Caught up, finally...

I had a good day, I got caught up with all my work and I left early with a clean desk. I was on my way to the pool at lunch time but halfway there I decided not to do the swim. My wrist was sore from the last swim, I guess my arms were stronger than my wrists. The next two weeks are to be easy workouts before I start my Clearwater training program.

It was a nice day, finally, and a nice night. Alice and I hung out on the deck and Jamie and Barb came by for a while. It was a bit of a late night and just on the verge of going over the edge, which would make my ride tomorrow really hard. We got to bed around 1:30 am, which was a little too late. I've got a ride scheduled with Mark Rutledge tomorrow and have to be up at 6:15 am.

Recovery Day - No training

13

Training plan in place...

Monday was a holiday and my internal clock is all screwed up. This morning I woke up and thought it was Wednesday. As I was lying in bed and just turned on the TV, I was thinking about my sore foot. Then it dawned on me that it was Thursday and I had a physiotherapy appointment in 15 minutes. There was no time to shave or shower and I was out the door. I got there right on time. I met Nicole, another triathlete who was getting treatment. She was in rough shape and hadn't been able to do any racing this year because of her knees. By the time I was done, I had no time to shave and shower. For the first time, other than a Saturday, I showed up at work wearing a tee shirt, flip flops, running hat, shorts and unshaven. I normally where the tee shirt, shorts and flip flops, but I normally shave and don't wear a hat. One of the guys asked if I was hungover.

I finalized my training plan for the World Championships. It feels good to get it all on paper, now I don't have to think, I just have to do. I actually feel like I'm starting a new season. This week is a recovery week and I'm having fun. Then starting this weekend I'll get back at it. I did a recovery run tonight and I was slow. I could feel all the muscles in my calves and hamstrings pulling and stretching. Not only from the race, but I think I'm a little dehydrated. As I was running, I was listening to a podcast interviewing Craig Alexander, last years Hawaiian Ironman Champion. It was interesting because everything he goes through in terms of race preparation and racing is the same thing us age groupers go through. The only difference is that he has more natural ability and more time to train. He even says he has trouble at times pushing himself out the door to train and that triathlons is as mental as it is physical. He's a good interview, seems like a nice guy.

Recovery Run - 59:34 / 6.80 miles / 8:45 / avg hr 132

There's another reason I train...

These past two days I've been busy at work. Today, from the minute I got in until I left I was busy. I didn't even have time to go grab some lunch, Kevin at work was going out and I had him pick me something up. By the time I left work, I was tense and a little wired. I ate and tried to nap it off, but that only worked for a while. As the night went on I could feel my back tightening again. I decided I had to go for a swim, I needed to do something to relax my mind. Before I left I decided to look in my swim bag to make sure I had everything. Then I discovered I didn't have my goggles and the tension in my back grew. I took them to Michigan and they got misplaced, I was starting to freak. Thank goodness for Alice, she found them.

I was trying to relax on the way to the pool. When I got there I looked at the pool through the window and was looking forward to getting in the water and swimming. I had a very enjoyable and surprisingly fast swim. It felt great. When I got out of the pool I was much more relaxed. I had went from a 9 on the tension scale to about a 2. When I opened my locker I realized I forgot my towel. The irony was that I brought two towels and left them in the truck, but because I was much more relaxed, I laughed it off and left the Y with soaking wet hair.

When I got home I was a new person. It was then I realized that I NEED to train. It keeps me balanced. Up until last month, I went two years without a bad back and I believe it was a direct result of exercise. In only a 2000 meter swim I transformed my state of mind and released the tension from my back. I even noticed that my neck was loosening up and I was hearing some cracks. I love when I hear my bones cracking, it means my body's loose.

I just revised my Steelhead Ironman 70.3 video with pictures I just got from the race. They arrived today. Alyssa looked at the picture of me holding my qualifying letter and said she has never seen me have such a big smile, EVER.

Mod Swim - 38:42 / 2000 meters

Re-evaluating the plan...

Now that I've qualified for Clearwater, I need to adjust my training plan accordingly. Originally, my goal was to try and qualify for Clearwater at the Muskoka 70.3. Muskoka was going to be my "A" race. Since I've qualified at Steelhead, the pressure is off, which works out nicely. For Muskoka, Rich and Davis Sohor are coming in from Winnipeg to do it. Now that I'm not focusing on it as an "A" race, I can focus on partying with Rich. Davis is trying to qualify for Clearwater so he may be more responsible until the race is over. Which I completely understand.

I'm now going to readjust my schedule to make Clearwater my "A" race. I'm going to make this week an active recovery week and start a 13 week training plan next Monday. I think I may go out for a 180 KM bike ride with Mark Rutledge on Saturday. He's training for the Ironman and I haven't done a Century ride yet this year. I was also debating if I should do an Ironman on September 26th, but an hour ago I decided not to do it. My original plan was to focus on Half Ironman distance races this year and do a full Ironman next year. I'm going to stick with the original plan.

Next year I'd really like to qualify for the Hawaiian Ironman and I think the only race I would have a shot at qualifying for it would be Ironman China in March. My family wouldn't want to go (they'd starve because they don't like Chinese food) and maybe Jamie Grant or John Barclay or both would want to come with me. I've got enough air miles points to get me there for free and if Jamie or John came we could share a hotel room. The real challenge would be doing all my bike training on my wind trainer. If I did do it, and was able to qualify, I'd end up doing 3 Ironman races next year. China in March, Lake Placid in July and Hawaii in October, not to mention some half Ironman races along the way.

Today has been a recovery and repair day. I was at the physiotherapist at 7:30 for laser treatment on my fractured foot, then after work I went for a Shiatsu massage. The massage wasn't too relaxing, lots of deep tissue work with elbows grinding into my muscles. The massage therapist told me that my quads are not as strong as my hamstrings and recommended that I don't do a specific stretch which I normally do. He also mentioned that I'm too hunched over and need to stretch my chest open. I guess it must be from being in the aero position on the bike for long periods of time. I'm going to take his suggestions and try them out.

It seems like Reid's foot is doing better after having Alice drive over it with the truck. He's walking okay, although it's bruising more.

Recovery Day - No training

Last bit of celebrating and now on to the next challenge...

Alice drove over Reid's foot with the truck yesterday. Yes, you heard correct. We just got home from Benton Harbor and I had Alice drive the last 40 minutes. I was so tired I couldn't drive. When we pulled into the driveway, Reid jumped out of the truck and then Alice decided to back it up. She didn't know Reid was near the truck and the wheel went right over his foot. He started to complain that the truck ran over his foot and at first I didn't believe him. I just thought he was saying that to get out of unpacking the truck. Then about 10 minutes later, with tears in his eyes, I realized that the truck really did run over his foot. Nothing was broken, thank goodness. I think it was because he has such flat feet and was wearing fluffy slippers. In either event, we put some ice on it and all's well that ends well.

Last night was my second and last celebration night. There's nothing like sitting around the basement bar with Alice, playing 70's music, with a beer and cigar in my hand. I was thinking about two things. The first was I still couldn't believe my Steelhead time and that I beat my half Ironman personal best by over 18 minutes, and the second thing was that I need to start eating properly again. July was a vacation month and I ate nothing but restaurant food and drank lots of beer. I feel so fat and bloated. With that said, maybe it helped because I did have the race of my life. Although, enough is enough, I'm an extremist, but even I can't maintain July's lifestyle.

Moving forward I have some personal and professional goals I want to accomplish and I need a healthy body and a clear head. Today is Monday, and Monday's are great days to start a new program. We have a civic holiday today and that allowed me to catch up on my sleep. Last night I was eating everything and anything and got to bed late, I figured it was my last hurrah. Today I'm on track. I know that the first 3 days of eating properly are the toughest and then it gets easier. I spent most of the day doing bike work. I washed my bike, changed my brake pads and wheels, changed a flat tire on my old bike and put together my new shoes and cleats.

I got a great deal on some Shimano T-51 triathlon cycling shoes with Ultegra cleats. I can't tell you how and who I got them from, it was legal, but I got a $500 value for $195. It was an offer I couldn't pass up. I decided to put them on my Trek for today's recovery ride. I love my Trek road bike and it felt good riding my old friend. It's been a while since I've ridden it and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was concerned that I may have ordered too small of shoes but they seemed to be okay on the ride. The real test is going to be on a four hour plus ride. I also wore the new cycling shirt and shoes I picked up at Steelhead. Not only did I look like a professional team rider, but the shorts where padded enough that I didn't chaff.

Recovery Bike - 1:03:53 / 30.33 km / 28.4 kph

July Training Totals

Swim - 12.34 miles / 19.90 kms

Bike - 498.29 miles / 803.69 kms

Run - 103.3 miles / 166.61 kms

Weights - 2 sessions

Total Distance - 613.93 miles / 990.21 kms

Total Calories - 46,816

164

I put together a video from my Lake Placid trip to register for the 2010 Lake Placid Ironman. Enjoy!

I'm going to Disneyland, er I mean, Clearwater...part two...

Here I was, I finished, my watch said I did a 4:38:03 and my name was not on the results page. I was running the situation in my mind. Did I hear a beep every time I ran over all the timing mats? Did I get disqualified for something? There was guys drafting off of me, but I didn't draft anyone, but a marshall on a motorcycle drove by and was writing down numbers, did they write down mine for some reason? Did they DQ me? If they did, I was visualizing how I was going to fight that one. I never draft period, I'm a triathlon purist. Then I was wondering if I had a chin strap violation? Nope, I can't remember it not being on.

They had great food after the race. It was sponsored by Pizza Hut and there was pizza, pasta, breads, hamburgers, chicken and even salad. I filled my plate and sat down to eat, but couldn't eat for long. I had to keep getting up, asking the guy beside me to watch my stuff and go look at the results board. Still no change. My name was not up there. This went on for at least an hour and a half. Originally, I was going to get my times and join Alice with the kids on the beach, that was an hour and a half ago. My anxiety level was on sphincter level 10. I kept asking myself "why is my name not on the race results"?

At 2 pm they have the Clearwater sign up for athletes that qualified in the top 5 for my age group. According to my watch, I'd be in the 5th and final position. I went to the table and they told me that they were still waiting for the results. They also said that the results on the board were preliminary with a lot of inaccuracies and that some of the age groups went off in different waves and that is why some times are posted and others aren't. After hearing this, I started to feel a little more hopeful. I decided to sit at a chair beside the sign up table and jokingly told the woman I was first in line. But I wasn't joking.

Eventually the result pages came and she asked me my name. She found it. Great, at least I was on the board, and then she showed me it said 4:41:16 and I finished in 8th. I panicked. I told her the results are wrong, that my watch said 4:38:03 and I should be in 5th spot. She was calm, cool and helpful and told me I need to go to the timing tent and pointed me in the direction. Now this is a big race and I had been looking for the timing tent for the past hour and a half and couldn't find it. They also wouldn't let me back into the athletes area, it's against the rules. But I was told the timing tent was there and I wasn't going to be deterred. I walked right past the security guards, didn't make eye contact and walked like I knew what I was doing. Once I got in, I still couldn't find it. I kept asking volunteer after volunteer and no one could help me. Eventually one pointed me to one of the race organizers. He heard my story, asked if an official sent me in here, I said yes (which I'm not sure if that was completely true) and he took me into the building to see the timing guy.

I told the guy my problem and showed him the time on my watch. He was mechanical in nature, "what is your problem and I will look into it". After a minute or two, he said his system is right and my watch is wrong. I had a mini discussion/argument with him, showing him the watch and asking him how could it be wrong? He then showed me his system, without the splits, that showed me the start time and the finish time. I asked him to show me the splits, I figured that would help verify. I had my Garmin that showed my run time and my bike computer showed my bike time, I wanted to make sure his run split was the same as my Garmin and my bike split was the same as my bike computer. He wouldn't show me the splits. He said the results are right, he doesn't have anymore time for this discussion and essentially in a nice way, said to F**K OFF.

I was still disheartened but was at least glad my results were on the board. Then I readjusted my mental state and said 4:41:16 is still a really good time, even though 4:38:03 sounded and felt so much better. Now it was a two hour waiting game. At 4 pm, any of the slots there were not taken by any of the first 5 finishers in my age group was going to be rolled down. For me to get in, I needed 3 of the 5 to turn down their spots. I showed up at 4 pm and they were still having problems getting the race results finalized and before they did the roll down, they had to give out the awards. Another hour passed.

Finally they got to give out the spots and they started with the women. They went through all the women's age groups. I just wanted it to go fast, so I could find out if I qualified. As they were going through the women's roll downs, one guy had a problem with something and that caused a major discussion with him and the race director. It was another anxiety filled delay. They got through that and then started the roll down on the men. Prior to the roll down, I went to the qualification table and asked the guy if he thought I had a chance of getting a spot, he asked me my name and thought I was 9th and said he didn't think so, then I pointed out that I was 8th and he then thought I had a shot at it. He said the first and second place guys had already declined the spots and all I needed was one other guy to decline and I was in.

So there I waited. In actual fact, when they got to my age group, I was so nervous, I didn't even want to know if I was chosen. It felt better not knowing, than knowing and being turned down. The one thing about my age group is that the guys have disposable income and can afford a trip to Florida. They don't typically turn the spots down for financial reasons. I figured that they were going to announce three names and if one of those people did not show up at the table to sign up, they would announce my name on the second round and I'd be in. I was focused on hearing the three names and then watching to see if only two guys showed up.

To my utter surprise, they called my name as one of the three. I couldn't believe it, how is this possible, I was 8th, I shouldn't be called until the next round. I leaped out of my chair, pulled my check out and asked where I sign and who do I make the check out to. It was the most awesome feeling knowing I was going to Clearwater and qualifying with the best race of my life. The lady at the table was happy for me, I could tell, she was the one that sent me to the timing tent. At this point, I didn't even care that my time was different than my watch, I was going to Clearwater. I called my parents right away, they weren't home, and I left a verklempt voice mail message. Sadly, I don't think I was this choked up after the birth of my kids. Although, to my defence, I have a bad memory and they were born a long time ago.

On the way back to the car, I was doing the math in my head regarding my splits and final times. I knew the swim, bike and run splits were correct. I started adding them up and then realized that the timing guy was right, his times were correct, my watch was wrong. I eventually figured out that I must have hit the stop button instead of the lap button during the transition from the swim to the bike. That actually made me feel better. I no longer had the timing uncertainty and I now had the officially qualified for the World Championships. During the race, I was thinking I was going to forgo my normal post race beer, but after qualifying I told Alice we need to celebrate. Rather than staying in Benton Harbor, we drove 3 hours closer to home and ended up in Frankenmuth. It is the coolest town, all Christmas, all the time. It has the world's largest Christmas store and authentic big German Bavarian meals. It is a must stop.

We managed to find the last room available in Frankenmuth and went for some dinner before heading back to the hotel room. We had a great family time, laughing and joking. We didn't get to bed until past 2 am and I had to keep telling the kids to quiet down. I made sure I set the alarm for 11:30 am, even though the check out is 11 am. When I got up this morning I went to check my race results online. It turns out that I finished 7th, not 8th. There must have been an error that was corrected. The reason I was called for the spot was because I was in 7th. Had I been in 8th I wouldn't have got a spot because all three of us called up took our spots. Like I said yesterday, the sun, the moon and the stars were all aligned.

I'm pretty pumped that I'm going to Clearwater. It is a once in a lifetime event. With all the new Ironman 70.3 races popping up all over the place and with the continued high level of competition, it is not, and will never be an easy event to get into it. Reid's not pumped about going to Florida for the race. As he puts it, "he hates triathlons". He'd rather stay at home and watch Youtube. He did give me a compliment however, he told me "congratulations, your finally good at something". Aren't having kids great. Today will be hanging around Frankenmuth and then driving home. I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and getting back to some healthy eating.

Steelhead Race Results & Splits

Swim- 34:03 - 1:47 /100 m (long run to the mat, my watch was 32:58 - 1:44/100 m out of the water)

T1 - 2:46

Bike - 2:27:25 / 90 km / 36.63 kph

T2 - 1:46

Run - 1:35:18 / 13.1 miles / 7:16 pace / 156 avg hr (was 7:10 on Garmin, distance 13.29 miles)

Final 4:41:16

Age Group - 7th out of 205

Overall Male - 53rd out of 1182

13

The race was the easy part...part one.

I'm not going to keep anyone in suspense. I'm proud to say I did the Steelhead Ironman 70.3 in Michigan today and had the best race of my life. I finished in 4:41:16, which gave me 8th place in my age group and I qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater Florida on November 14th, 2009. I still can't believe it.

I had the race of my life. It exceeded anything I thought I was capable of doing. After my last race in Morden Manitoba, three weeks ago, I decided to change my entire outlook. I was no longer going to put any pressure on myself and I was just going to enjoy the triathlon experience. I was going to stop racing for position and race for fun and this was the first race I was going to race for fun.

Two days before the race I went out for dinner with the family and enjoyed a nice meal, like I would if I didn't have to do a triathlon. I had steak, ribs and 2 liters of beer (which is 6 regular glasses of beer). The night before the race I was having a nice pasta dish and had a couple of Stella's. I was the only triathlete drinking beer in the restaurant, a few were having some wine. The night before a race, I'm normally all nervous about race morning and dream about the race all night and not missing my wake up call. Last night I had dreams about everything but racing. When the alarm eventually did go off I felt unusually calm and relaxed. My biggest concern was having enough time to stop at Dunkin Donuts for a bagel and large coffee.

I was one of the last people at the transition site. I showed up about 20 minutes before they closed the transition area and was in a beautiful state. I was joking and talking to everyone around me. The only thing I forgot was a towel to dry my feet and one of my neighboring triathletes was trying to find me one. I told him not to worry I was just going to use my warm up shirt.

The first wave went off at 7 am and my wave wasn't going off until 8:07 am, which left a lot of time. I met a couple of interesting people. On the mile walk to the race start, I met a black guy from Chicago that was doing his first half Ironman. Nice Guy. His worst is the swimming and was just wanting to get out within 1 hour. He was telling me about the Chicago triathlon that has 8,000 athletes and the waves take up to 3 hours to complete. Unbelievable. Then, as I was sitting on a hill on the beach I met another guy from Chicago who sold furniture and was also doing his first half Ironman. He also told me about the Chicago race and we both agreed that getting to this race for 6 am and racing at 8 am, sucked.

For the past week I've been feeling fat and bloated. I've been eating poorly and drinking way to much beer. Last night I thought I was a boy from Cambodia. My belly was so fat and I told myself that after this race I'm going to start getting back to eating healthy. At the race site, I felt like I should be in the Clydesdale division.

Finally our wave was ready to go and Alice, surprisingly, was able to find me at the start and take some photo's and video. I hadn't swam in 9 days and wasn't sure how I was going to do. My strategy was to go for the middle of the pack. I've been thinking about it, and since I've started my comeback, I've been panicking in the water. I've almost drown, had goggles kicked off and taken in a lot of water. My typical strategy has been to swim to the outside and it has worked well. Today I decided to swim in the middle, to go for the combat. I figured that no one likes getting hit and slapped and that we all really just want to swim in harmony, so I decided that I'm going to swim my race, and others can move. And that's what I did.

It was the first race that I felt comfortable in the water. Sure, I had to stop a few times and let someone cross or do some sighting, but I was not going to not be in the action. I was also surprised that my arms felt so strong after 9 days of no swimming. I got out of the water, according to my watch, before running to the timing mat, in 32:58. My fastest swim ever. It was a long run to the bike and when I got to the bike, a girl who new the guy beside me, wanted to know if I still needed a towel. It was like she was a guardian angle. I still said no and used my shirt, but I still don't understand how she remembered me and where she came from.

The minute I got on the bike I hammered. I passed and passed so many people. On the bike I passed a couple of guys from my wave and knew I was up near the front. There was three guys in my wave that were passing me and I was passing them for the first 30 miles of the race. What bothered me about two of these guys is that they were drafting me, albeit, 3-4 bike lengths behind, but they were drafting. I made sure that I never drafted. It was almost like they thought I should work with them. I heard this race had a lot of drafting, and I told myself that I was not going to draft. Eventually I dropped them when we started going up the hills and into the head winds.

At the 20 mile mark, my seat slipped. I guess I've been adjusting it so much, that I didn't tighten it enough and with the pressure I was putting on it, it came loose and started pointing downward. I decided to just keep riding and try to level it with my butt as I rode. At the 35 mile mark I was averaging close to 39 kph. I was having a great ride and then the winds started. The day started off with very little wind with warm sunshine and then the clouds and wind started rolling in. It really started to slow everyone down. I kept spinning and passing people, albeit at a slower speed. Around the 40 mile mark I could hardly sit on my seat. My rear end was so sore from the seat. It was hurting my bones. I kept cursing myself for not getting a new seat. From that point on, I had to get out of the aero position many times because my butt was so sore. I definitely don't have the seat I would need for an Ironman. Eventually, I saw some of the pro's running and I knew I couldn't be that far from the transition and I just needed to suck it up.

When I got to my rack there was only 2 bikes in and my was the third. I knew I had a great ride. I felt good and my back wasn't bothering me. For the first half a kilometer I was at a 6:50 pace. I was feeling good. The only problem was that the timing chip on my ankles was too tight and chaffing my already chaffed ankle. Eventually at the mile and a half mark I had to stop and loosen it. At 1.5 miles I was averaging a 7:22 pace. It was too slow. I knew if I was going to do well I needed to bring it below 7:18. On the run, they had three hills. The first one was a killer. Most people were walking up the hill and I decided that I was going to go for it. I closed my eyes and opened my mouth and went as hard as I could. It was hard. I noticed by the time I got over the hill my average pace was down to 7:18 per mile. The next 4 miles was flat and I tried to relax and keep my leg cadence at a high level. I was passing a lot of people. By the 5 mile mark I had gotten my average mile pace down to 7:14. Then came another hill and I went as hard as I could with my mouth open and my eyes closed. By that point I had only been passed by one guy in my age group, who was flying, and only 3 others from other age groups, who were fast.

As I was running I was thinking of Clearwater and qualifying for the World Championships. As I did, I kept telling myself that I had a great ride and that there are some great runners in my age group and that the only way I was going to beat them was that I'd have to run in the low 7 minute miles. I figured that if I had a 10 - 15 minute lead on them, they'd have to run 6 minute miles to catch me and that wouldn't happen. It was the strangest thing, my heart rate was through the roof for me, it was in the 160's during the run, but my legs felt fresh. A few times I started to feel like my legs were going to be fatigued, especially after running up those hills, and then I'd relax and my leg speed would take over. Most of the run was effortless. The hardest part was passing people, I had to weave in and out. There was so many runners that it was sometimes difficult to pass them without bumping into them.

I looked at my Garmin watch the entire time. I got my pace down to a 7:13 pace by mile 10. I told myself that I was not going to look at my Timex, with the final time, until mile 11. When I got to mile 11, it said 4:23. I couldn't believe it, at my current pace I'd be around 4:38. I felt so good and I was able to pick up the pace. I can't ever remember feeling this good in a race. Three weeks ago, around mile 7 in the Morden Half Ironman, I was hurting so much that I was asking myself why I did triathlons. Now, three weeks later, I'm feeling like I've got wings. I picked up the pace for the last two miles and was able to bring my average per mile pace down to 7:10 per mile, from the first 1.5 miles which was at a 7:22 pace.

When I crossed the finish line, my watch said 4:38:03. I couldn't believe it. I was in semi tears. This time was unbelievable. When I saw Alice I gave her a big shaking hug. I was on cloud nine. The most amazing thing is that I didn't even feel like I did a triathlon, let alone a half Ironman. My legs were fresher than a 10 km run. I had no soreness or stiffness whatsoever. It was surreal. I didn't even need water or food. Albeit, I ate and drank a lot on the bike and I drank Gatorade at virtually every run stop. I just felt great.

I went to the results and didn't see my name or time. A guy with a 4:38:07 was in 5th place and I was, according to my watch 4:38:03, which would put me in 5th place and guarantee me a qualifying spot for the World Championships. The timing chip company did not have me on the results pages and I was starting to worry that my time was not recorded. I kept going back to the place where the results were posted, but they had no new pages posted. I would eat, then come back, and still no results. This went on for at least an hour. I was freaking out. It was bad enough that I wasn't there and wouldn't qualify for Clearwater, but after a period of time I didn't care about not qualifying, all I cared about was that the time was recorded so that my friends would believe me. What if I did the race of my life and it wasn't recorded?

To be continued tomorrow. Reid wants the computer.

12