I had so much fun I'm not feeling that good...

Last evening I wasn't feeling that good. Surprisingly, a 5 KM race took a lot out of me because I went so hard. Alice and I went out for dinner and I started to feel better after I ate. When we got home we went downstairs and had some drinks. One beer turned into a LOT of beers. We had a lot of fun just talking and listening to 70's music. I can't remember what time we got to bed, actually I can't remember much from the tail end of the night. When I woke up I was feeling a little sick and had a headache. No major hangover but I think having a cigar last night made me feel not so good this morning. 

Yesterday I got my bike back from the shop with a $231 bill. They had to replace my worn out chain, plus tune up, brake pads, cables, etc. I'm now on my 3rd new chain for this year. Today I decided to set it up on the wind trainer downstairs. I did a long ride and really noticed how noisy this bike is, lots of squeaking. I watched a Total Immersion swim video and learnt a lot about technique and drills I need to do. Yesterday I decided to sell my Quintana Roo bike on eBay and buy a Cervelo P2C. I'm going to clean it up and will sell it for anything over $1000. I still wasn't feeling good until we ate dinner tonight. We went to the Keg. The service was so bad they didn't charge us for our meals. Our lucky day. 

Bike - 90 minutes / 25.77 /17.8 mph.

Beers - 18 (last night)

Cigars - 1 (last night)

My best 5 KM since my comeback...

I did the 5 KM Santa run this morning. My goal was to break 20 minutes. I had two 5 km races this year where I had the identical time of 20:01 and it was heart breaking not to come in under 20 minutes. 19 minutes and whatever, even 19:59, sounds so much faster than 20. I didn't realize it before I signed up, but the course was not a measured and the race did not have timing chips. It was fairly informal. It started to snow lightly this morning and I was tired when I got up, the heart rate was a little higher than normal, but I went anyway. The streets were fairly clean, but most of the run was on a snowy trail. I figured it was not going to be easy to break 20 minutes because of the lack of shoe grip.

When the race went off I was with the leaders and was in 5th place. Early on the leader missed the turn, poor directions by volunteers and we had to back track about 100 meters. For the first time I ran with my Garmin GPS and an iPod. I went hard from beginning. At times my pace was in the 3:44 per kilometer range. For the first time, since I was setting PR's in my 20's my breathing was laboured and I was gasping for air at times and on steep uphills was closing my eyes to summon up strength. I couldn't catch the 3rd and 4th place guys, they were under 18 years old, but if the race was 10km I would have caught them, they were fading at the end. I finished in 5th place overall and the winner was 18 years old and second place was 36 years old. The winner beat me by about 90 seconds. 3rd and 4th place were under 18 years old. Not a bad race for an old guy. I finished in 19:11 with even going off course, but the course was short. According to my GPS it was only 4.71 km. So after I crossed the finish line I kept running around the parking lot until I hit 5 km, which took me 19:56. I did it!!! I broke 20 minutes.

5 KM Race - 6:25 per mile pace /3.59 per km pace 

02

So far so good...

I'm surprised I'm feeling good even though I got up early all this week. The two hours of driving to and from is actually relaxing. I drive and I listen to Howard Stern. I finally decided later in the day that I'm going to do the 5 km race tomorrow. I'm going to try and break 20 minutes before the end of the year. In preparation I did a pre-race run tonight with about 5 x 10 second surges. My heart rate stayed low, around 126 bpm for most of it. I knew it was going to be a good run because my resting heart rate was around 53 bpm before I left. I wasn't looking forward to going out tonight because it is one of the coldest nights we have had this year. But I knew once I got started I'd warm up and enjoy it. Which is what happened.

Run - 34:27 / 4.17 miles / 8:16 pace

Finally I started early...

I got to bed early last night, around 10 pm because from now on I'm getting up early to make a delivery to Kitchener each morning. On the way back I was able to slip into the YMCA and do my swim and a weight training session. It was a speed work session and for the first time ever, near the end of my 75 x 12 set my arms and legs were getting sore. I've never had that happen to me in the pool. Most of the 75's were between 1:10 - 1:13. I'm finding that swimming only 2 times per week has not had any effect, other than getting faster, on my swimming. I may be going a little too fast or I'm lifting to much weight because my right shoulder is starting to get a little sore.

After dinner and a TWO hour nap I went for a moderate run. The idea was to take it easy and keep the heart rate under 135 bpm. On the run I started thinking about if I should do Ironman New Zealand in March with Jamie. My buddy Steven who lives in NZ dropped me an email tonight and said I could stay at his place. I just don't know if I have enough time to properly train. I am also considering whether or not I should run a 5KM race in Burlington on Saturday. A part of me would really like to break 20 minutes.

Swim - 43:00 /1900 meters 

Weights  - 25:00

Run - 45:31 / 5.71 miles / 7:58 pace

Early to rise..

It's a busy time at work so I've decided to help out for the next month and become an early morning delivery driver. I'm not a morning person and need a good 7.5 - 8 hours of sleep, so this should be interesting. I've got to get up a couple hours earlier than normal, which means I should be getting to bed by 10 pm.

It was an easy training session tonight. I did a 45 minute bike ride. There was a new show on TV called the "secret millionaire", it was a great show. It's about millionaires that go undercover and live with poor people and then at the end of the show they come clean and give away money to some of the people they met that they think really need it. It made the 45 minutes go by quick and can be a real tear jerker. 

I'm actually starting to enjoy the inside ride. It's kinda like a change of seasons. It's reminding me of last year and at a certain point I found I got used to riding inside. It sure is easier getting ready for inside rides. Shorts, Shirt, Shoes and go. 

Bike Tempo - 45 minutes / 14.15 miles

Chomping at the bit...

For some reason, for the last month, I've become really irritable. I'm not sure if it is because I'm not training as much? drinking as much? resting enough? eating to much? the season change? less daylight, or all of the above changing my brain chemistry? The irony is that I've physically never felt better, no injuries of any kind. The body feels strong and whole. I feel like it's 20 years old. The only problem is that I'm irritable and I can't stop napping when I get home. Up until recently, I can't remember when I took regular naps after dinner. 

This morning I was at the hospital because Alyssa had some fairly serious day surgery. Everything seemed to go well and the nurse said she did well as a lot of the girls are in tears of pain afterwards.

Tonight I did a tempo run without exceeding 140 bpm. My running is feeling great. I feel light on my feet and my cadence is much higher. I was able to maintain a 7:25 pace which is much faster by at least 1 minute a mile than last year. It was a nice night but a couple of times there was some black ice that I didn't see and almost slipped on. Afterwards I had a nice stretching session and a glass of protein whey. Right now I'm debating if I should do a 5 KM race coming up...I really would like to break 20 minutes! I also have to get a new pair of runners, I have 443 miles on them and should replace by 500. I guess I know what I'm getting for Christmas. I hope they last that long because I'm starting to rip out the side of them.

Run- 40:15 minutes / 5.41 miles / 7:25 pace

Drum role please...

November totals:

Swim - 7.63 miles

Bike - 286.1 miles

Run - 73.11 miles

Weights - 7 sessions

Total - 366.84 miles / 28,311 calories/ 33.41 hours

Beers - 51

Last year I had my tonsils out and only did 143.46 miles / 60 Beers.

Yesterday I started to focus on my diet again. I gained about 4-5 lbs since I finished the season and I don't want to sound too much like a woman, but I need to get rid of those pounds. The reason I gained has been because of my cravings for sweets. I haven't drank that much, but the sweets is spiking my insulin and causing my body to store everything as fat. Plus I'm not training as much.

After dinner and my nap I did weights and did a long swim at the YMCA. At first I wasn't really into the swim but because my speed is getting better it keeps my interest. Today I did a 400 in 7:02 (1:45.5 per 100), then 400 pull in 7:18 and 3 x 200 (30 second rest) in 3:32, 3:36 and 3:34. I swam at a pace that I felt I'd race at. Once I get going I'm enjoying the feel of the water, it is like I'm floating in space. (No I wasn't on any drugs tonight). I noticed lately that after my swims I get stomach aches like when I was a kid. I'm not sure why, if it is the heavy breathing, or stretching long strokes or what?

Weights - 25 minutes

Swim - 52 minutes / 2500 meters