My fastest Tempo run of the year...

Last night I went out for dinner, had a few pints and watched Reid's playoff game.

They won and are now in the final next week.

After the game, we went to Dairy Queen, I was "craving" a peanut buster parfait.

I got to bed early and had a great sleep, 10 1/2 hours. It was perfect for recovery from all my training.

Today's training was a 50 minute tempo run, it was my fastest of the year, I averaged a 8:08 per minute mile over 6.17 miles.

My heart rate was to stay under 139 bpm, but at times it got up to 143 bpm for a short while.

I find it interesting that if I drink a moderate amount beer the night before training, I have a better, faster workout. There must be something in my DNA as I come from a family of beer drinkers.

I knew today's run was going to be good because my heart rate while standing was around 48 - 52 bpm.

With less than 60 days left to go before my Florida 70.3 race, I've decided to really start watching my diet and eat more healthy food.

I'd like to drop about 8 lbs and run the race at around 169 lbs.

I don't have any training tonight & it's a strange feeling...

I was at the YMCA at 6:30 am.

I did a 3500 meter swim at tempo speed, then did an hour of "power" weight training and was done today's scheduled training by 8:45 am.

It felt great to be done for the day so early in the day!

Tomorrow is a national holiday. It's "Good Friday".

So tonight I'm going to go out for dinner with Alice, relax and have a few "well deserved" pints!

My body is changing & I have 60 days to go...

Today was an easier than normal day. Relatively speaking.

I got a good 8.5 hours of sleep last night and after dinner I did a 75 minute tempo ride on the bike.

I can still feel the "soreness" in my legs caused by entering the "power" phase of my training this week.

My legs feel like I just started working out, not like I've been training for the past 10 months.

I am really curious to see how well I perform with the volume of training I've been doing since signing up with the "Mark Allen Online" coaching program in January.

I'm currently doing around 17 hours a week to prepare for the half Ironman and I expect it to increase in June once I start my full Ironman training.

My family has told me that they notice the changes in my body, that I'm getting much more fit and athletic looking.

I've noticed that I'm starting to get muscles in places I didn't have muscles.

I'm also starting to get "veins" in my arms and legs, something that I've never had in my entire life, or even thought was possible.

As you can see, it's a very different look than my "fat" guy picture on the sidebar of the blog.

I can't imagine what my body is going to look like for the Louisville Ironman in August?

But I can hardly wait to find out!

Special Update: I just realized that in 60 days I will be racing in the Florida half Ironman.

Call me "Herman Munster"...

I was up early, had my "toast" and was in the pool by 6:30 am.

My swim was "slow". I did 4500 meters in 1 hour and 47 minutes.

It turns out that starting the "power" phase of my weight training program really does effect performance.

I felt like I was swimming with no power. It was tough just to keep my heart rate at 119 bpm.

The run was no better.

After work I was extremely tired. So much so, that I needed to sleep for over 90 minutes.

When I woke up, my legs were sore, I was still tired and I wasn't looking forward to my run, especially as it was also raining outside.

But I pushed myself out the door and did a 75 minute run / shuffle, which turned out to be just over 8 miles.

My legs felt like "LEAD". I was moving slow, my pace was a 9:10 mile and I felt every step in my quad and glutes.

The "quasi" pain put me into a Zen like state, for a portion of the run, I didn't even remember running it. My mind was elsewhere, which was "kinda" cool.

Although, I must admit, I like the feeling of "pain".

It means somethings happening!

(Quick Fact: Between Monday and Tuesday's workouts, I did over 6 hours of training in 28 hours).

The start of a new phase...

This week is going to be a tough week of training.

Not only is it going to be longer than most, but it is going to be harder.

It is the muscle building phase, which includes lifting "heavy" weights and the start of speed work sessions for running and biking.

I started the power session of my weight training program today, low reps, high weight. Quite frankly, I was a little nervous.

I got used to the endurance phase, it was a safe phase, now I'm entering a "it's going to hurt" phase.

The weights took me an hour, then I followed up with a 2 hour bike ride at a moderate pace, not exceeding 134 bpm.

I was told that during the power phase of weight training that my performance during other training sessions would be effected negatively, and the biking definitely was effected.

I did high rpm's, but I had to keep it in the second lowest gear to keep my heart rate in check. I couldn't wait for the 2 hours to be up, I was experiencing a "weird" kind of pain, like I had nothing in the legs.

Tonight was just a mental exercise to keep going and finish.

Today and tomorrow are heavy duty training days, I'm going to be very interested in seeing how my swim and run are effected tomorrow.

Major swim breakthrough...

Another good sleep of 9 hours.

I'm now back to normal from my trip to Israel and the jet lag.

I had an awesome swim today. It was moderate pace, 3500 meters, under 134 bpm, but it turned out that my 100 meter times did not exceed 2:00 minutes, even using pull bouys.

I did the calculations and it turns out that my time today is the same or faster than when I was in my 20's.

Based on the times in the pool today, I think I would have done the Ironman swim in around 1 hour 20 minutes. When I was 22, I did Ironman Canada swim in 1 hour 21 minutes.

The training program is working!

Later in the afternoon I went for my weekly long run. It lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes and I ran a 8:35 pace.

For the first time since I started the program, I really feel I'm starting to improve.

It's taken approximately 2 months, but this week I noticed the improvement.

Back in Burlington & Back in the saddle...

I got back home from Israel last night at 8:00 pm.

We went out as a family for dinner, the beer at dinner tasted so good!

When we got home from dinner, Alice and I played some pool, listened to music and had a few more cocktails.

This morning I woke up after 10 hours of sleep. It was great to catch up and I felt refreshed.

Today's training was a 3 hour bike ride. It went well, I was able to keep a real high cadence and the heart rate was close to 139 bpm for the entire ride.

It was a strong ride. I ate every hour as I didn't want to "bonk".

I don't know what it is about cycling, but after long rides, it is one the thing that causes me to want to nap afterwards.

Which I did.

I was going to swim, but didn't think the pool would be open long enough to get my full 3500 meters in, plus I wanted to keep napping.