.

I've come to realize that doing weight training can be very draining, especially if you giver. I found that after today's weight training session, I was exhausted.

Afterwards, I was also craving oatmeal with blueberries and brown sugar.

Since I "bonked" on the weekend, I'm trying to stay away from simple sugars, like having my "ice cream" fix.

The BONK is no fun.

The oatmeal hit the spot and I felt better afterwards!!!

"Crashing" the Chilly Half Marathon...

Today I was scheduled to do a 2 hour long run.

It turned out that the "Chilly Half Marathon" was being held in downtown Burlington this morning and I decided to use this race as part of my long run.

I tried to register and it was "sold out", the City officials only allowed them to accept 2000 runners.

So I did something I've never done before... I decided to "crash it"!

I showed up just after the gun went off and by the time I got to the start line, I was the officially the "last" runner to start the race.

My training plan was to keep the heart rate at 139 bpm or less. For the most part, I was able to do that for most of the race.

At the end, it got up to 141 - 144 bpm and I tried to slow down to keep it below 139, but it is hard when you are in a race with people all around you. The competitive "juices" are extremely hard to turn off, even on a training run.

From the start to the finish, I probably passed over a 1000 people. In the beginning it was tough because most of the people at the back were "very" slow and some were even walking.

Although, I shouldn't complain as it was not like I paid for the race.

It was the first race that I ran with an iPod and a camera. It was fun listening to music and taking pictures from the runners perspective.

I found it very enjoyable to do a long run with a lot of people, as opposed to doing it on my own. The time goes by so much quicker.

The only issue I had was around the 8 km point, I had a slight soreness, for a brief period, in the front of my quads, similar to yesterday. I think it is because of not refueling with food sufficiently.

The last 1/2 of the run was along Lakeshore Blvd, which is very beautiful with the old trees and beautiful homes.

I ended up running the 1/2 marathon in 1:54, an 8:41 pace, then continued to run for another 6 minutes to get in my full 2 hours.

After the run, on the drive home, I felt great. I love the energy of all the Runners and volunteers.

I'm glad I "crashed" the race!

I couldn't believe I "bonked"....

I was at the rink at 7:00 am to watch Reid's playoff game.

His team won 3 - 2.

Before the game, I had a couple pieces of toast and jam, and an extra large Tim Horton's coffee.

For the past couple of days I'd been eating a lot of carbohydrates in anticipation of today's 5 plus hours of training.

I changed the seat on my bike before I started, and was riding by 9 am. Today's workout was a 3 1/2 hour bike ride, followed by a 30 minute brick run.

Then a 3000 meter swim later in the day to top it all off.

The bike ride was okay, I didn't feel to bad. But 3 1/2 hours is a long time to ride, especially indoors, where all I could do is watch TV and read the paper.

I was looking forward to it ending. It was the first long ride on my Trek this year.

After the ride, it took me 5:05 to change into my running wear and get out the door for my 30 minute brick run.

The run was okay, near the end, which is unusual, I found the front of my quads getting a little sore.

When I finished and stretched, I started to "BONK"!!!

It has been such a long time since I bonked, I couldn't believe I was bonking after a training session.

I didn't have an IV, so the first thing I did was try to get some carbs in my body fast. I had a protein shake, a large blueberry pancake, a waffle, syrup and toast with Jam.

I had a quick shower, which was tough, as I was "fading".

Afterwards, I decided to lie down and sleep on the couch for a couple of hours. I knew this would help me recover, I just didn't know how long it would take to start feeling normal.

When I woke up, I had a bowl of cereal with cut up banana's, then went back to my "slumber" on the couch.

I woke up after a couple of hours and was feeling much better, which was good, as I had a 3000 meter swim to do at 6:00 pm.

The swim went well, the "bonking" was over, and I actually felt back to normal after the swim.

When I got home, Alice and I went out for dinner and I had a couple of "Coors Light" which tasted real good!

Snow Day...again...

It is official, my training for February is complete and in the record books.

Today was my 50 minute tempo run.

It was snowing and I was running in 4 - 5 inches of snow. It was like running in slippery sand.

It was tough, I ended up only running a 10:10 minute mile pace at a 139 bpm.

It is really unfortunate the conditions are so bad, I use my tempo runs as a weekly gauge of my progress, and with the bad weather I wasn't able to do a fair comparison from last week.

Now that the month is over, here are my February totals:

Total Running - 113.47 miles
Total Biking - 407 miles
Total Swimming - 23.18 miles
Total Mileage of all three sports - 543.65 miles
Total Calories burnt - 43,408

Based on the above numbers, I set a personal training record in February. I did more mileage and burnt more calories than last July, when I did 504.83 miles and burnt 35,541 calories.

Plus, February only had 29 days and July had 31 days.

I have now been doing the program for 7 weeks. For the last 3 weeks, my weekly hours have been as follows:

Feb 3 - 9 - 15.76 hours
Feb 10 - 16 - 16.31 hours
Feb 17 - 23 - 17.00 hours

For the month of February I trained a total of 66 hours, which averages 2 hours and 28 minutes per day.

Not included in the monthly total training hours is the 4.35 hours of stretching I did after workouts.

If I didn't keep track of the workouts, hours, distances and calories, I would never believe I did so much training.

I still can't believe it, my body feels really good and mentally I feel great!

I think in the past I probably only did around 6 - 8 hours of training per week and felt much more tired, sore and at times unmotivated.

The only thing I can attribute to my ability to recover and feel good, is the "Mark Allen On-line" training program.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, monthly party stat - 83.5 beers!

(Above is a painting Reid did today).